Ask a Photograph

Geo. R. Ludwig 

Detroit and Broadway, Buffalo, NY

Photo from Amy LV's Collection

Students - Today's poem grew from meandering. The Merriam-Webster Dictionary defines the verb meander this way - "to follow a winding or intricate course." The course I followed began with just writing in my notebook, letting one idea lead to the next. At some point, I remembered the old photograph you see above and went to find it. When I did, I remembered that it was taken in January, did the quick math (2026-1896), and realized that it was taken 130 years ago! This is old. I took a photo of the photo and zoomed in on my great grandfather's face.

George Richard Ludwig, 1896

Photo from Amy LV's Collection

Ah! If only I could bring him back to life. If only I could ask him some questions, learn about his dry goods store, now long-gone, learn about my grandfather George C., learn about this time in my family, in Buffalo, in America. But I cannot. Still, though, I can study the faces in the photo. And I can imagine. I can imagine what he might say to me. From this photo, in which he stands proudly in front of his growing shop, I believe he says to build. And while I will not build with bricks, I commit to build with words. For him.

This week, if you are uncertain where to begin with your writing, consider meandering. Just write and see where your pencil leads you. Or begin with a photo. Ask someone in the photo a question...in your mind or on paper. Listen to what this person tells you. See, the advice you receive from a photograph-person may also be advice from your deepest self. 

Remember that your poem need not rhyme or follow a special pattern. Your poem wants to be you, a reflection of you, a photograph of what you feel and believe and think right now. 

AI cannot know what you feel and believe and think. Feelings and beliefs and thoughts are slow and come from within. Meander. Take the long way.

Thank you to dear Tabatha of The Opposite of Indifference who set up such a delicious December poem swap. I was matched with darling Robyn-who-I-wish-I-could-see-every-day. She generously gifted me with magical earrings and an ornament based on one of my ghost poems as well as a poem that, well, I would be honored to hear as a ghost at my own funeral. You can read the poem and see what I sent to Robyn at her blog, Life on the Deckle Edge. Thank you, friends!

Jan is hosting today's Poetry Friday roundup over at bookseedstudio with a song and some thoughts about Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Each Friday, all are invited to share poems, poem books, poetry ideas, and friendship in this open and welcoming poetry community.

And while it's a bit late, Happy New Year! I have been thinking about you and wishing you all of the goodnessess that can come in time. Each of you is strong and full of light, and I wish you discovery and hope in the days and months that lay before you.

xo,

Amy

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Find Meaning in a Repeated Moment

Claude the Cat

Photo by Amy LV

Students - Every time I come into our living room these days, Claude is perched on the chair I set near our Christmas tree. I know that I can find him napping, looking at the tree, or looking like he is guarding the tree. I placed the chair in this spot because I, too, love sitting near the Christmas tree, and it warms my spirit to know that Claude and I share this appreciation. I even wrote this poem in the very early morning, pages lit only by rainbow lights.

Writing by the Light of the Tree

Photo by Amy LV

Today I chose to write about something I see again and again, so many times that I could not help writing about it. We all have such recurring moments in our lives, small events that repeat. These may be snips of conversation or small daily rituals or sights in nature (the morning sky has been so pink here lately) or something else. 

Our daily lives regularly give us new sights and smells and sounds and they also regive us old ones. Today I am looking to find meaning in the repeating minutes, and in doing so in my notebook, I created an imagined friendship between my cat and the angel on our tree. How grateful I am to have done so! Here you can see Claude giving his tree a sniff...

Claude Sniffs His Tree

Photo by Amy LV

This week, you might wish to jot down small events or sights or other sensory bits that strike you. Keep a list on paper or in your head. Maybe you will sketch or take photos of these events. Listen to your heart as you choose one to write about in a long way. The moments that strike us strike us for a reason, and we can find the meaning behind our interest through writing.

Michelle is hosting today's Poetry Friday roundup over at MoreArt4All with an inspiring offering of poetry and visual art. Each Friday, all are invited to share poems, poem books, poetry ideas, and friendship in this open and welcoming poetry community.

May you find beauty and connect with all kinds of old friends...

xo,

Amy

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Write About a Process & a Peek

Almost Socks!
Photo by Amy LV

Students - Today's poem is about one of my favorite hobbies...knitting! I have been knitting for almost 40 years, as I learned when I was a Rotary exchange student in Denmark. While I am still nowhere the knitter I wish to be someday, I regularly take on small challenges (this week a bit of lace in a winter headband) and so get better inch by inch. For many years, I began many hobbies and abandoned them because it took too long to become good at them. I wish I had learned about the importance of mistakes sooner.

This week you may wish to write about something you have made or about the process of making something. Try listing me-made things in your notebook. Or maybe....make a list of mistakes you have made and write about one of those. Mistakes make much more interesting stories than perfection does. I love making things so much that I wrote a whole book about it - WITH MY HANDS: POEMS ABOUT MAKING THINGS.

Today I am grateful to welcome Kensley, a writer from Alden Intermediate School in Alden, NY. Kensley is a wise young person who understands the importance of writing not only to connect with others but the importance of writing to connect with ourselves and to heal our own hearts. Thank you, Kensley, for joining us here today.

I, for one, will be keeping Kensley's advice close at hand as like Kensley, I, too, have found writing to be a good friend in times of sadness and grief. Thank you again, Kensley, for your generosity in sharing your words and advice with us.

Linda is hosting today's Poetry Friday roundup over at A Word Edgewise with a cool poetry mash-up. Each Friday, all are invited to share poems, poem books, poetry ideas, and friendship in this open and welcoming poetry community.

Here in Western New York this week, it is snowy and chilly. May words keep all of you warm, wherever you are.

xo,

Amy

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Look Out of a Window

Morning Flight

Drawing by Amy LV

Students - There are times when I am not in the mood to write, but still I sit down and do it. Every time this happens (and it is often as it is difficult to begin writing), I am so glad that I did. I love surprising myself with new words that come from mysterious places. So my first piece of advice today is to do the thing that future you wishes you had done....even if you are not in the mood!

When I sat at my desk this morning, I looked out the window wondering, "What should I write?" Between several trees in the distance, I saw a few birds swooping around and imagined being one of them. Then, my pen began to move.

If you are nosy like me, perhaps you'll enjoy seeing my draft. Yes, I do write by hand as I love the fluidity of my hand moving across the page, making messy letters and scribbles and sometimes racing faster than I expect. I am a fast typist, but writing with ink on paper is my true poetry home.

Draft of "You Ask Why I'm Singing"

(Click to Enlarge)

by Amy LV

Not sure what to write? Look out your window. Any window will do. I wish you flight!

Carol is hosting today's Poetry Friday roundup over at The Apples in My Orchard. Each Friday, all are invited to share poems, poem books, poetry ideas, and friendship in this open and welcoming poetry community.

I look forward to meeting the students of Coleman School in Glen Rock, New Jersey next week!

xo,

Amy

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Let Your Poem Tell a Story

Boo

Drawing by Amy LV

 

Students - Happy Halloween! Today my little poem tells a story that arose as I wrote this morning. It is helpful to remember that often, our ideas come to us AS we write, not before we write. Many times I will think to myself, "I don't know what to write," but once I begin, ideas rise to meet me. So if you don't have an idea when you pick up your pen or pencil, worry not. Just dive in anyway.

Since today is Halloween, I have been thinking about ghosts and witches and jack o-lanterns and candy. I would like to thank the warm and wise students, teachers, and administrators of Alden Primary School and Alden Intermediate, both in Alden, NY for welcoming me into their writing worlds for so many days this month. You have inspired me in many ways, from your powerful writing to your joyful pumpkins to your generous sharing. Thank you for our time writing and talking writing together.

This week, I suggest that you try writing a story poem. Invent a character, and make something happen. Again, do not worry that you need a complete plan. Just begin...and see. Poems are short and perfect places to experiment with new ideas and techniques.

Jone is the host of today's Poetry Friday roundup over at Jone Rush MacCulloch with original spooky poems and ideas for writing spooky poems too. Each Friday, all are invited to share poems, poem books, poetry ideas, and friendship in this open and welcoming poetry community.

xo,

Amy

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Work...and Trust the Mystery Too

Self-Talk in Sky

Drawing by Amy LV

Students - Where did this little verse come from? I honestly do not know. Last evening I was writing in my notebook and jotted the line I tried to do a thing I did not think that I could do and then I just kept following word after word after word and those wordy breadcrumbs led me to the small cottage that is now this poem.

I do write by hand, and writing the drafts for this poem ended up as quite a messy experience with crossouts and writing over writing and words spilling from page to page linked by arrows and lists of rhyming words. There was work...and too, there was mystery. See, even though I did the work here, I am still somewhat surprised by the poem. (Where on earth did the kite come from?) Writing is indeed mysterious like this. We do work, and still we can be surprised by which lines choose to land in our hearts and on our pages.

This week I suggest writing a bit each day in a notebook, write bits about what you see and think, write about your wonders and hopes. List words you love, and listen to the part of you that is whispering good ideas. By doing this regularly, you will always have writing ideas just waiting for you to shape into the pieces you are meant to write.

This week, Sarah Grace is hosting the Poetry Friday roundup over at Sarah Grace Tuttle with happy news about her redesigned website (including resources for teachers!) and an original poem titled "Hitchhiker". Each Friday, all are invited to share poems, poem books, poetry ideas, and friendship in this open and welcoming poetry community.

I wish you the strength to hear the words that help you become the you you most wish to be.

xo,

Amy

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Make a Comparison

Sweaters

Drawing by Amy LV

Students - Last week I complimented a man who stood in line with me at the grocery store on the joyful sunflowers he was purchasing. His eyes welled up, and he told me that his twenty-seventh wedding anniversary would be the next day, that his wife had died in early summer, and that she had loved sunflowers. The man was going to place the sunflowers on her grave. I have been thinking about him ever since.

I have a handful of friends who are grieving the loss of loved ones at this time, and so when I sat down to write, this sunflower man and my grieving friends came right to my mind. I found myself thinking about how different people grieve in different ways, and that we usually never know what is happening inside another person's heart. 

As I wrote, I felt myself remembering and inspired by one of my favorite poems, Charlotte Zolotow's poem "People." (Scroll down a wee bit at this link to read it.) I appreciate the way Charlotte compares two different kinds of people in her poem, the way she describes each type of person in its own stanza. I chose to write one stanza per type of grief sweater, and I also added a third stanza offering a bit of advice.

Reading helps us writers as the more we read, the more possibilities we understand and can imagine for our writing. Today I challenge you to try writing a poem - or some other kind of writing - that compares two things. You may wish to list some ideas: two pets, two kinds of cookie, two ways to show a feeling, any two things. Write one stanza (or paragraph) about the first and then another stanza (or paragraph) about the second. If you wish, add a third...or fourth...or fifth. You may surprise yourself.

If you are wondering why I repeated that last line - as good as it can - it is because I wanted to linger in that sadness. Grief does not usually feel good, and I hope to honor this truth.

This week, Linda is hosting the Poetry Friday roundup over at TeacherDance with a thoughtful and timely poem inspired by a collection of books written by Charles Dickens and recently donated to the all-volunteer-run bookstore where she works. Each Friday, all are invited to share poems, poem books, poetry ideas, and friendship in this open and welcoming poetry community.

This week may you be comfortable in all of your clothes and in all of your moods. May you be you.

xo,

Amy

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