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Ladybug, Ladybug [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 on the third and final day of a poetry residency with 4th- and 5th-graders today, so I won’t be able to comment on poems. This spring

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What a poetry gathering!

My Poems at the TLA Poetry Round Up #PoetryFriday

Happy Poetry Friday! (Wondering what Poetry Friday is? Click here.) A few weeks ago, I was lucky enough to attend the Texas Library Association conference in Austin to take part in Sylvia Vardell and Janet Wong’s awesome Poetry Round Up. What a great event! I’m sharing the clip of the poems I read here: And

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Original art by In the Heart of the Beast Puppet & Mask Theatre. Filtered photo by Laura P. Salas

Mask [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.  Here’s another piece from the art crawl at the mall:>) This image makes me think of several things:

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Original art by Michael Cina "Bunny Hopscotch Board"

Floor Bunny [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.  When I went to my WW meeting a couple of weeks ago, there was an art display throughout the mall. I love this bunny version of hopscotch! This

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Korean War Veterans Memorial

Korean War Veterans Memorial [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.  The Korean War Veterans Memorial in Washington, DC is so haunting. This image makes me think of several things:

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DC Trees [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.  My regulars, I’ve missed you the past two weeks! I was on a weeklong school visit one week, a mini writing retreat last week, and now I’ve just

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Introducing Lion of the Sky #PoetryFriday

  lie down in whiteness     kick and SWISH and wave your arms            give me winter wings                                        –Laura Purdie Salas, from Lion of the Sky I’m so excited about this book, my third and final poetry collection of the spring! If you’d like to learn

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Lighted Moose

Lighted Moose [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 actually don’t know where I took this photo, but it was in January, and it made me smile. This image makes me think of several things:

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laura purdie salas signing lion of the sky

Poetry-Palooza Book Launch Photos

On Saturday, I celebrated my three spring releases with a launch at Red Balloon Bookshop! It was so great to share SNOWMAN-COLD=PUDDLE (Charlesbridge), IN THE MIDDLE OF THE NIGHT (Wordsong), and LION OF THE SKY (Millbrook) with readers! Click for more images, but here’s my favorite!

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Sky Love Story

Sky Love Story — an Anagram Poem [Poetry Friday]

Happy Poetry Friday! Welcome, everyone! (Wondering what Poetry Friday is? Click here.) We were scrambling for our form this month, and Tricia suggested anagram poems. She was inspired by Linda Baie’s lovely idea and poem here. As a theme, we picked weather or umbrellas or natural cycles. I wrote my poem mostly on a flight

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Vietnam War Memorial

Vietnam Veterans Memorial [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’ve been to the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in DC several times, and I’m moved by it every time. Like many things that lend themselves to poetry, it feels

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Middle of the Night: Poems from a Wide-Awake House

Dreamy #PoetryFriday

Happy Poetry Friday! (Wondering what Poetry Friday is? Click here.) I want to share one more poem from In the Middle of the Night, plus ask y’all a favor. Here’s the poem, one of the few unrhyming ones in the collection. I just love acrostics, and I wrote this poem after my editor, Rebecca Davis,

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space module

Space Module [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.  Here’s a space module in the National Air and Space Museum in Washington, DC. This image makes me think of several things:

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Student Equation Poems for Poetry Friday #PoetryFriday

Happy Poetry Friday! (Wondering what Poetry Friday is? Click here.) I am at the Denver Children’s Festival of Stories today and tomorrow, so I might not get to read your comments until Monday. I got the BEST surprise in my Facebook Inbox last week. A Twin Cities educator told me she had lent her copy

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Coast Guard Monument

Coast Guard Monument [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.  While in DC, Randy and I admired these gorgeous bas relief (maybe?) sculptures for the various branches of the military. They featured fabulous dramatic scenes, including this Coast

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