Tag Archives: poetry

When Life Becomes Poetry: NPM 2019 Day 3

It’s hard to top a day like yesterday…at least when it comes to poetry. Today’s schedule was crunched, another minimum day and my last classroom day until after Spring Break. But we still made space for a bit of poetry inspiration. Today I read a few poems from When Green Becomes Tomatoes by Julie Fogliano. Interestingly, she titles each poem in this lovely book by the date she wrote it, taking us through the seasons of the year. We read April 3 (which was eerily a description of a day very much like the one we experienced today…I love this first line: “today the sky was too busy sulking to rain…”), June 15 (a piece about tasting sunshine), and July 10 (the title piece with the refrain “when green becomes tomatoes”). And in a typical 8 and 9 year old fashion, my students, when they turned to their own writing, wrote about their birthdays!

Isla (who happens to share my birthday) was determined that her June 2nd birthday falls in the summer. She wrote this piece inspired by when green becomes tomatoes:

June 2

When summer turns into my birthday

The sky is happy!

life is happy

it is the time to get…

everything I want

(more than sad)

(more than happy)

The best

When leaves are green and light is here

no thunder, no lightening

just…

wind blowing and birds chirping

when summer turns into my birthday

And Leah, who’s birthday falls a bit later in the month, gives a more tentative prediction using “I believe” to frame her poem:

June 23

On June 23rd

I believe it will be cloudy

with a hint of sun.

On June 23rd

I believe it will be hot.

On June 23rd

I believe flowers will bloom.

On June 23rd

I believe it will be my birthday.

I took my poem in a little different direction, thinking about how my three precious grandsons have grown from babies to active, sturdy three year old toddlers in what seems like a blink of an eye. Just where does the time go?

April 3

When babies become toddlers

tiny fingers that used to grab mine

build towers as tall as they are

then topple them with belly laughs

When babies become toddlers

goos and gaas turn into words

that turn into stories

of wonder and adventure

When babies become toddlers

reading becomes play

finding objects, chiming in

anticipating

devouring each word, each page

with minds instead of mouths

When babies become toddlers

those once tiny feet patter

running faster than seems possible

running towards childhood

leaving babyhood behind.

©Douillard

This is Just to Say: NPM 2019 Day 2

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Today we turned to William Carlos Williams for inspiration. Using the book A River of Words: The Story of William Carlos Williams by Jen Bryant, I introduced my students to William Carlos Williams. I wanted to continue the focus on the ordinary as well as show a poet who continued his writing while working as a doctor. I’ve been working to dispel the myth that poetry has to rhyme…and this book definitely helped make that point!

Once we learned a bit about Williams, we studied two of his poems to use as mentor texts for our own poems. The Red Wheelbarrow surprised my students. It seemed so short and so simple at first glance…and then they started to notice. The word glazed really caught their attention…and made them think of doughnuts rather than rain coated wheelbarrows. Then we started to play around with how to put our own content into a poem like The Red Wheelbarrow. My third grade students could hardly contain themselves…they were so excited about writing! Here’s a couple of their efforts:

With Caleb’s you can see the influence of living by the sea

The Colorful Afterglow

So much depends

upon

a colorful

afterglow

swarming with

bright colors

beside the turquoise

ocean

Luca captured the beauty of the ordinary

The Tree Full of Leaves

So much depends

on

a tree full of

leaves

being a home to

animals big and

small

standing tall over

the dirt path.

And Sloane turned her attention to a rock and strayed from a “so much depends” first line to create her own version of a poem inspired by WCW.

The Rock

So much pressure

is on

the rock by the river

feathered in river water

beside the ringing sound

of the river

We then turned our attention to Williams’ This is Just to Say. They noticed right away that it seemed like a conversation–that the poet was talking to someone in this poem. And that he seemed sorry…but not really sorry. This poem seemed to give them permission to be playful…and even try out teasing their teacher!

Sagan knew I would appreciate this one (can you tell what conversation we have over and over again?):

Oops…

I forgot to show my thinking

in my math homework

again

even though it said to

show your thinking

I’m sorry

but at the same time

it’s way faster

and way more efficient

And Piper stretched to see use how far she could take a bit of teasing, making me the subject of her poem

This is Just to Say

Mrs. Douillard

I have destroyed

your classroom

which you were probably

going to use

to teach kids in

Forgive me

I was just trying

to have a good time

Some students played around with different foods, inspired by WCW’s refreshing sounding plums

Nathalie tried cherries

This is Just to Say

I have eaten

the cherries that

were in the bowl

and which you

were saving for dessert

tomorrow

Forgive me

they were so sweet

and delicious

While Aspen imagined ice cream

This is Just to Say

I ate your ice cream

that was in your lunch

which you were probably

saving for after your

chicken

please forgive me

it just tasted so creamy

and so refreshing

We had so much fun on this second day of National Poetry Month! Here’s my poem for the day:

Feeding Time

So much depends

upon the sea pulling back

revealing shallow

pools

teeming with tiny fish

and crustaceans

beside the hungry white

egret

©Douillard

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Fooling around with Poetry! NPM 2019 Day 1

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It’s April 1st, the first day of National Poetry Month and a perfect day to “fool” around with some poetry! Since my students are I are taking a poem-a-day challenge, we needed to generate some inspiration today to get us in the poetry frame of mind.

We started by reading Tiny Perfect Things by M.H. Clark, a book that focuses on the wonder and beauty of the ordinary. Then we headed outside (it was an almost-summer day, 75 and sunny) with our iPads in search of tiny perfect things to photograph as inspiration for our poetry. My students found lizards, beetles, and roly polys. They found apple blossoms shaped like stars, California poppies peeking through the chain link fence, and cotton floating down from the cotton plant in the school garden. They chased the monarch butterfly across the field in hopes of a viable photo. And when we returned to the classroom, they wrote.

It’s conference week, so the days are short. But I’m already loving their first drafts…and their willingness to share. The variety was impressive…and the playfulness so satisfying! Here’s a couple to give you a taste.

Luke’s first draft poem played around with a repeated refrain:

Rose

You catch my eye

how white you are,

with yellow in the middle

and your pod red.

You catch my eye

on a pointy bush

and a soft flower.

You catch my eye,

you stand out.

Of all the flowers,

you are as white as snow.

You catch my eye.

And Alice couldn’t resist playing around with the idea of April Fool’s Day, inspired by her brother’s prank on another student:

Red Rug of Sap

It can be red,

it can be black,

my little red rug of sap.

It lays upon a tree

resting

til it is the day.

Check the calendar!

What is today?

April first! April first!

April Fool’s Day!

Time to stain my finger

red or black

with my little red rug of sap.

My own first draft poem was inspired by the rusty chain and lock around the gate on the side of the school.

Looped and Locked

Metal

weathered, rusted, oxidized

days, years, decades

outside

exposed

to fog

to rain

to sun

to briny sea air

still strong

linked like children holding hands

safety in numbers

comfort in connection

looped around the gate

and snapped shut

with a tiny, perfect

Master lock.

©Douillard

I’m looking forward to reading others’ first day of National Poetry Month entries today!

Blue #19: SOLC 2019 Day 29

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I often find myself taking the same photo over and over again. Obviously my eye is drawn to the subject. I do try different angles, shifting every so slightly to capture the best light, something different in the background, or looking from another direction.

Sometimes I’m not even aware that I’m taking the same photo until I’m reminded–by a scroll through my images or a reminder of a memory from Facebook or my photo album.

But today I knew.

My Friday schedule let me take advantage of a nice low tide at midday. I could feel the sun’s warmth as my bare feet traveled over the wet sand and was glad for my light sweatshirt in the low 60s early spring sea breeze. When the tide is low and I don’t feel rushed for time, my turnaround point is lifeguard tower #19. #19 is also a favorite local surfing spot and a popular dining spot for sandpipers.

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If you look north from #19, you can see Swamis–another popular (and famous) surfing spot with its iconic palm tree topped hillside. I often take a photo or two with that view…like I did today.

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And as I looked through my photos, also back in November and December!

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Occasionally, I find myself taking another perspective, giving yet another view of #19. (The tide was too high on this day for my usual perspective, I was forced up the hillside to avoid getting wet!)

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I’m not sure what all this says about either the lifeguard tower or me as a photographer. But I did find myself thinking about William Carlos Williams and The Red Wheelbarrow. (April is National Poetry Month and I’m planning ways to motivate my students to write a poem a day for the 30 days of April!) So, using The Red Wheelbarrow as my mentor text, I played around with thoughts of the blue lifeguard tower. Here’s my attempt:

Blue #19

I keep photographing

a blue lifeguard tower

sprayed with sea mist

watching the sandpipers and surfers dance

©Douillard

A Rainy Day Walk: SOLC 2019 Day 6

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After the school day ended

and my flock of third graders scurried out the door

taking flight

to this activity and that

I alight on my usual perch

and descend

to the beach

for my rainy day walk

Raindrops and salty sea mist

run rivers down my face

as I breathe in and out

matching inhales with strides

dodging (sometimes unsuccessfully)

pools of sea water

Further down the beach

I find another flock

and they squawk welcome

then like my third graders

scurry and stretch their wings

flying into a rainy afternoon

©Kim Douillard

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Walking Toward the Storm: SOLC 2019 Day 1 and Skinny Poem

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Influenced by some blogging colleagues and my desire to get back to my writing life, I’ve decided to participate in Two Writing Teachers Slice of Life Challenge.

I’m choosing to ease into the writing challenge and try on a poetry type I saw described by Margaret Simon on her blog not too long ago. She describes the process here. I don’t happen to have any metaphor dice (although they are now on my wish list!), so I came up with my own first line based on today’s beach walk. We’ve been having a very rainy winter and while today is not rainy, it’s clear that rain is coming. (The forecast is for rain all day tomorrow.) The clouds are hunched up low along the horizon, giving the beach a moody feel as I walked at low tide. I love the way walking into the sea breeze seems to blow the clouds out of my mind, clearing the way for fresh ideas and improving my mood. My feet find their own rhythm, accompanied by the constant backbeat of the waves ebbing and flowing. This is my definition of exercise, adding squatting low to pick up bits of sea glass or examine an interesting rock or piece of driftwood and balancing atop rocks to frame a photo to round out my workout. Mostly, though, the beach is an endless source of inspiration for my photography and for my writing.

Here’s my first attempt at a skinny poem (something I will be trying with my students one day soon!).

Clearing the Clouds

Walking toward the storm

alone

briny

billowing

breezes

alone

thoughts

twisting

turning

alone

clearing the clouds in my head

© Kim Douillard

into the storm

Poetry Friday: Billboard

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Inspiration for writing comes in many forms, but for me, photography helps words flow. Usually it is the process of taking the photos that get words primed for me. I find myself thinking, telling myself stories, generating words and thoughts and ideas as I walk, hike, or just frame the shot in front of me. So it’s photography and not just the photograph that works as prewriting for me.

Thanks to Margaret Simon at Reflections on the Teche, the idea of a photo exchange as fodder for poetry sounded like a great idea! Margaret paired people from different parts of the country and facilitated a sharing of photographs. My partner is Linda over at A Word Edgewise who sent me several photos from a day in our nation’s capital, Washington DC.

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I knew immediately which of the three photos I would write to. But it was harder than I thought to get the words flowing. I started and stopped, circled back and started again. And even today…a day after the intended publishing date, I’m second guessing this piece. I love this photo! The diffusion of light slanting through the striped umbrellas, the prominence of the sign (do you see the “only white” disclaimer and notice there are no white shirts visible?), the rows of colorful shirts hanging from plastic hangers all facing the same direction…

DCShirts

So here’s my poem:

Billboard

Two for Ten

cotton billboards

declaring destinations

shouting slogans

peacefully protesting

where, wear

a sign of the times

tangible proof

mass produced

I was there.

Douillard 2018

There’s some other pieces brewing…maybe I’ll get them written yet! Thank you Linda and Margaret for getting my brain firing.

Reflections on Writing Poetry

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After 30 days of writing a poem a day, I asked my students to take some time to reflect on what they learned from participating in the challenge. So, in the spirit of full participation, I am also taking the time to reflect on all I learned from this poetry challenge.

My thoughts seem to have coalesced into four categories: learning from poetry, learning from writing, learning from students, and learning from blogging.

sunset tree

Learning from Poetry:

Poetry offers opportunities to express feelings, to practice crafting vivid descriptions, to bring others into your view of the world. Like the sunset, poetry makes everything more beautiful. Each word contributes to the painting the reader experiences, blending and building, As I read poems written by others–published or not–I found inspiration for my own poetry. Poems became mentors for my poems, they opened my eyes to my own experiences, allowing me to see my own life in new ways.

branching out

Learning from Writing:

The only way to be a writer is to write. I have learned the lesson again that when I write daily, writing comes. My brain and my hands seem to respond to the daily habit of putting words on a page. Knowing I will write each day helps me pay attention, helps me think about connections between thoughts, actions, and ideas, and helps me articulate my thinking. When I write daily I get into that mode we in the writing project often call writer’s brain. It is a space where experiences become fodder for written expression. When I expect to write, I write more and better and explore life’s possibilities through language. Writing helps me branch out, trying on new ideas in different ways.

bloom

Learning from Students:

I have watched my students blossom as writers. Stilted, ordinary poems have become unexpected expressions of whimsy, of fear, of love, of exploration. My students have become a community of writers who are interested in the writing of others and who are eager to share their writing with others. They are talking about their inspiration, about their struggles as writers, about their ideas for revision, and finding poems in their baseball games, in their dance rehearsals, in the night sky, and in the books we read. I have loved watching their poetry grow in sophistication and I have noticed that writing has become less daunting, although no less challenging as they strive to express themselves.

take flight

Learning from Blogging:

Blogging my 30 days of poetry has been a public affirmation of poetry as a valuable learning activity. I not only made my own poetry public, but I also showcased the poetry of my students. Giving my students an authentic audience was motivating. They were eager to share their poetry and have it appear on my blog. Many checked my blog to see whose poem they would find. Blogging each day also made real my commitment to being a teacher-writer. I not only teach writing, I write. Being vulnerable as a writer helps me remember that this writing thing is not easy…and is filled with pitfalls. I remember each day when I work with students that writing needs nurturing…and writers do too!

Thanks to all of you who read and liked and commented during our 30-day poetry challenge. I look forward to reading my students’ reflections and hearing their perspectives on this learning. I’ll be sure to share their insights with you too!

Coming Full Circle: Day 30

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It’s been 30 days. A poem and a post each day of the month of April. I’ve fallen into a rhythm, finding spaces for the writing, surfacing ideas for poetry and posts. I know this about myself, the habit of writing makes writing easier for me (not necessarily better, but easier). So what will happen tomorrow? Will I write anyway?

I was drawn to a photo of a circle today and the idea of a circle. No beginning, no end. Maybe the perfect metaphor for the 30th day of the 30-day poetry challenge.

circle

Circle

Never-ending curve

beginning and end

indistinguishable

blended

whole

a hole?

Spots and blots

polka dots

rounded

rounding up

containing

all 360 degrees

Cycle

repeating

birth and death

water

air

never-ending curve

begins

where it ends

Circle

Douillard 2018

My students are busily curating their poems, selecting about 10 poems to publish in their own books. They are working to revise and refine…and the poems are gaining depth as they try out new techniques and experiment with form and line breaks.

Here’s one Stone wrote about an engineer who was an accidental paleontologist!

The Secret Engineer

Deep deep underground was a secret engineer.
He never told anyone he saw a dinosaur
because he built a time machine.
There was a hot and blazing sun with loads of heat.
He was in the prehistoric time
He was the best mathematician, he made the best discovery.
With his engineering mind and his scientific brain his inventions were the
Best!

Stone

Rylan has been writing poems about softball.

Will She Swing?

Yellow with red stripes

resting in a leather open oval

waiting anxiously for the umpire to call out

STRIKE!

Fastball

Change up

Drop ball

Will she swing?

Rylan

And Sadie revised her poem about fire’s evil plot

Fire Plot

The fire hisses and cracks in its pen amongst the burnt and crisp logs.

Its angry arms reach up into the umber sky,

then shrivels down.

The fire sneaks up on pieces of marshmallow fluff, thinking of a plot to escape from the charred black pit and leap into the world.

Maybe to a hillside or a house, spreading fiery anger and sadness with it.

When it discovers the perfect scheme, it crackles and reaches into the dark, sending a swirl of smoke into the starry night.

Sadie

As April ends so does National Poetry Month. I know the power that poetry has on writers and thinkers and learners. The sustained attention that results from 30-days of writing also has power. I’m thinking about other ways to stoke the fires of writing for my students and myself, establishing a firm practice of writing that will take us beyond the end of the school year. Wish me luck!

Thinking Through My Lens