Friday, April 18, 2025

HELLO MY NAME IS - Day 18

Happy National Poetry Month!

(Feel free to search for poems in the sidebar or watch videos in the tab above.)


Hello, Poetry Friends! This month I am sharing poems written in the voice of Little Red Riding Hood, and I invite you to join me in writing in the voice of someone else too. You might choose a fairy tale character or a book character or a person from history or anyone else real or imagined. These are your poems, so you make the decisions. Each April day, I will share my poem and a little bit about writing poetry. Mostly, we’ll just be writing in short lines with good words and not worrying about rhyming. Meaning first. Our focus this month will be adopting the perspective of another…for 30 days. I invite you to join me in this project! To do so, simply:

1. Choose a character from fiction or history or somewhere else in the world of space and time, and commit to writing a daily poem in this person's voice for the 30 days of April 2025. You might even choose an animal.

2. Write a new poem for each day of April. Feel free to print and find inspiration from this idea sheet that I will be writing from all month long.


Teachers, if you wish to share any HELLO MY NAME IS... subjects or poems, please email them to me at the contact button above. I would love to read what your students write and learn from how they approach their own projects.

LITTLE RED RIDING HOOD'S POEMS SO FAR

Students - Writing the poems of the last two days, I knew that today's poem would be about delivering pie to the fairy tale forest neighbors. And today, I just wrote by watching, watching Nan and Lou pack their baskets and go. I did not think as much as usual about every single word, didn' t try to rhyme, didn't fuss with meter. This poem just wanted to live today, just as it is. Perhaps I will return to it later, move the words around, strengthen a verb, change a syllable count...perhaps not. But for today, everyone gets pie.

Thank you for joining me on this eighteenth day of HELLO MY NAME IS...

Thank you also to Jone for hosting this week's Poetry Friday roundup over at Jone Rush MacCulloch with an interview with Shirley Thacker. Each Friday, all are invited to share poems, poem books, poetry ideas, and friendship in this open and welcoming poetry community.

To learn about more National Poetry Month projects and all kinds of April goodness, visit Jama's Alphabet Soup where Jama has generously gathered this coming month's Kidlitosphere poetry happenings. And if you are interested in learning about or writing from any of my previous 14 National Poetry Month projects, you can find them here. Happy National Poetry Month!

xo,

Amy

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Know that your comment will only appear after I approve it.
If you are under 13 years old, please only comment 
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Thursday, April 17, 2025

HELLO MY NAME IS - Day 17

Happy National Poetry Month!

(Feel free to search for poems in the sidebar or watch videos in the tab above.)


Hello, Poetry Friends! This month I am sharing poems written in the voice of Little Red Riding Hood, and I invite you to join me in writing in the voice of someone else too. You might choose a fairy tale character or a book character or a person from history or anyone else real or imagined. These are your poems, so you make the decisions. Each April day, I will share my poem and a little bit about writing poetry. Mostly, we’ll just be writing in short lines with good words and not worrying about rhyming. Meaning first. Our focus this month will be adopting the perspective of another…for 30 days. I invite you to join me in this project! To do so, simply:

1. Choose a character from fiction or history or somewhere else in the world of space and time, and commit to writing a daily poem in this person's voice for the 30 days of April 2025. You might even choose an animal.

2. Write a new poem for each day of April. Feel free to print and find inspiration from this idea sheet that I will be writing from all month long.


Teachers, if you wish to share any HELLO MY NAME IS... subjects or poems, please email them to me at the contact button above. I would love to read what your students write and learn from how they approach their own projects.

LITTLE RED RIDING HOOD'S POEMS SO FAR

Students - Happy International Haiku Poetry Day! How beautiful and perfect to devote a special day to haiku here, as the Haiku Foundation's website says, "in the heart of the United States celebration of National Poetry Month."

As I often do when preparing to write a different form of poem, this morning I again read some of the poems in the archive of the Haiku Society of America's Haiku Award winners, in memory of Harold G. Henderson

I always learn so much about haiku from my friend Robyn Hood Black, artist, poet, and author who inspires me with her own haiku and knowledge of this form. You can read Robyn's haiku thoughts and ideas as well as some of her own haiku here at her website. Teacher friends, please note that Robyn generously includes many resources, including haiku teaching resources at this link.

Today's haiku brings us back into the forest as it is now time for Lou and Nan to deliver apple pies.

Thank you for joining me on this seventeenth day of HELLO MY NAME IS...

To learn about more National Poetry Month projects and all kinds of April goodness, visit Jama's Alphabet Soup where Jama has generously gathered this coming month's Kidlitosphere poetry happenings. And if you are interested in learning about or writing from any of my previous 14 National Poetry Month projects, you can find them here. Happy National Poetry Month!

xo,

Amy

Please share a comment below if you wish.
Know that your comment will only appear after I approve it.
If you are under 13 years old, please only comment 
with a parent or as part of a group with your teacher.

Wednesday, April 16, 2025

The Progressive Poem is Here!


On this day-past-midpoint-of-April, I am happy to be part of the annual National Poetry Month Kidlit Progressive Poem. Like a potluck dinner where everyone shares a meal, in this progressive poem, everyone offers a line, building one poem throughout the month of April. Irene Latham started this tradition and kept it going from 2012-2019, and in 2020, Margaret Simon became the new host, welcoming 30 poets to pen a communal poem throughout the 30 days of National Poetry Month.

My line follows Carol's line from yesterday:

Open an April window
let sunlight paint the air
stippling every dogwood
dappling daffodils with flair

Race to the garden
where woodpeckers drum
as hummingbirds thrum
in the blossoming Sweetgum

Sing as you set up the easels
dabble in the paints
echo the colors of lilac and phlox
commune without constraints

Breathe deeply the gifts of lilacs
rejoice in earth's sweet offerings
feel renewed-give thanks at day's end
remember long-ago springs

And in case you were wondering, today in in Western New York, spring looks like snow on daffodils!

Daffodils in Snow, April 16, 2025
Photo by Amy LV

Tomorrow I pass the springy baton to Kim at Common Threads

April 1 Linda Mitchell at A Word Edgewise
April 2 Tricia Stohr-Hunt at The Miss Rumphius EffectApril 3 Robyn Hood Black at Life on the Deckle EdgeApril 4 Donna Smith at Mainely WriteApril 5 Denise Krebs at Dare to CareApril 6 Buffy Silverman April 7 Jone Rush MacCullochApril 8 Janice Scully at Salt City VerseApril 9 Tabatha Yeatts at The Opposite of Indifference April 10 Marcie Flinchum AtkinsApril 11 Rose Capelli at Imagine the Possibilities April 12 Fran Haley at Lit Bits and PiecesApril 13 Cathy Stenquist April 14 Janet Fagel at Mainely WriteApril 15 Carol Varsalona at Beyond LiteracyLinkApril 16 Amy Ludwig VanDerwater at The Poem FarmApril 17 Kim Johnson at Common ThreadsApril 18 Margaret at Reflections on the TecheApril 19 Ramona at Pleasures from the PageApril 20 Mary Lee at A(nother) Year of ReadingApril 21 Tanita Davis April 22 Patricia FranzApril 23 Ruth at There’s no such thing as a Godforsaken townApril 24 Linda Kulp Trout April 25 Heidi Mordhorst at My Juicy Little UniverseApril 26 Michelle Kogan April 27 Linda Baie at Teacher DanceApril 28 Pamela Ross at Words in FlightApril 29 Diane Davis at Starting Again in PoetryApril 30 April Halprin Wayland at Teaching Authors

To learn about more National Poetry Month projects and all kinds of April goodness, visit Jama's Alphabet Soup where Jama has generously gathered this coming month's Kidlitosphere poetry happenings. And if you are here for Poem 16 of my National Poetry Month Project, you may find it HERE. Happy National Poetry Month!

xo,

Amy

Please share a comment below if you wish.
Know that your comment will only appear after I approve it.
If you are under 13 years old, please only comment 
with a parent or as part of a group with your teacher.