Oh, the Returns of the Day!

In case you haven't heard,                                    

or read Jeanne Marie's post,                       

this week,

all week,

we’re READINGREADINGREADING,

all across America,

celebrating Dr. Seuss’ Birthday!

I know, I know: if I was really being true to this most beloved and prolific author, I’d have written my opening in rhymed prose (maybe anapestic tetrameter?) and included at least 13 invented words.

NEA’S Read Across America is the largest reading event in the United States. Children participate in read-alouds, read-alongs and all sorts of reading marathon activities to honor, remember and celebrate Theodor Seuss Geisel who was born March 2, 1904. (Yes! You subtracted correctly! Were Dr. Seuss alive today he’d be 108!)

As NEA wrote in its tribute, Dr. Seuss “changed the landscape of children’s books with his controlled-vocabulary tales of antic cats, colorful meals and dozens of other zany tales.”

Really what he did was grow READERS, at a time in our history, 1954, when children were turning away from uninteresting primers, not to mention Dick, Jane and Sally.

Proud readers.

Happy readers.
Smarter and affirmed readers.
And because, as Richard Peck says, we write in the light of every book we read,
writers are readers!
So Dr. Seuss grew WRITERS too.

Those are the exact words I shared Monday when I had the good fortune to visit
Glenview, Illinois’ Henry Winkelman Elementary School to jumpstart the school’s Read Across America Week!

We talked about pen names,

and how Theodor chose his,

and created ours (the possibilities were endless),

and his invented words (too many to list)

and his identifiable rhymes,

and the word Seussian, his eponymous adjective,

and created  ours (the possibilities were endless),

and the 236 words he used to write The Cat in the Hat,

and how different the story might have been,

had only queen and zebra and bird and wings been on the 300-word list from which he was writing,

and of course,
finally, where Dr. Seuss got his story ideas.
(Every August 4, he visited the town of UberGletch, in Switzerland and while his cuckoo clock was being repaired, he walked about the town talking with the zany residents.)

The day was aWinklemazing! (think Zwinkle! Zwinkle!)from beginning to end, with a Young Writers Lunch and Meet-up smack dab in the middle.

As I often do when visiting a school that bears the name of an individual, I asked the Kindergarteners and First Graders,
“Just who was Henry Winkelman?”
It turns out Mrs. Rudnik knew: Henry Winkelman was a long-ago beloved janitor.

Later that morning she took her Kindergarteners on a Treasure Hunt, visiting various spaces throughout the school.

I’m happy to report that by the end of the day, Mr. Winkelman celebrated Dr. Seuss’ Birthday too.

Sonia’s Thank You letter punctuated my day at Winkelman with an exclamation point!

What better way to celebrate Dr. Seuss’ Birthday than to celebrate with his fans.

They remind me non-stop why I choose to write for children.

Esther Hershenhorn


p.s.
Thanks to Mrs. Christine Kolbuk, Winkelman's Learning Resource Center Director, and the Winkelman Kiddos and their teachers for being especially terrific reminders.

Brought to You By... Mazda

After nearly ten years with my bachelorette car (an adorable two-door Cabrio convertible), we regrettably parted company when kid #1 began throwing up with every ride and kid #2 needed to be turned upside down to be hoisted over his sister and dropped into his rear-facing seat.  So I have my 'Mommy' vehicle.

I am a very bad driver, and I always had a notion that in a smaller car, I was less likely to hit anything (even if more likely to be crushed on impact). Now I have a minivan -- but please humor me and call it a micro-minivan. It is a Mazda5. It is really not all that big, but it does handle the carpooling duties.  (Though I must admit, it was always handy to be able to say, 'No, honey, you may not have Olivia over for a play date because, gosh, she won't fit in the car...')  I have also hit two mailboxes this year and replaced my passenger mirror, yes, twice. In short, if you see a blue Mazda5 in the environs of  Frederick, Maryland... you might want to change lanes.

As a consequence of this major life change, I find myself on the Mazda email list... and, strangely -- given that I am teaching author and parent of two little ones -- this is the only reason I know that Read Across America week is fast approaching.  Brought to you by The Lorax... and Mazda.

I do have a deep appreciation for my Mazda, don't get me wrong. And I write for a soap opera. Clearly, I have nothing against commercialism. In fact, I think we writers and publishers would do well to embrace it whenever we can.  Go, Mazda!

And Go, Scholastic, which is having a book fair at my daughter's school this week.  I have been secretly shopping for myself from my kids' fliers all year long.  (My daughter, who is afraid of everything -- most especially books with scary covers -- was quite traumatized by my recent purchase of a book called Deadly.) While I love supporting local booksellers and of course I patronize the library regularly, who can resist all those shiny new books?  I can't. 

My daughter brought just home a list of the books she wants, to which I have quietly added the books I think she will love if only she will open them.  (How many Rainbow Magic books are there?  Does anyone know? Now that my son is daily proclaiming that he is a fairy, I think we're ready to move on.)

The marketing people at Scholastic are geniuses!  Yes, we have bought our fair share of cupcake recipe books and cute little erasers, but they are also getting great books into kids' homes -- and very affordably, I might add.  Like Mazda, Scholastic also gives back to the schools, which earn many classroom books in return for purchases made.  This is an awesome thing. And any author who's been fortunate enough to have a Scholastic Book Club book knows that the royalties can be prodigious.

Sadly, one of my daughter's schoolmates died this week after a long illness.  When her teacher talked to the children about what they wanted to do in his memory, the verdict was unaminous -- at the book fair, they will buy books in Peter's memory.  And every child who opens those books through all the years will be touched by Peter's life.   God Bless them all.  --Jeanne Marie

Happy Poetry Friday! Write your own Lingo Poem--and then sing it to your cat!

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Howdy, Campers!

Today's poem and writing prompt/Writing Workout is below.

My fellow bloggers have covered the topic of Digital Learning fabulously (scroll below).

Today, I want to list some of the ways I use these new tools...

~ Every day I use an online thesaurus and rhyming dictionary to write my poetry.

~ I decided which version of Ashoken Farewell I wanted to play at a recent tribute to the journalist Daniel Pearl by watching different versions on YouTube; then Freda Sideroff posted a snippet she'd filmed of me and hammer dulcimer player, Phee Sherline at the tribute concert (what goes around comes around!...)



I learned how to pronounce author Jon Scieszka's name (and lots of other authors and illustrators names) by listening here.(hint: it rhymes with the soda, Fresca)

Raise your hand if you get overwhelmed.  Do you?  Whew!  And I thought I was the only one.  Well, JoAnn is right. I just need to try one new thing. And I'm going to change the adjective: try one small thing.

So...here's my poem, based on an old song. But just one verse, not all of them. That's my one small thing!

(listen to the song on this video first, so you know the tune, then read the new words...)

THE BLOGGER BEARS' POETRY FRIDAY

by April Halprin Wayland

with apologies to Jimmy Kennedy and John W. Bratton 

If you go onto the internet

You're sure of a big surprise.

If you go onto the internet

You'd better go in disguise.

For every bear who hopes to express

Will gather there to write on Wordpress

Today's Fri-day, when every bear posts a poem!

Poem time for blogging bears

The Kidlit blogging bears are having a lovely time today.

Watch them, catch them unawares,

And hear them rhyming on their holiday.

See them tweet their permalink

They love to click in sync

And never have any cares.

At night they share on Mister Linky

now they can go to bed

Because they're tired little blogging bears.

If you go onto the internet

You're sure of a big surprise.

If you go onto the internet

You'd better go in disguise.

For every bear chewing sunflower seeds

Will gather there to read RSS feeds

Today's Fri-day--when every bear posts a poem!

poem (c) 2012 April Halprin Wayland

Writing Workout: Sing a Lingo Poem!
What's a Lingo?  A Lingo is a poem based on the lexicon of a particular field of interest. Period.

1) Pick a song you love to sing (I used my favorite song book for ideas, Rise Up Singing--in folk music circles it's known as The Song Book)

2) Daydream about a profession or hobby that fascinates you.Weaving? Blackjack? Riding horses? Gymnastics?  Plumbing?  I chose blogging.

3) Search for a glossary of words for that profession or hobby.

4) Pick out the most interesting words and put them at the top of your page.  In the poem above, I picked these words:
feeds, link, pingback, internet, blogging, podcast, post, rss, search engine, URL, spam, subscribe, entry, sidebar, tags, ping,permalink, Mister Linky, Poetry Friday, Kidlitosphere, dashboard, Blogger, Wordpress, LiveJournal, blogiversary, reciprocal link, link love, navbar, bookmark, tweet, facebook, draft, schedule

5) Find ways to fit some of these words to the beat of your song. You probably won't use more than a few words, but it's nice to have a big selection.  You can see that I only used a handful of my words.

6) Make liberal use of a rhyming dictionary.

7) Make sure you've installed AdBlock Plus (which is free) or the ads on this site (and most sites!) will drive you crazy (at least they drove me crazy!)

5) Sing your song to your cat.

6) Sing it to a friend.

7) Sing it with your friend!

The end.

Poetry Friday is hosted at Check It Out today.  Thanks, Jone!

...and for heaven's sake, write with joy!

poem and drawing (c) 2012 April Halprin Wayland

Digital Learning Every Day

In response to the celebration of the first Digital Learning Day on February 1, we've been doing a series of posts on how the digital age is affecting us as writers, readers, and teachers. Mary Ann wrote about "learning to love the e-book," not only as an author, but as the mother of a child with dyslexia. Jeanne Marie shared how she's trying to incorporate technology into her lesson plans to appeal to today's "digital natives" (aka our students). Esther blogged about her courage and determination (my words, not hers) in learning new classroom technologies despite her own learning disabilities. And JoAnn shared her approach to facing the deluge of digital-age opportunities: focusing on trying "one new thing" at a time.

I'm intrigued by the unique relationship each of the TeachingAuthors has with computer technology, especially because my own undergraduate degree is in Mathematics and Computer Science. Unfortunately, that education predates personal computers and the widespread use of the Internet. (I know, I'm dating myself here.) However, although the programming languages I studied in school are virtually obsolete (Ever hear of COBOL?), the basic principles I learned back then still come in handy. Plus, I'm not intimidated by having to tweak HTML code once in a while to get around some of Blogger's quirks. :-)

In an interesting bit of Synchronicity, I'm preparing to teach a brand new class this Saturday that is very technology oriented: "Get Started Blogging." Not only is this a new subject for me, but it's also the first time I'll be teaching a class in a computer lab. (And I keep imagining all the things that could go wrong with the computers!) Of course, as always happens when I teach, I'm learning, too. For example, I learned that the word "blog" has it's origin in the word "weblog," which itself was coined back in 1997 by combining the terms web + log. I'm also learning new software. I decided to use Wordpress.com as the blogging platform for the sample blogs my students will be creating, instead of Google Blogger, which is the platform for our TeachingAuthors blog. That way, I can better share what I see as the pros and cons of the two platforms. If any of you have used both, I'd love to know which you prefer and why.

But back to the topic of how the digital age is affecting me, personally:

As a teacher:

• I'm exploring new teaching topics, such as blogging.
• I'm able to share resources easily and in an environmentally-friendly (paperless) way online, via links on this blog (such as the page of links to markets for young writers), on my website (which includes links to resources for writers of all ages), and on the special demo blog I'm creating for Saturday's class.
• I'm taking advantage of online lesson planning resources, such as ReadWriteThink.

As a reader:

• I recently bought my first e-reader, a NookColor. It allows me to borrow e-books from both my public library and other Nook owners, as well as own books I have no room to store in my home.
• One of the features I especially love about my NookColor is the ability to highlight sections of text and email them to myself, making it easy to accurately quote material in my class lectures.
• I've also downloaded apps that allow me to access and update my Word documents anywhere I have wi-fi connection.

As a writer:

• The Internet is an incredible research tool, and it's getting better all the time. While researching my young adult historical novel set in 18th-century Milan, I was able to find and read original source documents online with only a few clicks--in some cases these documents physically exist in fewer than five libraries in the whole world!
• A dynamic online presence via blogging and/or social media (as opposed to a static website), is now considered essential to a writer's career, for better or worse. The Internet is a great marketing tool, but a time-consuming one. I sometimes struggle with finding a balance between writing and keeping up with social media. There's currently a great discussion of this topic going on over at Greg Pincus's The Happy Accident blog.  

When we first launched this blog nearly three years ago, I wrote:

While part of our goal is to discuss what we've learned about writing and the teaching of writing, we also hope to accomplish something here that we can't do on our websites: facilitate conversations between writers, teachers, and librarians about the subjects we love best--writing, teaching writing, and reading.

I had no idea when I wrote those words what a welcoming and far-reaching community we were joining. The digital age has allowed me to form personal relationships with people I may never meet in person, including young readers, writers, teachers, librarians, editors, agents, and booksellers. And I'm happy to consider many of those people my friends. :-)

I'd love to know how the digital age is affecting you, our readers. I hope you'll share some of those ways in the comments.
And happy writing!
Carmela 

Announcing our Presidents' Day Giveaway Winner

The winner of our special Presidents' Day giveaway is Kirsten Larson, an aspiring author and mother of two who blogs at CreatingCuriousKids.   Congratulations, Kirsten!

Kirsten will be receiving an autographed copy of The Camping Trip that Changed America, written by Barb Rosenstock and illustrated by Caldecott medalist Mordicai Gerstein. The book is a perfect President's Day read, since it's the story of a little-known event in U.S. history:

In 1903, President Theodore Roosevelt and conservationist John Muir camp together in the Yosemite wilderness and discover a shared passion for nature that saves America's wilderness. 

Thanks again to Barb for her terrific guest TeachingAuthor interview.

A big THANK YOU, also, to all who participated in the contest.
And, as always, happy writing!

Carmela

Try One New Thing

I can't remember the last time I wrote a check. What used to be an everyday occurrence at the grocery store or doctor's office is practically a thing of the past. Now I whip out a debit card for nearly all my financial transactions. I pay bills online. I order walking shoes and reserve hotel rooms and book airplane flights online. And I welcome the change: the transactions are faster, less paper is wasted, I can see right away that something is taken care of and cross it off my list.

Technology surrounds us, helps us, and sometimes overwhelms us. In planning this post on the impact of the digital age on us as writers, readers, teachers, and/or parents, I struggled to find a place to begin. I visited the site for Digital Learning Day, February 1, "a nationwide celebration of innovative teaching and learning through digital media and technology that engages students and provides them with a rich, personalized educational experience." I followed link after link to sites bursting with ideas and plans for enriching students' learning experiences by using new technology in classrooms. (I also read comments from teachers about the availability of that technology in these days of severe budget restrictions, but that's a whole 'nother topic.)

Somewhere I found a link to The National Writing Project's February 2 post, "Digital Learning Day: Celebrating Innovative Teaching Strategies." There I found the advice I needed: try one new thing.

Try one new thing. The age of writing checks to pay for purchases is over; so is the time for using transparency film and overhead projectors for author visits and conference presentations. I made that transition nervously and gladly accepted the convenience, portability, and vividness of PowerPoint presentations. At first, I hauled the transparencies along as backup; eventually, I relaxed and considered the new system reliable enough to let them go.

Now, in addition, I visit with students across the country using Skype, which cuts out travel time and transportation costs. I can even share those PowerPoint presentations without leaving home.

I used to rely more on paper for teaching, too. Now classrooms are equipped with projectors that enable me to share examples from books, handouts, or the World Wide Web. Students can post their assignments online, and we can discuss their work in class without having to print copies for everyone.

Facebook and Twitter were nerve-wracking at first, too, but I came to embrace them both as rich resources for contacts and information I never would have accumulated otherwise. I learned how to send text messages because that's what our kids do, and I wanted to be able to communicate with them. I take pictures with my cell phone camera and send photos to my e-mail account, to friends, and to Facebook. On one particularly brave day, I posted a video of chimney swifts (the subject of a picture book manuscript) on YouTube.

So, yes. We learn. We keep trying one new thing. And then another. Each step forward brings us to a new challenge. What's next? I'm comparing the options for self-publishing a manuscript based on the poetry writing workshops I present in schools, Write A Poem Step by Step. I'm as excited about this new possibility as I am curious about the best way to approach it. But I'm determined to learn. Wish me luck!

Don't forget to enter our contest to win an autographed copy of Barb Rosenstock's new book, The Camping Trip that Changed America. The interview and entry details are here, and the deadline is tomorrow (Saturday, February 18). Good luck!

JoAnn Early Macken

Give me a D! Give me an I! Give me a G! Give me a hand, PLEASE! I can't retrieve my files!

In September, 2000, I presented a workshop at Fort Wayne, Indiana’s Science Central – “Let Lowell Piggot Help You Think Like a Scientist!” – based on my meteorologically-themed picture book There Goes Lowell’s Party! (Holiday House).

I promise you: every single Science Teacher who ever taught me, who ever awarded me the “D” I’d – barely - earned, elementary school through college, was rolling over in his or her grave.

(That did not include Ms. Lowenstein, my college Biology lab instructor, who listened to me highlight my fetal pig’s fallopian tubes during my final exam, then announced I’d failed because my fetal pig was male.)

That’s how I feel now writing about The Digital Age and how it impacts my teaching and authoring.

If not a card-carrying Luddite, I am definitely a sympathizer. 

Ned Ludd, of course, was the imagined leader of the English textile workers whose protests and machine breaking shook England in the early 19th century and who lent his name to opponents of technology.

As noted in Monday's post, Jean Marie’s Dad insisted she learn the Word Processor manual; mine insisted I learn how to type on a portable Royal typewriter. (“Now is the time for all good men to come to the aid of their party.”)

When it comes to any kind of technological change, be it early 19th century textile machinery, my Kindle or my digital camera, I enter the room kicking and screaming.

But do notice: I used the active voice!

For better (mostly), I have indeed entered this Brave New World of ours, one digit at a time, so to speak - first delicately dipping my Big Toe to test the waters, then gingerly tapping my right index finger in search of whatever the machine’s correct key.

And, I’m happy to say (on most days anyway): I’m here.

My learning disabilities erase any chance I have of ever becoming a technological Quick Study.

But in a funny sort of way, my learning disabilities enable me to promptly identify those who are (!), then grab their coattails before they fly away.

Had I bought Apple stock when it was first issued, I couldn’t be any richer, thanks to my two Computer Tutors – first Kathy Rudy of Evanston, now Chris Vasilakis of Forest Park. (They’d be on my Speed Dial if I knew how to set it.)

I live mid-way between an Apple store and a Best Buy; turn left, and the Apple associates reconfigure my iPod nano; turn right, and the Geek Squad unfreezes my laptop.

The teacher inside me reminds me often: there is no such thing as a dumb question.

Two weeks ago, Brigid Zachar (left), Illinois School District 59’s Instructional Technology Support, and Eileen Justus (right), the LRC Director of Elk Grove Village’s Ridge Family Center for Learning,
answered every single dumb question I asked while working with faculty and classes First through Fifth to help them write their abecedarian telling of their singular school’s story, R is for the Ridge Way.
(Singular is an understatement. Ridge is an all-year, 8 am to 4 pm, combined-classroom community that models non-stop respect and responsibility.)

The school’s founder and retiring Principal supported this writing project from the get-go, working with me months ahead to nail the details. We used my S is for Story: A Writer’s Alphabet as our model. The faculty and students enthusiastically embraced the effort. The Best News of all? The Principal’s name (Mrs. Barbara Zabroske) gave the students the perfect Z word!

You name the technological wonder and Brigid and Eileen taught me how to use it, so we could save our daily work over two weeks’ worth of multiple sessions, be it brainstorming, list-making, highlighting, revisiting, revising, re-evaluating or poetically shaping our text.

The Eno Board, with its RM EAsiTeach software.

The Aver Media document camera.

The fancy stylus.

The scrolls.

The focused lens.

How did a blackboard ever suffice?

So,

give me a D!

Give me an I!

Give me a G!

Hey! Give me a hand!
I’m still kicking and screaming,
(sigh),
but I’m here
and
I'm staying.

Esther Hershenhorn

P.S.

Don’t forget our contest and your chance to win a copy of Barb Rosenstock’s newest picture book, The Camping Trip That Changed America (Dial), illustrated by Caldecott medalist Mordecai Gerstein. The entry deadline is Saturday.

Digital Natives, Digital Texts, Digital World

I was in seventh grade when we got our first personal computer.  It was a behemoth IBM, in its first year of production.  My crafty dad made me read the word processor manual and write a cheat sheet for family use.  (I still remember -- ^KD = save in WordStar circa 1984.) 

By the time I started high school, I composed all of my papers on the computer.  The ability to type quickly and edit instantly has greatly affected my writing process.

I don't think I had an email account until I was grown and out of college.  I am still a very reluctant texter.  I waste too much time on facebook, but I never tweet.
My kids learned how to use a mouse at two.  They are now four and six.  They play Angry Birds on my cell phone and DS in restaurants with slow service.

The college students I teach were mostly born in the 1990s.  One thing I quickly realized was that, thanks to texting and email and facebook and twitter, most of them actually spend a significant portion of their day WRITING -- willingly, for pleasure.  Perhaps texting is going to make punctuation obsolete, but on the other hand... surely there's some good to be harnessed from this situation.

I started teaching at a new school last semester, and my classroom now has a dedicated computer lab.  I've always had students write frequently in class, of course, but incorporating the computers has presented both an opportunity and a challenge.

The ability to do library research from the classroom is the most obvious advantage to having classroom computers.  Grammar quizzes can be given online, of course; but I am looking for ways to excite students, not bore them to death.

I have thus been experimenting with a variety of technologies and new assignments.  Last semester I used a status update exercise to get students thinking about topic selection and audience.  I am just starting to learn how to get students working on collaborative written projects -- wikis and blogs through Blackboard, as well as group responses through google docs.   Using youtube to find examples of commercials exhibiting logical fallacies has also been entertaining.

Today's digital natives grow up in a world completely different from ours.  As ebooks change the experience of reading (but not as drastically as one might think), so the new technologies present many more options for effectively engaging students.

If any teachers have advice or expertise in this area to share, we are all ears.

In the meantime, don't forget to enter our latest Teaching Authors Book Giveaway. 

Have a great week! --Jeanne Marie

Oops--you missed Children's Authors and Illustrators Week...but you didn't miss my DECLUTTERING poem for Poetry Friday!

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Howdy, Campers!

My poem about clutter and the link to Poetry Friday is below.

But first...have you scampered to Carmela's post and entered to win Barb Rosenstock's The Camping Trip That Changed America in our latest book giveaway contest?  No?!?!  Then for heaven's sake, click here or scroll down now.  I'll wait right.

As Carmela noted in her post, I'm a card-carrying member of the Children's Authors Network (CAN!)

 photo credit: jessamyn via photopin cc
This isn't April. 

I lied.  I AM a member, but there are no cards.

In 2000, eleven members of CAN! created Children's Authors and Illustrators Week (CAIW).  CAIW was invented to encourage communities to discover and to connect with local authors and illustrators. It's celebrated the first week of February, but never fear! The CAIW webpage (which includes a wonderful poem about books by CAN! member and poet Joan Bransfield Graham --scroll to the bottom) includes Tips for Children's Authors and Illustrators Week which teachers, parents, librarians and even Martians can use all year long.

Plan on connecting with local authors and illustrators 

to celebrate CAIW next year!

(In fact, I'll bet one is lurking next door to you right now.)
photo credit: Fr Antunes via photopin cc

Okay, on to Poetry Friday!  I'm deep into the topic of clutter this week.  Which got me thinking about my three Clutterbusting Heroes:

1) My husband's client who moves his office and all his staff every two years.  "It keeps them from cluttering," he says.  

2) My friend, author Bruce Balan, who, you may remember, lives on a trimaran with his wife and sails around the world.   When Bruce goes to a conference and someone hands him a business card or a brochure or, well, anything, Bruce gives it his full attention, then gently hands it back. Even the business card.  "I don't have room for this on the boat," he explains.  

3) My friend, Brooks Palmer, professional declutter guy, who I interviewed last year about his first book. His quiet question, when working with clients, is "Do you need that?" or sometimes, "Can you let that go?"

All three of these guys (do you think there's a reason they're all guys?) are my heroes.

photo credit: morguefile.com

Heroes deserve a medal.

I have a new declutter plan for the New Year and I know you're dying to hear it.  Every month I'm going to hire my down-the-street neighborly handyman, Greg, to paint one of our closets or cupboards.  You know what that means I'll be doing the night before, right?  

This week he painted my home office closet.  Oh. My. Gosh.  I'd saved so many file folders, art paper, and recycled mailing envelopes, I could open an office supply store.  It was very embarrassing to look at all that stuff out of the closet, spread across our college kid's bedroom.

Greg prepped and painted my closet while I went off to a coffee house to procrastinate and finally to write.  When I returned, VOILA!  An clean closet! A blank page!  

Eli inspects the freshly painted shelves.

My rule is that I can only put back the things I actually need. Wish me luck.

TOO MANY WORDS

by April Halprin Wayland

It started with one manila folder

holding just nine words:

ethereal, mellifluous, clink, crisp, apple, baby, shoulder, drool, listen.

Then five colored folders 

in a beautifully braided basket.  

Before long, 

my file cabinet was jammed so tightly 

with recycled file folders filled with words,

it was hard to pull out puddle, excellent, toasted, 

or even a single shard.

I hired a handyman to build special shelves in my closet

for oversized ones like warmheartedness,

tall ones (tate, titter, colossal), 

words without spines like pithless,

that need to be stacked

or stood up against dividers.

One day the words came tumbling down.

My room was filled with overconfident, noodle,

kleptomaniac, global.

The carpets were ruined.

I cried as I threw out onomatopoeia.

The walls were scratched by 

aquamarine and nincompoop.

Today, my shelves breathe.

One shelf has only the word, now.

Another, air.

The top shelf had bird

but this morning it flew out

past open and window.

poem (c) 2012 April Halprin Wayland, all rights reserved

Eli approves of the shelves (and waits for the OK to retrieve his red toy)

WRITING WORKOUT 
~ Magical Realism--the Game!

In the poem above, I substituted the idea of individual words for file folders, papers and notebooks.  

It feels a bit like Magical Realism to me.  According to Wikipedia, 

"Magic realism or magical realism is an aesthetic style or genre of fiction in which magical elements blend with the real world." 

1) Write a simple poem about an ordinary chore...maybe walking the dog or making your bed. 

2) Now, go back and substitute a more general concept for the noun.  Instead of "I made the bed," perhaps, "I made the friendship."  Instead of "I walked the dog," perhaps "I walked the war."  Sort of like a game of Mad Libs (play a version of Mad Libs online for free here).  

3) Roll around in the odd wonderfulness of not having to make sense.

Thanks to
Laura Purdie Salas at Writing The World For Kids
for hosting Poetry Friday today!

Remember to write with joy!  
(And remember to enter our book giveaway!)