Time for Inside Fires
Photo by Amy LV
Students - The weather is getting much colder here in Western New York where I live, and because we are having new siding put on our house, I needed to bring all of last year's leftover firewood inside. Yes, I could have piled it out under a tarp, but why do so when it will just need to come in soon anyway? And truth be told, it is cozy living among the stacks of wood. I feel like a little mouse in a storybook.
So now, surrounded by wood, I cannot help but think about wood and then trees and then forests and then questions. Today's poem came from all of this - my right-now surroundings. When you sit down to write you might choose to look around and ask, "What am I surrounded by at this very minute?" Some days for me the answer may be as simple as "messes and cat fur," and some days it might be "cookies and candles." Anything nearby or around us can offer us thoughts and questions, and in this way too, I am thinking about what I wish to surround myself with. One cannot choose everything...but one can choose some of our surroundings.
You may have noticed that this poem has a repeating line - all of this firewood. I invite you to play with repeating one line throughout a poem or a story that you write. And too, if you're not sure how to end a piece of writing, this may be because you are wondering something. If so, just end with a question as I have done today. Writing strategies and techniques belong to all of us, and we can all learn from each other.
Matt is hosting this week's Poetry Friday roundup over at Radio, Rhythm, and Rhyme with all kinds of good publishing news. Each Friday, all are invited to share poems, poem books, poetry ideas, and friendship in this open and welcoming poetry community.
I wish you good and warm and kind surroundings. And I wish you small ways to create these for others too...
xo,
Amy
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Lovely poem, Amy - and yes, repeating lines are a great way for students to think about their subject in different ways. And thank you again for contributing to "Rainbows!"
ReplyDeleteAmy, we have a fire-burning stove...and NEVER use it. Oh, Alabama weather... We even have a firewood storage shed, which I have repurposed as an outdoor art gallery. So I especially love your poetic celebration of firewood, because here is a way I can enjoy it! xo
ReplyDeleteWe have a fireplace and firewood stored outside, but rarely make fires . . . love your poem and hearing your read it!
ReplyDeleteI don't have a fireplace anymore & miss it so much. I love what you've done with those surroundings, bumped up this time! It's a lovely rhythm, Amy, and so beautifully filled with your imagination!
ReplyDeleteI love the ending with 'secrets it knows.'
ReplyDeleteLove the rhythm and rhyme in your poem, Amy. I also appreciate how the fire is almost like a friend whose backstory we learn and whose future we wonder about.
ReplyDeleteThank you for the invitation to write my "right-now surroundings." My wandering imagination sometimes needs to sit down beside me and see the joy in all this clutter!
ReplyDeleteAmy, the repetition in your poem and the way you brought us to your ending.
ReplyDelete