Tag Archives: verselove

How Many Poems? #NPM25 Day 30

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A poem a day for 30 days, which also means I have read poem upon poem upon poem for 30 days. I’ve read poems to my students, poems written by my students, poems offered as invitations, poems written by others in this poem writing community. I’ve struggled with words, celebrated with words, thrown words at my notebook to see which stuck, deleted words from my digital pages (again and again and again), fallen in love with words, admired the words written by others, and amassed quite a number of words written. I’ve chuckled and giggled, gasped and wondered…and shed a few tears too. I feel like I know poets I have never met, connected with poets from other time zones and places, and learned to recognized poets by their style, their posting time, their poetic voice and the way they respond to my poems. My poet heart feels both empty and full at the same time, grateful for all the words and already missing the demand for still more words. Will I write tomorrow? I’m sure I will. Will it be a poem? Probably not. But then again, who knows? My email box offered up Georgia Heard’s May Poetry Calendar today along with explicit permission to write small. Who can resist that?

Month ends with a splash

words falling like confetti

connection through poems

@kd0602

If: NPM25 Day 29

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Last week I came across a list of someone’s favorite children’s books of 2025 and was immediately drawn to If I Could Choose a Best Day. It’s a collection of poems that all begin with the word If, edited by Irene Latham and Charles Waters. I do love a great collection of poetry–especially a collection that includes living poets. I’m sure that no one is surprised that I needed to buy yet another poetry book to read to my students.

Before reading the book today, I had asked my students, as part of our morning message, what poem they might write if the poem began with the words If I… Their imaginations went right away to ideas like If I could fly… and If I met a unicorn…

After recess, it was time to read the book. (It had arrived on Saturday and I read through the poems over the weekend). Like Welcome to the Wonder House (that we read last week and I wrote about here), the book is organized into different categories of poems. They include: Everyday Magic, The Power of You, Kinfolk and Companions, and Anything is Possible. I read a variety of poems from each section. My students recognized poets we had read before and they noticed that all the poems began with the word If, but only a few began with If I. There were poems about pencils, poems about bikes, poems about birds, and poems about words. There were poems about friendship, poems about wishes, and poems about peace.

And then it was time for some writing. Under the influence of the possibilities offered by the word If, my students began to craft their own poems. I love when ideas pour rather than trickle. Ideas were flowing, but there was only enough time to hear a few students read an early draft. I’m hoping to have time to go back to these poems tomorrow.

So in the spirit of following the If… Here is my own early draft:

If the ocean were my bedroom

my dreams would be salty and big enough

to hold a blue whale

balancing the earth on a single puff of breath

before diving back into the depths of sleep

If the ocean were my bedroom

I would be lullabied by sea birds

and rocked to sleep by sea stars dancing on tiny tube feet

and wake

to the beauty of biodiversity

and possibility of interconnectedness

lessons learned in watery dreams

waiting to be lived

today

@kd0602

You’ll notice that I have not included a title for my poem. Stefani over at Verselove has reminded us today that titles matter and influence our reading of poems. Any suggestions for this one of mine?

A Change in the Schedule: NPM25 Day 28

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Ducks in a row

meetings planned

appointments pointed

and then

POP

the crown detaches

quickly pushed back into place

but the damage is done

to the dental work

to the schedule

to the planning

to the roadmap of the day

Flexibility and patience

dance

do-si-doing along with frustration and overwhelm

carefully avoiding each others’ toes

Phone calls made

emails sent

schedules rescheduled

Ducks paddled

rows realigned

Hopefully the tooth

will be recrowned

tomorrow

so calm and order

will once again

reign

@kd0602

Ode to the Sea: NPM25 Day 27

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Traffic crawls

lot’s full

secret parking is not so secret today

a sea wall of humanity

lines my beach

(I’m not mad, everyone should have a relationship with the sea)

As I walk, the sea wall falls away

ocean whispers in my ears

untangling thoughts, urging my shoulders to drop

briny breeze tickles my nose

ruffles my hair

urging me to breathe in and out

in rhythm with the waves

whimbrel whistles

egret sways in the surf

crabs creep with their sideways shuffle

the wonder of wild creatures

wraps me in a cocoon of comfort

relieved and ready

to reenter

a peopled world

@kd0602

An Earth Day Prose Poem: NPM25 Day 22

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Sometimes Ocean roars in like a dragon, frothing and swirling, energy radiating from every salty drop, tossing boats, leveling cliffs, chasing swimmers to shore. Every scale and feather ripples in this self-induced storm, power is the name of the game. Other days Ocean is a mirror, calmly reflecting the world around, inviting bare feet, sand castle builders, and sunset seekers. Still waters run deep and Ocean is seldom still and often deep. Beneath the surface lies worlds unlike those we know on dry land. Curiosities are common. Ocean makes a home for the octopus who is a master of disguise, changing shape and color at will. Pelican skims the surf above, joined by its squadron overseeing the shoreline, pouches poised for a quick snack. Ocean reminds us that water is everything: power and life and home. Whether dragon or mirror, to preserve life on our planet Ocean requires our respect and protection. Now is our time to roar.

Random Words: NPM25 Day 18

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What happens when a list of random words become the inspiration for poetry? Today’s Verselove prompt was to generate some random words and use them to write a poem.

I googled words for purple and got an endless list of words that definitely seemed random–and not so purple. I picked out 10–somewhat randomly–and let my pen and my words create the path.

Here are the words: iridescent, lilac, exotic, polka dot, legend, zebra, wears, parchment, eye shadow, blackberry

By the Numbers

Tumbling dice conjure

visions of eyes

shadowed in iridescent lilac

bodies wrapped in zebra skins

exotic lifestyle

of the rich or the reckless

My numbers roll out

dressed in jeans and tennies

alarm clocks and speed limits

sets of 23

to match those 46 eyes

that polka dot my classroom every day

I count myself lucky

wearing ordinary

as a golden crown

bejeweled in blackberries

warmed by the sun of their smiles

marked in violet on life’s parchment

a legend in the eyes of children

@kd0602

This is the World: NPM25 Day 16

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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.

Here is my etheree:

This is the World

shared

you, me

together

this is the world

I want to live in

dancing to my own beat

feeling rhythms inside me

different from those you’re tapping

synched or syncopated, we can lift

each other, singing out tunes the world needs

@kd0602

I’m Addicted to Bookstores: NPM25 Day 12

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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!)

I’m Addicted to Bookstores

Breathe in the smell of new books

words floating in the air

tickling that part of my brain

that loves stories

intoxicating

Shelves stacked high

tables teetering too

like cairns of rocks

balancing fiction, poetry, nonfiction, biography, memoir

When is enough enough?

What number of books is the right amount?

Is it even possible to have too many books?

My fingers trace the titles I’ve read

characters whispering

their lines of dialogue in my ears

I see the one that got away

pick it up

to reread the blurb on the back

My library queue is loaded

but the covers cry out

tantalizing instant gratification

over the hands-off library wait

Can I justify just this one?

The one I read, then he reads, they read…

Even when I don’t buy

I still can’t stay away

from that

intoxicating

word-filled

wonderland

A playground for readers

like me

@kd0602

I Don’t Remember–A Photo Essay: NPM25 Day 11

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I don’t remember when I fell in love with wildflowers

Maybe it was when

I danced to the music of wild mustard

forehead to forehead

with great blue heron clapping the beat

Maybe it was when

the chorale of poppies

sang out the orange

a song I can’t help

but sing along

Maybe it was when she told me

I’d find globe lilies

at the second bench

and they bounced in the breezes

of Mt Diablo valley

I don’t remember when I fell in love with wildflowers

but today

I fell in love

all over again

@kd0602

Slow Down: NPM25 Day 10

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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.

Slow Motion

Fireworks explode

in greens, blues

purples

painting the sea

in still life

motion

in motion almost imperceptible

sea stirred

I remember

to slow down

and channel

my inner anemone

sunbathe in the shallow salt

water

soak up the sun

let the sea stir me into motion

And, when no one

is looking

throw out sparks

that bring

color

to the world