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.
Nine Crows, Nine Lines
Photo by Amy LV
Students - One of the most interesting parts of this project so far has been the science learning. When I chose crows as my April subject, I admit to imagining a poem with "murder" as its focus. Because, see, in the world of words and poetry, we do talk about things like murders of crows. We like that surprise. We like funny and unusual uses of words. But scientists do not use such fanciful, poetic words for groups of birds. A group of crows is a flock, just as a group of geese is a flock. I read a couple of articles about this (here's one at Audubon) and decided to write about a group of crows after all, but in a different way, centered on what I learned.
Today's poem is a nonet, or a nine-line poem organized by syllables. The first line of a nonet has nine syllables, and the syllable number decreases by one in each line...concluding with a one-syllable line. I chose flock as my final syllable to emphasize that this is the proper name for a group of crows.
If you would like to read more about the nonet form, you may do so at MasterClass or, even better, explore everything about nonets with Irene Latham. She has written a whole wonderful book of them titled NINE: A BOOK OF NONET POEMS. Each of Irene's poems focuses on something related to the number nine and is written in the nonet form.
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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Practicing their caws! Haha! Great nonet!
ReplyDeleteThis is a fascinating lesson in poetry today! My whole class was counting syllables. :). Can you tell us what is in your pictures each day? We think they are toy crows, but disagree about what they are sitting on!
ReplyDeleteThis was my first nonet, and I so appreciate you all following along! I will demystify that crow backdrop on Thursday...thanks to you! xo, a. ps...They ARE tiny toy crows!
DeleteHooray for nonets...and for flocks instead of murders! (And yes, more information about the crows and what they're sitting on! Inquiring minds want to know!)
ReplyDelete