Happy National Poetry Month!
(Feel free to search for poems in the sidebar or watch videos in the tab above.)
Students - Today's how-to poem poured out of me. In my own life, I am thinking about building community and how sometimes just sharing food with neighbors and friends and even strangers (firefighters, teachers, librarians, police, nurses and doctors and med techs, suffering people) can make the world better. Nan knows this. Her instructions for baking pie weave back and forth from the technical steps of baking to more heart-full thoughts about love and care for others.
As I wrote, something interesting happened that happens on a somewhat frequent basis. I noticed that the poem I was writing matched the sound and repetition-feel of another poem. I paused mid-line to figure out which one.
Today's poem matches much of the meter of "Fort" from my book WITH MY HANDS: POEMS ABOUT MAKING THINGS. The reason for this is that last week I was fortunate to spend several days in Ohio schools, and I read "Fort" aloud a few times. Poem meters get into one's bloodstream like that. So let me recommend something to you. Find a poem that you like to read aloud. Read it aloud a few times a day, every day, for a week. Keep writing during this time. You may notice that the meter of the poem you have been reading seeps into your own writing. And if it doesn't, it may do so someday in the future when you don't even notice.
Remember Nan's advice. Bake. Make things. Sing with joy as you do so. Share the works of your hands with the world. It matters. It really does. Your song is contagious, even when you don't realize it.
Thank you for joining me on this sixteenth day of HELLO MY NAME IS...
To learn about more National Poetry Month projects and all kinds of April goodness, visit Jama's Alphabet Soup where Jama has generously gathered this coming month's Kidlitosphere poetry happenings. And if you are interested in learning about or writing from any of my previous 14 National Poetry Month projects, you can find them here. Happy National Poetry Month!
xo,
Amy
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