Photo by Molly Hogan. Welcome to Wednesday This Photo Wants to Be a Poem Day. While you are here, take a moment to be in/ with the featured photograph. When you feel moved to write, write a small poem inspired by the photo. Leave some or all of your creation in a comment. Respond to other writers with positive feedback. Today’s photo was taken by Molly Hogan. She is a teacher-poet-photographer friend in Maine. When I first saw and saved this photo, I hadn’t seen the full reflection in the water. I’m not sure where this photo was located, but I want to be there today. Don’t you? God encircles ..read more

Thank you to Two Writing Teachers for creating an amazing community of writers and a safe, welcoming space to write and share. Monday was Earth Day and the weather could not have been more perfect. A cool front came through, so our temps were in the 60’s. I took each group of students outside for writing time. I opened the Merlin app and we talked about the birds’ songs we heard. It was a good day for listening, teaching, and writing. State testing starts Wednesday, so I was happy for the opportunity to sit outside and forget our worries. Kailyn’s notebook page Earth Day is also my father’s d ..read more

Janet Fagel has the Kidlit Progressive Poem today here. Thank you again to Margaret, friend and host, all the poets growing this poem day by day and Irene who began it long ago. Where will our two go from here? Head to Mary Lee’s tomorrow (whom I happily get to see this coming weekend in Ohio!) I love the Poetry Friday community even when I am away. Inspiration, creativity, poetry and friendship stemming from our devotion to children and their growth. I recognize so many friends participating and am happy to be a part of this. cradled in stars, our planet sleeps, clinging to tender dreams of ..read more

Poetry Friday is hosted today by Heidi Mordhorst at my juicy little universe. For Poem in Your Pocket Day, I invited Marcie Flinchum Atkins to join my students by Zoom. We were able to get a small 30 minute window of time while she could visit. What a treat! Marcie is a master at haiku, and no wonder, she writes one every day. She usually writes in a small notebook to photos that she has taken. Beautiful photos! Her easy-going way led to a comfortable, safe environment for writing. My students wrote. I wrote. Like Marcie, I wanted to use a photo and Canva to design my haiku for publication. Ma ..read more

What is National Poem in Your Pocket Day? What poem will you carry? I am taking along a bit of kindness from Danusha Laméris Small Kindnesses. Kidlit Progressive Poem is moving along with apprehension and worry for our two refugees. See the latest line at Opposite of Indifference with Tabatha Yeats. Taste a Bite of Poetry after Mark Strand I have been dining on poetry that tastes like cookies. Someone pressed in a dash of salty tears, balancing the sweet. Someone topped them with chocolate. The brown ink stains my fingers, So I carry this verse with me, eating bit by bit, filling my wistful ..read more

School Butterfly Garden We’ve started getting the school butterfly garden ready for spring. I was a bit overwhelmed and excited to see all the plants that survived the winter. I was particularly taken by the purple salvia which last year was a small percentage of planter box space and now is practically taking over. But it’s so beautiful. A closeup of purple salvia Yesterday on Ethical ELA, the prompt from Dave Wooly was a new form to me: Kwansaba, a praise poem based on #7. Seven lines, seven words, seven or fewer letters each word. The letter count stumped me because I wanted to write about ..read more

Thank you to Two Writing Teachers for creating an amazing community of writers and a safe, welcoming space to write and share. What an amazing month for flowers! They are everywhere. Knockout roses, wild purple salvia, native Louisiana iris. I even say a few poppies in a neutral ground. Jasmine is blooming sending fragrance through the windows. I am finding hope and poetry in the flowers this month. Today I want to offer two poems about flowers. I hope you are watching flowers blooming in your part of the world. Small daily miracles. Louisiana iris clipped from our bog. Iris in a Glass Vase I ..read more

Poetry Friday gathering this week is with Jone MacCulloch. Being a part of the Poetry Friday community has given me much to be grateful for. We are writing together a wonderful Progressive Poem. Today’s line is with Denise Krebs and yesterday was Linda Mitchell. I’ve met these poets along with many others through our weekly postings. These posts have led to collaboration on other projects. Linda is a writing group partner and Denise and I are a part of Ethical ELA and a book we are collaborating on. (More on that later.) I would never have met them in real life. The gathering of a like-minded ..read more

Photo by Peter Fazekas on Pexels.com This poem comes from a prompt on Ethical ELA VerseLove by Joanne Emery. She asked us to read Jane Hirshfield’s poem My Life Was the Size of My Life and borrow a line to use in our own poem that expresses something about ourself. I used the line “I told my life I would like some time.” I Told My Life I would like some time. I wanted to hit Pause, rise in another space– maybe a vase of flowers beautiful & scented then tossed away. I told my life to hold on while I slept, dreamt I was flying. What does it feel like to be free? I told my life I would like ..read more

L’Éclipse by Melissa Bonin This painting by my friend, artist Melissa Bonin, was exhibited at the Acadian World Congress in 2019 in Moncton, New Brunswick, Canada. When Melissa posted this photo of her art on Instagram, I was inspired to ask permission for our ekphrastic poetry this week. Did you experience the eclipse? The experience was exciting for everyone. Although there were clouds and rain, a few times the sun peeked out and we were able to view it. My students were fascinated. Every day we Come closer to Learning our lesson. I stand in awe Pretending to feel Safe on our fragile Earth ..read more