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Broken Eggs [15 Words or Less]

Hello, and welcome! This is 15 Words or Less Poems, a low-pressure way to wake up your poetry brain (guidelines here), and I’m very glad you’re here.  I am rather butterfinger‑y sometimes. This image makes me think of several things:

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Palm tree with pumpkins

Pumpkin Palm [15 Words or Less]

Happy Thanksgiving! This is 15 Words or Less Poems, a low-pressure way to wake up your poetry brain (guidelines here), and I’m very glad you’re here.  Happy Thanksgiving to all of you who celebrate this U.S. holiday. I firmly believe it’s always time to be grateful, but it’s also nice to be reminded to give

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Look Through a Log [15 Words or Less]

Hello, and welcome! This is 15 Words or Less Poems, a low-pressure way to wake up your poetry brain (guidelines here), and I’m very glad you’re here.  Hello from NCTE! I’m in Baltimore right now spreading book and poetry love and connecting with wonderful writer and educator friends! But here’s a fun photo I took

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Under the Bridge [15 Words or Less]

Hello, and welcome! This is 15 Words or Less Poems, a low-pressure way to wake up your poetry brain (guidelines here), and I’m very glad you’re here.  Well, friends, I’m back home briefly! Next week, I’ll be at NCTE, and the week after is Thanksgiving. Boy, 2019 has been full of excitement and travel. My

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Winter Before Fall? [15 Words or Less]

Hello, and welcome! This is 15 Words or Less Poems, a low-pressure way to wake up your poetry brain (guidelines here), and I’m very glad you’re here.  I’m out of town once again this week. Lord. Next week, I will be back to usual. I miss you guys! My daughter Annabelle sent me this funny

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The Voice of Winter, a villanelle by Laura Purdie Salas

The Voice of Winter–a Villanelle [Poetry Friday]

Happy Poetry Friday! Welcome, everyone! (Wondering what Poetry Friday is? Click here.) So, this month, our Poetry Princess challenge was Tanita’s choice: A villanelle on a wintry topic, including a pair of words (or homonyms thereof) from the following eleven: bleak, draft, gutter, chill, chime, glitter, gust, harsh, rime, nip, thaw. I always find the

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New echeverria sprout

Echeveria [15 Words or Less]

Hello, and welcome! This is 15 Words or Less Poems, a low-pressure way to wake up your poetry brain (guidelines here), and I’m very glad you’re here.  I’m back from my magnificent week on the Great Lakes! What an adventure–you will start seeing photos here soon from that! Meanwhile… I bought a succulent at the

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Fall tree

Fall Tree [15 Words or Less]

Hello, and welcome! This is 15 Words or Less Poems, a low-pressure way to wake up your poetry brain (guidelines here), and I’m very glad you’re here.  You guys, I am away from my office doing some exciting research. Check out my Twitter, Facebook, or Instagram feeds (I’m @LauraPSalas on all three) to see a

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Perfect Raspberry [15 Words or Less]

Hello, and welcome! This is 15 Words or Less Poems, a low-pressure way to wake up your poetry brain (guidelines here), and I’m very glad you’re here.    This image makes me think of several things:

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Moth Surprise [15 Words or Less]

Hello, and welcome! This is 15 Words or Less Poems, a low-pressure way to wake up your poetry brain (guidelines here), and I’m very glad you’re here.  This pink underwing moth (I think?) lay dead on our front porch a couple of weeks ago :>( This image makes me think of several things:

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Snack, Snooze, Skedaddle: How Animals Get Ready for Winter, by Laura Purdie Salas and Claudine Gévry (Millbrook Press)

Visiting Elizabeth Dulemba’s Blog!

Happy Monday! In case you missed it, illustrator Claudine Gévry and I shared bits of our process for Snack, Snooze, Skedaddle over at the blog of the fabulous Liz Dulemba on Friday. (Teachers, do you use her awesome coloring pages?) I hope you’ll stop by to learn a few of Claudine’s secrets and see some

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From a City Dweller to Her Love [Poetry Friday]

Happy Poetry Friday! Welcome, everyone! (Wondering what Poetry Friday is? Click here.) Sara’s daughter, Rebecca, who’s been joining us recently (yay!), posed our challenge this month: a pastoral. She wrote: Some inspiration from The Making of a Poem: A Norton Anthology of Poetic Forms: “The pastoral is central to poetry. In a simplified definition, it

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City Bird [15 Words or Less]

Hello, and welcome! This is 15 Words or Less Poems, a low-pressure way to wake up your poetry brain (guidelines here), and I’m very glad you’re here.  I love that even in a townhome very near a city’s downtown, I can look out my window and most days catch glimpses of birds, squirrels, butterflies and

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Photo Shoot Chaos

Just a light behind the scenes story today. My latest book, Snack, Snooze, Skedaddle, is dedicated to my five great nephews and nieces in the Atlanta area. My husband, Randy, recently visited family down there, and he hand-delivered copies to each child. Then, because he is awesome, he took photos! I loved them and I

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