Blog
“What Can You Make from Carbon?” by Laura Purdie Salas [Poetry Friday]
Sylvia Vardell and Janet Wong have done it again! This time, their Poetry Friday Anthology is focused on science, and there’s a K‑5 edition as well as individual grade-level student editions–illustrated! These books are fantastic, and I’m proud to have a number of poems in this set, and here’s one. I’m realizing as I read
Behind the Glass [15 words or less]
Photo: Laura Salas Wake up your poetry brains with 15 Words or Less (guidelines here)! On our plane ride home from Florida Sunday, I was behind this girl wearing her doll in a backpack. I was half amazed and half horrified. How cool! How creepy!?Here are?3 things this photo makes me think of: 1)??a sarcophagus
Natl. Poetry Month Sneak Peek: Riddle-Ku!
I’m excited about April, National Poetry Month! I can’t remember if I’ve ever done an original poem a day for April, but that’s what I’m going to do this time. I’m going to be sharing some riddle haiku–or riddle-ku. I know. Riddle-kulous, right? Anyway, I wanted to give you a peek at what I’ll be
“Pure Imagination,” by Roald Dahl [Poetry Friday]
view cop(R(. Today, I’m appearing in my first post at TeachingAuthors.com, where I’ll be a temporary member-whee! My post is about writing rituals, and I mention Roald Dahl over there, so I thought I’d share a Dahl poem here. As with his other writing forms, Dahl was by turns funny, sly, subversive, beautiful–and almost always
Cock-a-Doodle-Doo [15 words or less]
Photo: Laura Salas Wake up your poetry brains with 15 Words or Less (guidelines here)! When Randy and I went up to the North Shore (of Lake Superior, in Minnesota) last month, this is one of the oversized side-of-the-road things we saw. There was also a Voyageur whose odd wardrobe and color choices made it
WATER CAN BE… Trailer #2 (Family-Style!)
Excited that Water Can Be… got a lovely review in this month’s Booklist: Like its predecessor, A Leaf Can Be … (2012), this picture book explores an aspect of the natural world in a way that is imaginative but ultimately informative. A fine choice for reading aloud in the classroom or at home. ? Carolyn
“Ocean Tales,” by Laura Purdie Salas, pt. 2
Usually in this feature, I share my process as a reader reading a poem someone else wrote. But for this one, I’m sharing the writing process behind a poem I shared last week on Poetry Friday, “Ocean Tales.” I was working on a set of poems that eventually became BOOKSPEAK! POEMS ABOUT BOOKS (Clarion, 2011),
“Ocean Tales,” by Laura Purdie Salas [Poetry Friday]
view cop(R(. I’m sharing an unpublished poem today, one I originally wrote as part of the collection that became BookSpeak! Poems About Books (Clarion, 2011).? I hope you like it! Ocean Tales Each book is a drop in an ocean of choices, A glimpse of a maybe that someday might be. A watery world full
Ghostly [15 words or less]
Photo: Laura Salas Wake up your poetry brains with 15 Words or Less (guidelines here)! This was?a cool scene during a color guard winter show recently.?Here are?3 things this photo makes me think of: 1)? The Boy in the Plastic Bubble (anyone remember that old movie?) 2)? a butterfly?eager to break out of its cocoon
WATER CAN BE… Trailer #1
Yikes! My pub date (April 1) for Water Can Be… (Millbrook) is fast approaching! I’m thrilled that the book got a starred review from Kirkus, and I’ve been working on a set of five different short videos for it. Two are basic trailers, one focuses on WaterAid and global water issues, one is about the
Lobster [15 words or less]
Photo: Laura Salas Wake up your poetry brains with 15 Words or Less (guidelines here)! This was part of some wall art at The Smack Shack in Minneapolis, made, according to the server, by making molds of real lobsters. Ick.?Here are?3 things this photo makes me think of: 1)’dentures 2)?the plaster handprints kids make for
Snow Cloud [15 words or less]
Photo: Randy Salas Wake up your poetry brains with 15 Words or Less (guidelines here)! I took this picture a few days ago on the North Shore of Lake Superior. I was gathering lots?of images of water in various forms to use in materials related to my forthcoming book, Water Can Be.… The temps were
Mirror [15 words or less]
Photo: Laura Salas Wake up your poetry brains with 15 Words or Less (guidelines here)! I took this pic downtown (Minneapolis) because I liked the way the mirrors made it look like there were bowls holding these decorative balls, when there were really only half-bowls. Here are?3 things this photo makes me think of: 1)?the
Blush (by Laura Purdie Salas) [poetry friday]
I’ve got a poem up as poem of the day?at PoetryMinute.org, the site started by U.S. Children’s Poet Laureate Kenn Nesbitt that features a children’s poem every day. Today, starting at 7 a.m. and for 24 hours, my poem “Blush” from Stampede! Poems to Celebrate the Wild Side of School, will be up.??Stampede! recently went
Tracks [15 words or less]
Photo: Laura Salas Wake up your poetry brains with 15 Words or Less (guidelines here)! I took this pic while walking Captain Jack Sparrow by the lake. I love these tracks leading off into the distance.?Here are?3 things this photo makes me think of: 1)?tightrope walker 2)?the Yellow Brick Road 3) those little dress-up shoes
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