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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

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doormat 15wol

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

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Monarch clogyrnach

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

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volcano 15wol

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

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Quilt from Mom 15wol

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

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Pianist Airport 15wol

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

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tiger face 15wol

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

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Minnesota Brass...Now Boarding

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

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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

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leaf web rain 15wol

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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Dandelion 15wol

Fluff [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 want to thank you all for your kind Comments, emails, and messages regarding my mom’s passing. It is a blow, and, as the cliche goes, it’s hard

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Dragon Dreams, by Laura Purdie Salas

Dragon Dreams [Poetry Friday]

Happy Poetry Friday! (Wondering what Poetry Friday is? Click here.) I’m heading out to NCTE this morning in Boston! Hope I might get to see a few of you there! I am always so pleased to have poetry in Cricket or any of the Carus literary publications. I just got author copies of the July/August

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tractor 15wol

Tractor [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 outside Dairy Queen after my event at Plainview Public Library recently. I always love heading outstate and seeing what’s different between living there and

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House for Sale with the Poetry Princesses [Poetry Friday]

OK, I’m not even gonna whine about procrastinating this month. July and August are filled with so many wonderful things…in the long run. In the short run, I’m overwhelmed. So it is what it is. This month, we Poetry Princesses wrote poems in the style of Kay Ryan poems. Someone shared her poem “Turtle.” 

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Disappearing 15WOL

Disappearing [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 glad you’re here. Randy took this pic while we were walking Jack. by the lake. The white edging on the trail is cottonwood fluff. Boy, was there a lot of sneezing and

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