Happy National Poetry Month!
(For new poetry writing videos, see the COAXING POEMS tab above.)
Hello Poetry Friends! If you visited earlier this month, you may have noticed a change my National Poetry Month project title. For my National Poetry Month Project this year, I had originally planned to study crows and share a new crow poem each day of April with the number lines in each poem corresponding to the date. The plan was to write 1-line poem on April 1...and go all the way up to a 30-line poem on April 30. Now, for a variety of personal and poetic reasons, I have changed the project. The poems will go up to 15 lines...and then decrease from 15 back down to 1. Hence the new name: ONE MORE OR LESS LINE CROW. We are still on the MORE part, but beginning on April 16, we go back down in line numbers. Yes, the logo and the crow pics will change too!
Sometimes life surprises us, and we can change our plans to match the needs at the time. I chose to change course rather than abandon this project, and after some good thinking last night, I feel happy about this decision.
If you'd like to play along, simply choose a topic that you'd like to explore for many 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 many 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 and decide if you would like to match your line breaks to the date in any way. You might correspond 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 30 will have 30 lines. You may wish to switch it up as I have, writing increasing-line poems from 1-15 lines for this first half of April and then decreasing-line poems for the second half of the month. OR....invent your own idea!
4. Teachers and writers, if you wish to share any ONE MORE OR LESS 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.
Below you may read the first poems:
And now for today!
Twelve Crows, Twelve Lines
Photo by Amy LV
Students - Did you know that crows eat so many different types of food? If you put anything edible in front of them, they'll eat it! Each day of April so far, I have begun my writing by reading. Reading facts and information about the lives of crows. I do this to learn and to inspire myself because see...I have no idea where this month is going but simply follow the facts into poetry, day-by-day.
Today's poem is a list poem. A simple list. I could have included more foods (crows do eat it all): nuts, poison ivy, snails, lizards...but alas, I only had 12 lines. Initially I had broken up the lines differently and did not include the repetition of All food is good, but as I read it, I believed that to bring the title around to the end would be good and right. And for now, it is.
You might wish to write a list poem yourself. Think about your subject - any subject - and brainstorm some lists that could grow from it. Your list need not rhyme. But you may choose to add some repetition, perhaps repeating the first and last lines of your poem.
Thank you for joining me for ONE MORE OR LESS LINE CROW...
Jone is hosting this week's Poetry Friday roundup over at Jone Rush MacCulloch where she interviews Labuzzetta about her newly released book of ekphrastic nature poems. 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 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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The list makes a fun poem… kid readers will revel in that list that moves from garbage can to roadkill.
ReplyDeleteHope they also catch that explanation of how reading before writing is the foundation of this month’s poems.
Yes - it's so important to be able to bend but not break, to pivot when life throws curve balls at us. Plans might change, but we can turn that change into new inspiration, right? :)
ReplyDeleteYes, I see them hanging out just about everyone, pecking away at, well, you wrote it in your poem, Amy! Fun list!
ReplyDeleteWonderful example, Amy! Thank you.
ReplyDeleteOh, yes, those crows eat anything. We experience that in our town. They won't stay out of the trashcans. Fun poem. And I like that it is Young Crow.
ReplyDeleteA wise choice of path, Amy! I am happy for you that you allow yourself flexibility. I enjoyed the interspersed rhyme in your poem. Crows are fascinating creatures!
ReplyDeleteSuch a fun NPM project, Amy. And ...crows! Makes me giggle!
ReplyDeleteLOL...how does it look like you have 12 crows on a cookie? Great word, "anything!"
ReplyDeleteAmy, I love this idea of working lines up and down on a single subject. I might try it during another month. I also love how you address students later in your post. Thank you for be an inspiration - to me and many others! Carol at The Apples in My Orchard
ReplyDeleteThis poem makes me so happy. I love the toads to roads bit and rhyme especially... hooray for scavengers, cleaning up the world!
ReplyDeleteI am always delighted when I find my way to the Poem Farm. My students could definitely handle the research rabbit hole of this type of project. And a list is not too intimidating either. I'll see what they think. Most of April has been missing with Spring break and then I went away and then they will start testing. It's so disappointing to me. Alas, we do poetry year round!
ReplyDeleteThis is such an intriquing process. I love crows and the idea of studying a subkect and writing poems for a month.
ReplyDeleteCrows fascinate me and there are so many aspects of their nature that could act as poetry prompts. Such treasures here, as always, Amy.
ReplyDelete