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Hands on ceiling

Reaching Hands [15 words or less poems]

Wake up your poetry brains with 15 Words or Less (guidelines are here)! Howdy, 15 Words or Less-ers! I took this picture a couple of years ago at a high school. I was walking down the hall, and these hands were overhead! They make me think of:

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Book illustration from Azoth ou le moyen de faire l'oder Cache des Philosophes (Paris) 1659 by Basil Valentine (public domain)

The Sun and the Moon Gripe a Little [Poetry Friday]

Happy Poetry Friday! I am at the ITEM conference today chatting with media specialists and instructional technology folks (and seeing some writer friends, too). Hopefully, we will not be squabbling like the moon and sun are in my poems today! Last month, we Poetry 7 wrote found poems. This month, we tried a form I

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Shoe on wall with flowers

Flower Boot [15 words or less poems]

Wake up your poetry brains with 15 Words or Less (guidelines are here)! Good morning! I took this picture in Ireland, and though you can’t really tell, this shoe is hanging on a stone wall outside someone’s house. These flowers growing out of a hiking book make me think of:

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Thoughts

Inviting a Reader in

Teachers, I’m in the editing/revision process for my next book with Millbrook Press. Carol, my insightful editor, wondered if the book needed more of an opening to orient the reader. I wrote the book as a Things To Do If… poem (see some quick TTDI poems here and here and here), and if you go

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poetryaction for When the Wind Blows

Happy Poetry Friday! (Wondering what Poetry Friday is? Click here.) I saw an early version of Linda Booth Sweeney’s When the Wind Blows, and it was already a lovely, image-drenched story! It’s super exciting for me to see

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Giant Elk or Deer?

Fossil [15 words or less poems]

OK, I think I have the Comment settings figured out so that it’s easier to Comment now. I just thought nobody was coming by! And, today’s the last day of the 99-cent sale of the Kindle edition of Riddle-ku: Haiku for Very Close Reading. Wake up your poetry brains with 15 Words or Less (guidelines

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Pencil Riddle-ku

Pencil Riddle-ku

Hi, you guys! Since the Kindle edition (you don’t have to have a Kindle to read it, though) of Riddle-ku: Haiku for Very Close Reading, part of my 30 Painless Classroom Poems series, is on sale for 99 cents

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August Invitation Photopoem

Photopoem Summer Splashings Gallery

Have you guys seen what ELA consultant Carol Varsalona does each season at Beyond LiteracyLink? She puts out a call for photopoems, gathers them all up, and then creates a gallery online of everyone’s photopoems! I know she puts a ton of time into each one of these. Her Summer Splashings gallery went live last

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I'm a pencil crop, from Riddle-ku

A Forest Riddle-ku

Hiya, everyone. If you are a subscriber to the blog, you should have received an email notification about this post. My awesome web designer worked with WordPress Support yesterday and got everything straightened out. Thanks! And if you’re not a subscriber but you’d like to be, you can do that in the sidebar to the

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Giant spider by road (sculpture)

The Giant Spider [15 words or less poems]

Wake up your poetry brains with 15 Words or Less (guidelines are here)! Well, I think I’ve used this photo before, but I honestly can’t recall…and if I did, it was several years ago. So, I’m going to use it! This sculpture called Maman, by Louise Bourgeois, makes me think:

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