Some days writing opportunities mesh, with one complementing another. Verselove offered a form today: an etheree. I’ve written to this form before (you can see an etheree about poppies here). And then on a network call this afternoon, I had an invitation to write in response to the National Poetry Month poster, with some lines from a Naomi Shihab Nye poem.
Last night I woke up in a dream reaching for color. I could see it, just beyond my fingertips. Words pushed and pulled in my brain, like poetry chewing gum, stretching to capture the colors in that narrow slice of sky sandwiched between the black of night and the shadows of the ocean. Vermillion chased crimson and burgundy, playing tag with golden amber, marigold, and coral until the purples came out to close out the night. Violet swallowed lavender, fading into magenta before allowing indigo to close the colorful show. I tossed in the colors of the dreamy sunset, reveling in their taste and smell. I wrapped myself in the warmth dripping from my dreams, painting images visible only to my mind’s eye. Colors lullabied me back into slumber, settling me, soothing me, refreshing me. I slept. The morning dawned gray, color drained. But my brain danced with the colors lingering, tucked safely away to carry me into the day.
Imagine my surprise when my alarm went off this morning, with just a wisp of this dream still lingering and found today’s Verselove prompt. Brittany suggested writing a poem about color in nature. Did I manifest this prompt–or did she manifest my dream?
A prose poem seemed like the best vehicle to try to capture my dream search for color. And of course, I can’t resist including a sunset photo–one of my favorite things to photograph!
I’ve been reading a memoir called The Salt Pathby Raynor Winn–and while I’m not yet halfway through–I’m struck by the way the relationship between the couple sustains them despite the hardships they are experiencing: financial difficulties, the loss of the family home, a devastating medical diagnosis… And yet they decide on the most improbable solution given their circumstances–they decide to undertake a walk of hundreds of miles.
This morning, Padma at Verselove offered a prompt she calls Finding a Safe Harbor and offers as mentor text Safe Spaces, a poem from her novel in verse, Safe Harbor. The poem describes the library as that safe place. As I started thinking about safe spaces, harbor from the hardships of the world, I found myself thinking not of a place, but a person. Here’s my draft:
I don’t think we’ll be taking off on a hundreds of miles walk anytime soon, but I do count myself lucky to have a sustaining relationship and a safe harbor…for however long it lasts.
I can’t resist a great bookstore or even a not so great bookstore. Wherever I travel, bookstores are always on my list of places to visit. I’ve been trying hard to stop buying books and use the library instead…because…you know…there is only so much space on my many bookshelves at home. And I’ve been better. I’m becoming quite good at managing my Libby app. But…I still can’t resist a visit to a bookstore.
So when today’s Verselove prompt was an invitation to tell a literary memory, my bookstore addiction popped into my head, compounded by my need to visit the local Barnes and Noble in my son’s town today. (And true confessions, I didn’t resist today!)
Today’s Verselove prompt was an invitation to look closely–something I find that my camera helps me do. So after a stroll through my camera roll, I found my inspiration.
During the pandemic I accidentally discovered the power of poetry dice. Not the pre-made ones that you purchase. Those are great, but when my students weren’t in my classroom, I figured out a way they could make their own dice at home. At the time, I saw those homemade dice as a replacement for the ones I had used in the classroom. But I have learned after making our own dice in the classroom that they are so much more than that!
The prelude to making the dice is important. We began this week by reading Peter Reynold’s book The Word Collector. This book is rich with language and encourages a delight in words: short words, multi-syllabic words, words that sing…. The book is great on its own…and then as my students predicted–we would be making our own word collections!
To keep them from collecting only one kind of word, I gave them some categories…and a few restrictions. They collected nouns (but not people), verbs, describing words, and colors. They chatted as they wrote their words, sharing ideas with each other. Then we folded the collections, placed them in our notebooks, and left them for a while.
Today, we returned to our word collections. I suggested that they might want to trade out some of the words they had collected on Monday. I showed them on my list by crossing out a word that felt ordinary and adding another that I had thought about since then. Then I gave them some time to read over their words, trade them out, or just add to their list.
Then I pulled out the highlighters. (The magic of office supplies is real!). Since we were going to make poetry dice, students would need to narrow their collection down to 12 words (for a pair of dice). We talked about including words from different categories and again, I talked aloud about some of my decisions as I highlighted my list. Once the 12 words were highlighted, it was time to distribute the cube templates. I use colored card stock so that the dice will have some firmness.
Students wrote their words, one per face, onto their cube template. And at that point, it was time for the cutting. This can be a tricky step with first graders, but they persevered and were careful, even with the tight corners. We had time to fold before recess, but not time to tape, so we left our unfinished dice and headed out for a snack and some playtime.
When we returned I pulled out an old favorite of a poetry book, I am Writing a Poem About… edited by Myra Cohn Livingston. (This is one of those oldie but goodie books–and I think it might be out of print!) In the book, described as a poetry game, authors are challenged to write a poem using certain words. We read through quite a few poems that used 3 words: drum, blanket, and ring. Right away students tuned in to listening to hear those 3 words in each poem. They noticed that sometimes the poet used a different form of the word, like drumbeat instead of drum. After marinating in the poetry game, we headed back to our tables to tape our dice together.
Pulling the edges of the cube together and taping them was challenging for some of these young poets, but again, they were up for the challenge. And then it was time to start rolling the dice. They were directed to roll 3 or 4 words, write them in their notebook and then to write their own poem including the words, along with some action, metaphorical thinking, and maybe the use of some of their senses.
I’m convinced that the making of the dice creates fertile ground for poetry to grow. Time to think about words, to play around with words, to list words, to select words, to hear words, to consider the words of others, and then to roll dice and write…and then roll some more and write some more. In our last few minutes before going home, we took some time to read some of these pieces-in-progress out loud.
O, who doesn’t usually read, was ready to share today. Rolling robot, rainbow, and teal, O wrote:
A rainbow in the sunset
with a robot running through all the colors
with not a speck of teal
B seems to be using poetry to process feelings, rolled scared, blue, purple, and green. B wrote:
Making new friends
is scary
but blue, purple, and green
fill my heart
And J rolled three words, but ended up with just one of the words in the poem. J wrote:
A lizard’s brown crispy scales
match steaming cocoa
first smell
then blow
I rolled kaleidoscope, microscopic, collect, and singing and wrote alongside my students. Here’s my draft:
They collect words like gems
holding them up
to reflect the sun
A kaleidoscope of poems
emerge from this microscopic
piece of the universe
singing out a world
imagined by children
I’d love to hear your experiences making and playing around with poetry dice–either for yourself or with your students. Any variations to suggest?
Some days it’s the unplanned lessons that have the best results. A few weeks back I came across a picture book that looked interesting. I ordered it, it arrived, and I set it aside. Then yesterday, our first day back after spring break, I found myself with some unclaimed time and reading a book seemed like the perfect solution.
I walked over to the shelf where I stash the books I haven’t gotten to yet…and Together, a Forest: Drawing Connections Between Nature’s Diversity and Our Own called out to me. I started reading the book and those wiggling post-lunch students settled. We learned about different students in the book and their affinity to plants and animals in the forest. There was the student who was interested in everything–and forgetful–just like the squirrel who buried acorns and the ones it forgot later grew into trees.
We started to think about the plants and animals who were like us…and while we didn’t have enough time to finish the book, the seed was planted in the poetry ecosystem that is our classroom.
Today our planned ceramics project went well and we finished successfully before recess. That meant the time I had allowed for the completion of the project after recess was now open and free. So, we went back to Together, a Forest and completed the reading and discussion. And then we started thinking about that question from yesterday…what plant or animal are you like?
The first graders grabbed their notebooks and started to write. They asked the usual questions, “Does it have to be a plant?” (No) “Does it have to be a part of a forest?” (No) “Can I use metaphorical thinking?” (Yes). I wrote–and I made the rounds around the classroom peeking over shoulders, listening to ideas, watching these comparisons turn into small poems, taking root in this poetry ecosystem.
J wrote:
I am an army ant. My super power is strength and I work with people. I eat fruit and I get it at the store then bring it home. My strength is teamwork.
H wrote:
I am an octopus. I am smart. I act like I have eight hands and I am super fast and tricky and change colors.
B wrote:
I am moss. I am like moss because I soak up everything I hear. I remember everything and if it is something bad I can squeeze it out.
And I wrote:
I am an egret. I am quiet and still. Patience is my super power. Most of the time I am good at waiting and thinking. Other times I startle and fly off in a flurry of feathers. I am good at being alone without being lonely. I love to reconnect with my family at the end of the day.
These first drafts will be fodder for the writing we will continue to do, this month and into the future. Right now, my students are writing easily, adding details and elaboration, beginning to play around with language and ideas…and willing and eager to read their writing aloud to their classmates. We have truly built an ecosystem of poetry and writing in our classroom.
When Erica over at Verselove offered an invitation to write about flowers, I knew immediately that I would write about the California state flower: the golden poppy. Poppy’s feel like my alter ego–they open up in the warmth of the sun and close and duck their heads when the weather cools and the sky is cloudy.
On my first day back in the classroom after a week away for spring break, I knew I wasn’t up for the technicalities of crafting a villanelle. Instead I opted for the simplicity and constraint of an etheree: a ten line poem that begins with one syllable and builds to ten in that tenth line.
Thinking Through My Lens 