Write Out in the Backyard

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I went out into my backyard in search of something “boring” or “ordinary” to take a photo of and the wild menagerie (as we call it) called me over. The wild menagerie is made up of all the potted plants that have outgrown their pots, are odd looking, or are too unruly for the house. They end up on the back patio–where they seem to thrive in neglect.

I used a prompt from Matt at Ethical ELA where he describes an exercise for describing the most boring object ever (MBOE) as a way of creating fodder (and language) to make a poem. I am drawn to these plants because they remind me of roses, but instead of flowering on a stem, they seem to bloom as a head of a snake. I can imagine them sliding across the ground, intertwining their sinuous bodies as they multiply, filling up an expanse of the patio. It’s hard to remember they were once small succulents in a pot!

So here’s a poem that focuses on that particular batch of succulents who have escaped their pots and have made a “garden” for themselves on the cement of the patio.

Green globes on a stalk

slithering snakes

coiling and crawling and cavorting

beyond their pots

befriending the aloe

encouraging the spiders and lizards

cheering on all the misfit plants

who thrive in this unattended garden

a place where the most hearty

call home

When you step outside, what ordinary or boring plant calls for your attention? What poem will it conjure?

Write Out with a Cherita

Write Out: Today by the Numbers

Wish Where We Stand

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Last weekend’s rain from hurricane Rachel has turned to dry Santa Ana winds and hotter-than-summer like temperatures. What feels like endless summer to beach goers is fire weather to everyone else in the county.

I watched the dark gray smoke gather and billow as I drove home today and my husband confirmed the wildfire on Camp Pendleton when I called. I changed into shorts and we headed to the beach for today’s walk. As we pulled into the parking lot we both saw it! A huge plume of splash offshore. Could it be, it must be, is it… First thought: gray whale. We rushed from the car to the edge of the cliff and watched. Splashes and more splashes. Whales–but more likely orcas (killer whales) than gray whales. There was clearly a pod. They were leaping and diving, close but not close enough.

The delight from the whales and the dread from the smoke began to braid. We are seeing so many impacts of climate change. Too warm ocean water (even though I am enjoying it), too dry land, weird weather, starving sea birds, beaches washing away, cliffs collapsing, the list goes on and on.

Today in the Write Now Teacher Studio the Write Out Challenge prompt was to make a wish for your place…or #wishwherewe stand. Here’s today’s effort:

Wishing

on orca plumes

splashes seen from shore

on gray-black smoke

snaking along the coast

on fire weather

disguised as endless summer

Wishing

for gentle rain that nourishes

instead of flooding

for winds that don’t

whip fires into frenzy

for waters just right

so that ecosystems thrive

Wishing

my students care for this earth

my grandchildren love this earth

our future thrives on this earth

#writewherewestand #writeout #wishes #smallpoems #wishwhereyoustand

Writing Out by Writing In

Write Out and Kilo

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This afternoon I had the opportunity to learn more about the traditional Hawaiian practice of Kilo. Three educators from Hilo, HI hosted a gathering on Zoom to share this practice with educators through NWP’s Write Out.

Kilo is all about observation. Bringing your whole self and all your senses and attention to whatever nature is around you: sky, earth, water. After spending some time learning about Kilo, we were invited to find a window or walk outside to take the time to experience a moment of kilo ourselves.

I walked into my backyard, senses tuned, notebook in hand. I listened, smelled, felt, looked, and even tasted (without actually putting anything in my mouth) what otherwise feels ordinary. The intentionality of the kilo somehow intensified the experience for me.

From my notes, I wrote.

Wind calls, beyond a whisper

yet not a shout

urgently ruffling my hair

caressing my cheek with cool fingers on a warm afternoon

Sun peers over my shoulder

my hand casting a shadow on my notebook, my eye catches

sister orb weaver’s web dancing

light and wind holding hands

Sweet and tart blueberries

tease my tastebuds

a reminder of summer

lingering, hanging around

well into fall

#smallpoems #kilo #writeout #writewherewestand #inthebackyard

You can find more information about the Kilo on the Write Out choice board. I highly recommend trying it out. I know I will also be doing it with my students in the next weeks.

Write Out with a Mentor Text

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Getting outside to take photos, to walk, and to anchor my writing is a daily endeavor. With tides cooperating with my schedule, I was out walking on the beach this afternoon. The water was warm (more than 70 degrees F), the beach was wide, and today–because of the effects of the storm this weekend–the beach was sudsy.

I spent time during my walk videotaping the clouds of foam dancing along the shore, gathering and spreading as the waves chased and scooped. Then I turned to still photography to capture the foam in close up.

On the second day of the two-week Write Out experience, I turned to a mentor text to support my writing. My colleague Christina started a Google Doc with potential mentor texts when I asked whether we were starting a list for people to lean on as they participate in Write Out. I added a couple…and today tried another on the list to see where I would take my writing.

Using The Lesson of the Falling Leaves by Lucille Clifton as my starting point, I explored a different kind of repetition of words for my #smallpoem today.

the sea exhales
blowing bubbles
bubbling questions
questioning understanding
understanding complexity
I strive to become
a scholar of the sea
#writeout #writewherewestand #mentortext

What mentor text would you add to the list? Which will you use for your own writing? Which would you share with students?

Be sure to #writewherewestand this week!

Write Out 2026

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Today marks the beginning of Write Out 2026–an annual 2-week event with the National Writing Project and the National Park Service that urges all of us, adults and children alike, to get outside and do some writing.

New this year is the #writewhereweare challenge in the Write Now Teacher Studio. Every other day over the course of the two weeks, we are invited to write and post to a common prompt. Today’s prompt was to write a 6-word story about our place.

Southern CA has been dealing with the effects of Hurricane Rachel, bringing some much needed rain along with high surf, high tides, and coastal flooding. Some beaches are experiencing the loss of sand and parking lots filled with the ocean.

Today I was back at my local beach, hopeful that the low tide would offer a wide expanse for walking and that storm damage would be minimal. It was cloudy, but comfortable with plenty of beach for my walk along with inspiration for my photography and my six words.

After the storm, beach walking still. #writeout #writewherewestand #sixwords

And the weather was cool enough for me to wear my Write Out Write Where We Stand sweatshirt! (Thanks to @deathstr42 for the photo) You can purchase your own at the NWP shop!

Please join us for Write Out and the Write Where We Stand challenge. Everyone is welcome!

Wildspeak and Poop Paper

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It’s the last week of school…a hard time for teaching and if you can get students’ attention and focus (and that’s a big if!), it’s a great time for learning.

A few weeks ago our amazing school librarian hand delivered an amazing picture book to me while I was eating lunch. She explained that it was a “Kim book.” And once I opened the cover and began to read, I knew she was right! At the time I was up to my eyeballs in assessments with my students with teaching time at a premium. I set the book aside–knowing I would find a way to fit it in before the school year ended.

Wildspeak by Sangma Francis is a new book (published in April) that exhilarates in nature, describing wonderful outdoor spaces and then uses invented words to highlight the delight. Today after lunch, once I read the book, students picked out their favorite wildspeak words like sunglitter and rockglisten. On our second read, I only read the wildspeak words…and the first graders were hooked!

We got out our notebooks and picked something in nature to describe. I started with the sky over the ocean and students helped me come up with some wildspeak. Then they started their own. Nature included the baseball field, the forest, and, of course, many descriptions of the beach that lies right outside our school grounds.

Once they had written, I introduced PooPoo Paper. On a recent visit to the San Diego Zoo Safari Park and the opening of the new Elephant Valley, I had picked up some paper made of elephant poop as swag. What better way to engage a first grade writer than to offer paper made of elephant poop? They did pretend disgust at first…and then fascination took over. They wrote their favorite nature description and wildspeak words on the poop paper and then hung them on the white board.

Here’s one:

Vines tremble from banyan trees like water coming out of a teapot.

Sparkle tips

Trembleworm

And a different approach:

Water clear like crystals shimmering on the bottom of the splish splash sea.

Writing for fun, having fun with writing, and still learning during the last week of school! Poop paper and Wildspeak for the win!

How do you keep your students learning when structures and routines begin to fall away?

Counting Poems: NPM26 #30

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On this 30th day of April, my pockets are overflowing with poems: those I’ve read, those I’ve written, those I’ve taught, those I’ve admired, those that echo in my ears. I’m grateful for the community of poets who have taken the time to read and respond to my poetry, to my blog visitors who stop by and tap the like button, to my students who have learned to love a metaphor, and to my husband who puts up with the push and pull of my need to write, my struggle to write, and the time it takes each and every evening to get words on the page. Poetry doesn’t begin and end with April, but it is wonderful to have a month where poetry gets the attention it needs and deserves. On this last day of National Poetry Month, my poem is about poems.

Counting poems

birds that flutter just out of reach

a flash of color

sweet melodies in my ear

I can almost see them

but not quite

until that blur comes into focus

with a word

a heartbeat

a breathe

don’t try to catch them

just count them

and spread them

to seed the world

@kd0602