How to use this Page

It’s always difficult to narrow down the teetering pile of “Books I Loved” and the tottering pile of “Books to be Read” to a manageable number. Here are just a few middle grade novels author Sarah Dooley loved, and a few more she's looking forward to reading.

Add a Comment

I have the honor today of helping out my friend and Maryland neighbor with her annual February Write-Along Challenge.  (Laura's kind of busy right now, with her NEW BOOK* set to come out in April.) This project goes by many names, and I'll let Laura herself explain it thoroughly at her new blog, but the short version is:


Laura is very careful to let everyone know that perfect attendance is not a requirement for participation, although some do challenge themselves to that discipline.  I'm in the other camp, joining in when I can, but since today's prompt is the Found Object photo that I provided, I'll be working on my draft along with rounding up the responses of others today.

And let's be frank, shall we?  Although each of us blasting out a poem a day may enjoy a blazing moment of transcendent poetic glory here and there, it will be a very rare poem shared that doesn't need some time to percolate and another few rounds of review and revision.  Most of our responses are very definitely drafts.  But as I noted earlier, there is something liberating about just Going For It--conceiving a poem, typing it, cutting and pasting it and clicking to put it out there, all in under an hour.  This practice exercises all kinds of muscles other than actual composition, doesn't it!?

Now, let's go find some transcendent poetic glory.



Chocolate Chip Cookies

Vanilla splashes
Flowery fingerprints
Cookie dough everywhere
Spoonful of chocolate chips
Magic baking on trays
The best part of all
Slurping leftover
Batter off fingers
From the mixing bowl
We're Grandma's
Little bakers

~ Jessica Bigi



*****************************************
*Laura's new book is The Last Fifth Grade of Emerson Elementary and it's due out from Wendy Lamb Books on April 12.  The book is enjoying a thrilling amount of pre-publicity, so pre-order now to make sure it's in your hands as soon as possible!

Add a Comment

May your Valentine's Day be loaded with everything lovely, just like this baked potato...

 

which is the Found Object for Day 14 of  Laura Shovan's February Poetry Challenge.

Loaded Language

© Heidi Mordhorst 2016

The photo is by Diane Mayr, I believe, and I was torn--should I treat the potato as the Found Object, the poster, or strange, seemingly pointless object taped to the front of the poster?  As you can see I picked none of those and chose the LANGUAGE as the object instead.

Add a Comment

Yes, I finally found my way to Laura Shovan's new website and to her February Writing Workout...and I'm excited that the prompts for daily writing are all about found objects.  Better yet, we don't even have to find our own objects...photos are provided!

So I'm jumping in to follow along as well as I'm able, starting with the Day 6 found object(s) below.

A Doll Trap

secured behind glass
                half-dressed
                     or less
doubly exposed
               glazed
        they gaze out
 lean  reaching     toward
        freedom

one does more than yearn
       raises her
                     chubby arm
to crack that glass again
                            again
               dolly hai-ya

she will be
           free
       will walk  among
      walls and rock
        follow    plastic paths
                   to new clothes
  new scenes

~HM 2016
all rights reserved

         

Add a Comment

I've been wanting to celebrate with Laura Shovan this month and not quite getting there, so our 2-hour "cold delay" (???) this morning seemed like a great opportunity to catch up and write in response to a couple of Laura's Sound Poem Project.





Sadly, my internet seems to be freezing in the pipes along with everything else, and I can't follow the sound links Laura has posted (and I have no idea what's going on with the formatting)...but I can listen to my house waking up and to the crazy creatures outside who don't appear to know that we are setting record low temperatures here in the DC area. It's currently 7* with a wind chill of...





Nine Below Zero





below below
the frozen mark
there's whish and sweep
of wind, and hark--





below below
the frozen sky
snow-winged birds
let fly their cry





below below
the frozen branches
blubbered squirrels
announce their antics





below below
the frozen ground
the bursting bulbs
murmur a sound





of sleeping green,
of hushed persistence...
below our listening:
spring's existence





HM 2015
all rights reserved



**********************


Well, that insta-poem turned into less sound and more my desperate hope of winter's end!  Please join Linda--and Laura--over at TeacherDance for today's round-up.

Add a Comment