Thursday, April 18, 2024

ONE MORE OR LESS LINE CROW 18

 Happy National Poetry Month!

(For new poetry writing videos, see the COAXING POEMS tab above.)


Hello Poetry Friends! If you visited earlier this month, you may have noticed a change my National Poetry Month project title. For my National Poetry Month Project this year, I had originally planned to study crows and share a new crow poem each day of April with the number lines in each poem corresponding to the date. The plan was to write 1-line poem on April 1...and go all the way up to a 30-line poem on April 30. Now, for a variety of personal and poetic reasons, I have changed the project. The poems will go up to 15 lines...and then decrease from 15 back down to 1. Hence the new name: ONE MORE OR LESS LINE CROW. We are still on the MORE part, but beginning on April 16, we go back down in line numbers. Yes, the logo and the crow pics will change too!

Sometimes life surprises us, and we can change our plans to match the needs at the time. I chose to change course rather than abandon this project, and after some good thinking last night, I feel happy about this decision.

If you'd like to play along, simply choose a topic that you'd like to explore for many days. It might be a subject that you already know a lot about or perhaps you'll explore something new.

I invite you to join me in this project! 

To do so, simply:

1. Choose a subject that you would like to stick with for many days. You might choose something you know lots about...or like me, you might choose something you will read and learn about throughout April.

3. Write a new poem for each day of April 2024 and decide if you would like to match your line breaks to the date in any way. You might correspond the number of lines in your poem to the date. For example, the poem for April 1 will have 1 line. The poem for April 30 will have 30 lines. You may wish to switch it up as I have, writing increasing-line poems from 1-15 lines for this first half of April and then decreasing-line poems for the second half of the month. OR....invent your own idea! 

4. Teachers and writers, if you wish to share any ONE MORE OR LESS LINE... subjects or poems, please email them to me or tag me @amylvpoemfarm. I would love to see what your students write and to know that we are growing these lines...and our understandings of different subjects...together.

Eighteen Crows, Thirteen Lines
Photo by Amy LV



Students - Have you ever seen a flock of crows chasing a larger bird such as a hawk or owl? They do this sometimes, chase and mob larger birds to scare them away from a nest or territory. Even though the hawk or owl is larger, the crows work together, bullying the larger bird by dashing at it and even picking at its feathers sometimes. Crows work together.

Two line breaks to notice. That one in the middle - He caws for backup - shows a change. First he was alone...next he will be with others. (Pardon the pun!) Also, note how the final line - away - stands alone. Such a short line can slow a reader down at the end of a poem, and I wanted this feeling of finality. Phew...Hawk is gone!

You can learn a bit more about crow mobbing behavior in this YouTube video from Nature Journal.

Thank you for joining me for ONE MORE OR LESS LINE CROW...

To learn about more National Poetry Month projects and all kinds of April goodness, visit Jama Rattigan at Jama's Alphabet Soup where Jama has generously gathered this coming month's happenings. Happy National Poetry Month!

xo,

Amy

ps - If you are interested in learning about any of my previous 13 National Poetry Month projects, you may do so here.

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Wednesday, April 17, 2024

ONE MORE OR LESS LINE CROW 17

  Happy National Poetry Month!

(For new poetry writing videos, see the COAXING POEMS tab above.)


Hello Poetry Friends! If you visited earlier this month, you may have noticed a change my National Poetry Month project title. For my National Poetry Month Project this year, I had originally planned to study crows and share a new crow poem each day of April with the number lines in each poem corresponding to the date. The plan was to write 1-line poem on April 1...and go all the way up to a 30-line poem on April 30. Now, for a variety of personal and poetic reasons, I have changed the project. The poems will go up to 15 lines...and then decrease from 15 back down to 1. Hence the new name: ONE MORE OR LESS LINE CROW. We are still on the MORE part, but beginning on April 16, we go back down in line numbers. Yes, the logo and the crow pics will change too!

Sometimes life surprises us, and we can change our plans to match the needs at the time. I chose to change course rather than abandon this project, and after some good thinking last night, I feel happy about this decision.

If you'd like to play along, simply choose a topic that you'd like to explore for many days. It might be a subject that you already know a lot about or perhaps you'll explore something new.

I invite you to join me in this project! 

To do so, simply:

1. Choose a subject that you would like to stick with for many days. You might choose something you know lots about...or like me, you might choose something you will read and learn about throughout April.

3. Write a new poem for each day of April 2024 and decide if you would like to match your line breaks to the date in any way. You might correspond the number of lines in your poem to the date. For example, the poem for April 1 will have 1 line. The poem for April 30 will have 30 lines. You may wish to switch it up as I have, writing increasing-line poems from 1-15 lines for this first half of April and then decreasing-line poems for the second half of the month. OR....invent your own idea! 

4. Teachers and writers, if you wish to share any ONE MORE OR LESS LINE... subjects or poems, please email them to me or tag me @amylvpoemfarm. I would love to see what your students write and to know that we are growing these lines...and our understandings of different subjects...together.

Seventeen Crows, Fourteen Lines
Photo by Amy LV



Students - Oh, I do love a sonnet! 

A sonnet, if you are wondering, is a fourteen line poem with a special rhyme pattern and a special beat. Each line in this poem has ten syllables, and if you listen for the stresses, you will hear daDA daDA daDA daDA daDA as the meter of each line. This special beat even has a name - iambic pentameter. I always tap my fingers while writing the iambic pentameter (daDA daDA daDA daDA daDA) lines of sonnets.

You may read about today's particular type of sonnet - a Shakespearean sonnet - in the below explanation from Poets.org. Click the link to if you wish read about different types of sonnets.

Shakespearean Sonnet

The second major type of sonnet, the Shakespearean, or English sonnet, follows a different set of rules. Here, three quatrains and a couplet follow this rhyme scheme: abab, cdcd, efef, gg. The couplet plays a pivotal role, usually arriving in the form of a conclusion, amplification, or even refutation of the previous three stanzas, often creating an epiphanic quality to the end. 

You might wish to notice the rhyming words in this poem. I am most happy with the near rhymes (rhymes that are close but not perfect), something I mentioned earlier this month that I am hoping to experiment more with in my writing.

Thank you for joining me for ONE MORE OR LESS LINE CROW...

To learn about more National Poetry Month projects and all kinds of April goodness, visit Jama Rattigan at Jama's Alphabet Soup where Jama has generously gathered this coming month's happenings. Happy National Poetry Month!

xo,

Amy

ps - If you are interested in learning about any of my previous 13 National Poetry Month projects, you may do so here.

Please share a comment below if you wish.
Know that your comment will only appear after I approve it.
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Tuesday, April 16, 2024

ONE MORE OR LESS LINE CROW 16

 Happy National Poetry Month!

(For new poetry writing videos, see the COAXING POEMS tab above.)


Hello Poetry Friends! If you visited earlier this month, you may have noticed a change my National Poetry Month project title. For my National Poetry Month Project this year, I had originally planned to study crows and share a new crow poem each day of April with the number lines in each poem corresponding to the date. The plan was to write 1-line poem on April 1...and go all the way up to a 30-line poem on April 30. Now, for a variety of personal and poetic reasons, I have changed the project. The poems will go up to 15 lines...and then decrease from 15 back down to 1. Hence the new name: ONE MORE OR LESS LINE CROW. We are still on the MORE part, but beginning on April 16, we go back down in line numbers. Yes, the logo and the crow pics will change too!

Sometimes life surprises us, and we can change our plans to match the needs at the time. I chose to change course rather than abandon this project, and after some good thinking last night, I feel happy about this decision.

If you'd like to play along, simply choose a topic that you'd like to explore for many days. It might be a subject that you already know a lot about or perhaps you'll explore something new.

I invite you to join me in this project! 

To do so, simply:

1. Choose a subject that you would like to stick with for many days. You might choose something you know lots about...or like me, you might choose something you will read and learn about throughout April.

3. Write a new poem for each day of April 2024 and decide if you would like to match your line breaks to the date in any way. You might correspond the number of lines in your poem to the date. For example, the poem for April 1 will have 1 line. The poem for April 30 will have 30 lines. You may wish to switch it up as I have, writing increasing-line poems from 1-15 lines for this first half of April and then decreasing-line poems for the second half of the month. OR....invent your own idea! 

4. Teachers and writers, if you wish to share any ONE MORE OR LESS LINE... subjects or poems, please email them to me or tag me @amylvpoemfarm. I would love to see what your students write and to know that we are growing these lines...and our understandings of different subjects...together.

Sixteen Crows, Fifteen Lines
Photo by Amy LV



Students - In the second fifteen line poem of this month, I ask you to notice a few things about line breaks:

  • The first stanza focuses on our main character Male Crow.
  • The second stanza is only one line long. This is because the line illustrates an important moment. The moment of connection.
  • The third stana brings the two paired crows together.
  • The last line is only two words long. Short lines slow a reader down, and these two words, slowed down, illustrate the fact that not everyone knows: crows mate for life.
When you choose line breaks and stanza breaks, you conduct the silent-and-aloud-voices of your readers. Where would you like them to focus? Make a break right there.

One other thing - what joy I took in all of those -oo words!

Thank you for joining me for ONE MORE OR LESS LINE CROW...

To learn about more National Poetry Month projects and all kinds of April goodness, visit Jama Rattigan at Jama's Alphabet Soup where Jama has generously gathered this coming month's happenings. Happy National Poetry Month!

xo,

Amy

ps - If you are interested in learning about any of my previous 13 National Poetry Month projects, you may do so here.

Please share a comment below if you wish.
Know that your comment will only appear after I approve it.
If you are under 13 years old, please only comment 
with a parent or as part of a group with your teacher.
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Monday, April 15, 2024

ONE MORE OR LESS LINE CROW 15

   Happy National Poetry Month!

(For new poetry writing videos, see the COAXING POEMS tab above.)


Hello Poetry Friends! If you visited earlier this month, you may have noticed a change my National Poetry Month project title. For my National Poetry Month Project this year, I had originally planned to study crows and share a new crow poem each day of April with the number lines in each poem corresponding to the date. The plan was to write 1-line poem on April 1...and go all the way up to a 30-line poem on April 30. Now, for a variety of personal and poetic reasons, I have changed the project. The poems will go up to 15 lines...and then decrease from 15 back down to 1. Hence the new name: ONE MORE OR LESS LINE CROW. We are still on the MORE part, but beginning on April 16, we go back down in line numbers. Yes, the logo and the crow pics will change too!

Sometimes life surprises us, and we can change our plans to match the needs at the time. I chose to change course rather than abandon this project, and after some good thinking last night, I feel happy about this decision.

If you'd like to play along, simply choose a topic that you'd like to explore for many days. It might be a subject that you already know a lot about or perhaps you'll explore something new.

I invite you to join me in this project! 

To do so, simply:

1. Choose a subject that you would like to stick with for many days. You might choose something you know lots about...or like me, you might choose something you will read and learn about throughout April.

3. Write a new poem for each day of April 2024 and decide if you would like to match your line breaks to the date in any way. You might correspond the number of lines in your poem to the date. For example, the poem for April 1 will have 1 line. The poem for April 30 will have 30 lines. You may wish to switch it up as I have, writing increasing-line poems from 1-15 lines for this first half of April and then decreasing-line poems for the second half of the month. OR....invent your own idea! 

4. Teachers and writers, if you wish to share any ONE MORE OR LESS LINE... subjects or poems, please email them to me or tag me @amylvpoemfarm. I would love to see what your students write and to know that we are growing these lines...and our understandings of different subjects...together.

Fifteen Crows, Fifteen Lines
Photo by Amy LV



Students - Welcome to halfway through this project. I am feeling very good about having changed from increasing lines all month to increasing lines for the first half of April and then decreasing lines for the second half of the month. It feels in some way, like a life cycle, around and around.

Today's poem of fifteen lines is another list poem, listing only some of the 135 species in the bird family Corvidae. For me, the most fun part of writing this poem is ending with that fabulous fact about corvid intelligence and the lines Corvids fly throughout the world. Throughout the world, the Corvids play.

You might wish to play with repetition in this way. Simply repeat the last few lines of one of your lines right at the beginning of a new line.

Tomorrow I will be back, lingering at fifteen lines before beginning the decrease down to one.

Thank you for joining me for ONE MORE OR LESS LINE CROW...

To learn about more National Poetry Month projects and all kinds of April goodness, visit Jama Rattigan at Jama's Alphabet Soup where Jama has generously gathered this coming month's happenings. Happy National Poetry Month!

xo,

Amy

ps - If you are interested in learning about any of my previous 13 National Poetry Month projects, you may do so here.

Please share a comment below if you wish.
Know that your comment will only appear after I approve it.
If you are under 13 years old, please only comment 
with a parent or as part of a group with your teacher.
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Sunday, April 14, 2024

ONE MORE LINE CROW - Day 14

  Happy National Poetry Month!

(For new poetry writing videos, see the COAXING POEMS tab above.)


Hello Poetry Friends! If you visited earlier this month, you may have noticed a change my National Poetry Month project title. For my National Poetry Month Project this year, I had originally planned to study crows and share a new crow poem each day of April with the number lines in each poem corresponding to the date. The plan was to write 1-line poem on April 1...and go all the way up to a 30-line poem on April 30. Now, for a variety of personal and poetic reasons, I have changed the project. The poems will go up to 15 lines...and then decrease from 15 back down to 1. Hence the new name: ONE MORE OR LESS LINE CROW. We are still on the MORE part, but beginning on April 16, we go back down in line numbers. Yes, the logo and the crow pics will change too!

Sometimes life surprises us, and we can change our plans to match the needs at the time. I chose to change course rather than abandon this project, and after some good thinking last night, I feel happy about this decision.

If you'd like to play along, simply choose a topic that you'd like to explore for many days. It might be a subject that you already know a lot about or perhaps you'll explore something new.

I invite you to join me in this project! 

To do so, simply:

1. Choose a subject that you would like to stick with for many days. You might choose something you know lots about...or like me, you might choose something you will read and learn about throughout April.

3. Write a new poem for each day of April 2024 and decide if you would like to match your line breaks to the date in any way. You might correspond the number of lines in your poem to the date. For example, the poem for April 1 will have 1 line. The poem for April 30 will have 30 lines. You may wish to switch it up as I have, writing increasing-line poems from 1-15 lines for this first half of April and then decreasing-line poems for the second half of the month. OR....invent your own idea! 

4. Teachers and writers, if you wish to share any ONE MORE OR LESS LINE... subjects or poems, please email them to me or tag me @amylvpoemfarm. I would love to see what your students write and to know that we are growing these lines...and our understandings of different subjects...together.

Fourteen Crows, Fourteen Lines
Photo by Amy LV



Students - I continue to enjoy learning facts about crows, and these facts are fueling the ways I am playing with words. Today I especially enjoyed the three lines ending in exclamation marks and the sounds of feather/forever, tulips/bloomed, and beetles/littles. I have never felt strong in playing with near rhymes, and writing such somewhat-near-rhymes this is good practice and growth for me.

I had considered writing a sonnet for today (14 lines!) but believe that this more casual free verse poem better captures the hopeful emotion around Yearling Crow's growth that I hope to convey.

Thank you for joining me for ONE MORE OR LESS LINE CROW...

To learn about more National Poetry Month projects and all kinds of April goodness, visit Jama Rattigan at Jama's Alphabet Soup where Jama has generously gathered this coming month's happenings. Happy National Poetry Month!

xo,

Amy

ps - If you are interested in learning about any of my previous 13 National Poetry Month projects, you may do so here.

Please share a comment below if you wish.
Know that your comment will only appear after I approve it.
If you are under 13 years old, please only comment 
with a parent or as part of a group with your teacher.
Posted by at 2 comments:

Saturday, April 13, 2024

ONE MORE OR LESS LINE CROW 13

   Happy National Poetry Month!

(For new poetry writing videos, see the COAXING POEMS tab above.)


Hello Poetry Friends! If you visited earlier this month, you may have noticed a change my National Poetry Month project title. For my National Poetry Month Project this year, I had originally planned to study crows and share a new crow poem each day of April with the number lines in each poem corresponding to the date. The plan was to write 1-line poem on April 1...and go all the way up to a 30-line poem on April 30. Now, for a variety of personal and poetic reasons, I have changed the project. The poems will go up to 15 lines...and then decrease from 15 back down to 1. Hence the new name: ONE MORE OR LESS LINE CROW. We are still on the MORE part, but beginning on April 16, we go back down in line numbers. Yes, the logo and the crow pics will change too!

Sometimes life surprises us, and we can change our plans to match the needs at the time. I chose to change course rather than abandon this project, and after some good thinking last night, I feel happy about this decision.

If you'd like to play along, simply choose a topic that you'd like to explore for many days. It might be a subject that you already know a lot about or perhaps you'll explore something new.

I invite you to join me in this project! 

To do so, simply:

1. Choose a subject that you would like to stick with for many days. You might choose something you know lots about...or like me, you might choose something you will read and learn about throughout April.

3. Write a new poem for each day of April 2024 and decide if you would like to match your line breaks to the date in any way. You might correspond the number of lines in your poem to the date. For example, the poem for April 1 will have 1 line. The poem for April 30 will have 30 lines. You may wish to switch it up as I have, writing increasing-line poems from 1-15 lines for this first half of April and then decreasing-line poems for the second half of the month. OR....invent your own idea! 

4. Teachers and writers, if you wish to share any ONE MORE OR LESS LINE... subjects or poems, please email them to me or tag me @amylvpoemfarm. I would love to see what your students write and to know that we are growing these lines...and our understandings of different subjects...together.

Thirteen Crows, Thirteen Lines
Photo by Amy LV



Students - Today's poem is a compare/contrast poem, highlighting the differences between Crow and Raven. Some people call this kind of writing "see saw" writing because it goes back and forth between two different topics, just like a see saw or teeter totter.

The poem is a free verse poem with no clear rhyme scheme or meter/beat. The use of couplets (2 line stanzas) was helpful to me as in each stanza, I could write the first line about Crow and the second line about Raven. You might have noticed that I repeated the first couplet at the end....but then added a one liner on its own. This, I think, gives the poem a wee bit of a twist. If you have been wondering why I am capitalizing Crow and Young Crow and now Raven throughout this project, it is because I am considering these birds as individual characters with names, not simply part of a group. Crow is one particular crow. And now Raven is one particular raven. We know, though, that in a way, the one stands for all.

When you go outside next and spot big black bird in the sky, give it the Know Crow test. Can you figure it out? (One additional clue - if you watch the bird fly, Raven does somersaults and rolls as he soars through sky.)

If you would like to see a great visual of the differences between crows and ravens, visit Corvid Research with Kaeli Swift to see Rosemary Mosco's work. And know, too, that there is much more information in books and online about this interesting topic.

Thank you for joining me for ONE MORE OR LESS LINE CROW...

To learn about more National Poetry Month projects and all kinds of April goodness, visit Jama Rattigan at Jama's Alphabet Soup where Jama has generously gathered this coming month's happenings. Happy National Poetry Month!

xo,

Amy

ps - If you are interested in learning about any of my previous 13 National Poetry Month projects, you may do so here.

Please share a comment below if you wish.
Know that your comment will only appear after I approve it.
If you are under 13 years old, please only comment 
with a parent or as part of a group with your teacher.
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Friday, April 12, 2024

ONE MORE OR LESS LINE CROW 12

  Happy National Poetry Month!

(For new poetry writing videos, see the COAXING POEMS tab above.)


Hello Poetry Friends! If you visited earlier this month, you may have noticed a change my National Poetry Month project title. For my National Poetry Month Project this year, I had originally planned to study crows and share a new crow poem each day of April with the number lines in each poem corresponding to the date. The plan was to write 1-line poem on April 1...and go all the way up to a 30-line poem on April 30. Now, for a variety of personal and poetic reasons, I have changed the project. The poems will go up to 15 lines...and then decrease from 15 back down to 1. Hence the new name: ONE MORE OR LESS LINE CROW. We are still on the MORE part, but beginning on April 16, we go back down in line numbers. Yes, the logo and the crow pics will change too!

Sometimes life surprises us, and we can change our plans to match the needs at the time. I chose to change course rather than abandon this project, and after some good thinking last night, I feel happy about this decision.

If you'd like to play along, simply choose a topic that you'd like to explore for many days. It might be a subject that you already know a lot about or perhaps you'll explore something new.

I invite you to join me in this project! 

To do so, simply:

1. Choose a subject that you would like to stick with for many days. You might choose something you know lots about...or like me, you might choose something you will read and learn about throughout April.

3. Write a new poem for each day of April 2024 and decide if you would like to match your line breaks to the date in any way. You might correspond the number of lines in your poem to the date. For example, the poem for April 1 will have 1 line. The poem for April 30 will have 30 lines. You may wish to switch it up as I have, writing increasing-line poems from 1-15 lines for this first half of April and then decreasing-line poems for the second half of the month. OR....invent your own idea! 

4. Teachers and writers, if you wish to share any ONE MORE OR LESS LINE... subjects or poems, please email them to me or tag me @amylvpoemfarm. I would love to see what your students write and to know that we are growing these lines...and our understandings of different subjects...together.

Twelve Crows, Twelve Lines
Photo by Amy LV



Students - Did you know that crows eat so many different types of food? If you put anything edible in front of them, they'll eat it! Each day of April so far, I have begun my writing by reading. Reading facts and information about the lives of crows. I do this to learn and to inspire myself because see...I have no idea where this month is going but simply follow the facts into poetry, day-by-day.

Today's poem is a list poem. A simple list. I could have included more foods (crows do eat it all): nuts, poison ivy, snails, lizards...but alas, I only had 12 lines. Initially I had broken up the lines differently and did not include the repetition of All food is good, but as I read it, I believed that to bring the title around to the end would be good and right. And for now, it is.

You might wish to write a list poem yourself. Think about your subject - any subject - and brainstorm some lists that could grow from it. Your list need not rhyme. But you may choose to add some repetition, perhaps repeating the first and last lines of your poem.

Thank you for joining me for ONE MORE OR LESS LINE CROW...

Jone is hosting this week's Poetry Friday roundup over at Jone Rush MacCulloch where she interviews Labuzzetta about her newly released book of ekphrastic nature poems. Each Friday, all are invited to share poems, poem books, poetry ideas, and friendship in this open and welcoming poetry community.

To learn about more National Poetry Month projects and all kinds of April goodness, visit Jama Rattigan at Jama's Alphabet Soup where Jama has generously gathered this coming month's happenings. Happy National Poetry Month!

xo,

Amy

ps - If you are interested in learning about any of my previous 13 National Poetry Month projects, you may do so here.

Please share a comment below if you wish.
Know that your comment will only appear after I approve it.
If you are under 13 years old, please only comment 
with a parent or as part of a group with your teacher.
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