Monthly Archives: April 2022

I Sing: Writer NPM22 Day 30

On this last day of April, Sarah over at Ethical ELA has invited us to claim the title writer or poet modeled on the poetry collection I Sing: The Body edited by René Saldaña, Jr. The collection of poems thread struggle and celebration within what we are told and what we believe about ourselves. The poems uncover memory and anger and hope. I decided to explore the identity of writer in today’s poem.

I Sing: Writer
As a child I played with words
tossing them
bouncing them against each other
sharing them
experimenting without fear
I learned later
words could be weapons
sharpened to aim
or twisted back
piercing the heart
silencing the tongue
Today I wield my words
with care
gently guiding them
squeezing them together
splaying them wide
freeing them to find their own rhythm
testing both friction
and
space
redefining myself
as I write
@kd0602

What a Poem Can Do: NPM22 Day 29

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Who doesn’t love a poem about a poem? Today’s #verselove prompt at Ethical ELA was presented by Glenda who also shared a mentor poem and video by Darius V. Daughtry, what can a poem do? Daughtry’s poem begins with a series of explanations of what poems don’t do, then pivots to what poems can do. For my own poem, I decided to focus on what poems can do without the examination of what they can’t or don’t do.

What a Poem Can Do
A poem can peel back skin
revealing he heart
beat
beat
beating
A single word
can taste like childhood
licking up
soft-serve
in the swirl of memory
Leave
space
to breathe in
space
to breathe out
tapping the melody of
today
against the rhythms
of all the yesterdays
A poem can paint the world
in every shade of blue
until color
explodes
in new opportunities to see
@kd0602

Self Love: NPM22 Day 28

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Today’s #verselove prompt at Ethical ELA is just the kind of challenge I tend to resist with poetry: a formula and rhyme. But I pushed myself to give it a try anyway…and maybe learned some things about myself in the process.

When I’m by myself
and I close my eyes
I’m breathing in the quiet
looking for the perfect pic
walking miles and miles
thinking all the while
playing with words
trying to make myself heard
hitting my pace
making peace with this place
I’m here and now
still learning how
to be
and when I open my eyes
what I care to see
is me
@kd0602

Beach Re-Encountered: NPM22 Day 27

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Today’s #verselove prompt, hosted by Shaun over at Ethical ELA invites poets to “re-encounter the familiar.” I’m guessing it will surprise no one that I chose to re-encounter the beach. Yesterday was a beautiful, sunny spring day…until I got to about 2 blocks from the beach. There, a heavy, dense, thick fog stretched along the coastline, nestled next to the blue sky, so close…but also so far away.

Beach Re-Encountered
Revealing itself one step at a time
under a veil misty wet, thicker than it seems
bare feet navigate water’s edge
air like a shower without drops
swirling, coating every surface
turning technicolor to monochrome
Landscape etched in pencil
blurred in the distance
the world slows
tunnels
forces focus
stay in the moment
Breathe in the quiet
punctuated by waves
ebbing, flowing
wash away the day
let bare feet lead the way
@kd0602

I Feel it in my Bones, a Found Poem: NPM22 Day 26

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Today I went in search of a found poem, a poem where words are borrowed and arranged to create something new, something fresh, something meaningful out of the words collected from others. I printed the article, The Power of Teaching Poetry: A Conversation Between Renee Watson and Linda Christensen from Rethinking Schools and as I read, I marked words and phrases that spoke to me. Later, I typed those words and phrases into a document and then started arranging, rearranging, repeating, excluding until I came up with a poem that says something that matters to me.

Many thanks to Amy over at Ethical ELA and #verselove for today’s prompt and the inspiration to find my own poem in my own way.

I Have it in my Bones: A Found Poem

Writing is not a competitive sport

Everyone has their own voice, different stories

Who have you touched with your hands?

What are the stories of the scars on your knee?

Our memories, the recipes, a space to enter

I have it in my bones

Poetry can be a container for emotions

We’re angry

We’re sad

We’re confused

All of me was welcome

My joy and my pain

My frustration, my questions

I weave poetry

A raft of poems

Eerie medley, location-notes, love calls

Whistles and grunts

Sounds that all melt into a liquid

I have it in my bones

I’m not perfect

Courage is contagious

Joy is resistance

Play with language

Eyes of poetry

Outrageous verbs

Repetition, listing, repeating

Writing is serious

It kind of explodes

Planting seeds, fanned the flames

Feel free

Wild and risky

Nurtured me

I have it in my bones

Cormorant: NPM22 Day 25

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I love science! I think in another life I must have been a scientist. Questions are always my entry point–so today’s #verselove prompt was perfect. Linda at Ethical ELA listed steps in the scientific method and then encouraged us to use all or part of them to craft a poem for today. Yesterday as I walked on the beach, I saw a cormorant in an unusual place…on the beach. In the past, cormorants on the beach have signaled illness for the bird, so I was concerned when I saw this one. I turned my cormorant sighting into fodder for my scientific method poem today.

Cormorant
I see you sitting on the beach
alone, on the sand
are you lost? are you ill?
Most days you fly against the horizon
like a jet plane, pointed due north
wings in constant motion
Today you are still
feathers like midnight
eyes like stars
unperturbed by my approach
Is it avian flu?
Bird dementia?
Or just a relaxing day on the beach?
Relief pulsed through my veins
when I saw you later
floating in the surf
looking for a snack
before blasting back into the sky
continuing your coastal journey
Thanks for stopping by
and posing
for a portrait
@kd0602

Annotations: NPM22 Day 24

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Yesterday was day 2 of the SDAWP Advanced Institute that I wrote about in March. On this second day, we moved our work to focus on revision mindsets and building confidence as writers with the help of Chris Hall’s The Writer’s Mindset and Liz Prather’s The Confidence to Write. An identity as writer for a teacher has an important impact on writing instruction. Teachers teach qualitatively differently when they understand their subject matter from the inside out. Teacher-writers have experienced all that makes writing hard. They know how it feels to face a blank page–and then write through uncertainty and fear. And they can support students to develop a writerly identity too.

This morning I awoke to Jessica’s “found annotations” prompt for #verselove over at Ethical ELA. My first reaction was, “Oh no!” I’m not really much into annotating–and it’s not something I do with first graders. I do annotate their observations of weekly poems and encourage them to respond to text, but we frequently depend on oral language for those annotations.

But then I thought about some of the reading we did yesterday and I grabbed my copy of The Confidence to Write, picked a section in the chapter on the fear of the blank page called Breathe Through It, and started annotating. I then went back and let my poet brain wander through the annotations and my thinking. Here’s my poem:

Complexities of Simplicity
Breathe in
one, two, three, four
Breathe out
one, two, three, four
Feel the rhythm
the beat
drum drumming
refilling air sacs
lung pillows
calming, slowing,
pushing pounds
immoveable objects
pushing stress
filling
refilling
slowing
Breathe in
one, two, three, four
Breathe out
one, two, three , four
Count each breath
like steps
walking
through the sand
hear the tide
pushing in and out
dancing to the beat
of your heart
study says
breathing deep
increases productivity
by 47-62 minutes
Breathe in
one, two, three, four
Breathe out
one, two, three, four
Dive in
swim through
tap the rhythms
find the beat
immersed
in salty life blood
in salty sea water
emerge
with confidence
and breathe
Breathe in
one, two, three, four
Breathe out
one, two, three, four
@kd0602

Sniff In: NPM22 Day 23

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I rolled the virtual metaphor dice inspired by Stefani over at Ethical ELA coming up with the words poetry, well worn, and brand new toy. Combined with my afternoon lagoon walk, words tumbled and fell into today’s poem.

Sniff In
Sniff in beach funk
salty fishy
tickling nose and imagination
feet moving over well worn paths
buzzing bees pollinating images
a flash of yellow
stomping above a blossoming of white
birdsong on a post
and balanced on overhead wires
playing with words each day
a brand new toy
nature and poetry
holding hands
@kd0602

No Cheese for Me: NPM22 Day 22

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The #verselove prompt at Ethical ELA today is All Things Cheese. But, although I like cheese…I don’t love cheese. So today I decided to write my poem about something I do love: ice cream. Just a Haiku to ease into the weekend.

Ice Cream
Ice cold and creamy
dreamy caramel choco-
late. Dinner tonight?
@kd0602