Happy National Poetry Month!
(For new poetry writing videos, see the COAXING POEMS tab above.)
This month I am studying crows, sharing a new crow poem each day of April. The number of lines in each poem will correspond to the date, with a 1-line poem on April 1...and a 30-line poem on April 30. If you'd like to play along, simply choose a topic that you'd like to explore for 30 days. It might be a subject that you already know a lot about or perhaps you'll explore something new.
I invite you to join me in this project!
To do so, simply:
1. Choose a subject that you would like to stick with for 30 days. You might choose something you know lots about...or like me, you might choose something you will read and learn about throughout April.
3. Write a new poem for each day of April 2024, corresponding the number of lines in your poem to the date. For example, the poem for April 1 will have 1 line. The poem for April 14 will have 14 lines. The poem for April 30 will have 30 lines. OR....invent your own idea! And if you start later in April, just play around however you wish.
4. Teachers and writers, if you wish to share any ONE MORE LINE... subjects or poems, please email them to me or tag me @amylvpoemfarm. I would love to see what your students write and to know that we are growing these lines...and our understandings of different subjects...together.
Ten Crows, Ten Lines
Photo by Amy LV
Students - Crows are such an exquisite pure black. Today I simply wanted to linger on that fact of beauty.
Today I thank the magnificent British poet and teacher Brian Moses. In his recent blog post titled Stretching Similes, he writes:
"In my sessions with young writers I often ask them to take a well known simile and stretch it till it says something new. As slow as a snail could become as slow as a snail pushing a brick. Make a giraffe even taller by stretching as tall as a giraffe to as tall as a giraffe on stilts."
I adore this idea! One of my revision lenses is to scoop too-familiar similies and metaphors OUT OF my writing, dumping them down the drain. This idea of stretching - playing - with such language deeply intrigues me, and I played with the commonly used simile black as night for today's poem. Note the repetition too. Today's poem does not rhyme, so this "stretching similies" technique combined with the repetition of black as night makes it feel a bit poem-y.
Honestly, I cannot stop thinking about Brian's idea and recommend trying this. Read Brian's post...and try what he says. He is a generous master.
Thank you for joining me for ONE LINE CROW...
To learn about more National Poetry Month projects and all kinds of April goodness, visit Jama Rattigan at Jama's Alphabet Soup where Jama has generously gathered this coming month's happenings. Happy National Poetry Month!
xo,
Amy
ps - If you are interested in learning about any of my previous 13 National Poetry Month projects, you may do so here.
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What a fantastic craft move from Brian and so well-played by you!
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