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

Dirty Clothes Do-Si-Do [Poetry Friday]

Happy Poetry Friday! (Wondering what Poetry Friday is? Click here.) My newest poetry collection, In the Middle of the Night: Poems from a Wide-Awake House! (click the title to see my post last week introducing the book) is here! Thank you to all of the fabulous bloggers and educators and kidlit lovers who have hosted

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Snowflake Cookie

Frosted Snowflake [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 know I can’t resist a beautiful cookie, and while in DC I got this sparkling, lovely, iced snowflake cookie. I can’t remember which bakery, but it’s probably

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Leatherback [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 the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History! I only had a couple of hours in it on our trip to DC, but this skeleton of a leatherback

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Floor Lamp Waits [Poetry Friday]

Happy Poetry Friday! Welcome, everyone! (Wondering what Poetry Friday is? Click here.) Well, I dropped the ball on this one. This month, we Poetry Princesses wrote a mask poem. This one was MY choice! And yet, I didn’t get to it until this week. It’s funny how we schedule things in the future, picturing them

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Metal 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.  I adore real trees, but I am drawn to sculptures of trees, too, like this metal one on the mall in Washington, DC. That’s me standing beside it,

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Moose Topiary, Sort Of [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 moose topiary/sculpture charmed me at the Botanical Garden in DC. This image makes me think of several things:

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Olmec Head

Olmec Head [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. Even though I’m not! I’m at a family wedding in Atlanta and won’t be able to reply today! But I hope you still participate. This is such a

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bird

Bird on a Branch [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 an itty-bitty birdie I spied while walking around the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History. This image makes me think of several things:

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Lunch in a Refugee Reception Centre

Lunch in a Refugee Reception Centre [Poetry Friday]

Happy Poetry Friday! Welcome, everyone! (Wondering what Poetry Friday is? Click here.) This month, Tanita came up with our challenge: a poem in the style of Marilyn Nelson’s “Minor Miracle,” about a small, miraculous thing you have seen or known. I’ll wait here while you read Marilyn’s stunning poem. All finished? So, although I’ve tried

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Eyeborg

Eyeborg [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 photo from my wanderings of the Smithsonian Gardens. This image makes me think of several things:

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Smithsonian Gardens

Cloth Caught Midair [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.  In Washington, I spent a lot of time wandering the Smithsonian Gardens. This image makes me think of several things:

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When Clouds Grow Claws [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 is a sculpture from a museum in Washington DC. I believe (but am not certain) it was in the incredible National Museum of African American History and

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Deicing an Airplane

De-Icing an Airplane [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 photo taken from our plane as we sat on a snowy runway in late November. This image makes me think of several things:

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Anatomy of Typography

Anatomy of Typography [Poetry Friday]

Happy Poetry Friday! Welcome, everyone! (Wondering what Poetry Friday is? Click here.) Fantasy: As 2018 wound down, the Poetry Princesses thoughtfully pondered how to begin the new year… Reality: Thankfully, Tricia emailed us all last week and said, basically, Ack! Let’s write a poem to one the four images I’m sharing. Whew! Good thing she

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Storm [15 Words or Less]

Happy New Year! 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 a good storm, but I did not get to experience this one. It’s just a filtered version of a public domain image. Can

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