A Party in Red Boots!

Red Boots
(Purchase your own pair here!)
Photo by Maria Pieroni

Click the arrow to hear me read this poem to you.

Students - The idea for this poem came from the red boots on the girl in my new book, FOREST HAS A SONG!  When I first had a peek at Robbin Gourley's illustrations last May, I was tickled to see these red boots.  Our daughter Georgia had a pair of red boots that she wore for a very long time, and so it just felt perfect.  In fact, when Mark made the book trailer for FOREST, we got Georgia a new pair so that she could dress like the book character.  Then...for the party, we got Hope a pair, and a pair for me too!  So three gals in our family were red-booted.

The idea for this poem also came from an older book, RED IS BEST by Kathy Stinson that I just found on my search for good books about opinions.  I love the red boots and the celebration of red throughout the book.

Shop Indie Bookstores

If you look closely at today's poem, you will notice a couple of things about its structure. First of all, it is simply a list with a repeating line at the beginning of each 2-line stanza. You will also notice that the second line of each stanza includes a color smushed together with another word.  I do like smushing words together sometimes...but only when it feels right.  Originally, this poem only had a few smushes, but then I went back and revised to let every color have a smushpartner.

Do you have a favorite piece of clothing or footwear? Why is it your favorite?  Writing today's poem has given me a whole world of new ideas for new poems about clothing and shoes.  You might want to try writing about a favorite piece of clothing or a favorite pair of shoes yourself!  Or perhaps you'll write with a repeating line.  Or maybe you'd like to try a list poem.  Or maybe you would like to smush some words together.  Or maybe...you have a completely new and unrelated writing idea of your own.  If you do, let it out!

On Tuesday March 26, we had a release party for FOREST HAS A SONG at my friend Alix Martin's art gallery, redFISH Art Studios in East Aurora, NY.  I wish that you all could have been there....but here are a few pictures of the night to give you a peek into the festivities!  My dear college friend, Noelle, surprised me by coming to the party...all the way from North Carolina!

My First Book Illustrated by Robbin Gourley

and Published by Clarion, 2013

Cake by Luci Levere and Bakers at The Elm Street Bakery

Photo by Maria Pieroni

Alix Martin, Owner of redFish Art Studios With Me

Photo by Maria Pieroni

Book Table

Photo by Maria Pieroni

A Full Gallery

Photo by Maria Pieroni

Larry Buys 13 Copies?!

Photo by Maria Pieroni

Cheers!

Photo by Maria Pieroni

Mark Toasts with Summons by Robert Francis, our Wedding Poem

Photo by Maria Pieroni

I Sign Books Alongside the Doll Made by Dawne Hoeg 

and Above Robbin Gourley's Development Sketches

Photo by Maria Pieroni

This was a wonderful, magical night for me and for our whole family.  We were overwhelmed with gratitude for so many wonderful friends and colleagues and all of their generosity!  I will never forget any of it.

This week, reviewers and friends all around the Kidlitosphere have been generous toward my first book, and I am incredibly grateful for so many kind words and warm welcomes. I'm beginning to organize the reviews in two places if you are interested in reading any of them - here at my website, and on this Pinterest board.  If you are a reviewer who would like a review copy, please just send an e-mail with your address, to amy at amylv dot com, and I will be happy to ask Clarion to send you a copy.  

And now.....onto National Poetry Month.....beginning on Monday, April 1!  Last year, I took a Dictionary Hike.  This year, my April poetry project will be called 'Drawing into Poems'. Each day of the month, I am going to slow myself down, look closely at something, draw it, and take notes around my drawing. I'll photograph and share the drawing and notes on The Poem Farm each day. From time-to-time, at least on Fridays, I'll share a poem inspired by my drawings and notes. The purpose of this project is to help me see more clearly and to help me linger on images.

Voting begins soon in the Final Four (Round 5) in this year's Think Kid, Think! Competition with Ed DeCaria. Head on over here to vote....voting begins soon.

You can begin planning your blog visits for National Poetry Month by starting at Jama's Alphabet Soup where Jama is keeping a running list of everyone's various poetry projects around the Kidlitosphere.  And for more inspiration, visit poets.org.

Mary Lee is hosting today's Poetry Friday roundup over at A Year of Reading.  Visit her to find out what's happening poetry-wise in the Kidlitosphere today....  

Please share a comment below if you wish.

To find a poem by topic, click here. To find a poem by technique, click here.

Like The Poem Farm on Facebook for more poems, articles, and poemquotes!

I Love Choosing & Hooray for P*TAG!

Ballerina Georgia in 2004

Photo by Amy LV

Students - Last week, I was chatting with my sister-in-law about our young niece. They had gone together to see a ballet, and our niece chose her own outfit: red and black plaid dress, red and black plaid tights, Mardi Gras beads wrapped 'round her wrist again and again as bracelets, sparkly shoes, and hair in a side ponytail. I couldn't help thinking, "What a lucky girl to pick her own clothes!"

So, last night when I sat down to write, I remembered this conversation and decided to write about those funcrazy outfits that we choose all by ourselves. I found today's poem idea in a recent telephone conversation, remembering that story that my sister-in-law told me about our niece. Try this technique yourself. Sit quietly and think about the conversations you've had in the past week. What do you remember? Find a conversation that might grow into a poem or a story and just jump in!

This week I also reread the new P*TAG, a new digital poetry anthology for teens. Snuggled up by the heater, I scrolled through poem and photograph after poem and photograph, remembering what it was like to be a teenager. So much of that time came back to me, from conversations with friends to my feelings about boys to my own questions about growing up.

Available through Amazon

Brought to us by Sylvia Vardell and Janet Wong, this collection includes poems by so many well-loved writers for teens: Arnold Adoff, Jaime Adoff, Kathi Appelt, Jeannine Atkins, Jen Bryant, Margarita Engle, Betsy Franco, Helen Frost, Lorie Ann Grover, David L. Harrison, Stephanie Hemphill, Sara Holbrook, Lee Bennett Hopkins, Paul B. Janeczko, Michele Krueger, Julie Larios, JonArno Lawson, J. Patrick Lewis, Kimberly Marcus, Heidi Mordhorst, Naomi Shihab Nye, Michael Salinger, Joyce Sidman, Marilyn Singer, Sonya Sones, Charles Waters, April Halprin Wayland, Steven Withrow, Allan Wolf, Janet Wong, and Tracie Vaughn Zimmer. Sylvia took all of the photographs, and one-by-one, each poet tagged another, just as in POETRY TAG TIME.

P*TAG is available only as a digital download ($2.99!) for your Kindle, iphone, Android, or computer, and it's a great gift for a teen in your life or the teen in yourself. If you haven't taken a peek at this or at POETRY TAG TIME, I highly recommend both as strong collections that may well introduce you to poets you have never read.

For another wonderful e-collection by Janet Wong, check out ONCE UPON A TIGER, poems and artwork about endangered animals.

Janet Wong's poem, published in this fall's issue of the JOURNAL OF CHILDREN'S LITERATURE, expresses the way I feel when I hand my own phone to Hope, Georgia, or Henry for poetry reading in the back seat of our car.

The Line

We've been standing in line
five long minutes.
I'm starving but Mom won't let me
sneak a snack from the cart.
It's hard to stand there waiting, nothing to do, and Mom
knows it (because I know she's starving, too).

Then out of nowhere
she hands me her cell phone
and tells me to read the screen:
"Loud enough so I can hear."
A poem? I can't believe it:
I like the poem. It's funny.
The old lady behind us laughs so hard
she spit-sprays in my ear.
I put my hoodie up.
Mom asks for another.
It's good. I like this one even better,
even if it's not funny.
Even if it doesn't rhyme.
It makes me forget about the line
and makes me remember summer.

Three and a half poems later,
Mom says, "Time to go home."
I look up. The groceries are in their bags.
The checker says: "Wait! Won't you read
the ending, please?"

Janet Wong

Jama Rattigan, hostess extraordinaire, is holding today's Poetry Friday party at Jama's Alphabet Soup. And when Jama has a party, you don't want to miss it! Enjoy the food and festivities...  Happy Poetry Friday!

(Please click on POST A COMMENT below to share a thought.)