Two Dogs - Combining Reality and Fantasy

Dog Brushing

by Amy LV

Students - Today's verse grew from an interruption.  I was writing in my notebook yesterday morning when our daughter walked into the room to tell me how when pulling some burdocks from Sage, she pulled out a huge clump of fur.  This reminded me of times we've brushed huge piles of fur out of Sage, times we've said, "We could make a new dog out of this pile!"

Once again, I learned that paying attention to the world - even when writing - can yield an idea.  It may be a weird idea, but an idea nonetheless.

Sound-wise, today's poem is a little bit breathless.  I could have broken it up into stanzas (where would you do this?) but instead, I kept the lines in one big blob.  I did this because I like the way the lines run all into each other, the way this makes a reader read more quickly.  It feels like a story-I-want-to-tell-now!

Often, I will take a bit from my real life and then play with the reality, adding just a wee bit of fantasy.  The dog is real.  We really brush her.  We really get a pile of fur. The fur pile really feels large enough to make a new dog. But the magic words?  Nope.  And the new dog growing?  Nope.  That's where I play.  Try this yourself  sometime. Start real.  End unreal. 

Our Dog Sage

Photo by ? LV

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Oh! A Poem from a Puppy!

Morning with Sage and Bonfire

Photo by Amy LV

We have a new puppy at our house!  Sage is a Border Collie/Great Pyrenees mix, and we adopted her from a friend in the sheep barn at the Wyoming County Fair this week.  Watching Sage explore the world, I am again reminded of each of our children as toddlers, and every puppy and kitten I have ever known.  The world is new!  Who are you?

Students - this morning as I tried to sleep past 6:00am, Sage was wide awake and ready to play.  She was ready to bite on rocking chair rockers, to teethe on my hand, and to bounce about the living room.  Rather than try to settle her down, I brought her outside and watched her romp and wiggle through dewy grass, intrigued by sticks and kitties, unripe Concord grapes and flowers.  Watching Sage play, I wrote this poem from her point of view.  Sometimes writing is easier when you are right close and watching what you are writing about.  Why all of those exclamation marks?  Well, that's how I think Sage would talk if puppies spoke English!

Dori is hosting today's Poetry Friday over at Dori Reads with her own collection of books and words from many friends...

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Line Breaks and White Space in Poems

 White Space

Photo by Amy LV

After a year of daily poems and strategy ideas.  I will be revisiting one strategy/technique for each day of April.  Today's thought is: pay attention to line breaks and white space when you read and write poems!

Line Breaks and White Space in Poems

Students - one of the most obvious things we can notice about poems is that they look different from prose (or non-poems).  Poems have shorter lines than paragraphs, and they are surrounded by white space.  The place where a poet chooses to end one line and begin another is called a line break.  Thus, the ends of lines are called "line breaks."

White space is the area around the poem.  If you were writing on a red piece of paper, I suppose you could call it "red space," but we really do call it "white space."

Line breaks and white space help readers know how to read a poem out loud and inside their heads.  Sometimes one makes a weeny pause at the end of a line, to honor the rhythm and emphasis placed there by the poet.  However, poems are not meant to have huge pauses at the end of each line, and they should not be read like a whole class of students yelling something such as, "THANK YOU FOR THE PIZZA!"

Did you ever notice how groups of people can sound like robots when they say the same thing at the same time?  You may have heard this when your class says the "Pledge of Allegiance" or something else in unison.  It is understandable how this happens as a group reads together, but this is not really a good way to read poems.  Robot-read words lose meaning.  When we read aloud or in our heads, it is important that we hold onto the meaning and read with that in mind.

Do not read like a robot as you read line breaks in your own or others' poems. 

Do pay close attention to line breaks and white space.  Notice how a poet makes decisions.  Do the repeating lines all look alike?  Does one word or one line stand all by itself?  Do lines go down the page in a certain way?  Why do you think the poet did this?

Read like a human being with emotions and a thinking mind.

(Did you see how I put that one sentence on a line all by itself?)

Here are a few poems from this year which may give you something interesting to talk about regarding line breaks and white space.  Please let me know if you try something based on what you learn.

May 2010

November 2010

November 2010

May 2010

July 2010

January 2011

 November 2010

This Month's Poetry Revisits and Lessons So Far

April 1 - Poems about Poems

April 2 - Imagery

April 3 - Poems about Animals We Know
Today - Line Breaks and White Space

In the beginning of May, I would love to highlight and share student poems which have been inspired by any of this month's posts.  Teachers and homeschooling parents: I welcome your students' work and plan to hold a special book giveaway for poet participants!  

Please send any pieces your students are willing to share, along with a brief bit from the writer about the inspiration/story behind the poem to amy at amylv dot com.  

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Poems About Animals We Know

 Animals

by Amy LV

After a year of daily poems and strategy ideas.  I will be revisiting one strategy/technique for each day of April.  Today's thought is: remember, honor, and write about animals we know and have known.

Poems About Animals We Know

Students - some time ago, I read a haunting and true poem by Miller Williams titled "Animals."  In this poem, Miller speaks to the fact that our lives are almost like chapters of animals; we can remember different parts of our lives based on the animals we knew at that time. 

Some animals are closer to us than others, and some of us do not have pets at all.  But we all remember the animals we have loved: pets, pets of relatives, friends' pets, class pets, animals in the wild and in the cities near our homes.  Even animals from books reach into our hearts and lives.

The following are poems from this year which acknowledge loved animals.

Country Cats

Class Pet

My Dog

October Dilemma

Cat and Dog Snuggle

Daisy (dedicated to Bonnie Evancho and her family)

She'd Tell You

Kittens

If you wish to write an animal poem, you might start by making a list in your notebook or on a piece of paper of all of the animals you have known.  These might even include animals you have not known well, but who somehow touched you.  Once you have a list like this, you may find yourself returning to it again and again.

This Month's Poetry Revisits and Lessons So Far

April 1 - Poems about Poems

April 2 - Poems with Imagery

Today - Poems about Animals We Know

In the beginning of May, I would love to highlight and share student poems which have been inspired by any of this month's posts.  Teachers and homeschooling parents: I welcome your students' work and plan to hold a special book giveaway for poet participants!  

Please send any pieces your students are willing to share, along with a brief bit from the writer about the inspiration/story behind the poem to amy at amylv dot com.  

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Walk Your Dog in Poem #362

Cali on Road

Photo by Amy LV

Cali in Woods

Photo by Amy LV

Cali in Field

Photo by Amy LV

Students - it is amazing to take a walk with our dog Cali.  She is incredibly fast, swerving in and out, in between trees, splashing in the creek, disappearing for a long time until poof!  She's back.  She runs as I walk, and she never ever looks tired.  I think that her walks are always ten times longer than mine are.

The photos above are from the walk that the two of us took yesterday.  Notice how they are all from behind Cali.  She is one quick dog!

What amazes you?  Write about it.

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Poem #355...But Not Really

This poem does not count for #355.  It does not count because it is too like the poem "Anteater" by Shel Silverstein.  However, I wrote the whole post after I realized that I had ripped the poem off somehow through my own childhood memories of Shel's poem.  How I loved his books through the 1970s and 1980s.

Students - this happens sometimes.  There are times when you write something and then afterward realize that your work is too much like someone else's work.  Then, it's time to get back to writing and dig around for something else.

I have left the poem and post below just for your entertainment of my sigh-of-a-writing-evening!

Students - where did this poem come from?  Who knows!  Sometimes I think that verses come from the lint that collects in my brain all day long.  At day's end, I sweep up my head and whatever ends up in the dustpan is the poem.  

For this one, I simply got jotting in my notebook, and this line appeared -

What would you do if an anteater swallowed your aunt? 

One thing led to another, and this silly homophone poem was born.  The last few lines took me a while because I could not decide whether to use the word "shame" or "blame."  The original ending read, "I am not a good speller/so I'm not to blame."  There were two reasons I changed it.  The first reason was that I did not want a contraction in the poem.  The other reason was that this chosen ending just sounded funnier to me.

Homophones are tricky!  To refresh your memory of what they are, homophones are pronounced the same way, but they are spelled differently.  For a great list of English language homophones and homonyms, as well as definitions for each, check out Tracy's site Taupecat.

To see a map of where people say 'aunt' to rhyme with 'ant' compared to where people say 'ahnt,' check out Quora.

Hmmm...I'm wondering if this poem has anything to do with the fact we have an ant problem in the kitchen right now.  Just thought of that.  Bet it does!  Maybe I need this guy to come for a visit.

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Watch The Iditarod in Poem #348

Today's poem is dedicated to librarian Cecilia Driscoll's third grade students at Elma Primary School in the Iroquois Central School District.  They are studying the Iditarod and asked for a poem about it.

Students - It's a healthy stretch to write a poem for someone else from time to time.  In life, we all have days and experiences when we must write about things we might not normally choose or know a lot about.  In order for me to write this poem, I needed to do a bit of research.  

A note about revision.  I wrote this poem early in the day yesterday and revisited it several times throughout the day.  Doing this helped me to put some words "back on the shelf" and to "put some new ones in the cart."  For example, line 3 originally read, "on the heels of the ghosts."  Changing 'the' to 'old' allowed me more word variety and also another echo of the long 'o' sound in that first stanza.  As writers, we must reread our own writing with a listening ear, never certain that "this is good enough."

At The Official Site of the Iditarod, you can find out anything you'd like to know about the history, mushers, trail, and current race standings.  What I loved learning was about how The Iditarod Trail is actually the real trail that sled dogs ran long ago to move supplies in and out.

Here is an article about some recent news from this year's race.

I am grateful to the Mrs. Driscoll and her third graders for this stretch.  Let someone stretch your writing today!

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Recycle with Birds - Poem #342

Nest Woven with Wool

Photo by Amy LV

Students - this poem came from sitting and thinking in a spot of sun.  I was listening to the spring-hopeful birds, looking out of our living room window, and I remembered the time my children and I saved their hair to leave out for the birds.  One word dipped into another, and my thoughts turned to how birds and animals are wise and resourceful in using their surroundings.  

This poem is about something I admire about birds.  What animal do you admire?  Why?  Is this something you might write about?

In the nest above, you can see a lot of sheep wool.  I've posted this photo before...I love it!  Because we have sheep, the birds around our home help themselves to wool on the ground, wool stuck to tree trunks, all colors of wool!  For more nest poems, see poem #240 and poem #275.

This spring, if you examine the nests around your home, you will see which building materials your own neighbor birds use.  If you're feeling project-y, you might even leave out strands of yarn or string or even your own hair!

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Poem #341 Remembers What it Used to Be

Henry Sands His Gourd

Photo by Amy LV

Hope Waits for Chickadees

Photo by Amy LV

Today's poem is dedicated to Brittany Bruce's kindergarten students at Calvin Coolidge Elementary School in Binghamton, NY.  I visited their school in February, and the students and I played a little "I used to be" game, remembering which animals we each "used to be."  

Brittany asked if I had a poem in this form, and I didn't exactly.  Our game was inspired by a poem I wrote for POETRY TAG TIME, coming to Kindles next month, but that poem does not have this simple repeating line, "I used to be."  Hence, a new poem!  Students - writing is like that sometimes.  Sometimes you realize that you just need a new poem, and the only way to get it is to make it.

So....here is an "I used to be" poem for Brittany's students.  Perhaps they will share some of their own "I used to be" poems with us one day!  

You can read a tidbit about POETRY TAG TIME at Sylvia Vardell's Poetry for Children, and I will have more about it here very soon.

Today's photos are brought to you from yesterday's 4-H meeting here at our home where we began making birdhouses out of birdhouse gourds.  This is a very pleasing project, and while we're not all finished with the wood burning, these houses are very inviting.  

In the second photo, you can see Hope standing beneath a test-gourd which we turned into a feeder.  If you could see it closely, you would notice that it has been decorated by many different people and with two different test colors of stain.

Hope is very patient.  She had seven chickadees feed from the seed she'd placed on her hat, and one right from her hand.  Did you know that chickadees will eat from your hand?

This spring, we are going to plant these gourds!

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Poem #318 Celebrates a Basket of Kittens

Georgia & Kittens in 2008

Photo by Amy LV

Students - we each have life topics, memories, special times that we think and reflect upon over and over again.  I have written about these kittens before, in honor of their mother for Mother's Day.  Somehow I believe that I will return to this memory of kittens again and again, in both my writing and heart.

Pat Schnieder's poem, "How the Stars Came Down" speaks to the power of memory, especially these lines:

...when I got home

home wasn't my real home any more.

I had a new home in my remembering

and it was dark and safe and beautiful

with shooting stars all around.

Read the whole poem, in all of its gorgeousness, here.

I love this idea of "a new home in my remembering." What can each of us do to create internal "homes of remembering" for our loved ones and strangers too? 

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Miss Robin Longs for Home in Poem #315...

Miss Robin in the South

by Georgia LV

Miss Robin in the North

by Georgia LV

This is poem #5 in Story Poem Week, a week long project to write poems that tell stories.  This story is short and in the present tense; I imagine our Springtime harbingers awaiting their trip home to our yards and trees and bushes.

Students - My first work on this poem, the work in pencil on unlined paper, did not include this last stanza, but rather ended with Miss Robin's words.  When I typed it, however, I felt that something was missing.  In search of endings, I often go back to beginnings, asking , "Is there a glint of silver that I might reflect in the last lines, a moon to reflect the morning's sun?"  Today there was.

If you ever find yourself wondering how to end a writing piece, be it a poem or a story or even a  nonfiction piece or persuasive letter -- reread your beginning and you might find the silver you need.

If you are interested in having your American Robin questions answered, check out this post by Journey North who has also written a little book about the same topic.  Of course you can find lots of information, including the American Robin's song, at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, a rich source for everything-bird.

Once more, don't forget that the Great Backyard Bird Count begins on February 18.  You can participate in important and fascinating research by keeping track of the birds in your yard for four days!

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Baby Owl Won't Say "Who?" in Poem #314

My New Paperchase Notebook

This is poem #4 in Story Poem week, a week of poems that tell stories.

Students - Yesterday I had no idea what I would write about.  I sat down at my old wooden desk, and immediately my eyes lit upon this brand new owl notebook.  As soon as I saw the cover, a "What if...?" popped into my head.  "What if a baby owl refused to say Who?"

The words from this poem also hailed from the new Newbery Medal winner, MOON OVER MANIFEST, by Claire Vanderpool.   In each of the sections of "Hattie Mae's News Auxiliary," Hattie Mae promises to share "all the whos, whats, whys, whens, and wheres by next week..."   Surely this repeated section has been echoing in my writing head.

The baby owl here appears in another poem, and perhaps this is why today's poem wrote itself easily.  That other poem, "First Flight," will appear in my first book, FOREST HAS A SONG, illustrated by the wonderful watercolorist Robbin Gourley and published by Clarion Books next fall.

Teachers - for another post about asking "Why?" visit Ann Marie Corgill's blog, AM Literacy Learning Log where you can read her thoughts about this question.  Ann Marie is the author of OF PRIMARY IMPORTANCE, a book I highly recommend if you teach writing to primary students.

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