Two quick things before today’s poem!
1) Mark your calendars for the virtual event on April 25. Meet 8 creators, 9 books, and have a chance to win a free book! Click the graphic for more info:
2) At Picture Book Builders, the awesome Jill Esbaum has an interview with me about writing Finding Family. And there’s a giveaway!
Okay, now on to Poetry Friday!
Happy Poetry Friday! Welcome, everyone! (Wondering what Poetry Friday is? Click here.)
Happy National Poetry Month 2023! Curious about what I’m doing? Want to play along? Read more here.
[Heads-up: If you’re visiting regularly, please know that the bold, blue text is what I’m writing fresh each day. The black text is the same each day:>) ]
I love to watch the sky. Always. When we downsized to a townhome, we discovered window shades that can be raised from the bottom OR lowered from the top. These let light in while still giving privacy when your neighbors’ windows are quite close by! But best of all, they give me a constant skyview!
The words I picked yesterday formed a pretty ordinary progression (except that science is so freaking amazing). There’s a storm. And then, if the sun comes out quickly, there’s a rainbow. But I liked the feeling of calm these words gave me. Their simplicity is almost like a mantra. I will get through this. (Whatever this is.) WE will get through this.
And this one brought connections to my own writing. Zap! Clap! Boom!, of course. And my first (I think) poem written for one of Janet and Sylvia’s projects, their poetry e‑anthology, Poetry Tag Time. I had a laugh reading that post (it’s hard to tell in this font, but book titles will usually be linked)–apparently, that book was the very first e‑book I bought!
What words will we be digging through today?
And here’s the card that we might pull our topic from:
So some possible topics are:
- comet
- cupid
- vixen
- rudolph
- Santa’s reindeer
Will you join in? Would love to see what you come up with!
And don’t miss this week’s Poetry Friday Roundup, hosted by the wonderful teacher and poet Margaret Simon. I love Poetry Fridays during National Poetry Month, as I get a glimpse of how everyone’s projects are going!
- Intro to what I’m doing this National Poetry Month
- ALL the Digging for Poems drafts I’ve written this month
- If you’d like to see each daily poem as I post it, you can:
- Subscribe to this blog (link in right sidebar) to receive poems in your email
- Follow me on Twitter
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- What is National Poetry Month?
- My previous National Poetry Month projects:
24 Responses
I like your small poem. How lovely our gardens and those rainbows. Here is what these words led me to. (I used the ‑s twice, added and, a, one.)
Under Over One Powder Blue Sky
This quiet garden,
a quiet smile,
woman with child
sleep.
They touch talk,
search for honey,
rainbows,
blue roses,
and
You.
Ooh, such a peaceful scene, Janet!
Janet, “they touch talk” is such a descriptive set of action words.
The words coincided with what weather has been giving us lately!
Laura and Janet, you both got a garden into your poems, too. I just have the sky.
SKY
Storm over
Touch rainbow
Smile
And just the sky is just enough!
Diane, “touch rainbow” is a beautiful way of bringing a rainbow into the scene-so hopeful and promising.
I chose sky & powder, Laura. Hope it’s okay to choose two! It is such fun to see what everyone chooses & writes. Thank you!
Powder Sky
nibbling quiet
where?
swimming out this storm
come snack
smile ahead
Linda Baie ©
Love this! And I’m happy to you play with the prompt howEVER you would like to! That nibbling quiet is intriguing :>)
Linda, “nibbing quiet” strikes my fancy as do the verbs in your poem.
Laura, what fun this is. I look forward to the new words each day. Here are my poems for the past two. (For some reason my comment didn’t post yesterday.) I wrote about the sky too.
Sky
Storm time over
Rainbow come
Quiet this
Matter for me
Today
Touch
curious always
tentacle power
bump check
will make a
robust spark
Thanks, Denise. That’s exactly (the looking forward to the words) what I was hoping would happen for some people! I love the beseeching sky poem, esp “Quiet this.” And that “robust spark.” Lovely!
This poetry project brings me so much joy each day! And yes to the mantra-like quality of today’s poem, a welcome reminder that we will keep going.
Thanks so much, Elisabeth!
I love looking at the sky. Aimee Nezhukumatathil encourages people to keep a sky journal. Maybe that will be a Poetry Month challenge for me some day. (Not this year as I’m working on revisions for a book).
I’m always looking for rainbows. I have friends who have lost loved ones and see them in rainbows, so I’ve been known to pull over (my husband will pull over if he is driving). I take a picture and text it to them.
Laura, I found your post to be alluring. I think teachers could play along with your work. I know that I had fun mining for words and creating a quick write for now.
Skyview Watch
storm surges
sky steps back
tracks flight
rainbow winks
peaceful transition
I hope a few teachers are playing along with their students–even if I don’t know about it! That winking rainbow! Yes-there, then gone, then there again…
Your project is so much fun! So intuitive and spontaneous!
COMET
beauty between those
gurgle finish shine
(this is so fun to poem-make on the fly with your words!)
I’m glad you’re having fun with these, Patricia. Love your compressed bicycle injury poem (I think) and your shine of a comet poem!
I love this interactive project, Laura–coming here is Many Poems for the Price of a Single Click! I really enjoyed looking back at the poetry tag e‑books (I was in P*Tag)–what a monster collection of excellence from all of our greats! Sylvia and Janet should really reissue those. I do hope teachers and classes are playing along, and that they’ll submit their efforts to WHISPERshoutMagazine @ gmail, where kids 4–12 can see their poems published. Thanks for helping me launch it!
Thanks, Heidi. Ooh, yes! Such a great and ambitious project. Can’t wait to see where WHISPERshout goes!
Ah what a poetically perfect poem Laura, I love the rainbow after the storm! All the best with your book event on the 25th it sounds wonderful!
Thanks, Michelle!