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She Walks in Glitter (Which Is a Lot Like Beauty) [Poetry Friday]
Happy Poetry Friday! Welcome, everyone! (Wondering what Poetry Friday is? Click here.) Well, it has been a chaotic, joyful, and sad summer so far. So when this month’s Poetry Princess challenge was a poem in the style of Byron’s “She Walks in Beauty,” I just couldn’t still my mind long enough to write something all
Egg [15 Words or Less]
Hello, poets, writers, noodlers–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 keeping this community going while I’ve been on a semi-hiatus. Can’t believe how far behind I am, but your kind words and fun
Flames of Gratitude [Poetry Friday]
Happy Poetry Friday! (Wondering what Poetry Friday is? Click here.) This weekend, my daughter and I were supposed to be on a poetry retreat, working on a collaborative project. 48 hours. 1 hotel room. It would have been intense, but we had to cancel. Health issues that form the basis of the story have intervened
Eyebrows [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. At that chalk festival, there were a few large-scale works on boards, so I made Randy stand by one. Life imitates art:>) This image makes me think of
Book Spine Poems with Kids [Poetry Friday]
Happy Poetry Friday! (Wondering what Poetry Friday is? Click here.) Last week, I went to Plainview Library in Plainview, Minnesota, for a poetry event. My sister Patty (up from Florida) and daughter Maddie (home briefly from Scotland) came with me on this mini-road trip. It was a small group of kids (always so hard to
Mary Poppins [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 at the Maple Grove Chalk Art Festival two weekends ago. We went on Saturday morning, when the art was in the beginning stages. The
Bee Cookie [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 my sister Patty was up this past week, we indulged in way too many sweet treats. Like this scrummy cookie from Byerly’s. This image makes me think
“The Genre Chant” [Poetry Friday]
Happy Poetry Friday! (Wondering what Poetry Friday is? Click here.) The Journal of Children’s Literature has one of my poems in it in the spring 2017 edition. I initially wrote this poem to open a chapter on children’s literature genres in Terrell Young’s book, Children’s Literature, Briefly. Well, not JUST his book, but he’s the
Freeway Treeway [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. Saw this on the road the other day. This image makes me think of several things:
Leaving Things Behind — a Golden Shovel Poem [Poetry Friday]
Happy Poetry Friday! Welcome, everyone! (Wondering what Poetry Friday is? Click here.) So, this month, our Poetry Princess challenge was to write a golden shovel poem. Tricia chose this prompt, and she also chose Gerard Manley Hopkins’ “Pied Beauty” as the poem we would all choose our lines from. This time around, I shared my
Catacombs [15 Words or Less Poems]
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 Paris Catacombs are…overwhelming. So many bones. So many emotions: sadness, horror, reverence, acceptance, melancholy. We had gone to a bone chapel in Austria a few years ago,
Writing a Golden Shovel Poem: Day 5
[You can read Days 1, 2, 3, and 4 by clicking, if you like.] Well, you guys, I feel like sharing my process makes it sound like I have put hours and hours into this poem! But, really, it was just a stolen 15 minutes here and there. I have spent more time writing the
If You Were the Moon in School Library Journal…and Japan!
I’m excited to share this lovely review from the May/June issue School Library Journal. If You Were the Moon is a book that does more than one thing, and I’m always happy when a reviewer keys in to the different things going on in the book! SALAS, Laura Purdie. If You Were the Moon. illus.
Writing a Golden Shovel Poem: Day 4
[You can read Days 1, 2, and 3 by clicking, if you like.] After writing at Valleyfair, I took my poem on the road next to Taco Bell. I do most of my writing on my laptop or phone, but playing around with short poem drafts lends itself to longhand, sometimes. Here are the drafts
Writing Poems with 5th Graders [Poetry Friday]
Happy Poetry Friday! (Wondering what Poetry Friday is? Click here.) Earlier this month, I got to write poems with the Literacy L.I.F.T. Club: Linking Imagination Fun & Text at Evergreen Park World Cultures Community School in Brooklyn Center, MN. My daughter Annabelle came along as an assistant, and we spent two hours writing poetry. Maurna
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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