Do You Have a Secret?

Snow Body

by Amy LV

amylvpoemfarm · I Have A Secret - a poem by Amy Ludwig VanDerwater

Students - I am reading (finishing, sigh!) a wonderful, magical book right now titled THE MURMUR OF BEES by Sofia Segovia. This novel takes place during the time of the Spanish Flu, and I am especially intrigued by the character of Simonopio who has a mystical relationship with bees. Perhaps this is why today's poem involves a bit of enchantment. I awoke this morning and simply took some quiet time to think. And at once, I could almost feel my body fill with snow. I could see this, this thing that is not true yet feels true.

If I really DID have a body filled with snow, no one would be able to see it. This would be a secret, and while it is not true, it feels like a true secret today. What might be a true possible secret for you? Go ahead and just sit still and think. Imagine. Allow the magic in. And if you wish, write about your secret. You need not show your writing to anyone, but of course you may if you wish.

And remember, what we put into our hearts and minds comes out in one way or another, so it is important to consider what we allow our brains and hearts to eat. I think I will be reading more magical realism.

Speaking of magic and connections, I feel so fortunate to have participated in one of Tabatha's poetry swaps this summer. Tabatha, of The Opposite of Indifference, often gets such good fun going, and last week, my mailbox and I were tickled to receive this beautiful notebook made by Jone of DeoWriter! 

Poem and Notebook by Jone

Photo by Amy LV

Her lovely poem reads:

bristly rose pollen

a bee gathers nature's gold

for future poems

I adore how Jone refers to pollen as nature's gold and adore imagining the future poems of honey. Does Jone know we have bees and hope to harvest honey for the first time this year? Does she know that I have planted these exact roses out front of our home? Does she know that I am reading THE MURMUR OF BEES? Magic. Magic and gratitude. Thank you to Jone and to Tabatha for bringing such a perfect poem present to me.

Molly is hosting this week's Poetry Friday party over at Nix the Comfort Zone with the roundup and a monotetra poem bidding farewell to her area code 207 in Maine. We invite everybody to join in each Friday as we share poems, poem books, poetry ideas, and friendship. Check out my left sidebar to learn where to find this poetry goodness each week of the year.

Please share a comment below if you wish.day 

If you are under 13 years old, please comment only with a parent 

or as part of a group with your teacher and class.

Songs - Poems Can Compare

Raindrops and Snowflakes

by Amy LV

Students -There is a certain stillness on country winter days, and yesterday morning, while moving cars around in the driveway, I paused to look at white snow, green trees, pink sky. When I sat down to write about it, this poem appeared on the page. The silence of winter snow at once highlighted to me the noisiness of rain. I adore both, weather-silence and weather-sound.

Winter Morning in the Country

Photo by Amy LV

You may be wondering what filigree is. Filigree is a type of fancy and complex metalwork, often seen in jewelry and looking like lace. Filigree is made of bits of metal thread and beads, and the delicacy of the work reminds many people of snowflakes. If I were a newly born snowflake, I imagine that I might need to concentrate very hard on my fancy angles and never-before-seen exquisiteness. It would be too much to speak.

Google Search for 'Filigree'

After I wrote my poem, I remembered that I had heard the word filigree to describe a snowflake before. And yes, it was in this wonderful poem, below, by Walter de la Mare (1873 - 1956). You will note that Walter's poem is in the voice of one snowflake, speaking to a human. This is different from my poem which simply compares one aspect of snow with one aspect of rain: sound. The same subject, even with a same word or two, can spin many different poems indeed!

The Snowflake Before I melt, Come, look at me! This lovely, icy filigree! Of a great forest In one night I make a wilderness Of white: By skyey cold Of crystals made, All softly, on Your finger laid, I pause, that you My beauty see: Breathe; and I vanish Instantly. by Walter de la Mare This poem is in the public domain.

Admiring the morning sky, writing a small poem, considering the intricacy of snowflakes, remembering other Walter de la Mare poems...one thing leads to another in writing. Today I will add two words to my current notebook's 'Favorite Word List': filigree and intricate. Maybe delicate too. Make it three. Definitely make it three.

I have often thought about the quietness of snow, but I have never compared it to rain. If you seek a writing subject, consider rummaging through your notebook or mind or heart, to find a thought you think often. Might you compare it to something else in one particular way? If so, you, too, could write two small stanzas, each describing that one particular way the two objects are different...or the same.

Do raindrops and snowflakes really sing? No...but it seems like they do. When you give a non-human thing living qualities or intentions, we call that personification. This poem uses that technique.

It is a pleasure to welcome Stephanie Affinito to my other blog, Sharing Our Notebooks. Simply visit that space to check out her delightful 'One Little Thing' notebook, and comment by February 2 for a chance to win a copy of Ralph Fletcher's A WRITER'S NOTEBOOK. And if you keep a notebook and wish to share it over there, please just send me an e-mail.

Jone is hosting this week's Poetry Friday roundup at Deowriter with poetry postcards and a sweet journal giveaway. We invite everybody to join in each Friday as we share poems, poem books, poetry ideas, and friendship. Check out my left sidebar to learn where to find this poetry goodness each week of the year.

Please share a comment below if you wish.

If you are under 13 years old, please comment only with a parent 

or as part of a group with your teacher and class.

Dawn - The Shapes & Colors of Our Days

Sage in the Morning

Photo by Amy LV

Students - A camera can be a very good friend to a writer.  Why?  Because our eyes see so many different pictures in a day that it can be difficult to slow them down and replay them one-by-one.  Yesterday morning, as I watched our Sage lie in the snow, I found her so peaceful, so blue there in the morning light.  I wanted to keep that picture in my head forever.  And too, I wanted to give it some words.

As a writer-artist, stay on the lookout for pictures that strike you, real 3-D pictures in your world that give you pause and make you appreciate the shapes and colors of your days.  You, too, might choose to take a photograph.  Or you might draw a picture.  Or you might just look closely and then close your eyes to see the image in your mind and keep it forever.

Today's poem is two quatrains, two stanzas of four lines each.  It is a quiet poem, echoing the quiet feeling I have been carrying inside of me lately.

Tara is hosting today's Poetry Friday roundup over at her place, A Teaching Life. Swing on by there, check out all of the warm, whimsical, and wonderful poetry offerings...and know that you are always welcome in the Poetry Friday fold.

Please share a comment below if you wish.

A Box of Snow - Wish Poems

Present for a Faraway Friend

Photo by Amy LV

Students - We have snow again!  Here south of Buffalo, NY where I live, it has been a snow-free couple of weeks.  And now the snow is back.  Today I am thinking about all of you who live in snow-free places, wishing I could send you some snow (but not too much) to play with.

Do you have a wish for someone else?  Is there something you have that you would like to share with others?  If yes, then you might enjoy writing about it.  What better way to begin the new year than with a wish for a friend?

Today's poem does have a bit of rhyme and a bit of meter.  What do you notice about the syllables in this poem?  What do you notice about the rhyme?  If you ever feel stuck getting started with your own writing, you might find a poem with a simple rhyme and syllable count - such as this one - and try writing with the same number of syllables per line or with the same rhyme scheme.

Teachers and Adult Readers - For those of you who might not know, I also keep a Poem Farm Facebook Page.  This page is full of regular links to poems I love as well as poetry news I find.  If you choose to "like" it, please click on the arrow to "get notifications" if you would like to see the posts in your feed.

In publishing news, I am excited to share that I have signed a contract with Crown/Random House for a picture book currently titled ALL I KNOW. No date yet, but lots of happiness over here!

At this time of year, we have the fun of peeking at some 2014 favorites lists.  Don't miss the 2014 Nerdy Awards for Poetry and Novels and Verse and the 2014 Cybils Poetry Finalists.  Many congratulations to one and all.

Tricia is hosting this first Poetry Friday of 2015 over at The Miss Rumphius Effect.  Stop by and gobble up all of the wonderful offerings from poetry friends near and far.

Happy 2015 to you and yours!  Many wishes for a year full of poems and favorite new words!

Please share a comment below if you wish.

Morning Song - Copying Rhymes & Rhythms

Weather Report for This Week - Holland, NY

From the National Weather Service

Kitten Fiona Watches Snow

Photo by Amy LV

Students - As you can see in the forecast above, it has been a very snowy week south of Buffalo here.  So I knew I would write about snow again. (How could I not? I did yesterday too.)  But HOW would I write about snow?  I did not know and thought about it a lot while shoveling the driveway.

I decided to open a book and find a poem and use the same rhythm as the poem I found.  In THE POETRY TROUPE, by Isabel Wilner, a writer I was fortunate enough to take a class with once, I came across the poem, "Song" by Elizabeth Coatsworth.  As you see below, I copied this poem into my notebook and noted the number of lines, number of syllables per line, and rhyme scheme.  Then I used the same number of lines, same number of syllables per line (almost), and same rhyme scheme for my own poem.

Coatsworth on Left/Me on Right

Photo by Amy LV

So while my poem is about something very different, Elizabeth Coatsworth gave me a boost with my rhythm and rhyme.  Some of you have seen me stand on other poets' shoulders so directly before; it is a favorite way for me to explore writing, a favorite way to grow.

This is a wonderful exercise if you ever wish to stretch yourself or if you ever feel you're in a writing rut.  Sometimes my writing sticks with the same rhythms, so experimenting with new ones keeps me limber.  Find a book with a poem you like, and just play around with the lines and rhythms.  See if you find a new writing you inside of the old writing you.

On a wonderous book note, I could not be more pleased to learn that Jacqueline Woodson has won the 2014 National Book Award for Young People's Literature for her gorgeous memoir in verse, BROWN GIRL DREAMING. 

Learn More at IndieBound

I may have never folded down more corners in a book than I have in my copy of Woodson's memoir in poems. This book is honest, beautiful, wise, and full of love.

In the author's note, Woodson writes, "The people who came before me worked so hard to make this world a better place for me.  I know my work is to make the world a better place for those coming after.  As long as I can remember this, I can continue to do the work I was put here to do."

BROWN GIRL DREAMING makes the world a better place.  I dearly hope this snow lets up so that I will be able to hear Jacqueline Woodson speak at NCTE tomorrow.  And I dearly hope that if you have not read this book yet...you will.

Over at Sharing Our Notebooks, I am grateful to host teacher, literacy coach, author, and founder of Book Love...Penny Kittle!  Please check out her notebooks, the great exercise she offers us, and leave a comment by Monday, November 24 to be entered into a book giveaway.

Celebrate Poetry Friday at Tapestry of Words with Becky today! All are welcome to visit her place find the varied poems and poem sharings around the Kidlitosphere in this third week of November.

Please share a comment below if you wish.

Snowman Slippers - Poem #27 for April 2014 Poetry Project

LIVE!

Learn about this, my April 2014 Poetry Project, HERE!

Snowman Slippers

Photo by Amy LV

Students - Today's poem is showing up late in the day, the latest post time so far this month.  It has been a good and busy weekend full of visitors and sporting events, and so at last I sit and think and write and revise and record.

I have been saving this snowman slippers picture for a couple of weeks now. They are so cute, and although I've written about footwear two other times this month with Orange Boots on April 6 and Dancing Shoes on April 10, I could not let these snowman slippers slip by.

One thing you might notice in today's verse is that there is just one rhyme sound throughout the whole poem: toes/grows/knows/clothes/slows/snows.  I very much enjoyed writing this and wrote it quite quickly, in about twenty minutes.  I like it too.  This is a poem that I consider a present-to-me.  I sat there, and someone else wrote it through me.  Sometimes, as I've said before, we are given such little writing presents from the writing great beyond.  We get them, I think, because we have worked very hard on other days.

Snowman Slippers - Draft Page Spread #1

Photo by Amy LV

As I worked on today's poem, another poem came to mind, one that also uses the -ose rhyme.  If you'd like to have a good giggle and lots of fun watching a tongue twister dance movie clip, peek at Moses Supposes His Toeses are Roses from SINGIN' IN THE RAIN with Gene Kelly and Dennis O'Connor.

Yesterday's post about a stringless violin offers my last giveaway for April 2014.  Please simply leave a comment there if you are interested in being entered into a drawing for one of two books.

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Listening to Seasons: Squeaky Snow Secrets

Twelve Below!

Photo by Amy LV

Students - Brrrr!  That's what I have to say this morning.  Winter has been long for us Western New Yorkers this year, and we have truly had a chance to experience all kinds of snow: soft quiet snow, crunchy hard top snow, fat flakes, and today...squeaky snow.  Squeaky snow, some of you may have noticed, is a sound we hear only in the coldest weather.  You can learn about why here.

All seasons come with sights and smells...and sounds too.  Whether you live in a cold place or a warm place, your outside world is full of sounds, and these sounds change as the seasons change.  When you find yourself wondering what to write about, you might consider the sounds of  seasons.  What do you hear outside?  Turn off any electronics, close your eyes, and just listen.

You'll see that today's poem does not rhyme and that it goes down the page like...well...like footprints.  I did not originally write the poem this way, but after playing around with the line breaks a few different ways, this seemed best, most walking-like.  A poem with a shape that is part of its meaning is called a concrete poem.

If you do not live in a squeak-snow-place, I recorded this for you just today!

This beautiful book, written by Judi K. Beach and illustrated by Loretta Krupinski, is one of my favorite books about snow, a lyrical list book naming all of the types of snow including "kitten" for snow that sits on a window and the favorite of our children when they were little, "wings of white butterflies."

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In exciting and breaking news, (it is now Friday afternoon as I write), the Penn State University Libraries and the Pennsylvania Center for the Book have just announced the winner of the 2014 Lee Bennett Hopkins Poetry Award.  "Selected by a panel of teachers, librarians and scholars, the Lee Bennett Hopkins Poetry Award was the first award of its kind in the United States. The Pennsylvania Center for the Book, the Penn State University Libraries and Lee Bennett Hopkins share joint administration of the annual award" (from the website).

Many congratulations to Andrea Cheng for having won for ETCHED IN CLAY: THE LIFE OF DAVE, ENSLAVED POTTER AND POET.

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This year the committee also named two honor books, and they are COALTOWN JESUS by Ron Koertge and RUTHERFORD B., WHO WAS HE?": POEMS ABOUT OUR PRESIDENTS by Marilyn Singer and illustrated by John Hendrix.

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Shop Indie Bound

Congratulations to all winners, and thank you to Lee Bennett Hopkins for always recognizing, supporting, and teaching children's poets and for spreading the love of poetry to children in countless visible and invisible ways.

In giveaway land, Linda Kulp Trout the winner of the Samuel Beckett letterpressed quote from last week's giveaway!  Please send your snail mail address to amy at amylv dot com, and I will mail out your piece this week along with the Jeannine Atkins book for Margaret, some signed bookplates, and the rest of my happy, towering pile of outgoing mail.

Anastasia is hosting this week's Poetry Friday smorgasbord over at Poet! Poet!  Swing on by and visit all of the poetry celebrations in the Kidlitosphere this week.  All are welcome!

Please share a comment below if you wish.

Secrets, Buttons, and a Giveaway!

Remembering

by Amy LV

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

Students - The snow poems are blowing through my mind these days.  It is COLD here in Western New York, and this morning as I carried wood from the woodpile to our hearth inside, I looked at all of the twinkly diamonds in the morning light.  I knew that a snow poem was in my near future.

Sometimes reading poems by other people can help get my poem mind moving, and this morning, I visited Tricia's The Miss Rumphius Effect to fill my heart with poems.  It was a treat to read the different poems using anaphora, a technique I plan to experiment with this weekend.  I recommend that you check out Tricia's site too, as she offes "Poetry Stretches" each Monday with various exercises for poets to try.

This poem is, in a way about the water cycle, and a way about magic.  For although snowflakes were once ocean drops and ocean drops were likely snowflakes, I know that they do not hold these memories.  Again, this blending of true and whimsy is the tightrope I most love to walk.  Also, stories.  Things within things.  Surprise at what lies beyond.  These are areas I love to explore in poetry.  What do you love to explore with your writing?  The only way to find out is to write lots and lots.

Today I am excited to offer a giveaway of a beautiful, thoughtful gift.  Jeannine Atkins, author of BORROWED NAMES and other books, as well as blogger at Views from a Window Seat sent me a package this week including some magnificent buttons and stories for my charm string (see sidebar) and an autographed copy of her inspiring book (you will want to buy it if you do not win it), VIEWS FROM A WINDOW SEAT: THOUGHTS ON WRITING AND LIFE.  As I already own this book, she said that I could offer it to a reader and commenter on this post.  So....please just leave a comment to be considered, and I will draw a name next Thursday evening, to be announced next Poetry Friday.

Book and Buttons from Jeannine Atkins
Photo by Amy LV

Don't miss Lee Ann Spillane's fabulous notebook post over at my other blog, Sharing Our Notebooks...you will be amazed.  This Sunday, I will draw one commenter's name to win a copy of her e-book, READING AMPLIFIED.

Tara is hosting this week's Poetry Friday fun over at A Teaching Life along with her new kitty, Gepetto!  Please visit her place for the buffet of links to everything poetry in the Kidlitosphere this week. And if you'd like to link your own post in, please join us.

Please share a comment below if you wish.

I Like To Make a Snowman

Today's Weather Report for Holland, NY

Students - Today's poem is a rather simple one.  It is in a way a story poem and in a way a how-to list poem, telling all about how I like to make a snowman.  We are due to get some snow where I live, and maybe our family will make a snowman this weekend.  When my children were little, we always used to make huge snow BUNNIES!  And the cocoa?  Well, that is just very important.

Sometimes to find a poem idea, I look no farther than outside my window...at the weather! It is always changing and always beautiful.  Here are a few old snow poems from The Poem Farm archives for your to enjoy.  You'll see that they're all quite different from each other, even though they are all about snow.

Snow Fall Snow Cone

Warm Memory

Snow Day

Snow Day (a different one!)

Snow Piano

rams in snow

Snowman-To-Be

Animals All Know

I have started a new page for FOREST HAS A SONG where I will keep track of all reviews and information about the book as it comes in.  If you would ever like to see what's happening, just click above on the tab, or click here to check out the latest.

Tara is hosting today's Poetry Friday roundup with a beautiful Ralph Waldo Emerson poem about snow.  Visit her blog at A Teaching Life to see what poems are blowing 'round 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.

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