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swan

Swan [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 the flat we stayed in in London (Canary Wharf area) for a few days, we could feed the ducks and birds right off our balcony or from

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Green Card Voices speaker

A Compassionate Point of View in Poetry — World Refugee Day

Wednesday, June 20, is World Refugee Day, and I wanted to share a poetry-writing activity I did with 3rd-8th graders in case you’re looking for a writing activity with one of your summer programs (or in years to come). Almost every year, I teach at Success Beyond the Classroom’s Young Authors Conference at Bethel University

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Right Now [Poetry Friday]

Happy Poetry Friday! (Wondering what Poetry Friday is? Click here.) Here’s the second of the poems I wrote for the Madness Poetry competition created by Ed DeCaria. My assigned word was “doling.”  The background image is of two people I love on a rock by the Mediterranean Sea. Despite all the horrors of the news,

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London Eye [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 picture of the London Eye Ferris Wheel. I took it from my seat on a Thames Rocket Boat–what a ride! This image (the London Eye, not

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What We All Need

What We All Need [Poetry Friday]

Happy Poetry Friday! (Wondering what Poetry Friday is? Click here.) I thought that this month, I’d share the poems I wrote for the Madness Poetry competition created by Ed DeCaria. Here was my first-round poem, written with the assigned word “coordinates.” I wanted to play a bit with repetition and refrains during the competition, so

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Stoplight

Red Light, Green Light! [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.    We arrived in London very late at night, took the tube, and then walked to our flat in Canary Wharf. When I saw this jumble of red

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3 Limericks with the Poetry Princesses [Poetry Friday]

Happy Poetry Friday! Welcome, everyone! (Wondering what Poetry Friday is? Click here.) This month, our Poetry Princess challenge was limericks around the theme of birds and bees. Take that them any way you like;>) This was Tanita’s pick, and I was so glad she picked something short and fast, as I have been teaching at

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Iron Maiden [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 lovely lady was along the Blackwater Basin near the flat we stayed in in Canary Wharf in London. I wish I could’ve gotten a better view, but

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Aphrodite's Rock in Cyprus

Aphrodite’s Rock [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.  One thing we did while visiting our daughter in Cyprus was to to a few different beaches. The (Mediterranean Sea) water was still too chilly (even for us

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patchwork of poetry

Roundup of My Poetry Month Haiku [Poetry Friday]

Happy Poetry Friday! (Wondering what Poetry Friday is? Click here.) Well, my Poetry Month efforts fell a little short this year. I am feeling kind of glum about that, but trying to just celebrate the effort, the process (more about my writing fail here). In that vein, I’m sharing a roundup of the haiku I

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Cereal

Cereal? [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 feel so lucky to have visited a couple of non-English-speaking countries. It really opens my perspective. One of the adventures is grocery shopping. Aisle after aisle of

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A Leaf Can Be... is the NFB's May Book of the Month!

Nebraska Farm Bureau Guide for A Leaf Can Be…

It is always a treat when a group of dedicated educators and readers choose your book for something and love it enough to create resources around it. I’m honored that the Nebraska Agriculture in the Classroom program has selected A Leaf Can Be… as its May Book of the Month. And they made an awesome

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Tombs of the Kings

Climbing Out [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.  Thank you for being such an active and kind community while I was out of town–out of the country! We were visiting our younger daughter overseas and spent

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Cow

Cow [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 still off the grid, so once again, I will not be able to comment. I’m hoping you guys will take it and run with it! I hope

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