Notice, Wander, Wonder

The past two days have been filled with sunshine and warm weather. Spring is full of life and April is becoming more poetrylicious each day. Poems are popping up all over. To celebrate the power of April joy during National Poetry Month I created a little ditty tune to keep everything lively around me.

During springtime, it is time to notice, wander, and wonder about our blossoming surroundings. At the nature preserve, my walk uphill led me to a huge grouping of reeds, swaying in the breeze.  I felt a dance-like quality to their movement and clicked the camera to capture the stilled quiet of the preserve. An image poem emerged.

The reeds were majestic in stature. They stood tall as guardians of the land. Thinking of their ethereal beauty, I created another poem, a cinquain, to describe what I saw on that April day. 

Phragmites

xanthous perennials

guarding, standing, swaying

slender, graceful grassy beauties

reeds

I noticed, wrote, and filled my office with poetry. Now I am sharing my notice poems with the hashtag #NoticePoems created by Holly Thompson. Will you notice more of your surroundings to create poetry? If so, I am designing a new spring gallery called Spring's Seeds. The invitation will be sent out via social media soon. In the meantime, you can view last spring's global gallery of artistic expressions, Spring's Symphony, here and last season's gallery, Winter Wanderings, here. 

It's Tuesday and time to visit Slice of Life at Two Writing Teachers. Please join me to read the various slices from educators around the globe. 

2016 Poetry Month Fun

Spending the first week of National Poetry Month creating alongside poetry friends has been a week filled with poetryliscious joy! So what did I do?

-Mary Lee Hahn's invited writers to her Poetry Month Project, BYGONES, where she has been writing poems as poignant remembrances of forgotten faces and the unknown stories that were captured on film. Below Mary Lee's logo are my two poems based on photos from Mary Lee's album collection. 

-As a newbie member of the 2016 Kidlitosphere Poetry Team started by Irene Latham, I wondered about my contribution and was inspired to create Day 6's line. Because I was so excited to engage in this activity, I went so far as to create a digital composition for Penny Klostermann's line for Day 5 and mine just for fun.

-Lastly, I had great fun planning for #NYEDChat's upcoming April is Poetrylicious! convo on Monday, April 11th with my team's guest moderators, Janet Wong, Amy Ludwig VanDerwater, and Paul W. Hankins. We hope to see everyone at the chat with your creative voices ready to get involved in the conversation. The question document will be aired this weekend. 

Please visit the Poetry Friday Round-Up at Laura Purdie Salas' blog, Writing the World for Kids. 

I am excited to announce that Laura and I will be joining our colleague, Dr. Michele Haiken, this summer in Boston for our #ILA16 presentation, Transforming Writer's Lives with Digital Tools as Powerful Agents to Impact Literacy Instruction, Authenticate Voice, & Present Positive Perspectives. 

If you have not had a chance to peruse my newest gallery, Winter Wanderings, please do so. You will find digital compositions or quotes from Poetry Friday poets in the collection.

Creating Image Poems

During a weekend of filling my heart with the love of poetry, I published my ninth global gallery of artistic expressions online, titled Winter Wanderings. When trying to find the right image to welcome guests into the gallery, an idea came to me, downplay the litany of woes being heard about the season of winter and let everyone find the joy. To do so, I needed an image to set the tone. Luckily for me, one of our garden stores had a magnificent, lustrous, silver mannequin garbed in real fir branches as a display for the holiday season. I happened upon the perfectly posed lady while walking through the store, marveled at her sight, and grabbed for my iPhone. Since she was not at the entrance my husband and son totally missed her as they passed by.  

Upon arriving home, I sorted through my photos and took the photograph of the mannequin and turned it into a digital composition with a poem using the app, PicMonkey. When looking for an image for the opening of the gallery, I decided to use the digitalized image as the lead character in my gallery and so Lady Winter evolved. She now virtually greets everyone when they enter the online gallery.

You can find many examples of image poems (#imagepoems) at Winter Wanderings. They are composed by poets, bloggers, writers, and poetry lovers from across the globe. Many of them are examples of nature photography depicting the

many styles of winter. Because I have always loved the fashion industry, Lady Winter offers us a view of her global, seasonal couture line.

Margaret Simon has asked writers to create poetry to match image poems at #imagepoems for her National Poetry Month challenge. You can access her site here. When composing image poems, we have the option of using our own images. I am working on some ideas but have been preoccupied with preparations for the upcoming #NYEDChat convos that will air on Twitter this Saturday at 8:00 am and Monday, April 11, 2016 at 8:00 PM. Monday night's convo will be our tribute chat to National Poetry Month and hopefully writers will share some image poems or as I also term them digital inspirations (Margaret coined that term). Here is another example of an original image of a historical garden site on Long Island that I turned into a flyer. 

Stay tuned as I write alongside others during National Poetry Month and create new digital creations. 

Now I turn my attention to the Tuesday Slice of Life hosted by the Two Writing Teachers. After spending a month writing daily slices for my Clearing a Path series, it will be wonderful to meet up with slicer friends and the TWT Team, Anna, Betsy, Beth, Dana, Deb, Kathleen, Stacey, and Tara,  for a warm hello and virtual hug for a job well done. I felt such a bittersweet ending to the March event when I signed the SOLSC Participant Pledge tonight.  

Gallery of Winter Wanderings Unveiled

A few months ago when Winter arrived on the East Coast of the United States, she garbed herself in dramatic grey and white hues while introducing her bright floral line in other locales.  Being the diva that she is, Winter took center stage on the runway many a time. Today, she is making a comeback as the premier model in my exclusive gallery of artistic expressions, Winter Wanderings.

Take a front seat to view the runway show with amazing sounds and sights from Lady Winter's couture seasonal line. Here, global writers and colleagues offer digital tributes to a surprising season of fluctuating temperatures, battering blizzards, splashing rains, and marshmallow-flavored days. Are you ready to be captivated by the spirit of one grand fashionista?

Let's start the gallery walk by listening to the gentle music of George Winston.  

At NCTE 15 on a cold afternoon in Minneapolis, national consultant and writer, Lester Laminack, fashioned the title Winter Wanderings. Writers from across the globe came together to showcase their photographs and poetic thoughts in various shades of digital designs for Lady Winter's tribute collection.  

Please enter the gallery and enjoy the show.

 

Here is a surprise ornament for Lady Winter's collection from J. Patrick Lewis, the former U.S. Children's Poet Laureate (2011-13).

Perhaps it could be said that written poetry is simply a way of revealing and celebrating the essentially poetic nature of the world itself."  
from Lee Bennett Hopkins, NCTE Profile of Valerie Worth
submitted by Michelle H. Barnes

A single word can be a powerful thing. It can be the ripple in the pond that changes everything.  ~Ali Edwards 
Submitted by Tammy and Clare from Teachers for Teachers

In January, one little words were chosen to guide writers' journeys.

Lynzee, Elementary Student, Louisiana

Madison, Elementary Student, Louisiana

Lady Winter's styles were seen from coast to coast and across the seas.

Snowfall became the gentle reminder that winter arrived in blushing white style.

Be dazzled by the photographs shot around the world. 

These images capture the exquisite beauty of the past season.
Photographers are credited at the end of the 2 1/2 minute short video.

Across the Universe song  offered by Sean Gaillard

for the Photo Corner.

Poetry is when an emotion has found its thought and the thought has found words.

~Robert Frost, submitted by Joy Acey

Winter animals are intriguing to watch as they busy themselves or not.

Lady Winter's blizzards dosed the earth with mounds of soft marshmallow-like designs.

As the snow fell softly upon the earth, inspiration filled the air.

Drum Roll please - Songs to applaud Winter

Offered by Jama Rattigan

Offered by Tabatha Yeatts

Lady Winter bid earth her goodbys for a brief interlude and

then came back for another round because parting was such sweet sorrow. 

What did most folks say in response?

I extend my thanks to all of the contributors to Winter Wanderings for their perspectives on the versatility of the winter season.

Gallery visitors, thank you for sharing reflective time with the Winter Wanderings' community of writers. Please leave a response in the comment section or at #WinterWanderings and @cvarsalona on Twitter to recognize the efforts of the gallery contributors. This gesture of community spirit is appreciated.

You can visit the previous eight Reflect With Me Galleries at the following links.

-Autumn's Palette
-SummerSplashings
-Spring’s Symphony

-Winter Whisperings

-Finding Fall

-Summer Serenity 
-April Awakenings

-Reflect With Me-Bring a Community of Writers Together to Celebrate Life & Teaching 

It has been a pleasure to present the stylistic designs of Lady Winter's seasonal line through a poetic lens. Now that the runway show of this collection has come to a close, please remember that within the depths of the soul creativity lives.

Writers write, artists create, and photographers capture images
to allow voice to rise.   

Please join me during the month of April as I engage in "poetryliscious" writing and conversations. You can find more information here. 

In addition, an invitation to my upcoming creative project, Spring's Seeds, the tenth gallery of artistic expressions, will be sent out soon. 

Let's plant seeds of inspiration to grow poetry love across the globe during National Poetry Month.

Carol