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Airport sailing ship

Sailing Ships [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.  So, the picture I posted last week was a filtered image (as usual) of some frosted glass with a coral‑y design on it. I think it was at

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First graders and A Leaf Can Be...

First Graders Ponder What Leaves Can Be…

There is hardly anything a writer likes better than hearing/seeing how readers respond to her work. A writer friend sent me this fun image a few weeks ago. Her sister is a substitute teacher in New Hampshire, and she used A Leaf Can Be… with first graders. They were studying the number 9, and the

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Creepy Coral Design

Coral? [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 took this pic in an airport a couple of weeks ago. Want to take a guess? I’ll reveal the correct answer (if I can remember exactly what

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Writing Poetry with Third Graders

I had the best time at Pinewood Elementary last month. I got to spend two days there, which means that, in addition to two large-group presentations, I did writing workshops with each third-grade class. Love! The staff was amazing and enthusiastic, and the students were incredible. We had the best time. I’m going to share

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Jellyfish Dance

Jellyfish Dance [Poetry Friday]

Happy Poetry Friday! (Wondering what Poetry Friday is? Click here.) So, last week, I shared a lai, which the Poetry Princesses tackled for December. I liked it and wanted to try another, so here’s a #poemsketch with another lai.   I had one with a font I liked a little better, but it was a

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Traffic cones

Traffic Cones [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 pic from a recent road trip. This image makes me think of several things:

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December

December #Poemsketch

I can’t believe it’s almost the end of the year! Here’s a #poemsketch for you today:>) I love December and winter, and I enjoy the fresh start feeling of a new year (though fall always feels like the beginning of my year, personally). But when it’s frigid and icy, December seems a little…violent to me,

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Passing by a Winter Cottage

Lai-ing About with Poetry Princesses [Poetry Friday]

Happy Poetry Friday! Welcome, everyone! (Wondering what Poetry Friday is? Click here.) This month, we Poetry Princesses wrote lais (a 9‑line, aabaabaab poem) on the theme of hope, light, or peace. I had done the little drawing below before thinking about this month’s poem. Then I started thinking about how the sight of chimney smoke

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Bike Rack

Bike Rack [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.  If you didn’t see my note earlier, sorry about last week! Major blog/Wordpress fail, and I lost several posts. Boo. And I was traveling without my laptop and

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Silo Storm

Silo Storm #Poemsketch

Apologies for those who visited last Thursday. I had several posts for Thanksgiving Thursday and Poetry Friday and one all about NCTE–and they have completely disappeared. :>( OK, moving on… There’s something about a farm silhouetted against the sky that always feels so nostalgic. As I’ve driven around Minnesota doing school visits, I’ve been treated

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After #poemsketch

After #Poemsketch

I have decided I really prefer the idea of typed text rather than hand-lettered. The watercolors are already very fluid and, uh, imperfect, and when I try to hand-letter, the whole thing just feels sloppy to me. Also, I’ve tried a few of these watercolor background with black silhouette simple drawings on them, and they

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Seamstresses #poemsketch

Seamstresses #Poemsketch

I’m home from NCTE, which was lovely and overwhelming, as always! A little quiet time and a little nature (though it’s chilly here in Minnesota right now, so I’m mostly enjoying nature through the window!) always helps stitch my frazzled self back together!  

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Without

Without [Poetry Friday]

Happy Poetry Friday! (Wondering what Poetry Friday is? Click here.) Today, I’m sharing a poem I wrote years ago, because on Michelle Heidenrich Barnes’ blog, my Lerner editor, Carol Hinz, challenged us to write poems about things not typically considered beautiful. As someone who thinks about life and death a lot, I have learned to

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Missing Pieces

Tree Puzzle [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 leaves are all gone now from our beautiful maple, so I’m enjoying it through photos retroactively:>) This image makes me think of several things:

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Bald Head

Bald Head #Poemsketch

I was thinking about writing a poem for Carol Hinz’ Ditty of the Month challenge–write about something not typically considered beautiful. (More info on this in my Poetry Friday post this coming Friday if you aren’t familiar with this.) I was thinking about bald heads, and how many people (especially women) still feel ugly when

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