Shadow Show - Poems About What We Always Do

Hand, Wall, Light, Shadow

Photo by Amy LV

Students - We all have favorite habits that become regular parts of our lives, small rituals and routines that tie one day to the next, that make us who we are.  Today's poem is about something that many children (and adults) like to do - make hand shadows!  Making hand shadows feels like a game between person, light, and wall, and today's poem celebrates this simple way to enjoy dusk or night.

This verse is made up of four quatrains (four line stanzas) with the second and fourth lines of each stanza rhyming.  Do you notice the repetition of the words my hands throughout?  I am hoping that this repetition makes it feel like the hands are dancing through the different lines, shaping words in the poem just like hands will shape pictures on a wall.

What are the simple joys that add happiness to your life?  The rituals that you carry from day to day?  These small habits will feed you well as a writer.

Well, happy last Poetry Friday of March 2015.  Weather-wise here in Western New York, March has come in like a lion...and it is going out like a poem!  Here's some news.

I am happy to share that on Monday evening, March 30, I will kick off Poetry Month by hosting a WonderChat for Wonderopolis on the topic of "Celebrating Wonder and Poetry."  The time for this is 8pm EST, and you can see the button for it up in the left  hand corner of this page.

Next Friday, the first Poetry Friday of Poetry Month, I'll be hosting Poetry Friday here at The Poem Farm.  Many Poetry Friday friends are planning poetry projects, and I can't wait to visit them throughout next month. I'll have a special month-long poetry project running here too, and I will announce this on April 1.  My host-post will go live at on Poetry Friday midnight for all poetry owls.

Next Sunday evening, April 5, also at 8pm EST (date may change - this is Easter), I will be happily co-hosting the Teach and Celebrate Writing Twitter Chat with Ruth Ayres and Christy Rush-Levine...also about poetry...hooray!

Jone is hosting today's Poetry Friday roundup over at Check it Out.  Swing on over to her place to meet new friends, find old ones, and bask in the joys of song and silence.

Please share a comment below if you wish.

I Hear the First Robin - Listening for Poems

Happy Spring!

Photo by Amy LV

Students - Spring is reaching Western New York!  And I am filled with joy.  And sometimes...when one is filled with joy, one must write a a poem about it.  Just the other day, we counted four robins sitting on a patch of grass (a patch of grass, not snow) in our yard.  It was fun to just count them, to think of all of the flowers and birds and goodnesses that will be bursting back to life in the next few weeks.

When I sat down to write yesterday, I began by imagining that I was hearing the flapping of robin wings from a far far distance, that I could hear spring coming, flap-by-flap, all the way to New York State.  That idea may find its way into another poem, but somehow, this robin in the verse above just wanted to sing its own poem today.

Listen for the poem that wants to be written.  For what wants to be written might surprise you.  You might not even know that you have a robin - or a lightning bolt - or a seashell - or a baseball - or a bowl of ice cream - living inside of you, waiting to speak.

We call these poems, poems that are in the voice of other beings or objects, persona poems or mask poems.  When you write such a poem, you have the opportunity to try on a new voice, to imagine what it would be like to speak and think and feel as another.  That's just neat, don't you think?

To learn more about the American Robin and to listen to its voice, visit All About Birds, the website of the Cornell Lab of Ornithology.

Happy first day of spring...from me and from the robin too!

In book sharing news, I have a giveaway going through the rest of today for two copies of THE POETRY FRIDAY ANTHOLOGY FOR CELEBRATIONS from pomelo books - one student edition and one teacher/librarian edition.  

Available through QEP Books

This is a big book full of fun and thoughtful poems for all year long, in both English and Spanish.  The poems were selected by Sylvia Vardell and Janet Wong creators of Poetry Friday Anthology series, and I am excited to have written the October 31 poem for Halloween.  If you would like to be entered to win a copy of this book, please leave a comment on the giveaway post at The Poem Farm Facebook page, a place where I share all kinds of poems and poetry news.  I'll announce the winner there tomorrow.

Catherine is hosting today's Poetry Friday party over at Reading to the Core.  All are welcome to stop by her place and join us as we pass the poetry cookie plate.

Please share a comment below if you wish.

Teaching Poems - What Do I Know?

New Friends
by Amy LV

Students - I am a dog lover!  Our family has two dogs, Cali and Sage, and we love them and they love each other. Sometimes when I walk down the street and see a new dog, I just want to get to know it.  But it's not so safe to pet strange dogs, so I always ask the owner and follow the steps in this poem when meeting a new dog.  When our chidren were small, I taught them to ask the owner for permission before petting any dogs as well.

This is a poem that teaches HOW to do something.  And writing a procedural poem is almost like writing a how-to book, only in a poem, the writer writes from line to line and the reader reads from line to line instead of from page to page.  You may notice that today's poem rhymes, but it rhymes in a conversational way.

What do you know how to do?  Funny things? Serious things? Crafts? Cooking? Games? Friendship tips? Building? Anything in the world...what could you teach? Might you write a poem about it?

Here is a dog I met last month in Grand Rapids, Michigan.  Just looking at his picture makes me smile.

Happy week ahead!  I wish you dogs!

Please share a comment below if you wish.

SPARKing Again - Collaborating with an Artist

Last week, I participated in Spark once more.  It had been a while since I had taken part in Amy Souza's brainchild where perfect friends or strangers swap art, music, or writing and are given ten days to make new art, music, or writing inspired by what they have been given.  I was so happily paired with artist Tora Estep.

Here you see the painting I received on the first day, and right after, you will see the poem that it inspired.

The Magpies

by Tora Estep

Below is the poem I gave to Tora on day one of our collaboration.  Right after, you will see her painting that grew from it.

Trees

by Tora Estep

Students - it is great fun to be part of this kind of collaboration, and this is why I have taken part in Spark several times. (If you wish, you can see all of the Spark collaborations I've been a part of here.)  And as I always say, try it!  Consider getting with a friend and swapping art or music or writing.  Give yourself a handful of days by which you must each create something new from what you have received.  If you do try it, please let me know...if it's poetry, I'd adore featuring you here.

We are so much more together than each of us can ever be alone.  Collaborating is a joy.

Speaking of collaborating, this week we celebrated a baby poetry book birthday! So many congratulations to Lee Bennett Hopkins and Alyssa Nassner for their new snuggly board book, LULLABY AND KISSES SWEET.  I am honored to have a poem in this book - it's cuddling with poems by so many of my poetry friends.

Available at Your Local Bookstore

Robyn Campbell is hosting today's Poetry Friday roundup over at her site, Robyn Campbell.  Visit there to learn about all of the poetry goodies being passed around all day, all night, all week long!

Please share a comment below if you wish.