Last Friday was the first day of spring break and I was delighted to learn that two of my favorite poetry people, Laura Purdie Salas and Irene Latham, were presenting at the Faye B. Kaigler’s Children’s Book Festival. And it was free. And I didn’t have school, so I could attend! Win! Win! Win! Clearly, this was the best way ever to start my spring break.
It turned out that Irene and Laura were joined by the charming and amusing Vikram Madan. What a great panel of poets! Each of them shared from their books and included ideas for writing with children. If you didn’t get a chance to attend, it’s well worth the time to check out the recording here. During the presentation, among other things, Vikram shared tips for engaging kids by encouraging them to write and draw in response to humorous poems, Laura shared her riddle-ku and equation poems and Irene encouraged us to try writing nonets.
My version of a riddleku isn’t a mask poem, like Laura’s are, but here it is:
first warm spring recess
pale stalks emerge
pump, leap, run
Can you guess what I’m talking about? I suppose you might need to experience an early spring recess after a long northeastern winter to know. I’m leaving it title-free for now, so you can put your guess in the comments if you’d like 🙂
Here’s the nonet I started writing during Irene’s free write time and finished up later.
Nature’s Beneficence
Go!
Immerse
yourself in
the beautiful
world surrounding you.
Keep your eyes wide open.
Stop! Look! Listen! Breathe in. Out.
Be prepared to be bedazzled.
Lose yourself and find yourself again.
©Molly Hogan, draft
Thanks to Irene, Laura and Vikram for a wonderful presentation!
This week’s Poetry Friday Roundup is hosted by Catherine Flynn at her blog, Reading to the Core. This National Poetry Month she’s been writing a series of wonderful poems with a theme of “Writing Wild.” Be sure to check them out, along with the links to loads of other inspiring poetry projects.
Nix the comfort zone 
I watched the presentation in a weird way beginning in one school and traveling to another, but I still enjoyed all of their ideas and encouragement for writing poems. I don’t think I have enough experience to know what your riddle-ku is about. I was surprised at how hard it is to write a nonet. I love your enthusiastic beginning Go!
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It was a great presentation! I suspect my riddle-ku isn’t well crafted enough for anyone to know what it is except for me! lol We’ll see!
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OK, I’m making a guess….johnny-jump-ups? It’s either those or a swing. Hooray for the recording link. Thank you! I have an artist’s date now. I’ll bet the three of those poets made lots of fun. I love the nonet form now that I’ve played with it a bit. I do like losing and finding yourself again!
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It is a fun form! Happy writing!
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Thank you for sharing a link to the recording of this presentation! I was sorry to miss it. I’m guessing those “pale stalks” are bare legs that haven’t seen sunshine in months and months. I love your nonet, especially “be prepared to be bedazzled.” Such good advice!
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Ding! Ding! Ding! We have a winner 🙂 Must be a NE thing!
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As a fellow northerner with pale stalks myself in the spring, I interpreted your riddle-ku to be about legs. It’s a big deal to “finally” get to wear shorts to school again. Thanks for this inspiring post – I’m looking forward to trying a riddle-ku of my own and with my class!
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You got it! I hope you had fun writing riddle-ku’s with your class.
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I thought it was legs too! I love your nonet. 🙂
Ruth, thereisnosuchthingasagodforsakentown.blogspot.com
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You were right 🙂
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I guessed ‘legs’ too. My younger granddaughter was over this week & told me how exciting it was that they could play with anyone this past week at recess, not only their class. It’s hard to understand the joy over this one moment but the children have been waiting so, so long for something ‘regular’. I love your ending of the nonet, perhaps what we all are doing?
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Crazy times. The kids have been amazingly resilient, but “regular” seems so far away still sometimes.
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I guessed legs, too! Growing up in Florida as someone who hates hot weather, people would sometimes assume I was visiting from up north because my legs were so pale!
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PS Love your poems and that last line of your nonet!
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I guessed “legs” too … Thank you for sharing your poems and the link to the recording. I look forward to checking it out!
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