Hearts, Heart Maps, & a New Georgia Heard Book!

Seeing Into Hearts

by Amy LV

Students - I wrote today's poem thinking about the many maps of many hearts that children and grownups have drawn over the past many years since Georgia Heard first suggested we do so.  As I considered this exercise and my own heart's table of contents, I imagined for a moment what it would be like if we could each just see inside each others' hearts, could know what others were carrying inside.

I got to thinking about my sister-in-law Suzi's e-mail tag line, how very true it is, how kind we might each be if we could only know the battles of others.  Since we cannot, we must trust that they are there.

In writing, one thing leads to another, and we must be open to this leading, this mystery.  Allow yourself to begin anywhere with your writing...and see where you end up.  The journey!  The journey!

I am so happy to welcome Georgia Heard, one of my own mentors, to The Poem Farm today. I was fortunate enough to first hear Georgia speak twenty-two years ago, and she lit a bright candle for poetry in my own heart.

Georgia Heard: Poet, Author, Teacher

I have learned lots from Georgia's books and talks throughout the years, and her new Heinemann book - HEART MAPS: HELPING STUDENTS CREATE AND CRAFT AUTHENTIC WRITING - is out just this week, so it's a perfect time to celebrate hearts!  

Available through Heinemann

Georgia's HEART MAPS Podcast

Georgia allowed me to ask her a few questions about this new book today, and Heinemann generously offered a set of two of her books: HEART MAPS and AWAKENING THE HEART to one commenter on today's post.  Much gratitude to both!

How did you begin working with heart maps as a way to spark writing?

I was a visiting writer in a school in Phoenix, Arizona and I began a heart-mapping project with third-graders. My goal was to inspire these young poets to write from their hearts – to show them that writing poems can give voice to our truest selves. I wrote about that experience of using heart maps to kindle writing in AWAKENING THE HEART: EXPLORING POETRY IN ELEMENTARY AND MIDDLE SCHOOL. Since that time I’ve introduced heart mapping to hundreds of writers of all ages as a way not only to dig deep into ideas for writing poems but also to spark writing in many different genres.

How has your work with heart maps deepened through your years as a writing teacher?

I began with the idea of one heart map: map what you love and what you’ve stored in your heart.  Over time I realized that other kinds of heart maps could provide opportunities for students to discover not only poems but also stories, ideas they want to explore, and what they wonder about. In my new book, I introduce twenty types of heart maps that I hope will inspire writers to bring their passions to the page no matter what genre they’re writing in.

Would you be willing to share one of your own poems that grew from a heart map?

Poets find poems everywhere in the surprising nooks and crannies of the world. I wrote about finding poetry in the world, and in my heart, in this poem “Where I Find Poetry.”

Where I Find Poetry

by Georgia Heard

I open my eyes and what do I see?

Poetry spinning all around me!

In small ants trailing over the ground,

Bulldozing dry earth into cave and mound.

In a hundred grains of ocean sand,

that I cradle in the palm of my hand.

In a lullaby of April rain,

tapping softly on my window pane.

In trees dancing on a windy day,

when sky is wrinkled and elephant gray.

Poetry, poetry! Can be found 

in, out and all around.

But take a look inside your heart,

that’s where a poem truly likes to start.

One of the heart maps in the book is called WHERE I FIND POETRY HEART MAP where writers look closely at the world to find poetry in all of its surprising specificity and then write and draw on their heart maps. Here are two examples of student WHERE I FIND POETRY HEART MAPS:

Thank you again to Georgia...to these two young heart mappers...to Heinemann...to Suzi...and to everybody who stopped by today.

I wish each and every one of you very full hearts this week.  May your own hearts overflow with goodness, and may you have the eyes to see the burning candles in the hearts of others.  Please leave a comment on today's post (by midnight on Thursday, September 22) to be entered in the drawing for a set of two Georgia Heard books - the new HEART MAPS and the classic AWAKENING THE HEART.

Speaking of great giveaways, congratulations to Linda Mitchell of A Word Edgewise, winner of the five copies of YOU JUST WAIT from last week's post. Linda - please just send me a note to amy@amylv.com with your snail mail address, and the books will wing their way to you.  Thank you again to Janet and Sylvia of Pomelo Books for the generous gift!

In my other space, I am tickled to welcome fellow Poetry Friday blogger, writer, and teacher Kiesha Shepard to Sharing Our Notebooks.  Stop on over there, peek into her notebooks, leave a comment...and maybe, just maybe, thank you to Kiesha, you might win a Mary Oliver poetry book.

Today's Poetry Friday roundup is over with Michelle at Today's Little Ditty.  Enjoy all of the poetry joy all week long!

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