The Poem Farm is 15 years old tomorrow.
How lucky I feel to have been an in-person-and-virtual-visitor to classrooms, a reader of student and adult poems, and a part of this wise blogging community. My first poem at The Poem Farm, on March 29, 2010, was titled Spring. This space was meant to last for one month...yet here we are. I feel so much gratitude and love. And now...poetry.
Illustration from A UNIVERSE OF RAINBOWS
Painting by Jamey Christoph
Students - In just a couple of days, bookstore shelves will welcome this new Eerdmans book, A UNIVERSE OF RAINBOWS: MULTICOLORED POEMS FOR A MULTICOLORED WORLD with poems selected by Matt Forrest Esenwine and illustrations by Jamey Christoph. Divided into sections - Rainbows of Light, Rainbow Waters, Living Rainbows, Rainbows of Rock, and Rainbows Beyond - this book celebrates the joy and surprise of all kinds of rainbows, and each poem is accompanied by a scientific sidebar offering a few interesting facts.
My poem is about the Caño Cristales, a Columbian river I had never heard of before, a river sometimes called the "River of Five Colors" or the "Liquid Rainbow" because of the way it sometimes looks just like a flowing rainbow. A special aquatic plant named Rhyncholacis clavigera grows in this river, and this plant changes the river's colors change based on the temperature, rainfall, other interplay of other living things, and sunlight at any given time....so occasionally, it's rainbow-y!
I often write about things I know about or have experienced, and I have never visited Columbia, so it was interesting to once again dive into a bit of research-before-writing. It was also fabulous to travel to a new place in my mind, to read about and study photographs of a beautiful wonder so far from where I live. You might wish to do this - write about somewhere you have never been or maybe never even heard of. While I was assigned to write about this river, you might assign yourself a place by opening an atlas or a nature book to any page. Close your eyes, open the book, open your eyes...and there's your place. Bon voyage!
In terms of crafting, you might write in the voice of your place (we call this a mask or apostrophe poem)....or you, too, might notice one word that hopes to stand alone on a line because it's so important. Did you notice how I gave Color! its own line in this poem? I did so because I hope that readers will pause their reading around that word. This is why I left a lot of space around it. I also chose to have my river share a message at the poem's end - feel free to try that if it sounds like fun to you. What message would your place like to share with humans?
It is such a joy to welcome Mrs. Melinda Harvey's imaginative fourth grade writers from Iroquois Intermediate School to The Poem Farm today! Below you may read their poems inspired by IF I COULD CHOOSE A BEST DAY: POEMS OF POSSIBILITY, the new book with poems selected by Irene Latham and Charles Waters and illustrations by Olivia Sua. I shared my poem from this book a couple of weeks ago, and now feel fortunate to make space for these thoughtful IF poems.
Click the Left Right Corner to Enlarge
These poems made me wonder about so many things, so much so that I have started an I WONDER page in my notebook. Thank you, Mrs. Harvey, and thank you, poets!
Thank you to Marcie for hosting this week's Poetry Friday roundup over at Marcie Flinchum Atkins as she welcomes her new book ONE STEP FORWARD, "a YA historical fiction novel in verse about Matilda Young -- the youngest American suffragist imprisoned for picketing the White House to demand women's right to vote." Congratulations, Marcie! Each Friday, all are invited to share poems, poem books, poetry ideas, and friendship in this open and welcoming poetry community.
May your week ahead be full of surprises...and vibrant color too.
xo,
Amy
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! I am loving you in your red cape...and thank you for the breadcrumbs you've left for writers by sharing your Red Riding Hood prompts! What FUN! Thanks also for sharing the students' IF poems. So much imagination, so much possibility! xo
ReplyDeleteCongratulations on 15 years of The Poem Farm!! What a beautiful, welcoming, inspiring, and informative place you've created for poets of all ages. And congrats on having your poem in the new rainbow anthology (love it!). Must say, you look quite fetching in your red cape. :)
ReplyDeleteCongratulations on 15 years ! I have been following since day one and have enjoyed (and learned from) your poems. I look forward to following your Poetry Month project. xo
ReplyDeleteCongratulations on 15 years! You always have such wonderful projects for poetry month! I'm looking forward to reading how you bring Little Red to life.
ReplyDeleteFIFTEEN years! What a blessing to us. Thank you for all the good you shower like confetti. Your NPM project is going to be So. Much. Fun. I may have to write alongside you to keep my sanity as I write my acrostics! But whose voice would I choose...???
ReplyDeleteSo much poetry goodness lives at the Poem Farm. 15 years! I think I've known you for 10 of them. I have saved your poetry month project to invite my kids along. What a fun project!
ReplyDeleteWow, Amy, Congratulations on your fifteen years! I think I've followed you and been inspired by you all these years! I love the idea of this rainbow book, and your poem, about something unknown to me, the Caño Cristales river, is lovely to read in its voice! What a special thing it is. Thanks for all!
ReplyDeleteI can't wait to read this collection with students! I love that your students created their own IF poems. So great!
ReplyDelete