Blog
Jailed [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. Here’s a picture taken from our family room. My husband recently converted the room from a theater room with a projector and big screen back into a family room,
More Poems About Balance
Monday, I shared a poem about balance, and I thought I’d share the other two today. Can you tell I’m addicted to Canva lately? My graphic design skills are not great, but I love working with images and poems together. I will get better!
When They Write, a Poem About Student Writing
Here’s another poem from my new collection, The Heart of a Teacher. This one was inspired by the sound of students writing. I love when I’m visiting a school, and I set them off on a quick-writing exercise. When I say, “Go!” and the pencils start moving over the page, it sounds like a wonderful
Seesaw Highs and Lows, a Poem About Balance
I received an email from first-grade teacher Erin Baker. She was preparing to teach a unit on balance to first graders and wondered if I had any relevant poems or could recommend any that related to the topic. I told her, “I have actually toyed with the idea of soliciting needed poem ideas from teachers
An Answer to, “Teachers have it easy–three months off!”
Happy Poetry Friday! (Wondering what Poetry Friday is? Click here.) Hi poets and teachers–I’m sharing another poem from my new collection, The Heart of a Teacher, today. (And an educator just gave it a 5‑star review on Amazon–so excited:>) About this time of year, lots of teachers I know start hearing all over again how
Boxed In [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. Here’s a picture taken out my window. This image makes me think of:
Acceleration Exasperation
I promised to share a few poems from my new collection, The Heart of a Teacher, over these last weeks of school. Here’s one inspired by, well, you can probably guess. Right now, the Kindle version only is listed on Amazon, but in a few days the paperback version will show up there, too. Meanwhile,
Writing Things To Do If… Poems with 1st Graders at Hugo Elementary
Last month, I got to visit Hugo Elementary School in White Bear Lake, MN, at the invitation of Media Specialist Connie Stirling, whom I had run into at the Hubbs Children’s Literature Conference. I was so excited to visit the school and spend an entire day writing poems with 1st graders! This meant the day
Open Wide [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. Here’s a picture I took in my “Fishing Room” on a school visit in southern Minnesota, which I blogged about earlier this week. The room was full of quaint
The Heart of a Teacher Is Here!
Hi, teachers! Last year, I started tagging all my poem documents. You know, giving them labels in order to find all my poems that are, say, about science, or are haiku, or whatever. I realized then that I had a fair number of poems about teachers and teaching, and I thought, Hey, maybe I can
Water Can Be… a Black-Eyed Susan Picture Book Nominee!
I’m thrilled that Water Can Be… is a nominee for Maryland’s Black-Eyed Susan Award for the 2016–2017 school year. And it’s rubbing spines with so many books I love! You can see the list here (not just picture books–all the books). Thanks, Maryland! The only place I’ve visited (twice!) in Maryland is Hemingway’s, a restaurant
A Library and School Visit to Southern Minnesota
Back during Poetry Month, I had a lovely overnight visit to southern Minnesota for an evening event at the Lanesboro Public Library and then a school visit at LeRoy Elementary the next morning. (Here’s an article in the local paper. Thanks, Charlie Warner!) It’s agricultural country down there and Amish country, brown and barren and
Back to Life with the Poetry Princesses [Poetry Friday]
Oh, ah…hello. This is a little embarrassing. You see, each Saturday (I work Tuesday-Saturday, generally), I get my blog posts set up for the week, and then I just dash in throughout the week if I feel like it to add up-to-the-minute notes. So, it’s Saturday, April 30, as I write this. And I don’t
Branches [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. Here’s a picture I took while my husband and I were walking our beagle down by the lake. These barren branches leaning over the water caught my eye, but
Post-Putrid Poetry: Thank You!
Well, that was a rip-roaring Poetry Month! Thank you so much for reading Louis’ story. The comments meant a lot to me as I shared some work totally unlike my more usual stuff. I also enjoyed the emails you sent, sharing students’ poems that were just “too gross to share publicly.” I admit that there
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