Dig Deep for Poetry

April 1, 2015 by margaretsmn

My friend who doesn’t write sent me the joke poem above. My response was “You understand me. I dig deep.” I have committed myself to write everyday this month about poetry. I am not promising an original poem each day (but who knows?). To share our poetry activities this month, we are using #digipoetry. Leigh Anne (@teachr4) made this button for our blog posts. Feel free to use it, too.

Wednesday is a good day to wonder. I wandered over to Wonderopolis and found a wonderful article about dolphins and echo-location. To think about writing a poem, I collected words and phrases from the article. After many false starts (rough drafts), I read about Nikki Grimes’ tanka contest. Nikki Grimes’ contest for kids in grades 3-6: Tanka writing

Sometimes when writing doesn’t come easily, a form gives you the structure you need to create. A tanka is similar to a haiku. There is no rhyme and a syllable count of 5, 7, 5, 7, 7. Nikki Grimes has a book coming out in May, Poems in the Attic, which includes tanka. (Click the link for more information.)

I used PicMonkey to create this image poem.

Posted in Digital Learning, Poetry, Writing | Tagged #DigiPoetry, animal poems, dolphins, National Poetry Month, Nikki Grimes, tanka, Wonderopolis | 10 Comments

10 Responses

on April 1, 2015 at 1:50 pm | Reply Michelle Haseltine

Margaret, Your first picture reminded me of an old favorite song…https://youtu.be/_G984cNO3RM. Love your picture tanka. I agree. Form helps when I struggle with poetry! Great start to poetry month!!
on April 1, 2015 at 2:10 pm | Reply Linda Baie

Love that ‘mysterious love language’. We were followed by many dolphins on a boat ride last summer in the gulf. It was the first time for Ingrid to see them so close. They are so special. Thanks for sharing all that you did!
on April 1, 2015 at 3:27 pm | Reply jarhartz

Form helps me too. If nothing else it gets my brain working! You always have so much going on in your brain — it must be the magic of poetry, digging deeply.
on April 1, 2015 at 4:47 pm | Reply Catherine Johnson

That joke poem is pretty funny and your dolphin poem is beautiful Margaret.
on April 1, 2015 at 4:56 pm | Reply Stacey Shubitz

I just shot you an email. I want to know what #digipoetry is all about. I’ve seen the hashtag on Twitter, but want to know more. 🙂
on April 2, 2015 at 2:17 am | Reply readingtothecore

The dolphin’s love language may be mysterious, but his smile is pure joy. Lovely tanka, Margaret!
on April 2, 2015 at 2:53 am | Reply Catmere

You have captured the dolphin so well. I always feel that mixture of mystery and familiarity all bundled together in a dolphin. You make such a good point when you say sometimes a structure can help us when the writing is hard. I need to remember that.

Thanks for helping to get us organized with a hashtag. I’m looking forward to seeing what everyone shares across the month.

Cathy
on April 2, 2015 at 3:18 am | Reply Carol

I’ve been fascinated by dolphins and the way they “talk” since I was a little girl and you capture it perfectly here. And thanks for reminding me about tanka. I think I will need it at some point this month!
on April 2, 2015 at 4:23 am | Reply Michelle @litlearningzone

Love that joke! Beautiful poem. I think form helps us shape our words.
on April 2, 2015 at 1:11 pm | Reply amyludwigvanderwater

“seeing the other with sound”

There is so much gorgeous mystery in nature – thank you for this snapshot and reminder in your poem today.