Laura Shovan's Blog, page 6
April 20, 2020
#WaterPoemProject: Day 30, Janet Wong
It’s Day 30 of our #WaterPoemProject — 30 31 days of water-themed poetry prompts from your favorite children’s authors. (Surprise! There will be a bonus prompt tomorrow!!)
If you’re looking for National Poetry Month writing prompts, we’ve got you covered. Start with Day 1 and you’ll have poetry prompts from now through the end of April.
New to this project? Please read the Introduction and FAQ. Or you can watch this video of me describing how to participate. It’s on the YouTube channel Authors Everywhere.
Poet and children’s author Janet Wong joins us today. In addition to her own writing, Janet is co-editor of the wonderful Poetry Friday series from Pomelo Books.
Janet’s prompt is: Write a Gift Poem
Janet Wong
You know how it feels when someone gives you a gift. No matter how small or inexpensive, it lifts you up. I love gifts even more when they’re homemade.
So, for today, how about making a gift poem? Take someone in your family—mother, father, brother, sister, uncle, aunt, cousin, grandparent—or a neighbor, or a friend, or someone you’d like to thank. Now use metaphor/simile to turn that person into some kind of water. Maybe:
—your mailman is like a river, full of life, bringing a steady stream of surprises . . .
—your friend is like a bottle of bubbly soda water . . .
—your father is the ocean, with powerful currents and deep mysteries . . .
—your mother is the warm water in your bath, calming you down, washing you clean . . .
—your neighbor is a screaming tea kettle . . .
You might find that some of the poems that pour out of you aren’t exactly “gift material.” If the poem might hurt someone’s feelings (or if it might get you into trouble, like that tea kettle idea), tear it into a hundred little pieces and throw it away. It’s OK: the poem still has done something good. It’s helped you get your feelings out! When you’re sad or angry or confused, that’s a good time to write a poem.
And if you do write a poem that can be given as a gift—a poem that you think will make someone happy—share it! Read it aloud at breakfast, or send it via email, or tape it to your window. Copy it on an index card or other small piece of paper, decorate it, and keep it in your pocket for Poem in Your Pocket Day (usually celebrated the last week of April) or any day. This way, you’ll be giving a gift to yourself—a reminder of how special YOU are!
Find out more about Poem in Your Pocket Day here: https://poets.org/national-poetry-month/poem-your-pocket-day
***
Exciting news, poets! As you saw at the top of the post, we will have a bonus prompt tomorrow. Consider it my gift to you.
Write your gift poem by the end of the day tomorrow, Tuesday, April 21, 2020.
If you’re doing the #WaterPoemProject with a group, be sure to share or post your rough draft, read other people’s poems, and cheer for their efforts. Or leave your poem here, in the comments.
Janet Wong is a graduate of Yale Law School and a former lawyer who switched careers to become a children’s author. Her dramatic career change has been featured on The Oprah Winfrey Show, CNN’s Paula Zahn Show, and Radical Sabbatical. She is the author of more than 30 books for children and teens on a wide variety of subjects, including writing and revision (You Have to Write), diversity and community (Apple Pie 4th of July), peer pressure (Me and Rolly Maloo), chess (Alex and the Wednesday Chess Club), and yoga (Twist: Yoga Poems). Together with Sylvia Vardell, she is the co-creator of The Poetry Friday Anthology series and Poetry Friday Power Book series published by Pomelo Books. Her most recent book is A Suitcase of Seaweed & MORE, a 2020 NCTE Poetry Notable. Find Janet online at https://www.janetwong.com/ and Pomelo Books at https://pomelobooks.com/
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#WaterPoemProject Series Posts:
Project Introduction
FAQ
Prompt 1: Irene Latham, The Language of Water
Prompt 2: Elizabeth Steinglass, What Would a Raindrop Say?
Prompt 3: Linda Mitchell, Found Haiku
Prompt 4: Shari Green, Fogbow Fibonacci
Prompt 5: Margaret Simon, The Taste of Water
Prompt 6: Heather Meloche, The Shape of a Wave
Prompt 7: Amy Ludwig VanDerwater, A Water Memory
Prompt 8: Laura Shovan, Rainy Day Opposites
Prompt 9: Kathryn Apel, Silly Solage
Prompt 10: Buffy Silverman, A Watery Home
Prompt 11: Kara Laughlin, Frozen Fog
Prompt 12: Debbie Levy, Jump into a Limerick
Prompt 13: Joy McCullough, What Are Water Bears?
Prompt 14: Linda Baie, Frozen Water Skinny
Prompt 15: Chris Baron, The Hidden World of Water
Prompt 16: Michelle Heidenrich Barnes, Water Wordplay
Prompt 17: Susan Tan, The Sound of Water
Prompt 18: Mike Grosso, Waterplay!
Prompt 19: R. L. Toalson, Wishing Well
Prompt 20: Margarita Engle, Ode to the Shore
Prompt 21: Faye McCray, Poem in a Bubble
Prompt 22: Meg Eden, Surprising Connections
Prompt 23: Beth Ain, Water with Salt
Prompt 24: Kevin Hodgson, A Poem about Peepers
Prompt 25: Laura Purdie Salas, Be a Snow-Maker!
Prompt 26: Amanda Rawson Hill, Where Does Water Come From?
Prompt 27: Nikki Grimes, Word? Play!
Prompt 28: Heidi Mordhorst, Try a Definito!
Prompt 29: Lee Gjertsen Malone, Dirty Water
Prompt 30: Janet Wong, Write a Gift Poem
Please support the #WaterPoemProject authors by buying their books from your favorite independent bookstore.
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April 19, 2020
#WaterPoemProject: Day 29, Lee Gjertsen Malone
It’s Day 29 of our #WaterPoemProject — 30 days of water-themed poetry prompts from your favorite children’s authors. We are down to the last two days of our project.
If you’re looking for National Poetry Month writing prompts, we’ve got you covered. Start with Day 1 and you’ll have poetry prompts from now through the end of April.
New to this project? Please read the Introduction and FAQ. Or you can watch this video of me describing how to participate. It’s on the YouTube channel Authors Everywhere.
Joining us from April-snowy Boston, middle grade author Lee Gjertsen Malone has a great water-themed writing prompt for us today.
Lee’s prompt is: Dirty Water
Lee Gjertsen Malone
My adopted home of Boston is associated with the song “Dirty Water” by the Standells, released in 1966.
The song is about the Charles River, which at the time was very polluted. But it’s not anymore — it’s a river that people swim and boat in, without worry.
When I think about the Charles River I think about a body of water that has worked hard to be clean. But dirt and cleanliness is all tied up with water, and here in Boston, it’s about this river. And this song is about loving a place that isn’t perfect, and maybe isn’t always clean, but it’s home.
“Because I love that dirty water… oh Boston you’re my home.”
Write about about how dirt and cleanliness are all tied up with water.
***
We’re down to the last two writing prompts, poets! There are so many things you can do with Lee’s prompt today: write an opposites poem, explore pollution, create an ode to a river where you live. You’ve got until the end of the day tomorrow, Monday, April 20, 2020, to draft a new poem.
If you’re doing the #WaterPoemProject with a group, be sure to share or post your rough draft, read other people’s poems, and cheer for their efforts. Or leave your poem here, in the comments.
Lee Gjertsen Malone is the author of two novels for children published by Simon & Schuster, THE LAST BOY AT ST. EDITH’S, a Nutmeg Award Finalist, a Sakura Medal finalist, and a Massachusetts Center for the Book Must Read, and CAMP SHADY CROOK, a Junior Library Guild selection. She lives in Cambridge Massachusetts with her husband, daughter, and a rotating cast of animals. Find her online at http://leegjertsenmalone.com/.
***
#WaterPoemProject Series Posts:
Project Introduction
FAQ
Prompt 1: Irene Latham, The Language of Water
Prompt 2: Elizabeth Steinglass, What Would a Raindrop Say?
Prompt 3: Linda Mitchell, Found Haiku
Prompt 4: Shari Green, Fogbow Fibonacci
Prompt 5: Margaret Simon, The Taste of Water
Prompt 6: Heather Meloche, The Shape of a Wave
Prompt 7: Amy Ludwig VanDerwater, A Water Memory
Prompt 8: Laura Shovan, Rainy Day Opposites
Prompt 9: Kathryn Apel, Silly Solage
Prompt 10: Buffy Silverman, A Watery Home
Prompt 11: Kara Laughlin, Frozen Fog
Prompt 12: Debbie Levy, Jump into a Limerick
Prompt 13: Joy McCullough, What Are Water Bears?
Prompt 14: Linda Baie, Frozen Water Skinny
Prompt 15: Chris Baron, The Hidden World of Water
Prompt 16: Michelle Heidenrich Barnes, Water Wordplay
Prompt 17: Susan Tan, The Sound of Water
Prompt 18: Mike Grosso, Waterplay!
Prompt 19: R. L. Toalson, Wishing Well
Prompt 20: Margarita Engle, Ode to the Shore
Prompt 21: Faye McCray, Poem in a Bubble
Prompt 22: Meg Eden, Surprising Connections
Prompt 23: Beth Ain, Water with Salt
Prompt 24: Kevin Hodgson, A Poem about Peepers
Prompt 25: Laura Purdie Salas, Be a Snow-Maker!
Prompt 26: Amanda Rawson Hill, Where Does Water Come From?
Prompt 27: Nikki Grimes, Word? Play!
Prompt 28: Heidi Mordhorst, Try a Definito!
Prompt 29: Lee Gjertsen Malone, Dirty Water
Please support the #WaterPoemProject authors by buying their books from your favorite independent bookstore.
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April 18, 2020
#WaterPoemProject: Day 28, Heidi Mordhorst
It’s Day 28 of our #WaterPoemProject — 30 days of water-themed poetry prompts from your favorite children’s authors. We are down to the last few days of our project.
If you’re looking for National Poetry Month writing prompts, we’ve got you covered. Start with Day 1 and you’ll have poetry prompts from now through the end of April.
New to this project? Please read the Introduction and FAQ. Or you can watch this video of me describing how to participate. It’s on the YouTube channel Authors Everywhere.
I am happy to welcome my dear friend, poet and educator Heidi Mordhorst, to share a water-themed writing prompt with us today.
Heidi’s prompt is: Try a Definito!
Heidi Mordhorst
In my own work, I usually write in free verse, but poetic forms certainly have their uses. A poetic form is like a recipe for constructing a poem: each form has rules for how many words or lines or stanzas, or where the rhymes should fall, or what the rhythm should be.
Poetic forms are as various as the languages on earth and the purposes to which poetry is put. I especially love that although some well-known poetry forms are old and even ancient (sonnet, haiku and triolet), many are newly created by poets who “discovered” a form lurking in their own work. Terrance Hayes’s Golden Shovel form, invented in 2010 , Marilyn Singer’s reverso form introduced also in 2010, and the Skinny, invented by Truth Thomas in 2005, have all inspired poets everywhere to try their own versions. As this Water Poem series proves, poets are a game bunch fascinated by all ways of playing with words. Show us a new form and we’ll run with it!
I hope you’ll do the same for my own invention, a poetic form called the definito. I’d written a number of these over the years before I attempted to define the definito; here are the rules I settled on recently. To stay true to myself, my poetic form is a free verse form!
The definito is a free verse poem of 8-12 lines that highlights wordplay as it demonstrates the meaning of a less common, often abstract word, which always ends the poem.
Here’s an example of an early definito.
IMMACULATE
not a
smudge of mud
not a
jot of rot
just
tulip leaves of clean green
just
tulip petals, pure sheen
mingling their
singular spotless hues
immaculate
©Heidi Mordhorst 2008
Although the definito is a free verse form—meaning you get to choose line length, whether it’s metered or not, whether to rhyme or not—you are constrained to 12 lines and the last word of the poem is the one you are defining. (It’s also the title.) The layout of the poem highlights its use repetition, alliteration, assonance, consonance and rhyme.
There are a thousand water words that could become the subject of a definito, but also up for grabs are the thousand words that might describe water. Here’s one from last year.
PLACID
imagine a place
a lake perhaps
unruffled by ripples
untroubled by tides
a place of peace and quiet blue
stand and survey
the way that calm
skims over the surface–
placid.
©Heidi Mordhorst 2019
In general, I’m aiming my 8-12 lines at readers 8-12 years old, but you don’t have to narrow your audience that way. It’s just that brains that age are newly wrapping their heads around abstract concepts and coming across new vocabulary several times a day, we hope!
Here are a few water words and modifiers to get you started, but hey—you’re poets. Run with it!
brackish
riparian
levee
sluice
alluvium
percolation
fjord
impermeable
turbulent
***
The finish line is in sight, poets! Pick a water-related word and try a definito poem by the end of the day tomorrow, Sunday, April 18, 2020.
If you’re doing the #WaterPoemProject with a group, be sure to share or post your rough draft, read other people’s poems, and cheer for their efforts. Or leave your poem here, in the comments.
Heidi Mordhorst is a poet, teacher, and poetry teacher. An active member of the online Poetry Friday community, Heidi is the author of two collections of poetry for young people, SQUEEZE: POEMS FROM A JUICY UNIVERSE and PUMPKIN BUTTERFLY: POEMS FROM THE OTHER SIDE OF NATURE (both Wordsong/Boyds Mills) and numerous poetry anthologies including THE POETRY OF US (ed. J. Patrick Lewis), POEMS ARE TEACHERS (Amy Ludwig VanDerwater) and the forthcoming A DAY IN THE LIFE OF MATH, edited by the late Lee Bennett Hopkins. Heidi blogs regularly at my juicy little universe; her project for National Poetry Month 2020 is to present on video one of her published poems each day in April. She’s looking for a literary agent.
***
#WaterPoemProject Series Posts:
Project Introduction
FAQ
Prompt 1: Irene Latham, The Language of Water
Prompt 2: Elizabeth Steinglass, What Would a Raindrop Say?
Prompt 3: Linda Mitchell, Found Haiku
Prompt 4: Shari Green, Fogbow Fibonacci
Prompt 5: Margaret Simon, The Taste of Water
Prompt 6: Heather Meloche, The Shape of a Wave
Prompt 7: Amy Ludwig VanDerwater, A Water Memory
Prompt 8: Laura Shovan, Rainy Day Opposites
Prompt 9: Kathryn Apel, Silly Solage
Prompt 10: Buffy Silverman, A Watery Home
Prompt 11: Kara Laughlin, Frozen Fog
Prompt 12: Debbie Levy, Jump into a Limerick
Prompt 13: Joy McCullough, What Are Water Bears?
Prompt 14: Linda Baie, Frozen Water Skinny
Prompt 15: Chris Baron, The Hidden World of Water
Prompt 16: Michelle Heidenrich Barnes, Water Wordplay
Prompt 17: Susan Tan, The Sound of Water
Prompt 18: Mike Grosso, Waterplay!
Prompt 19: R. L. Toalson, Wishing Well
Prompt 20: Margarita Engle, Ode to the Shore
Prompt 21: Faye McCray, Poem in a Bubble
Prompt 22: Meg Eden, Surprising Connections
Prompt 23: Beth Ain, Water with Salt
Prompt 24: Kevin Hodgson, A Poem about Peepers
Prompt 25: Laura Purdie Salas, Be a Snow-Maker!
Prompt 26: Amanda Rawson Hill, Where Does Water Come From?
Prompt 27: Nikki Grimes, Word? Play!
Prompt 28: Heidi Mordhorst, Try a Definito!
Please support the #WaterPoemProject authors by buying their books from your favorite independent bookstore.
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April 17, 2020
#WaterPoemProject: Day 27, Nikki Grimes
It’s Day 27 of our #WaterPoemProject — 30 days of water-themed poetry prompts from your favorite children’s authors. Only five days of poetry writing to go!
If you’re looking for National Poetry Month writing prompts, we’ve got you covered. Start with Day 1 and you’ll have poetry prompts from now through the end of April.
New to this project? Please read the Introduction and FAQ. Or you can watch this video of me describing how to participate. It’s on the YouTube channel Authors Everywhere.
Who is providing our poetry writing prompt today? One of my poet-heroes. It’s Nikki Grimes! I am honored that Nikki is participating in the #WaterPoemProject.
Nikki’s prompt is: Word? Play!
Nikki Grimes
I started writing when I was six, but even before then, I was fascinated with words. The idea that one word could mean many different things seemed endlessly interesting. I was drawn to word jumbles and word puzzles of every kind. I even made up my own word games, flipping through the dictionary and plucking out word, after word, and trying out various ways of using them, first in sentences, and later in metered verses. I was all about word-play, and word play led me to poetry. I became obsessed with the challenge of painting a picture or telling a story using as few words as possible, in just the right way. Little surprise, then, that I fell in love with haiku!
Eventually, I took my love of word-play to the page, in the form of Pocketful of Poems, a collection of free-verse poems paired with haiku. The free-verse poems were a play on one of the main words in the haiku. Each free-verse poem resulted from word studies and word-play.
My original idea for Pocketful of Poems was to create a collection of urban-themed haiku. As with the traditional Japanese form, I wanted my haiku to include seasonal themes. And so, I thought about the four seasons, and the American holidays that took place during those seasons, and captured the images that started coming to mind. In considering autumn, the Thanksgiving holiday seemed an obvious choice. I jotted down notes about the colors associated with that holiday, as well as the foods. Pumpkins loomed large in my mind, and so I took that word and ran with it. First, I wrote a haiku.
Pumpkins catch a bus
to town. How else could they get
here by Thanksgiving?
Then, I closed my eyes and thought about the word pumpkin, sifted it through my mind, and my imagination. I studied the word, what it looked like, where you’d find it, how it was used, how it tasted, and so on. Then, I wrote the following:
PUMPKIN
Pumpkin is an orange word.
I set its roundness out
where others can enjoy it.
I help Mama carve
a crooked smile on its face.
Come Thanksgiving,
we bake others like it for dessert.
But first we have to wait
for them to arrive.
Pocketful of Poems has been in print for nineteen years, and counting, and it all began with word-play. I’d been creating these kinds of poems for years, but only as writing prompts for myself. Now, you can join in on the fun.
Prompt
When I do a word-study, I sift the word through all of my senses. I approach the word as if it’s something brand new, and I pose questions to get at the heart of what that word, or the thing that word represents, is. How does it look? What is its color, its shape? Does it have a sound? If so, what is that sound? Does it have a scent? If so, what does it smell like? Does it have a taste? What does it feel like? I go on to ask where it may be found, how it is used, what it does, and what you can do with it. I try to study the word from the inside-out, and think of ways to describe it to someone who has never encountered that item before. If my mind is scattered, and I don’t know where to start, I’ll look the word up in the dictionary and start there. Once I have all the information I need, I shape it into a simple poem of a few lines, as follows:
Ball Shower
Ball is a round, rubber word. This word wets my pocket.
It fits inside my palm. I have to stay indoors
I play with it outside, until my blue jeans dry.
bounce it on the sidewalk. Shower is a clean word—
When it hits the ground soap and water for the sky.
it makes a smacking sound.
My cupped hand waits for it
to come back home.
Pen
Pen is a slim word,
a tube of possibility.
Poems and essays hide inside
or ride the river
of her ink.
Pen jots down things
that make you think.
Pen is round.
Pen speaks, yet
makes no sound.
I bet you’ve got the hang of it! Now, it’s your turn. This exercise is a two-fer. Write a pair of poems focusing on one of the words below. First, write a haiku about the word you’ve chosen. Second, follow the word-play exercise focusing on that word. Make that word the star of your poem.
Ice Snowball Steam Puddle Hail
Write a short paragraph about the word you’ve chosen. Consider all aspects of the item that word represents: how it looks, sounds, feels, tastes, what it does, what you can do with it, how it affects you, what its made of, where its found. Does it have an age, color, a smell? Try to think about each word in a new, animated way. Give it life.
Turn this paragraph into a poem. Use as many, or as few poetic elements as you’d like: metaphor, simile, repetition, alliteration, rhyme, etc. And as you write, pretend that the reader has never seen that item before.
Note: My own poems tend to be short. However, I’ve seen writers create fairly elaborate poems in my workshops using this exercise, so don’t concentrate on length.
Have fun! Remember, this exercise is called word play!
***
We’re down to the last few writing prompts, poets. Keep up the good work! Your goal is to have a word-play poem drafted by the end of the day tomorrow, Saturday, April 17, 2020.
If you’re doing the #WaterPoemProject with a group, be sure to share or post your rough draft, read other people’s poems, and cheer for their efforts. Or leave your poem here, in the comments.
New York Times bestselling author Nikki Grimes is the recipient of the 2017 Children’s Literature Legacy Award for substantial and lasting contributions to literature for children, the 2016 Virginia Hamilton Literary Award, and the 2006 NCTE Award for Excellence in Poetry for Children. The author of Coretta Scott King Author Award-winner Bronx Masquerade, and recipient of five CSK Author Honors, her most recent titles include the much-honored Words With Wings, Garvey’s Choice and Boston Globe-Horn Book honor, Between the Lines, and One Last Word, winner of the 2018 Lee Bennett Hopkins Poetry Award. Her 2019 memoir Ordinary Hazards, won both a Printz Honor and a Sibert Honor.
Find Nikki online at https://www.nikkigrimes.com/.
***
#WaterPoemProject Series Posts:
Project Introduction
FAQ
Prompt 1: Irene Latham, The Language of Water
Prompt 2: Elizabeth Steinglass, What Would a Raindrop Say?
Prompt 3: Linda Mitchell, Found Haiku
Prompt 4: Shari Green, Fogbow Fibonacci
Prompt 5: Margaret Simon, The Taste of Water
Prompt 6: Heather Meloche, The Shape of a Wave
Prompt 7: Amy Ludwig VanDerwater, A Water Memory
Prompt 8: Laura Shovan, Rainy Day Opposites
Prompt 9: Kathryn Apel, Silly Solage
Prompt 10: Buffy Silverman, A Watery Home
Prompt 11: Kara Laughlin, Frozen Fog
Prompt 12: Debbie Levy, Jump into a Limerick
Prompt 13: Joy McCullough, What Are Water Bears?
Prompt 14: Linda Baie, Frozen Water Skinny
Prompt 15: Chris Baron, The Hidden World of Water
Prompt 16: Michelle Heidenrich Barnes, Water Wordplay
Prompt 17: Susan Tan, The Sound of Water
Prompt 18: Mike Grosso, Waterplay!
Prompt 19: R. L. Toalson, Wishing Well
Prompt 20: Margarita Engle, Ode to the Shore
Prompt 21: Faye McCray, Poem in a Bubble
Prompt 22: Meg Eden, Surprising Connections
Prompt 23: Beth Ain, Water with Salt
Prompt 24: Kevin Hodgson, A Poem about Peepers
Prompt 25: Laura Purdie Salas, Be a Snow-Maker!
Prompt 26: Amanda Rawson Hill, Where Does Water Come From?
Prompt 27: Nikki Grimes, Word? Play!
Please support the #WaterPoemProject authors by buying their books from your favorite independent bookstore.
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April 16, 2020
#WaterPoemProject: Day 26, Amanda Rawson Hill
Welcome back to my month-long #WaterPoemProject, Poetry Friday friends.
It’s Day 26. Can you believe our project is nearing its end?
If you’re new to the #WaterPoemProject, please read the Introduction and FAQ. Or you can watch this video of me describing how to participate. It’s on the YouTube channel Authors Everywhere.
For #WaterPoemProject regulars who are new to Poetry Friday, each week a kidlit blogger hosts poetry-related links and posts from around the kidlitosphere. This week’s host is Molly Hogan at Nix the Comfort Zone. (Thanks, Molly!) Still confused? Renée LaTulippe has a great post about our weekly poetry party.
Today’s writing starter comes from verse novelist and children’s book author Amanda Rawson Hill.
Amanda’s poetry prompt is: Write a “Where I’m From” Poem for Water
Where does water come from? The mountains? The ocean? A cloud? Write a poem that tells us by describing what that place looks, feels, sounds, and smells like.
Here’s a link to “Where I’m From” by George Ella Lyon: http://www.smithsonianeducation.org/educators/professional_development/workshops/writing/george_ella_lyon.pdf
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Students, you may have created a “Where I’m From” poem about yourself at school. But what does the poem sound like when you write it in the voice of water? Draft your new poem before the end of the day tomorrow, Friday, April 17, 2020.
If you’re doing the #WaterPoemProject with a group, be sure to share or post your rough draft, read other people’s poems, and cheer for their efforts. Or leave your poem here, in the comments.
Amanda Rawson Hill is a poet, educator, and science enthusiast. She lives in California with her husband, 4 kids, 3 Guinea pigs, one dog, and one cat. She is the author of THE THREE RULES OF EVERYDAY MAGIC and the forthcoming, YOU’LL FIND ME. Find her online at amandarawsonhill.com
***
#WaterPoemProject Series Posts:
Project Introduction
FAQ
Prompt 1: Irene Latham, The Language of Water
Prompt 2: Elizabeth Steinglass, What Would a Raindrop Say?
Prompt 3: Linda Mitchell, Found Haiku
Prompt 4: Shari Green, Fogbow Fibonacci
Prompt 5: Margaret Simon, The Taste of Water
Prompt 6: Heather Meloche, The Shape of a Wave
Prompt 7: Amy Ludwig VanDerwater, A Water Memory
Prompt 8: Laura Shovan, Rainy Day Opposites
Prompt 9: Kathryn Apel, Silly Solage
Prompt 10: Buffy Silverman, A Watery Home
Prompt 11: Kara Laughlin, Frozen Fog
Prompt 12: Debbie Levy, Jump into a Limerick
Prompt 13: Joy McCullough, What Are Water Bears?
Prompt 14: Linda Baie, Frozen Water Skinny
Prompt 15: Chris Baron, The Hidden World of Water
Prompt 16: Michelle Heidenrich Barnes, Water Wordplay
Prompt 17: Susan Tan, The Sound of Water
Prompt 18: Mike Grosso, Waterplay!
Prompt 19: R. L. Toalson, Wishing Well
Prompt 20: Margarita Engle, Ode to the Shore
Prompt 21: Faye McCray, Poem in a Bubble
Prompt 22: Meg Eden, Surprising Connections
Prompt 23: Beth Ain, Water with Salt
Prompt 24: Kevin Hodgson, A Poem about Peepers
Prompt 25: Laura Purdie Salas, Be a Snow-Maker!
Prompt 26: Amanda Rawson Hill, Where Does Water Come From?
Please support the #WaterPoemProject authors by buying their books from your favorite independent bookstore.
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April 15, 2020
#WaterPoemProject: Day 25, Laura Purdie Salas
It’s Day 25 of our #WaterPoemProject — 30 days of water-themed poetry prompts from your favorite children’s authors. Only five days of poetry writing to go!
If you’re looking for National Poetry Month writing prompts, we’ve got you covered. Start with Day 1 and you’ll have poetry prompts from now through the end of April.
New to this project? Please read the Introduction and FAQ. Or you can watch this video of me describing how to participate. It’s on the YouTube channel Authors Everywhere.
QUICK ASIDE! April 14, was an exciting day. My middle grade novel of friendship, girl power, and wrestling, Takedown, came out in paperback! Look for a special book giveaway on Twitter and Instagram. (Some winners will receive a special prize — a cute Beagle dog plushie — with their signed book.)
You can enter the giveaway here.
Please welcome poet and children’s author Laura Purdie Salas to our project. Laura is a member of the Poetry Friday blogging community. Visit her blog to see some of Laura’s #WaterPoemProject poems.
Laura’s prompt is: Be a Snow-Maker!
Laura Purdie Salas
You’d think we have enough snow here in Minnesota, but when it gets really cold…bone-chilling cold…thirty degrees below zero cold, then that’s the time to boil a mug of water and make some snow.
Here I am in 2014 doing just that. How does it work? Here’s a cool Wired article that gives a good, compact explanation.
Photo by Randy A. Salas
Imagine you have the power to really make it snow. Or rain, or sleet, or hail.
How do you feel about it? When do you use that power? How do you use it?
Write a poem with plenty of sensory details that expresses that.
***
Let’s throw some sizzling hot words onto the page and see if they turn into something magical, like snow. Try to have your poem drafted by the end of the day tomorrow, Thursday, April 16, 2020.
If you’re doing the #WaterPoemProject with a group, be sure to share or post your rough draft, read other people’s poems, and cheer for their efforts. Or leave your poem here, in the comments.
Laura says, “My next book is Secrets of the Loon, coming out April 28 from Minnesota Historical Society Press. It’s a rhyming story with science back matter about Moon Loon (and since she migrates, she needs to be flying south long before the snow comes!)”
Find Laura Purdie Salas online at https://laurasalas.com.
***
#WaterPoemProject Series Posts:
Project Introduction
FAQ
Prompt 1: Irene Latham, The Language of Water
Prompt 2: Elizabeth Steinglass, What Would a Raindrop Say?
Prompt 3: Linda Mitchell, Found Haiku
Prompt 4: Shari Green, Fogbow Fibonacci
Prompt 5: Margaret Simon, The Taste of Water
Prompt 6: Heather Meloche, The Shape of a Wave
Prompt 7: Amy Ludwig VanDerwater, A Water Memory
Prompt 8: Laura Shovan, Rainy Day Opposites
Prompt 9: Kathryn Apel, Silly Solage
Prompt 10: Buffy Silverman, A Watery Home
Prompt 11: Kara Laughlin, Frozen Fog
Prompt 12: Debbie Levy, Jump into a Limerick
Prompt 13: Joy McCullough, What Are Water Bears?
Prompt 14: Linda Baie, Frozen Water Skinny
Prompt 15: Chris Baron, The Hidden World of Water
Prompt 16: Michelle Heidenrich Barnes, Water Wordplay
Prompt 17: Susan Tan, The Sound of Water
Prompt 18: Mike Grosso, Waterplay!
Prompt 19: R. L. Toalson, Wishing Well
Prompt 20: Margarita Engle, Ode to the Shore
Prompt 21: Faye McCray, Poem in a Bubble
Prompt 22: Meg Eden, Surprising Connections
Prompt 23: Beth Ain, Water with Salt
Prompt 24: Kevin Hodgson, A Poem about Peepers
Prompt 25: Laura Purdie Salas, Be a Snow-Maker!
Please support the #WaterPoemProject authors by buying their books from your favorite independent bookstore.
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April 14, 2020
#WaterPoemProject: Day 24, Kevin Hodgson
It’s Day 24 of our #WaterPoemProject — 30 days of water-themed poetry prompts from your favorite children’s authors.
If you’re looking for National Poetry Month writing prompts, we’ve got you covered. Start with Day 1 and you’ll have poetry prompts from now through the end of April.
New to this project? Please read the Introduction and FAQ. Or you can watch this video of me describing how to participate. It’s on the YouTube channel Authors Everywhere.
QUICK ASIDE! April 14, is an exciting day. My middle grade novel of friendship, girl power, and wrestling, Takedown, is out in paperback! Look for a special book giveaway on Twitter and Instagram. (Some winners will receive a special prize — a cute Beagle dog plushie — with their signed book.)
You can enter the giveaway here.
Kevin Hodgson is in charge of our prompt today. Kevin is a poet, educator, and Poetry Friday author. Check out his responses to the #WaterPoemProject prompts on Twitter.
Kevin’s prompt is: Write a Poem Full of Peepers
Kevin Hodgson
In early spring, here in New England, the rain-fed ponds of March and April seemingly overnight come alive with the cacophony of peepers, the early seasonal frogs looking for mates by shouting, singing, cajoling, making themselves heard above the din. It’s an amazing experience to listen in on.
For today’s poem of water, capture a woodland scene of hundreds of frogs in a peeper pond and use sensory imagery for your writing. You can learn more about these frogs at the Farmer’s Almanac and/or you can just listen in with your eyes closed to get inspiration: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UwVEI5M-948&feature=emb_title
Here’s my example:
Earbuds and microphones
and a sense of wonder;
Bring them all in with you
to capture the Symphony of the Wood
The singing these frogs do
for favorites is the oldest
and most reliable social network
known to the world: Love
***
Let us (or a friend or adult) peep at your brand-new poetry draft by the end of the day tomorrow, Wednesday, April 15, 2020.
If you’re doing the #WaterPoemProject with a group, be sure to share or post your rough draft, read other people’s poems, and cheer for their efforts. Or leave your poem here, in the comments.
Kevin Hodgson teaches sixth grade in Western Massachusetts and blogs at Kevin’s Meandering Mind http://dogtrax.edublogs.org
Kevin’s recommended book is a biography of Emily Dickinson, THESE FEVERED DAYS. Find it at Indiebound.
***
#WaterPoemProject Series Posts:
Project Introduction
FAQ
Prompt 1: Irene Latham, The Language of Water
Prompt 2: Elizabeth Steinglass, What Would a Raindrop Say?
Prompt 3: Linda Mitchell, Found Haiku
Prompt 4: Shari Green, Fogbow Fibonacci
Prompt 5: Margaret Simon, The Taste of Water
Prompt 6: Heather Meloche, The Shape of a Wave
Prompt 7: Amy Ludwig VanDerwater, A Water Memory
Prompt 8: Laura Shovan, Rainy Day Opposites
Prompt 9: Kathryn Apel, Silly Solage
Prompt 10: Buffy Silverman, A Watery Home
Prompt 11: Kara Laughlin, Frozen Fog
Prompt 12: Debbie Levy, Jump into a Limerick
Prompt 13: Joy McCullough, What Are Water Bears?
Prompt 14: Linda Baie, Frozen Water Skinny
Prompt 15: Chris Baron, The Hidden World of Water
Prompt 16: Michelle Heidenrich Barnes, Water Wordplay
Prompt 17: Susan Tan, The Sound of Water
Prompt 18: Mike Grosso, Waterplay!
Prompt 19: R. L. Toalson, Wishing Well
Prompt 20: Margarita Engle, Ode to the Shore
Prompt 21: Faye McCray, Poem in a Bubble
Prompt 22: Meg Eden, Surprising Connections
Prompt 23: Beth Ain, Water with Salt
Prompt 24: Kevin Hodgson, A Poem about Peepers
Please support the #WaterPoemProject authors by buying their books from your favorite independent bookstore.
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April 13, 2020
#WaterPoemProject: Day 23, Beth Ain
We’re in the home stretch, Poets! It’s Day 23 of our #WaterPoemProject — 30 days of water-themed poetry prompts from your favorite children’s authors.
If you’re looking for National Poetry Month writing prompts, we’ve got you covered. Start with Day 1 and you’ll have poetry prompts from now through the end of April.
New to this project? Please read the Introduction and FAQ. Or you can watch this video of me describing how to participate. It’s on the YouTube channel Authors Everywhere.
QUICK ASIDE! Tomorrow, April 14, is an exciting day. My middle grade novel of friendship, girl power, and wrestling, Takedown, is out in paperback! Look for a special book giveaway on Twitter and Instagram. (Some winners will receive a special prize — a cute Beagle dog plushie — with their signed book.)
Middle grade verse novelist Beth Ain is the author of today’s writing prompt.
Beth’s prompt is: Water with Salt
Beth Ain
This week is the Jewish holiday of Passover. For me, that brings up a lot of sensory memories. The smell of my grandmother’s brisket in the oven, the whooshing and gasping sounds as my baby cousin dumped the giant fruit bowl all over his mother’s lap as we huddled under the table during an endless Seder way back when I was a kid.
But also, the little dish of salt water at everyone’s place setting, that is meant to signify the tears of enslavement, but which also signifies a cleansing in time for Spring, in time to start fresh.
Poetry for me has always been about the small moments of life, which is why I used free verse to tell the story of Izzy’s life in Izzy Kline Has Butterflies—for her, small moments coincide with having butterflies in her belly, so I developed a little writing project called Butterfly Moments. Life really does happens in butterfly moments of all kinds!
So, “water with salt” can mean that little cup you dip your parsley into when you sit around your family Seder table, or it can mean the tear drops you have shed for something small—missing your favorite teacher or your favorite friend because we are sheltering in place in order to keep everyone safe—or, something big—which, for me are the salty tears I shed this year on Passover, my first without my mom.
Small moments writing is really just about boiling big moments down to their essence. Try to find a tiny little moment where you were purified by the salty water of the ocean or your own salty tears and write about the feelings that brought up for you. Did you taste the tears on your lips? Did that saltwater ocean sting your sunburn and make you red with rage? Did it wash away your sandcastle? Did those tears wash away a bad day, a bad grade, an argument with your sibling?
You can print out a butterfly moment worksheet here (https://www.bethain.com/for-teachers) on my website if you want to fill it up with salty feelings or memories and then make something out of them, a small moment poem—in this way, poetry makes something new out of something old, cleansing us, like the water with salt.
***
Today, I am thinking of a student whose happy memory of winning a contest has turned salty because the recognition ceremony won’t be happening. What does Beth’s “Water with Salt” prompt conjure up for you? Draft your poem by the end of the day tomorrow, Tuesday, April 14, 2020.
If you’re doing the #WaterPoemProject with a group, be sure to share or post your rough draft, read other people’s poems, and cheer for their efforts. Or leave your poem here, in the comments.
Beth Ain is the author of the Starring Jules chapter book series (Scholastic) as well as two middle grade novels-in-verse, Izzy Kline Has Butterflies and The Cure for Cold Feet (Random House). She is happy to shelter in place as long as she has her kids, her husband, her dog, and a little corner of the dining room table where she can write. Find her at http://www.bethain.com.
***
#WaterPoemProject Series Posts:
Project Introduction
FAQ
Prompt 1: Irene Latham, The Language of Water
Prompt 2: Elizabeth Steinglass, What Would a Raindrop Say?
Prompt 3: Linda Mitchell, Found Haiku
Prompt 4: Shari Green, Fogbow Fibonacci
Prompt 5: Margaret Simon, The Taste of Water
Prompt 6: Heather Meloche, The Shape of a Wave
Prompt 7: Amy Ludwig VanDerwater, A Water Memory
Prompt 8: Laura Shovan, Rainy Day Opposites
Prompt 9: Kathryn Apel, Silly Solage
Prompt 10: Buffy Silverman, A Watery Home
Prompt 11: Kara Laughlin, Frozen Fog
Prompt 12: Debbie Levy, Jump into a Limerick
Prompt 13: Joy McCullough, What Are Water Bears?
Prompt 14: Linda Baie, Frozen Water Skinny
Prompt 15: Chris Baron, The Hidden World of Water
Prompt 16: Michelle Heidenrich Barnes, Water Wordplay
Prompt 17: Susan Tan, The Sound of Water
Prompt 18: Mike Grosso, Waterplay!
Prompt 19: R. L. Toalson, Wishing Well
Prompt 20: Margarita Engle, Ode to the Shore
Prompt 21: Faye McCray, Poem in a Bubble
Prompt 22: Meg Eden, Surprising Connections
Prompt 23: Beth Ain, Water with Salt
Please support the #WaterPoemProject authors by buying their books from your favorite independent bookstore.
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April 12, 2020
#WaterPoemProject: Day 22, Meg Eden
It’s Day 22 of our #WaterPoemProject — 30 days of water-themed poetry prompts from your favorite children’s authors. How do you feel heading into our last week?
If you’re looking for National Poetry Month writing prompts, we’ve got you covered. Start with Day 1 and you’ll have poetry prompts from now through the end of April.
New to this project? Please read the Introduction and FAQ. Or you can watch this video of me describing how to participate. It’s on the YouTube channel Authors Everywhere.
Maryland-based poet and young adult author Meg Eden is sharing a writing prompt with us today.
Meg’s prompt is: Surprising Connections
Meg Eden
Make a list of your favorite words. Then pair them in sentences with water and see what funny, surprising combinations you can make. (e.g., Water is a dinosaur. Water is a desert. Water is a chocolate pie).
Pick your favorite resulting sentence and then try to explain it in a poem: Why is water a dinosaur? (Maybe it roars, coming out of your sink.)
Need ideas? Run your hands under the sink faucet. Drink a glass of water. Pay attention to what sensory details are around you, and what surprising connections you can make between seemingly unlike things.
***
Are you ready for some unexpected word combinations, poets? Your goal is to draft a “surprising connections” poem by the end of the day tomorrow, Monday, April 13, 2020.
If you’re doing the #WaterPoemProject with a group, be sure to share or post your rough draft, read other people’s poems, and cheer for their efforts. Or leave your poem here, in the comments.
Meg received her MFA in creative writing from the University of Maryland College Park. She teaches creative writing and has taught at a range of places, including Anne Arundel Community College, Southern New Hampshire University online, University of Maryland College Park, Eckleburg Workshops, and The Writer’s Center in Bethesda. She also worked as the advertising manager at AWP.
She is the author of five poetry chapbooks, the novel Post-High School Reality Quest, and the forthcoming poetry collection Drowning in the Floating World. She is also a participating author with the PEN/Faulkner Writers in Schools program. She runs the Magfest MAGES Library blog, which posts accessible academic articles about video games. Find her online at www.megedenbooks.com or on Twitter at @ConfusedNarwhal.
***
#WaterPoemProject Series Posts:
Project Introduction
FAQ
Prompt 1: Irene Latham, The Language of Water
Prompt 2: Elizabeth Steinglass, What Would a Raindrop Say?
Prompt 3: Linda Mitchell, Found Haiku
Prompt 4: Shari Green, Fogbow Fibonacci
Prompt 5: Margaret Simon, The Taste of Water
Prompt 6: Heather Meloche, The Shape of a Wave
Prompt 7: Amy Ludwig VanDerwater, A Water Memory
Prompt 8: Laura Shovan, Rainy Day Opposites
Prompt 9: Kathryn Apel, Silly Solage
Prompt 10: Buffy Silverman, A Watery Home
Prompt 11: Kara Laughlin, Frozen Fog
Prompt 12: Debbie Levy, Jump into a Limerick
Prompt 13: Joy McCullough, What Are Water Bears?
Prompt 14: Linda Baie, Frozen Water Skinny
Prompt 15: Chris Baron, The Hidden World of Water
Prompt 16: Michelle Heidenrich Barnes, Water Wordplay
Prompt 17: Susan Tan, The Sound of Water
Prompt 18: Mike Grosso, Waterplay!
Prompt 19: R. L. Toalson, Wishing Well
Prompt 20: Margarita Engle, Ode to the Shore
Prompt 21: Faye McCray, Poem in a Bubble
Prompt 22: Meg Eden, Surprising Connections
Please support the #WaterPoemProject authors by buying their books from your favorite independent bookstore.
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April 11, 2020
#WaterPoemProject: Day 21, Faye McCray
It’s Day 21 of our #WaterPoemProject — 30 days of water-themed poetry prompts from your favorite children’s authors. Can you believe we’re heading into the last ten days of the project?
If you’re looking for National Poetry Month writing prompts, we’ve got you covered. Start with Day 1 and you’ll have poetry prompts from now through the end of April.
New to this project? Please read the Introduction and FAQ. Or you can watch this video of me describing how to participate. It’s on the YouTube channel Authors Everywhere.
QUICK ASIDE! Tomorrow, April 12, is the 4th anniversary of The Last Fifth Grade of Emerson Elementary, my debut middle grade novel. Look for a special giveaway on Twitter and Instagram!
I’m excited to introduce you to wonderful poet and author today. Faye McCray and I, along with two other poets, co-host the Wilde Readings literary readings and open mic here in central Maryland. Faye is a mom of three boys, which inspired the writing prompt she’s sharing today.
Faye’s prompt is: A Poem in a Bubble
Faye McCray
One of my favorite things to do on a sunny day is blow bubbles. My littlest son, Gus, and I like to find the sunniest part of our yard and take turns blowing bubbles through our many, many slippery bubble wands. Sometimes we chase them. He likes to catch as many as he can by smacking them loudly between his palms. Other times, we watch them as they drift and sail on the wind, winding higher and higher until we can’t see them anymore.
Where do they go? I often wonder. Do they drift forever? Or do they pop scattering little micro-droplets of water onto the people and things below them, so teeny-tiny that you can’t even feel them?
Photo Credit: Faye McCray
In today’s free verse poem, let’s take a ride in a bubble. Let’s float into the air. We can start by examining our senses:
What do you see way up high? Is it nighttime? Do you make it all the way to the stars?
What do you feel? Is it wet? Are you sliding around inside your bubble, unable to sit?
What do you hear? Is the inside of a bubble soundproof?
What do you taste? Is it soapy?
What do you smell? Do the clouds you sail through smell sweet?
For fun, draw a circle in your journal and write your poem inside your bubble. Don’t make it too long, your bubble might just pop and leave all the words spilling out.
***
We’ve completed three weeks, Poets. How are you feeling? No matter if you’ve written a poem every day, or drafted only one or two new pieces, I’m proud of you. Your goal is to draft your Poem in a Bubble by the end of the day tomorrow, Sunday, April 12, 2020.
If you’re doing the #WaterPoemProject with a group, be sure to share or post your rough draft, read other people’s poems, and cheer for their efforts. Or leave your poem here, in the comments.
Faye McCray is an author and essayist whose poetry and essays have been featured in the HuffPost, Little Patuxent Review, AARP Magazine, Madame Noire, Black Girl Nerds, and other popular publications. She is the editor-in-chief and co-founder of Weemagine, a website devoted to celebrating and inspiring all children and the people who love them. Faye is also the author of White Belt, a collection of horror short stories; Boyfriend, a novel about a troubled college student struggling with love and fidelity; and I am Loved, a collection of positive affirmations for children. By day, Faye is an attorney and married mother of three boys, and a Master’s in Writing candidate at Johns Hopkins University.
***
#WaterPoemProject Series Posts:
Project Introduction
FAQ
Prompt 1: Irene Latham, The Language of Water
Prompt 2: Elizabeth Steinglass, What Would a Raindrop Say?
Prompt 3: Linda Mitchell, Found Haiku
Prompt 4: Shari Green, Fogbow Fibonacci
Prompt 5: Margaret Simon, The Taste of Water
Prompt 6: Heather Meloche, The Shape of a Wave
Prompt 7: Amy Ludwig VanDerwater, A Water Memory
Prompt 8: Laura Shovan, Rainy Day Opposites
Prompt 9: Kathryn Apel, Silly Solage
Prompt 10: Buffy Silverman, A Watery Home
Prompt 11: Kara Laughlin, Frozen Fog
Prompt 12: Debbie Levy, Jump into a Limerick
Prompt 13: Joy McCullough, What Are Water Bears?
Prompt 14: Linda Baie, Frozen Water Skinny
Prompt 15: Chris Baron, The Hidden World of Water
Prompt 16: Michelle Heidenrich Barnes, Water Wordplay
Prompt 17: Susan Tan, The Sound of Water
Prompt 18: Mike Grosso, Waterplay!
Prompt 19: R. L. Toalson, Wishing Well
Prompt 20: Margarita Engle, Ode to the Shore
Prompt 21: Faye McCray, Poem in a Bubble
Please support the #WaterPoemProject authors by buying their books from your favorite independent bookstore.
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