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Refugee Camp Mural [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 in the United States, we celebrated our independence and freedom yesterday. (Hope you had a fun holiday!) I thought this might be a good week to share
A Thousand Nicknames for Snow [Poetry Friday]
Happy Poetry Friday! (Wondering what Poetry Friday is? Click here.) This might be an odd choice for the end of June(!), but I’m continuing along with sharing the poems I wrote for the Madness Poetry competition created by Ed DeCaria. This was for Round 3, and my assigned word was “parlance.”
Tower 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. I love boats and water and bridges. I took this pic while we were on our Thames Rocket boat tour, as the guide explained to us that when
Poems of Empathy — #PoetryFriday
Happy Poetry Friday! (Wondering what Poetry Friday is? Click here.) I’m taking a break from sharing my Madness Poetry poems to ask you to go back and look at 1 or 2 student poems I shared earlier this week. I shared photos of 12 or so pairs of very brief poems related to asylum-seekers. I’m
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
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
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,
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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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Are You Looking For?
Go to my Poetry page for:
- National Poetry Month projects through the years
- Small Reads Roundups (poems grouped by topic)
- Introductions to several favorite poetry forms