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. For a variety of personal and poetic reasons, I have changed the project. The poems have lengthened to 15 lines...and now they decrease from 15 back down to 1. Hence the new name: ONE MORE OR LESS LINE CROW.
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!
Nineteen Crows, Twelve Lines
Photo by Amy LV
Students - Today's poem is a dozen lines long with the first four lines and the last four lines matching each other. Such a poem, with a repeating beginning and ending is called a circular poem. You end right where you began. Sometimes a poem is simple. This one is.
Thank you for joining me for ONE MORE OR LESS LINE CROW...
Heidi is hosting this week's Poetry Friday roundup over at my juicy little universe with thoughtful and inspiring Earth-celebratory poems by young people. 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.
Please share a comment below if you wish.
Know that your comment will only appear after I approve it.
If you are under 13 years old, please only comment
with a parent or as part of a group with your teacher.
Amy, weeping over carbonara among friends and knowing when you need to adjust are both signs of wise aging, if you ask me. Congratulations. I haven't been following every crowem here, but I HAVE been noticing and contemplating crows all April, thanks to you!
ReplyDeleteI have always been fascinated by crows. They are very smart and clever. A local children’s museum was home to Josie the Crow for many years, and my children loved her. She came to reside at the museum after an accident, but she in her earlier life, she was known for “borrowing” sandwiches from picnickers.
ReplyDeleteThank you, Amy!
ReplyDeleteI love watching crows, and had the plesure of hanging out with a pair a few days ago, not getting too close, but appeared to notice I was there. Yes, they're smart! Great project, Amy!
ReplyDeleteThose caws! They're always jabbering!
ReplyDelete