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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,
Goodbye to Summer, Hello to Fall [Poetry Friday]
Happy Poetry Friday! (Wondering what Poetry Friday is? Click here.) Since yesterday’s 15 Words or Less post was about the Hello/Goodbye doormat, I thought I’d share my “Goodbye, Hello!” poem again, which I was proud to have appear in Highlights last year: Goodbye, Hello! Goodbye, blue sky Hello, walls Goodbye, sidewalks Hello, halls
Hello [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. Thank you for continuing to tune in over the summer and participate, even though I’ve been largely absent. That has meant a lot to me. This is the
Clogyrnachs with the Poetry Princesses [Poetry Friday]
Happy September, poetry friends. Last month, I had to sit out from the Poetry Princesses 1st-Friday-of-the-month posting. This month, although I’m not bringing much to the table, I did at least write a poem. I wrote it on the plane ride down to Florida, where I’m spending a bit of time helping my dad with
Volcano [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. Writer and educator friends, can you tell what this is? I’m not going to tell you right now, but when I filtered the image, it reminded me of
Quilt [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. Hello, writer and educator friends. As I’m clearing out loads of stuff, I keep coming across things full of memories–of my mom, of my kids when they were
Airport Piano Man [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. Hello, writer and educator friends. My life grows ever more intense (I really didn’t think that was possible), and I miss you guys! When Randy and I were
Tyger [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. Hello, writer and educator friends. My life grows ever more intense (I really didn’t think that was possible), and I miss you guys! When I attended that drum
Spark [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. Thank you for your continued kindness and support regarding my mom’s passing. I wish my dad was online and could have the kind of warm, embracing community
How My Camp Read-a-Lot Keynote Worked Magic on Me
Hi, educator friends. I know I’m largely absent this summer, but I wanted to stop by and share just a quick bit about my day yesterday. I was the keynote and workshop presenter at a Camp Read-a-Lot conference in Granite Falls, MN. I spoke at a similar event a year or two ago, and they
Splash [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. Thank you for your continued kindness and support regarding my mom’s passing. I wish my dad was online and could have the kind of warm, embracing community that
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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