By: Laura Purdie Salas,
on 5/25/2011
By: Laura Purdie Salas,
on 5/18/2011
Wake up your poetry brains with 15 Words or Less (guidelines here)!
Image: Bundaberg Arts Centre
With a shoe this cute, I wouldn't mind being the little old lady who lived in a shoe! Here's what this makes me think of:
* The sunflower looks like a watering can head
* In winter, Minnesota homes are laced up as tight and snug as this shoe
* I wanted roof shingles on the upper edge. I know. I'm too literal.
So, what does this picture make you think of? Jot down a quick 15 Words or Less poem and share it in a comment. Thanks!
By: Laura Purdie Salas,
on 5/11/2011
By: Laura Purdie Salas,
on 5/4/2011
By: Laura Purdie Salas,
on 4/28/2011
By: Laura Purdie Salas,
on 3/30/2011
By: Laura Purdie Salas,
on 3/23/2011
By: Laura Purdie Salas,
on 3/9/2011
By: Laura Purdie Salas,
on 3/2/2011
By: Laura Purdie Salas,
on 2/24/2011
By: Laura Purdie Salas,
on 2/17/2011
By: Laura Purdie Salas,
on 1/27/2011
Image: Frode Inge Helland
Wake up your poetry brains with 15 Words or Less (guidelines here)!
Looking through the SCBWI Bulletin last night, I read the sad news that my friend Karen Graves had died. Karen and I met at the SCBWI L.A. Annual Conference in, I think, 2006, and met up again there in 2008 or 2009. She took me grocery shopping at Ralph's and we just had a lovely time hanging out. I remember our dinner out at a small, crowded Italian restaurant where we talked about cancer and her refusal to say she was fighting it. She didn't want to see it as the enemy, because she felt that negative emotion wouldn't help. We had a lot of family health issues in common and of course talked lots about writing. Karen spent the last couple of years of her dealing with her cancer and caring for her kids. We weren't in very close contact, but I thought of her often...
Karen had been a dancer and a dance instructor before an injury left her disabled. We actually didn't talk much about dance, and I don't remember what style of dance she specialized in. But I know she found joy in it and missed it terribly. I hope that she's dancing now, wherever she is.
OK, on a happier note. Here's what this image makes me think of in a kid's mind or related to kids:
* A baby bird about to fly for the first time
* Our ribs are kind of like baskets
* Can you dance on clouds? Would you fall through?
What does this picture make you think of?
Take one of your answers and write a quick 15 Words or Less poem (can be for kids or for adults--whatever you like). Remember, it doesn't have to describe the actual image. Have fun!
By: Laura Purdie Salas,
on 1/13/2011
Image: Laura Purdie Salas
Wake up your poetry brains with 15 Words or Less (guidelines here)!
Here's another pic from the Chicago quickie trip that Randy and I took the week after Christmas. I loved the way the Navy Pier looked at night.
Here's what this image makes me think of in a kid's mind or related to kids:
* Christmas gifts!
* An electronic snowstorm
* A giant squid attacking the city (what IS that thing in the snow?)
What does this picture make you think of?
Take one of your answers and write a quick 15 Words or Less poem (can be for kids or for adults--whatever you like). Remember, it doesn't have to describe the actual image. Have fun!
By: Laura Purdie Salas,
on 1/6/2011
Image: Laura Purdie Salas
Wake up your poetry brains with 15 Words or Less (guidelines here)!
Randy and I saw the show Traces in Chicago last week. An incredible mix of acrobatics, dance, spoken word, circus stuff...
I know the image above isn't the best quality--if you want a feel for the show, including a bit of the act above, check out:
Here's what this image makes me think of in a kid's mind or related to kids:
* Hula hoop contests at recess
* Being trapped inside a giant Slinky
* A human hamster ball
What does this picture make you think of?
Take one of your answers and write a quick 15 Words or Less poem (can be for kids or for adults--whatever you like). Remember, it doesn't have to describe the actual image. Have fun!
And if one of your New Year's resolutions/goals is to submit your children's/YA writing in an organized, professional way, check out my Matchmaking Your Manuscript online class that starts next week. Lisa Bullard and I would love to work with you!
By: Laura Purdie Salas,
on 12/9/2010
Image Credit Flickr User Russ Bowling
Wake up your poetry brains with 15 Words or Less (guidelines here)!
Check out these stone "waterfalls" in the Mexican state of Oaxaca. They're created the same way flowstone is created in caves, with dripping water depositing its minerals along a vertical surface.
Here's what this image makes me think of in a kid's mind or related to kids:
* Where's all this water coming from in the desert
* Can I slide down it?
* The Earth looks as brown and boring as a crumpled up lunch bag
What does this picture make you think of?
Take one of your answers and write a quick 15 Words or Less poem (can be for kids or for adults--whatever you like). Remember, it doesn't have to describe the actual image. Have fun!
By: Laura Purdie Salas,
on 11/18/2010
Photo: snopes.com (http://www.snopes.com/photos/animals/buffalobill.asp)
Wake up your poetry brains with 15 Words or Less (guidelines here)!
My husband sent me to snopes.com a while back to check out these amazing Alpine ibex walking across the face of the Cingino Dam in northern Italy. Can you believe them?
Here's what this image makes me think of in a kid's mind or related to kids:
* What do you mean I shouldn't walk along the edge of the roof
* If one of your friends jumped off a cliff, would you?
* Teenage ibex: I am sure-footed and smart and I will live forever!
What does this picture make you think of?
Take one of your answers and write a quick 15 Words or Less poem (can be for kids or for adults--whatever you like). Remember, it doesn't have to describe this image. Have fun!
And if you want to see more:
By: Laura Purdie Salas,
on 11/11/2010
By: Laura Purdie Salas,
on 11/4/2010
Photo: Laura Purdie Salas
Wake up your poetry brains with 15 Words or Less (guidelines here)!
My husband and I went to see The Wall, a show put on by Roger Waters of Pink Floyd. Awesome show with lots of great imagery, construction (they built a huge wall during the concert and then used it in all sorts of multi-media ways), puppets, and pyrotechnics. This ginormous flying pig was one of the many props.
Here's what this image makes me think of:
* The brown, glass, bumpy piggy bank I had as a kid
* A chamber of commerce event overrun by stampeding wild boars
* A pool so full of inflatable pool toys there's hardly any room left for water!
What does this picture make you think of?
Take one of your answers and write a quick 15 Words or Less poem. Remember, it doesn't have to describe this image. Have fun!
My poems/exercises have had more of a grownup vibe the past several months. I think I'm going to try to consciously write more kidlike poems for a while. You share whatever kind of poem you like, as long as it's 15 words or less:>)
By: Laura Purdie Salas,
on 10/28/2010
Photo: MagicErik
Wake up your poetry brains with 15 Words or Less (guidelines here)!
I just finished reading Thirteen Days to Midnight, about a teen who gets the power of indestructability. Magic figures into the history of the power, and I thought I'd share a photo of a magician at work today. This is Grand Illusionist Christian Farla practicing his illusion Drill of Death inside his warehouse near Rotterdam, according to Wikimedia Commons. I hope he gets it right!
Here's what it makes me think of:
* Mars Rover picking up space rocks
* That movie Body Double and its gruesome drill scene. Great movie, though!
* Alien abduction
What does this picture make you think of?
Take one of your answers and write a quick 15 Words or Less poem. Remember, it doesn't have to describe this image. Have fun!
My poems/exercises have had more of a grownup vibe the past several months. I think I'm going to try to consciously write more kidlike poems for a while. You share whatever kind of poem you like, as long as it's 15 words or less:>)
By the way, welcome to any newcomers who happened to be at Kidlit Con last weekend! I'm glad you're here!
By: Laura Purdie Salas,
on 10/21/2010
Photo: http://www.peopleofwalmart.com/?p=23382
Wake up your poetry brains with 15 Words or Less (guidelines here)!
I post a lot of beautiful, contemplative photos here for this challenge. Today, we're going with something a little different. What does this make me think of?
* What the...?
* I'm glad he's not trying on t-shirts
* How little kids lack self-consciousness and will dance through the grocery store and totally make my day
* People who are homeless and mentally ill, and what it's like to live on the streets of a world you don't really understand at all
What does this picture make you think of?
Take one of your answers and write a quick 15 Words or Less poem. Remember, it doesn't have to describe this image (and thank god for that). Have fun!
By: Laura Purdie Salas,
on 10/13/2010
(If you haven't yet nominated a poetry book for the Cybils, please check out my yesterday's post and consider nominating one of the un-nominated books--thanks!)
Photo: quiregrrl
Wake up your poetry brains with 15 Words or Less (guidelines here)!
What does it make me think of?
* Releasing monarch butterflies
* Funeral wreaths
* Cootie catchers
What does it make you think of?
Take one of your answers and write a quick 15 Words or Less poem. Remember, it doesn't have to describe this image. Have fun!
By: Laura Purdie Salas,
on 10/7/2010
Photo: weddingdresseschina.com
Wake up your poetry brains with 15 Words or Less (guidelines here)!
What does it make me think of?
* Someone being permanently sewn into a gown
* Stomach cramps
* Bouquet divers
What does it make you think of?
Take one of your answers and write a quick 15 Words or Less poem. Remember, it doesn't have to describe this image. Have fun!
By: Laura Purdie Salas,
on 9/9/2010
Photo: Bernardo Malfitano
Time for this week's 15 Words or Less exercise, a fast weekly game to wake up our poetry brains. If you've never played or want a reminder on the rules, please check out the guidelines!
I probably post too many sky pictures in this poetry exercise, but I love the sky. Clouds, planes, rockets, planets, storms...it's like a very cool movie playing over our heads all the time. My husband, Randy, keeps his eyes open for cool photos he knows I'll like, and he sent me this one earlier this week. The rainbow effect really happened, it's not Photoshopped in. The photographer did change the contrast to make it more noticeable, though.
This image makes me think of how science creates magic, and I see a scene of a scientist/magician in the laboratory, conjuring up rainbows from beakers and test tubes. It also makes me think of airplane crashes, the legend that the moon carries the souls of the dead across the sky to their final resting place, and ice skating on an oil-slick, frozen-over street. What doesit make you think of?
Take one of your answers and write a quick 15 Words or Less poem. It doesn't have to actually describe this picture. Just pick a thought and create magic out of thin air. Or if that's too much pressure, just aim for 15 words. Easy peasy.
By: Laura Purdie Salas,
on 8/26/2010
Photo: Laura Purdie Salas
Note: I hope to keep up with 15 Words or Less Thursdays and Poetry Fridays, but other than that, I'll be taking a break from blogging for a bit. Our medical situation has me overwhelmed and behind in everything, so I'm having to cut down to the bone. See ya when I can.
Time for this week's 15 Words or Less exercise, a fast weekly game to wake up our poetry brains. If you've never played or want a reminder on the rules, please check out the guidelines!
Feet are on my mind lately. Last weekend, Randy, Maddie, and I did the 13.1 Minneapolis half-marathon. It took Randy and me almost 3 hours, but we made it (we are not exactly runners!). Maddie was significantly faster! Anyway, I spent a lot of time watching my feet advance over the pavement, which reminded me of this pic I took in Boston recently.
This image makes me think of the shoe size charts they have at some shoe stores and places like Target, my shoe saleslady daughter's funny stories about the rare older ladies who still want salespeople to put the shoes on their feet for them (probably a combo of both habit and it physically being difficult to bend over enough), and how helpful a set of engraved footprints would be to show me the way every time I'm wandering around lost. What doe it make you think of?
Take one of your answers and write a quick 15 Words or Less poem. It doesn't have to actually describe this picture. Just open your poetry brain and see what comes out!
P.S. I'll be reading some of my poems and nf books for storytime at our local Farmer's Market today. Wish me luck!
By: Laura Purdie Salas,
on 8/19/2010
Photo: Laura Purdie Salas
Note: I hope to keep up with 15 Words or Less Thursdays and Poetry Fridays, but other than that, I'll be taking a break from blogging for a bit. Our medical situation has me overwhelmed and behind in everything, so I'm having to cut down to the bone. See ya when I can.
Time for this week's 15 Words or Less exercise, a fast weekly game to wake up our poetry brains. If you've never played or want a reminder on the rules, please check out the guidelines!
This picture is from the whale-watching cruise we went on recently in Boston. The way this man's robes were whipping about in the wind was so cool. He looked like a whole ocean himself, waving and rippling on the deck.
He makes me think graduation day, the Wizard of Oz where they don the uniforms of the Winkie guards to rescue Dorothy, and martial arts movies. What does he make you think of? Take one of your answers and write a quick 15 Words or Less poem. It doesn't have to describe this picture. Just get into poetry mode and see what comes out!
