Welcome to the ridge! Thanks for stopping by this week. For more of the Poetry Friday collection, visit Carol at Carol's Corner.

I am back this week from my relaxing trip to the beach. I took advantage of the ocean's poetic whispers while I was there. As I sat on the shoreline, I started generating a list in my notebook. I used my five senses and the imagery of this coastal scene to get some words onto the page. Then, I started playing with the words and phrases from my list. The result is my "Ocean Scene" poem. Working from a list is a quick strategy I use often to get my ideas flowing.

Try creating a word list in your notebook. Once you have your list, try putting words and phrases together. Play with different combinations until you find one you like. Collecting lists can be great fun!

Happy Poetry Friday! I'm away from the ridge this week, so thanks for visiting my home while I am at the beach this week. For more PF posts visit Mary Lee at A Year of Reading.

In honor of my trip to the coast of Texas this week, I decided to try a beach haiku. I am so grateful to our Poetry Friday host this week, Mary Lee, who gave me a helpful tip to consider when writing a haiku. This week, you'll notice that my form is a little more "loose". It definitely works. Thanks again for the advice, Mary Lee!

You can try Mary Lee's invitation as well! Take any piece you are working on, and see how you might break "loose" from the traditional form or structure. Allow yourself some wiggle room. Have fun loosening the reigns with your poetry writing this week!

Welcome Poetry Friday friends! It's good to be back after taking a week off to enjoy my first deep breath of summer vacation.  Thanks for stopping by! For more PF offerings, visit Buffy's Blog HERE.
 
I decided to try something different this week. I had never written a haiku before, but I talked myself into giving it a try. I have to admit, I was really nervous. But after reading several beautifully written haikus by many of my Poetry Friday friends, I found the courage to branch out and take a chance. The result is my first haiku! I'm really glad I tried this form of Japanese poetry. It just goes to show, you never know until you try! 

This is an image of the meadow here on the ridge. The wildflowers and weeds are lovely this time of year. I like taking photos of each one to identify it. This way, I can call them by name as I admire them. They have such interesting names you know!

Here is the list of names I used to choose from for my haiku:
queen Anne's lace
meadow parsnip
sand brazoria
wood-sorrel
green-wild Indigo
wild parsley
basil beebalm
fleabane
ironweed

​Sometimes it can be easy to talk yourself out of something before you even give it a try. But you never know until you try. I think this is great advice for writers. Taking a risk and writing outside of your preferred form or genre can be a little scary, but the end results can be quite rewarding. The important thing to remember is to keep writing!  

Welcome! I am so excited to be hosting the Poetry Friday round-up this week. I am incredibly grateful to be a part of this group of poetry friends! Thank you for joining in the round-up this week. Please be my guest here at the ridge and add your link at the bottom of the post if you like.

A few days ago, a special package arrived in the mail. Inside was a well-loved copy of the book, The Shape of a Year by Jean Hersey. It was a gift from my dear cousin Ali, who had discovered it in her late grandmother's house. She had read it and thought that I might enjoy reading it as much as she did.

It turns out she was right. After reading the inside jacket and the introductory chapter, I knew that it was one of those unexpected treasures that find their way into the heart.

Here are a few excerpts that I particularly admire.
QUIET AND SMOOTH, fresh and untouched the new snow lies across our meadow. Its pristine surface catches the sunlight, and tree shadows stretch like great blue pencils over the unbroken white. The snow folds gently over rocks and hummocks half concealing, half revealing a variety of different shapes.
  So lies our year ahead, its basic ingredients sun and shadow and suggested shapes of things to come. I wonder what we will do with this year, what it will do with us, and what together we and life will create during the twelve months ahead.
  A new year is a gift... Things happen. We grow (we hope), and we learn willy nilly... Our reachings, acceptances, rejections, our hesitancies, courage, fears, and our loves, all these form the shape of the year for us, as individuals, as part of a family, as a member of a community.

For me, Hersey's words offer a gentle invitation to find joy in the ordinary gifts of each day of the year. She invokes a sense of purpose in the awareness and careful observation of ourselves and the world around us.

Though I was unable to find much information online about her personally or professionally, I was able to find a few tidbits about her life's work. Jean Hersey was born in 1902 in New York City. She later moved to Weston, Connecticut where she wrote several books about gardening including, A Woman's Day Book of Houseplants and I Like Gardening. Her other books, A Sense of Seasons and The Shape of a Year, are incredibly poetic memoirs that reflect her love of nature and her pleasure in documenting the beauty of ordinary life.

I have only begun to read The Shape of a Year, but I am certain that I will continue to be inspired by Hersey's graceful words and the joy she finds in the realm of daily life.  

You can find some of her quotes HERE.

The shape of our year will soon change again as we head into the summer season. Spend some time thinking about the shape of your year so far and the days to come. Where do you already find joy in your daily life routines? Take a moment to write and reflect on these instances.

​Think about how these moments help shape your thinking throughout the year. What impact might this thinking have on your goals and challenges this year?

Happy Poetry Friday! Thanks for stopping by this week. After your visit here on the ridge, be sure to make Jama's Alphabet Soup your next stop on the Poetry Friday trail!

It's hard to believe another school year is coming to an end. The month of May has a way of sweeping in unexpectedly. It closes out the school season and opens the door to another.

Soon, I will open the door to a summer season filled with writing and rewriting. I can't help but look forward to the many blissful hours I will spend on the ridge, just listening to the whispers. So many whispers have found their way into my notebook since I began my writing journey in this place I call home. I am so grateful to have this space to write and rewrite these whispers in my writing life.

I remember introducing my writing space here on the ridge during my very first blog post. I am including the poem from that first blog entry below. So much time has passed since it was written. And there is much that is still left unwritten. I am certain that more whispers will find their way into my writing life, but until they do, there are those that magically seek to be rewritten. They whisper to my mind, and I begin to write.

Rewriting can be a beautiful thing. Just like rereading, we tend to notice things that we didn't pick up on the first time around. Writing about topics we love over and over again is like reading our favorite books over and over again. Our writing becomes well worn and loved, just like our most treasured stories. 

Happy Poetry Friday! I am still on poetry cloud 9 after all the  Poem in your Pocket Day festivities! Today, I am sharing some of the fun things that we did at my school to celebrate this perfectly pocketed poetic-filled day. For more of the poetry round-up, head over to JoAnn's space Teaching Authors.  

There were poems in pockets throughout our entire school yesterday. And by the end of the day, there were none. That's because they were all tucked away in the pockets of children!  It was so fun to see the excitement on their faces when they plucked a poem from the pocket and began to read.

What made it even more exciting was that the poems were written by the fourth grade poets at our school. Each poem was like a special treasure that students carried with them and read throughout the day.

I am including my own fourth grade son's poem below. He really enjoyed getting to write his poem and share it with others.  It was a perfectly splendid "poem in your pocket day" for all.

I had to join in the fun, too! Here is one of the poems that I gave as a gift to all the staff members at my school to place in their pockets for the day.

I invite you to pick a poem for your pocket this week. Carry it with you wherever you go. Let each line, each word, and each pause be your guide as you journey throughout the day. Live with your poem for a week, for a month, for a lifetime. May it bring you pockets full of joy each time you read it!

Happy National Poetry Month! What an exciting week to join in the round-up of words and all things poetry! Irene is hosting the celebration at her space Live Your Poem. It's sure to be a splendid poetry party, so don't delay!

While every day is a day to honor the art of poetry, it's extra special to have thirty consecutive days devoted to the power of poetry. I look forward to this month all year long when everyone comes together to spread the poetry love.

Though I have not taken on a poetry project this month like many of my PF friends, I look forward to reading all that these magnificent poets will share! I plan on participating in my own way each day as well. So this week, I am looking back in my notebooks for notes or poems inspired by guest poets that I have had the privilege to hear speak over the years. The first notebook entry I found was from 2014 when the always amazing, Georgia Heard came to our school district to share. Here are a few of my notes from her workshop, along with a poetic entry it inspired. Happy #npm17!

​Poets:

• observe the world around us
• find poetry in the ordinary
• see beauty in the ugly
• are curious and filled with wonder
• love the meaning and sounds of words
• look at the world in a new way
• always look for poetry seeds
• see that you can look at anything and find a poem​​

​Poetry hides...
in the moon, the stars, the sun on my skin, the birds in the trees, the voices of my children, beneath the water and the soil-

no matter where I am, it lives in me, somewhere quiet, dark and deep, but still, always with me, always carried in my soul wherever I go...the seashell on the beach, each speck of sand between my toes, and the waves that crash upon the shore.    

This month, poetry will be celebrated by many. It's so fun to learn about all the projects that poets role out throughout the month. What are your favorite poetry projects?

One of the best things about National Poetry Month is that there are endless ways you can join in the fun. So even if you don't decide to do a project, there are still opportunities to share in the joy of poetry. There are some great websites that will give you tons of ideas. One of my favorites is poets.org. You can find more about the celebration along with ways to participate. Twitter is another go-to favorite of mine for finding poetry inspiration throughout the month. Just search for #npm17 and you'll be set! Will you participate this year? How so?

You can start right now if you like! Think about where poetry hides for you. Finish this sentence stem inspired by the poet Georgia Heard.
Poetry hides...