Suitcase - Poem #11 for April 2014 Poetry Project

LIVE!

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

Suitcase

Photo by Amy LV

Students - Today my writing squeeezed into a small amount of time at the end of the day.  It was a busy and lovely day, and at the end of it...I was ready to sleep!  But no, it is Poetry Month, so write I did.  Instead of turning to my paper notebook last night, though, I thought in my head for a bit and then played with LiveTyping as you can see below.  I am sharing two of the "enlivenings" - the two I thought would be the most interesting to watch.

Can you see how I wrote the last line of the poem before the rest of it. I just liked that idea of the suitcase loving visiting Grandma more than visiting any other place in the world.  And so I just kept working and working the lines. 

You can see below how I decided that the poem should be in the past tense. When a writer decides on the tense of a poem, it's usually a good thing to keep that tense the same all of the way through.  I started with present tense but switched to past tense when I realized that this suitcase was not living with the same family anymore.

You might want to try LiveTyping yourself.  It's free and easy and lets you look back at your own process in an interesting way.  While I usually do not write on the computer, I do sometimes, and I like looking back at this.

Yesterday I was lucky enough to have author and librarian Vida Zuljevic sharing a Poetry Peek at The Poem Farm!  Please stop by there to read all about the many wonderful ways she celebrates poetry with students.  You will be delighted by her students' poems, and I know that they would love to read your comments too.

The winners of last Saturday's book giveaway are:

FOREST HAS A SONG - Bridget Wilson

THE POETRY FRIDAY ANTHOLOGY FOR SCIENCE - Leigh Ann Eck

Winners - please send me an e-mail to amy at amylv dot com with your address, and I will mail your books sometime this month!  Stay tuned for the exact same giveaway tomorrow and every Saturday of April 2014.

Blog birthday girl Michelle is hosting today's Poetry Friday party over at Today's Little Ditty! Enjoy the festivities during this second beautiful week of National Poetry Month!

Please share a comment below if you wish.

Poetry Friday & Unicorn

Believe

by Amy LV

Students - did your writing ever just make you happy? Writing "Unicorn" made me very happy. It might be because I love magical creatures like Puff (the Magic Dragon) and unicorns. It might be because this is a mask poem, written in the voice of another, in the voice of a unicorn. This is one of my favorite kinds of poems to write.

One thing I especially enjoyed while writing this poem was working on the ending. I hope that it surprised you. By titling the poem "Unicorn," I hope that a reader will think the poem is about believing in unicorns. Of course, it's really about believing in CHILDREN, and I want this to be a surprise.

This week's poems and lessons all focused on endings. Monday's "I Doodle Poodles" took an ending-lesson from David McCord's "The Pickety Fence."  And Wednesday's "Tucked Twinkie" ended abruptly, a different kind of surprise than today's twisty ending.

Endings are important in poetry. If the beginning lines of a poem make a first impression, helping a reader decide whether or not to continue reading, the last lines of a poem leave a taste in a reader's mouth. After you write something, reread the ending and ask yourself, "What taste am I trying to leave in my readers' mouths? Is it working?"

Laura is hosting today's Poetry Friday roundup over at Writing the World for Kids. Swing by and check out all of this week's offerings.  And if you feel like writing and sharing, don't miss Laura's 15 Words or Less photograph!

SPARK 15 registrations are up.  This is a great opportunity for writers to connect with artists and musicians - sharing and inspiring!

'Like' The Poem Farm Facebook Page for regular updates of all things poetry!

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