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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
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
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
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
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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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