Remembering
by Amy LV
Students - This poem is dedicated to some friends that I miss. I didn't realize it until after I wrote the words, but as soon as I realized it...I knew it was true for sure. Sometimes our real feelings - of joy or sadness, of anger or confusion - find their way into our poems.
Many of you know that I love pretending, pretending that I am something or someone else. When I write, I can pretend to be anyone or anything anytime at all! There is magic in the pen, magic in the pencil, magic in the keyboard. I am Amy, and then I am a shell. You, too, can be another through the power of writing. Do remember though, even when you become another through writing, your own feelings find a way of seeping in.
This poem does rhyme, and the ending goes on, perhaps a little longer than you would have expected. I allowed it to do so, allowed the last lines to linger, to stretch out a few syllables past the expected rhyme scheme. To me, this lingering seems to echo the melancholy feeling of the shell subject.
You may wish to brainstorm a list of "If I were..." phrases in your notebook today or someday. Perhaps one will lead you to a poem idea. The list of things one might have been, might be, might one day become, is endless!
Thank you again, one last time, to all who visited and commented during my joyful Writing the Rainbow project each day of April. I loved reading your poems and ideas at our Padlet, and I am excited to tell you that we'll have some classes sharing their rainbow poems in this space soon. If you missed that April project, for a time you can still visit the poems HERE.
You'll find me today at the Milennium Hotel in Buffalo, NY, visiting happily with many many New York State librarians for the NYLA SSL 2017 Conference. I'll be signing books and teaching a little class at 11am. I so look forward to it!
Today's Poetry Friday fiesta, in all its gorgeousness, is with Jama at Jama's Alphabet Soup. Stop by her place to taste this week's poetry offerings all around the Kidlitosphere. We're a friendly group, and we keep the poetry fires burning all year long...not just in April.
Please share a comment below if you wish.
I like that lingering ending, Amy. You do a great job of gently sharing that feeling in your heart.
ReplyDeleteAmy -- So much emotion in that lovely poem, Amy. I have a seashell on my kitchen sink windowsill from a walk on the beach in NH. I hope it knows it puts a warm, joyful memory in my heart each time I look at it and ponder the day I found it. xx Christie @ https://wonderingandwondering.wordpress.com
ReplyDeleteWhat a gift you will be to those librarians, Amy! And those clams and snails are missing their shell for sure... nothing to help cure loneliness than to know the other is feeling lonely too.... xo
ReplyDeleteLove the way you waft into this lovely poem, the ear whispering that shells perform, Amy.
ReplyDeleteIt is so odd that these jewels most of us have plucked empty from a shore, come from another dimension to share the memory of an entire creature that kept house in it.
That is a joyful lonely somehow. You have real magic. I hope you enjoy your conference and book signing.
ReplyDeleteI hope you've had a fine, fine day, Amy, and less lonely that that shell. I may never onsider the objects on my desk again as static, and perhaps will attempt to make them less lonely! Remember our 'lonely wastebasket'!!
ReplyDeleteYou've captured the melancholy mood so well, Amy. Love how you're able to project your feelings into an inanimate object and create such a meaningful moment for the reader.
ReplyDeleteA lovely, wistful poem, Amy. Enjoy the conference - lucky teachers!
ReplyDeleteSo much wondering and so much feeling are packed into this poem about a simple shell. It makes me glad my shells from past beach trips are jumbled together in a large jar where they can be company for each other! Enjoy your time with the librarians
ReplyDeleteOh, I wish I was one of those librarians!
ReplyDelete"Lonely" is lovely. I noticed the way it ended and then loved reading your explanation. "If I were..." is a great journal activity. "There is magic in the pen, magic in the pencil, magic in the keyboard." I must remember that line.
ReplyDeleteYour poem is filled with longing and wistfulness.
ReplyDeleteI have a collection of shells that I pull out from time to time to inspire writing. I love how your poem takes us right into that shell and what it would miss and remember, but of course, it's really about you and what you miss and remember. Not actually its about me. That's the beauty and magic of poetry.
ReplyDeleteSuch a lovely, lonely longing...beautiful, Amy.
ReplyDeleteLucky librarians! Lucky us, to read your words (even if I am coming around a few days late)! I like the lingering, drawn out ending, kind of like listening to the sounds in a shell as they continue and continue.
ReplyDelete