Tattered Edges #NationalPoetryMonth

It is April, and I am joining many others in celebrating National Poetry Month. This month many people turn to their gardens and landscapes and play in the dirt. I'd rather do a little playing with words. This month I will be creating found poems by taking words, phrases, and lines from other texts and rearranging them into a "literary collage" with a whole new meaning.

When I started this month's challenge of "Finding Poetry," I knew I was going to use the words from magazines to write my poems. But I also wanted to look for other sources, too.

Today's found poem comes from a tweet from Jen Greene that I found on Twitter yesterday. When I read it, the words were already metaphorical. I took the words and created a haiku with them. 

So many people, including my own family, are working puzzles to pass the time at home during the COBID-19 crisis. And I know people are also trying to keep families together while apart and trying to glue the pieces together.
This seems to be our current metaphor for life, doesn't it?

And the progressive poem continues with Buffy Silverman.

This week also marks the beginning of the Kidlit Progressive Poem, which is being organized by Margaret Simon at Reflections on the Teche. A different poet adds a line each day for the month of April. For the first time, I am participating and will be adding line 15 (yes, that scares me just a little!). You find the poem's trail below.

1.   Donna Smith at Mainely Write
2.   Irene Latham at Live Your Poem
3.   Jone McCulloch at deowriter
4.   Liz Steinglass
5.   Buffy Silverman
6.   Kay McGriff at A Journey Through the Pages
7.   Catherine Flynn at Reading to the Core
8.   Tara Smith at Going to Walden
9.   Carol Varsalona at Beyond Literacy Link
10. Matt Forrest Esenwine at Radio, Rhythm and Rhyme
11. Janet Fagel hosted at Reflections on the Teche
12. Linda Mitchell at A Word Edgewise
13. Kat Apel at Kat Whiskers
14. Margaret Simon at Reflections on the Teche
15. Leigh Anne Eck at A Day in the Life
16. Linda Baie at Teacher Dance
17. Heidi Mordhorst at My Juicy Little Universe
18. Mary Lee Hahn at A Year of Reading
19. Tabitha at Opposite of Indifference
20. Rose Capelli at Imagine the Possibilities
21. Janice Scully at Salt City Verse
22. Julieanne Harmatz at To Read, To Write, To Be
23. Ruth at There is no such thing at a God-forsaken town.
24. Christie Wyman at Wondering and Wandering
25. Amy at The Poet Farm
26. Dani Burtsfield at Doing the Work that Matters
27. Robyn Hood Black at Life on the Deckle Edge
28.
29. Fran at lit bits and pieces
20. Michelle Kogan

Nature's Promise #NationalPoetryMonth

It is April, and I am joining many others in celebrating National Poetry Month. This month many people turn to their gardens and landscapes and play in the dirt. I'd rather do a little playing with words. This month I will be creating found poems by taking words, phrases, and lines from other texts and rearranging them into a "literary collage" with a whole new meaning.

Yesterday when I was reading Tara Smith's post on "Early Spring in the Field" by Tom Hennen, I noticed Tara's own writing. Tara lives on a Civil War Era farm, and her pictures and words always inspire me. This post was no different. I asked her if I could play around with her words to create a found poem. You can visit her farm and read the original post here.

I have been wanting to play around with writing an etheree poem, and Tara's words fit nicely into this format. An etheree is a ten-line poem that begins with one syllable and adds a syllable with each consequent line.

Check out Jama's round-up of month-long Kitlit poetry events.

And the progressive poem continues with Liz Steinglass.

This week also marks the beginning of the Kidlit Progressive Poem, which is being organized by Margaret Simon at Reflections on the Teche. A different poet adds a line each day for the month of April. For the first time, I am participating and will be adding line 15 (yes, that scares me just a little!). You find the poem's trail below.

1.   Donna Smith at Mainely Write
2.   Irene Latham at Live Your Poem
3.   Jone McCulloch at deowriter
4.   Liz Steinglass
5.   Buffy Silverman
6.   Kay McGriff at A Journey Through the Pages
7.   Catherine Flynn at Reading to the Core
8.   Tara Smith at Going to Walden
9.   Carol Varsalona at Beyond Literacy Link
10. Matt Forrest Esenwine at Radio, Rhythm and Rhyme
11. Janet Fagel hosted at Reflections on the Teche
12. Linda Mitchell at A Word Edgewise
13. Kat Apel at Kat Whiskers
14. Margaret Simon at Reflections on the Teche
15. Leigh Anne Eck at A Day in the Life
16. Linda Baie at Teacher Dance
17. Heidi Mordhorst at My Juicy Little Universe
18. Mary Lee Hahn at A Year of Reading
19. Tabitha at Opposite of Indifference
20. Rose Capelli at Imagine the Possibilities
21. Janice Scully at Salt City Verse
22. Julieanne Harmatz at To Read, To Write, To Be
23. Ruth at There is no such thing at a God-forsaken town.
24. Christie Wyman at Wondering and Wandering
25. Amy at The Poet Farm
26. Dani Burtsfield at Doing the Work that Matters
27. Robyn Hood Black at Life on the Deckle Edge
28.
29. Fran at lit bits and pieces
20. Michelle Kogan

Love is a Drum #NationalPoetryMonth #PoetryFriday

It is April, and I am joining many others in celebrating National Poetry Month. This month many people turn to their gardens and landscapes and play in the dirt. I'd rather do a little playing with words. This month I will be creating found poems by taking words, phrases, and lines from other texts and rearranging them into a "literary collage" with a whole new meaning.

Heidi has the Poetry Friday Round-Up this week. Check out My Juicy Little Universe for this week's poetry offerings. 

Today I used a combination of Tali Mali's metaphor dice and an extended metaphor "lesson" from Penny Kittle and Kelly Gallagher's Day 10 Video to create a found poem.

I "rolled the dice" and chose a tangible and intangible word. Using the extend metaphor example from Kelly and Penny's video, I made a list of how love is a drum. This one went through many revisions during my Teach Write writing time, but here is how it turned out.

And the progressive poem continues with Jone MacCulloch.

This week also marks the beginning of the Kidlit Progressive Poem, which is being organized by Margaret Simon at Reflections on the Teche. A different poet adds a line each day for the month of April. For the first time, I am participating and will be adding line 15 (yes, that scares me just a little!). You find the poem's trail below.

1.   Donna Smith at Mainely Write

2.   Irene Latham at Live Your Poem

3.   Jone MacCulloch at deowriter

4.   Liz Steinglass

5.   Buffy Silverman

6.   Kay McGriff at A Journey Through the Pages

7.   Catherine Flynn at Reading to the Core

8.   Tara Smith at Going to Walden

9.   Carol Varsalona at Beyond Literacy Link

10. Matt Forrest Esenwine at Radio, Rhythm and Rhyme

11. Janet Fagel hosted at Reflections on the Teche

12. Linda Mitchell at A Word Edgewise

13. Kat Apel at Kat Whiskers

14. Margaret Simon at Reflections on the Teche

15. Leigh Anne Eck at A Day in the Life

16. Linda Baie at Teacher Dance

17. Heidi Mordhorst at My Juicy Little Universe

18. Mary Lee Hahn at A Year of Reading

19. Tabitha at Opposite of Indifference

20. Rose Capelli at Imagine the Possibilities

21. Janice Scully at Salt City Verse

22. Julieanne Harmatz at To Read, To Write, To Be

23. Ruth at There is no such thing at a God-forsaken town

24. Christie Wyman at Wondering and Wandering

25. Amy at The Poet Farm

26. Dani Burtsfield at Doing the Work that Matters

27. Robyn Hood Black at Life on the Deckle Edge

28.

29. Fran at lit bits and pieces

20. Michelle Kogan

One Million Bubbles #NationalPoetryMonth

It is April, and I am joining many others in celebrating National Poetry Month. This month many people turn to their gardens and landscapes and play in the dirt. I'd rather do a little playing with words. This month I will be creating found poems by taking words, phrases, and lines from other texts and rearranging them into a "literary collage" with a whole new meaning.

This poem is taken from a newspaper article in the Vincennes Sun-Commerical on Tuesday, March 31, 2020. The article featured a balloon artist who created a display and placed it in front of our hospital to lift spirits and support those working and taking care of those affected by COVID-19. It is part of a movement called One Million Bubbles of Joy that was organized by a Seattle-based balloon artist. More than 400 artists from 15 countries participated.

One Million Bubbles

lift spirits

spread joy

provide hope

              and happiness

heroes

putting themselves in danger 
every day

the new realities of COVID-19

bit of brightness

simply by blowing up a balloon

Leigh Anne Eck, 2020

This week also marks the beginning of the Kidlit Progressive Poem, which is being organized by Margaret Simon at Reflections on the Teche. A different poet adds a line each day for the month of April. For the first time, I am participating and will be adding line 15 (yes, that scares me just a little!). You find the poem's trail below.

1.   Donna Smith at Mainely Write
2.   Irene Latham at Live Your Poem
3.   Jone McCulloch at deowriter
4.   Liz Steinglass
5.   Buffy Silverman
6.   Kay McGriff at A Journey Through the Pages
7.   Catherine Flynn at Reading to the Core
8.   Tara Smith at Going to Walden
9.   Carol Varsalona at Beyond Literacy Link
10. Matt Forrest Esenwine at Radio, Rhythm and Rhyme
11. Janet Fagel hosted at Reflections on the Teche
12. Linda Mitchell at A Word Edgewise
13. Kat Apel at Kat Whiskers
14. Margaret Simon at Reflections on the Teche
15. Leigh Anne Eck at A Day in the Life
16. Linda Baie at Teacher Dance
17. Heidi Mordhorst at My Juicy Little Universe
18. Mary Lee Hahn at A Year of Reading
19. Tabitha at Opposite of Indifference
20. Rose Capelli at Imagine the Possibilities
21. Janice Scully at Salt City Verse
22. Julieanne Harmatz at To Read, To Write, To Be
23. Ruth at There is no such thing at a God-forsaken town.
24. Christie Wyman at Wondering and Wandering
25. Amy at The Poet Farm
26. Dani Burtsfield at Doing the Work that Matters
27. Robyn Hood Black at Life on the Deckle Edge
28.
29. Fran at lit bits and pieces
20. Michelle Kogan

Twilight Wishes #NationalPoetryMonth

It is April, and I am joining many others in celebrating National Poetry Month. This month many people turn to their gardens and landscapes and play in the dirt. I'd rather do a little playing with words. This month I will be "Finding Poetry" by creating found poems. I will take words, phrases, and lines from other texts including magazines, newspapers, blog posts, songs, other poems, among many other things and then rearranging them into a "literary collage" creating a new or similar meaning.

I begin the month with one of my favorite types of found poetry - using words and phrases clipped from magazines. I have a collection of words from over the years, and I just sift through them until I see a pattern or a group of words that seem to go together.  I use a black background and usually do not glue them so the words can be reused. 

I am a night owl, and when I saw the words "The night owls" I knew this was going into a poem. This poem is dedicated to all of my early bird friends! 

When life feels like a party

awaken

the night owls

do what you love 

in the shadows

twilight wishes.

Leigh Anne Eck, 2020

Today also marks the beginning of the Kidlit Progressive Poems, which is being organized by Margaret Simon at Reflections on the Teche. A different poet adds a line each day for the month of April. For the first time, I am participating and will be adding line 15 (yes, that scares me just a little!). You find the poem's trail below.

1.   Donna Smith at Mainely Write
2.   Irene Latham at Live Your Poem
3.   Jone McCulloch at deowriter
4.   Liz Steinglass
5.   Buffy Silverman
6.   Kay McGriff at A Journey Through the Pages
7.   Catherine Flynn at Reading to the Core
8.   Tara Smith at Going to Walden
9.   Carol Varsalona at Beyond Literacy Link
10. Matt Forrest Esenwine at Radio, Rhythm and Rhyme
11. Janet Fagel hosted at Reflections on the Teche
12. Linda Mitchell at A Word Edgewise
13. Kat Apel at Kat Whiskers
14. Margaret Simon at Reflections on the Teche
15. Leigh Anne Eck at A Day in the Life
16. Linda Baie at Teacher Dance
17. Heidi Mordhorst at My Juicy Little Universe
18. Mary Lee Hahn at A Year of Reading
19. Tabitha at Opposite of Indifference
20. Rose Capelli at Imagine the Possibilities
21. Janice Scully at Salt City Verse
22. Julieanne Harmatz at To Read, To Write, To Be
23. Ruth at There is no such thing at a God-forsaken town.
24. Christie Wyman at Wondering and Wandering
25. Amy at The Poet Farm
26. Dani Burtsfield at Doing the Work that Matters
27. Robyn Hood Black at Life on the Deckle Edge
28.
29. Fran at lit bits and pieces
20. Michelle Kogan

Custom Jobs and Doing it Right #SOL

It's hard to believe that March is finally over. It feels like it has been at least 129 days long. Today will be the day that many will wrap up how this month of writing has changed them, has created new friends and new habits, and has awakened a new writing spirit in them. This challenge does this for me as well, and I am always better for having participated.

Today, I linger on some words of one of my students from an email today. We began e-Learning this week, and students have questions. But this is one that I can't seem to let go.

"I'm worried about doing it right."

I reassured her that there is no right way to this. We are navigating new waters, and we are doing it together. For that matter, is there ever just one way to do anything?

When it comes to writing and becoming teacher-writers, many get so caught up in doing it right. When I first began blogging and slicing, I had this same fear - am I doing it right? Am I writing something people will want to read? I have always been hesitant at keeping a notebook for the same reason - fear of not doing it right.

Today, as I was listening to John Warner, the author of Why they Can't Write: Killing the Five-Paragraph Essay and Other Necessities, on Penny Kittle and Kelly Gallagher's daily "talk show," John said, "Each piece of writing is a custom job." 

If it is a custom job, then it has to be right because it is what we, as writers, have made it.

These words are freeing. I will always struggle with doing it right, but participating in challenges like the March Slice of Life Challenge and the #100DaysofNotebooking and BEYOND help me to feel safe. Safe in creating my own custom job. Safe in knowing that whatever I write, it is right.

Thank Two Writing Teachers for creating this space for custom jobs!

Some Things Haven't Changed #SOL20

"Don't get mad at me for what I said at the end." 

These were the words in a message I received from a student today. I sent them a weekly check-in where I asked them questions such as How are you doing? Is there anything you want to tell me? and Do you have any questions about this week? I wanted them to know that I miss them and care about how they are doing.

When I saw B's message, I thought uh-oh, what did she say?

At the very end of the questions, I told them to stay safe and reminded them to stay home because it was very important.

Believe it or not, I have lived with the dinosaurs and come over on the Mayflower and run with the Romans. Or at least that is what my team teachers tell our students. They like to tease me about being the oldest on the team, and the kids can't wait to tell me what they say.

What does this have to do with B's message?

Miss you hope you are keeping your 6 feet because your old and you can get it lol

Even in a time of crisis, it is nice to know that some things haven't changed!

Please join Two Writing Teachers and the annual Slice of Life March Challenge.

Confirmation #SOL20

Today, 

the clouds masking the past few days 

parted

giving way to a welcoming sun

the winds escorting the rain and humidity

making room for refreshment

the deep breath

cleansing the fear, 

the uncertainty, 

the invisibility

until news 

of the confirmation

Please join Two Writing Teachers and the annual Slice of Life March Challenge.

Hope, Book Spine Poetry #SOL20

all we have left

a drop of hope

piecing me together

Stay safe. Stay healthy. Stay hopeful.

Please join Two Writing Teachers and the annual Slice of Life March Challenge.

Six-Word Walk-#SOL20

Mother Nature is oblivious to chaos. 

Please join Two Writing Teachers and the annual Slice of Life March Challenge.

Song of the Daffodils #PoetryFriday

With April just around the corner, I have been trying to get my poetry muscles in shape...again! This week I am participating in the Poetry Friday Round-up to get a jump start.  Tabatha at The Opposite of Indifference has the round-up this week. T

I have been writing in my notebook with my students this week before we "go live" with e-learning next week. I have given them a prompt/spark/idea to write about each day. One of those was "tell me about green." 

I wrote a Tanka poem - not really about green, but I think it will work.

Song of the Daffodils

a fall-planted bulb

buried just beneath the snow

welcome mat unrolled

with your golden corona 

trumpeting spring's arrival

©Leigh Anne Eck, 2020

This I Miss #SOL20

This, I miss...

telling "B" to spit out her gum.

asking "C" to find his seat.

reminding "D" to stop tapping his pencil.

standing in the hallway laughing with my team

racing Melanie and Andrea to the bathroom 6th period

eating lunch with co-workers

sharing books 

sharing words

sharing learning

getting caught playing my 70s rock 

sharing "old" jokes with them

watching them leave for the day, knowing they are coming back tomorrow

This, I miss.

Please join Two Writing Teachers and the annual Slice of Life March Challenge.

I Remember Ryan White #SOL20

This week I began writing in my notebook along with my students. Today's writing prompt/spark/idea was 

"Begin with this:  I remember..."

I remember Ryan White, a boy who contracted AIDS from a blood transfusion that he needed because of a blood disease called hemophilia. At the time, 1984, little was known about this new disease. Ryan was one of the first children to have been diagnosed with AIDS, and the country was scared.

Ryan became "famous" due to his fight to return to school. The school district, after succumbing to pressure from students, teachers, and parents, banned Ryan from attending school. The White family filed a suit, but the court said they first had to go through the proper procedures. The Department of Education allowed him to return; however, on his first day back, many of the kids did not attend in protest. It got very ugly from there.

I was in college during the hearings, and I wrote about this for one of my papers. I attended a few days of the hearing with a roommate, who was from the community where Ryan lived. Her father was a school board member for the district who initiated the ban. 

My paper was about whether Ryan had a right to go to school or if the school district had a right to protect the other students. This was a scary time as little was known about the spread of the disease, and the public was not well-educated, which caused the fear to get out of control. I am embarrassed to admit I wrote that I did not know what I would do if Ryan was in my classroom. I was in my early 20's, young, ignorant, and naive, but my fear was real. 

As we sit in our homes today, fighting the spread of a virus we know little about, I remember Ryan White. April 8th marks the 30th anniversary of his death. I remember that day. It was a beautiful, sunny Palm Sunday, and I was driving back to Decatur, Illinois where I lived at the time. The announcement came across the radio while I was on a country road, surrounded by barren fields. At that moment, I remember mourning for a boy back in Indiana, a boy I did not know.

More information on the Ryan White HIV?AIDS Program

Please join Two Writing Teachers and the annual Slice of Life March Challenge.

Tell Me about Green #SOL20

Today I share the words from one of my students, Jillian, who wrote to a writing spark today. 

Breathe in the hope they bring and let them be enough for today.

Green makes me think of the outdoors. It makes me think of climbing to the top of the tallest tree in the woods and looking down at all of God's beautiful creations. Green also makes me imagine myself frolicking in a pile of leaves, hair down and glistening in the wind. The color green makes me happy.

Please join Two Writing Teachers and the annual Slice of Life March Challenge.