Blog
Terza Rimas with the Poetry Princesses [Poetry Friday Roundup]
It’s November, and the Poetry Friday Roundup is HERE! Welcome, everyone! (Wondering what Poetry Friday is? Click here.) So, this month, our Poetry Princess challenge was the terza rima, Tricia’ choice. Initially, someone threw the election out as a possible theme. No way. I don’t like to read political poems nor write them. And then
Locks [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. While Randy and I were in Duluth for my birthday, we noticed this set of posts on the lakewalk that are suddenly covered with a bunch of locks.
The Country, by Billy Collins [Poetry Friday]
Happy Poetry Friday! (Wondering what Poetry Friday is? Click here.) I was lucky enough to attend a Billy Collins event a couple of weeks ago for my birthday. I love his work, and he’s an excellent reader–wry, understated, and funny. My husband compared his delivery to Bob Newhart’s. He (Collins, not my husband nor Bob
Viking Ship [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. A couple of weeks ago, Randy and I attended the Youth in Music marching band show at the new Vikings stadium downtown. (Awesome show, but what’s with no
Freighter Drama [Slice of Life Tuesday]
For my birthday, my husband and I spent several days in Duluth, a harbor city at the southern edge of Lake Superior. We love Duluth, and one of our favorite things is watching ships come and go from the harbor–especially the 1,000-footers. There are 14 or so of them that travel the Great Lakes, hauling
Window [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. [Also, subscribers, did you get an email notification this morning that this post was up? I didn’t, and I’m wondering if there’s a glitch.] Although I don’t like
Mushroom [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. I was walking Jack the other day and came across this one small mushroom in a huge open field that’s part of a park near my house. With
Words Live [Slice of Life Tuesday]
A couple of weeks ago, I came home to a box on my doorstep from Lerner. I thought it might be my author copies of my next picture book, even though that’s still 5 months from publication. I ran into the kitchen and tore open the box. Nope. Not If You Were the Moon. Instead,
Ekphrastic Poems with the Poetry Princesses [Poetry Friday]
Happy October, poetry friends. I love autumn, and I’m actually enjoying, kind of, the ongoing process of unpacking and settling in. And my writing has gotten back on track, too. I wrote all summer, but it was a frantic, meet-the-deadline-while-doing-a-million-other-things kind of writing. I’m still too busy, but it’s my normal kind of too busy.
Horse [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. There’s a cool metal horse sculpture at the Anderson Center in Red Wing, MN, where I was at the Minnesota Children’s Book Festival recently. The light was harsh,
Tennis [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. I was downtown in Minneapolis a few weeks ago having a food truck lunch with Randy, and the annual tennis tourney was going–in front of a skyscraper, at
Poems by Young Writers at the Minnesota Children’s Book Festival
On Saturday, the 17th, I spent the day in Red Wing, MN, at the Anderson Center for the Minnesota Children’s Book Festival. Lisa Bullard and I both manned the So You Want to Be an Author tent. We spent the buggy afternoon talking with adults who want to write for kids and also writing poems
How My Monarch Poem Emerged [Poetry Friday]
Happy Poetry Friday! (Wondering what Poetry Friday is? Click here.) A couple of weeks ago, I shared that my Poetry Princesses poem of the month was written on an airplane as I flew from Minneapolis to Orlando. Today, I thought I’d share the notebook pages of the drafts. I started out with my rhyming words,
Tower [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. I took this picture at a drum corps rehearsal over the summer, and it makes me think of several things:
Happy Birthday, Maddie!
It’s our daughter Maddie’s 21st birthday today, and I want to share a poem again that I wrote a couple of years ago, when she was first heading overseas to learn about missions work. A few weeks ago, we once again made the teary airport trek to say goodbye. But during her month at home,
Subscribe to Blog via Email
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