Ever since discovering the wide world of poetry and other writing blogs, I have so enjoyed “meeting” so many fabulous writers. They are amazingly generous; spreading their words out there like Miss Rumphius sprinkled her flowers to help make the world a beautiful place. (What a great name for one of my favorite blogs: http://missrumphiuseffect.blogspot.com/index.html.)
Most nights you can find me hunkered down with my laptop perusing my favorites and bookmarking more. The words I read stop me in my tracks, stay with me, make me think, and inspire me to want to write more. And as much as I try I still get stuck. This part of the experience has been an eye-opener for me; so many ah-ha moments. This is the feeling our students frequently experience. Now I get it. I am walking in their shoes, but thankfully I also have my teacher shoes that take me on adventures that will help me to help them. In the meantime, I will kept trekking the blogging trail and pulling out my tried and true writing resources. But most of all I need to write.
Tonight I took the advice I have read and often shared with my students – look around, write about the little things that catch your eye, the slices of your life, the things you wonder about, the things that make you laugh.
This is a common complaint towards the end of the week when there is nothing to eat in the house. This is when you have to look a little harder and be a little less choosy. Or maybe make the list and go shopping yourself. Hmm…wouldn’t that be a nice surprise? So I wrote a poem tonight dedicated to my hungry son who is staring in the refrigerator hoping something delicious appears on his plate.
"Freaking Out on Friday"
Bare spots in the cupboard
When are you going shopping?
Finish the cereal crumbs,
There’s nothing to eat!
The last bowl of salad,
When are you going shopping?
Dressing bottle stands on its head
There’s nothing to eat!
Get the last drop.
When are you going shopping?
Perhaps peanut butter toast
There’s nothing to eat!
Or scramble up
When are you going shopping?
The last few eggs,
There’s nothing to eat!
With the last drop of milk.
Add it to the list.
Grab the coupons
Time to go shopping.
There’s nothing to eat.
If you want to teach me to write, first you have to love me. ~AVI
