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.
Below you may read the first poems:
And now for today!
Five Crows, Five Lines
Photo by Amy LV
Students - Since today is April 5, I thought I would write a limerick. They do have five lines! And while my limerick is more scientific than silly, it does follow the limerick pattern of:
- five lines
- matching end rhymes in lines 1, 2, and 5
- matching end rhymes in lines 3 and 4
What helped me most in writing today's five-liner, as is often the case with poetry, was a mentor. As I wrote my limerick, I kept going back to Edward Lear's "There Was an Old Man with a Beard," the limerick of my childhood. My meter matches his....alllllmost. The difference is that my third and fourth lines have six syllables each whereas his have five syllables each.
If you wish to try a limerick, you might want to memorize Lear's poem. Then you will have a mentor with you all the time. (I wonder if the Old Man of Lear's famous limerick ever had a crow in his beard!)
Thank you for joining me for ONE LINE CROW...
Thank you to the Kindergarten, First Grade, and Second Grade teachers and to the PTA of Seely Place Elementary School in Scarsdale, NY. I felt so welcome this week on my third return to your school, and I look forward to returning to the Edgemont School District again later this month for more assemblies and writing workshops with the primary students of Greenville Elementary School. Primary writers astound and inspire me, always.
Irene is hosting this week's Poetry Friday roundup over at Live Your Poem with so much goodness, from community poetry projects to moving prayer poems to the annual National Poetry Month Progressive Poem. 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.
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