Welcome to my National Poetry Month project for 2017! Students - Each day of April 2017, I will close my eyes, and I will reach into my box of 64 Crayola crayons.
Aerial View of Crayola Box
Photo by Georgia LV
Each day I will choose a crayon (without looking), pulling this crayon out of the box. This daily selected crayon will in some way inspire the poem for the next day. Each day of this month, I will choose a new crayon, thinking and writing about one color every day for a total of 30 poems inspired by colors.
As of April 2, it happened that my poems took a turn to all be from the point of view of a child living in an apartment building. So, you'll notice this thread running through the month of colors. I'd not planned this...it was a writing surprise.
I welcome any classrooms of poets who wish to share class poems (class poems only please) related to each day's color (the one I choose or your own). Please post your class poem or photograph of any class crayon poem goodness to our Writing the Rainbow Padlet HERE. (If you have never posted on a Padlet, it is very easy. Just double click on the red background, and a box will appear. Write in this box, and upload any poemcrayon sharings you wish.)
Here is a list of this month's Writing the Rainbow Poems so far:
And now...today's crayon. Orange!
Our Elevator
by Amy LV
Students - Upon choosing orange, I couldn't decide if the color would be about elevator buttons...or a child wearing orange boots. So, I chose both. My stuck-moment for the day, though was meter. I wasn't sure how to get the rhythm rolling for today's verse.
So I turned to a mentor. Eve Merriam. Last night during the Poetry #NCTEchat on Twitter, this wonderful poet's name came up, and especially her whimsical book BLACKBERRY INK.
So I went to my shelves and...there it was! I opened and read and found a poem with a pattern that felt interesting. Merriam's poem begins like this:
It fell in the city,
It fell through the night,
And the black rooftops
All turned white.
I kept my book open as I wrote, learning from her use of repetition and rhyme. And because of this guidance of someone here-but-not-here, I was able to write today's poem.
If you are Writing the Rainbow with me, consider playing a rhyme or meter pattern that you admire. You're welcome to learn from me learning from Eve Merriam!
Colors can take us anywhere. And if you'd like to join in with your own poem at our Writing the Rainbow Padlet, please do! It is quite a beautifully hopping place.
Don't miss the links to all kinds of Poetry Month goodness up there in my upper left sidebar. Happy tenth day of National Poetry Month!
Please share a comment below if you wish.
I love the up and down rhythm, Amy! And my poem today also features an elevator! Synchronicity across the interwebs... xo
ReplyDeleteHi, Amy!
ReplyDeleteOrange is one of my favorite colors (sort of goes with living in Florida . . .)
so I love how you buttoned it onto splashy dash child boots.
And elevators - growing up in the country they were a machine of mystery to me. And they are not often in poems so I am tickled to find this lift. Here.
At your mention of it, I looked for Eve Merman's book on my shelves & came up without her clever title, so am adding it to the list, for the used bookstore visit.
I must have give it away awhile back.
I hope this color series is also widely shared about among art teachers, too.
I plan to give the link to
Sally A. down here in Florida, in case you hear from her by & by.
It's great how the Librarian you visited (photo on left) creatively scribbled around with the theme.
Happy weekend!