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.
Below you may read the first poems:
And now for today!
Seven Crows, Seven Lines
Photo by Amy LV
Students - You may be noticing that one week in, these crow poems are following one crow through its life cycle and that many of the poems include facts. I am not sure what will happen to our main character here, but I was startled to learn that half of baby crows do not make it through the first year. There is a lot of danger out there in the form of predators especially, and so crows stick close to their folks for quite a while.
When I write poems, I write without a plan, following my head and heart and hand. As I began realizing that today's poem would rhyme, I was not sure what I would do with that last line.
But of course...I had to shorten it. And repeat it. Yes, I could have kept it all on one line, but the new line creates a pause for the reader, and this pause emphasizes the brutal reality that Young Crow has half a chance to live one year...and half a chance to die. The pause creates time to think and to spotlight this natural drama.
to live one year...
...to live one year.
Remember line breaks. Remember repetition. They show a reader how to read. They show a reader what matters.
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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That last repeating line is so effective, making the reader think- yes, the world is sweet and dangerous.
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