Writing Our Surroundings

Time for Inside Fires

Photo by Amy LV

Students - The weather is getting much colder here in Western New York where I live, and because we are having new siding put on our house, I needed to bring all of last year's leftover firewood inside. Yes, I could have piled it out under a tarp, but why do so when it will just need to come in soon anyway? And truth be told, it is cozy living among the stacks of wood. I feel like a little mouse in a storybook.

So now, surrounded by wood, I cannot help but think about wood and then trees and then forests and then questions. Today's poem came from all of this - my right-now surroundings. When you sit down to write you might choose to look around and ask, "What am I surrounded by at this very minute?" Some days for me the answer may be as simple as "messes and cat fur," and some days it might be "cookies and candles." Anything nearby or around us can offer us thoughts and questions, and in this way too, I am thinking about what I wish to surround myself with. One cannot choose everything...but one can choose some of our surroundings.

You may have noticed that this poem has a repeating line - all of this firewood. I invite you to play with repeating one line throughout a poem or a story that you write. And too, if you're not sure how to end a piece of writing, this may be because you are wondering something. If so, just end with a question as I have done today. Writing strategies and techniques belong to all of us, and we can all learn from each other. 

Matt is hosting this week's Poetry Friday roundup over at Radio, Rhythm, and Rhyme with all kinds of good publishing news. Each Friday, all are invited to share poems, poem books, poetry ideas, and friendship in this open and welcoming poetry community.

I wish you good and warm and kind surroundings. And I wish you small ways to create these for others 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.

Make Small Observations

A Few Things

Photo by Amy LV

Students - This short poem lists four facts, the fourth of which wraps up the previous three. And while you may think that I wrote the poem after looking at my table, the truth is that I made the tea and placed these objects together only after the writing. Art is funny how it moves in cirlces and spirals and swirls, never in only one way. 

And how true it is that the humblest of things are often the most nourishing. Yesterday I listened to the podcast WE CAN DO HARD THINGS, and Guest Morgan Harper Nichols talked about collecting sticks outside. Host Glennon Doyle recounted picking up purple rocks and giving them to her daughter. And listening to both, I was reminded of times I have picked up sticks and rocks, times that different members of our family have done so. When my parents divorced years ago, I took a long walk in the woods, gathering smooth sticks that had lost their bark. I placed them into a vase and was comforted by their haunting beauty.

You might wish join me in listing a few facts about simple objects that bring quiet cheer. Perhaps a poem will grow from your observations too. One never knows, so it helps to try opening all kinds of poem locks with all kinds of imagination keys.

Marcie is hosting this week's Poetry Friday roundup today at Marcie Flinchum Atkins with a small celebration of chicory along with her plans for this August's Sealey Challenge. (I have never taken this challenge on before and am now inspired to do so.) Each Friday, all are invited to share poems, poem books, poetry ideas, and friendship in this open and welcoming poetry community.

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.