Friday, June 17, 2016

Stacks and Files and Piles of Poems!

Head over to Carol's Corner
for today's round-up of poetic goodness!
Thanks, Carol, for hosting this week. 

How do you organize your poems?  I've resorted to saving electronic copies, but nothing is as satisfying as paging through stacks of xeroxed poems I've kept over the years.  I've actually made dividers for the kid poetry that I'm keeping.  I've been able to relegate duplicate poems to the "poems to share file" for next year's book club.  Here are the dividers in my notebook:

  • Seasonal Poems - Fall, Winter, Summer, Spring (My year is still organized around the school calendar!)
  • School Poems
  • Classic Poems
  • Individual Poets (multiple poems by favorite poets)
  • Single Poems (a strange catch-all group)
  • Blogging Poets (or should that be blogger poets or poets who blog?  Remember all those times I've asked permission to share one of your poems?  Those poems are in this section.)
  • Sidewalk Poetry  - short poems for this activity, begun by Betsy
  • Poems About Poems
  • Poem in Your Pocket Poems (I've actually misplaced a favorite from this group, but just found it on the web.  It's "Pocket Poem" by John Grandits from the book, Blue Lipstick.  I love the reference to poetry as "...a little snack for your soul.")
  • Poems About Reading
  • Poems About Writing

My notebook is so full that it can scarcely hold another page.  While sorting through my files and piles of poetry pages, I found the poem "Fire" by Amy Ludwig VanDerwater in an old Book Links magazine (April 2012).  I'm hesitant to get rid of these magazines, even though my daughter assures me that it's all online.  But how can you find something online that you didn't know was there?  This previously unpublished poem was spotlighted in Book Links with a note from Sylvia M. Vardell inviting folks to check out Amy's blog, The Poem Farm. This poem did not end up in the recycling bin and now has a place of honor on the front of my poetry notebook.
I think I want to memorize it.  It's so appropriate for our Poetry Friday gatherings! 

5 comments:

  1. Oh my gosh, Ramona! I love this! I want to memorize it too! A lot of our teachers do Poetry Friday at school, and it would be a perfect poem to open that activity! So glad it didn't end up in the recycle bin. As far as saving, I do it mostly electronically, but I don't really like that. A paper poem is much more satisfying!

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  2. I used that poem with a class who was studying fire, Ramona! It became their poem for the year. I'll miss Book Links, and love that you are organizing everything. I still have folders full, and keep printing others. It's as if we've created our own anthologies! Love " But how can you find something online that you didn't know was there?" So true!

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  3. I think my students need this one for April....every April in our future together!

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  4. I have a similar binder that is also bursting at its seams! Our library stopped its subscription to Book Links, so I missed Amy's wonderful poem. Thank you for sharing it with us, Ramona!

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  5. I want to hug your binder and you, Ramona. It must be full of treasures. Thank you for including my poem in your post today. I wish you a summer full of bonfires and poems and love. xx

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