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Hi there, Poets and Poetry Devourers (yum!)
Listen to a one-minute poem recorded just for you!
(a poem for younger kids is in the video below the first poem)
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This first 57-second recording was made by the marvelous folks behind Bookology Magazine for Poetry Month. It’s called “In the Word Woods,” and has been published in The Poetry Friday Anthology for Middle School, edited by Sylvia Vardell + Janet Wong (Pomelo Books)

Click here to listen

April 11, 2017 Poetry Mosaic

Click here to listen

IN THE WORD WOODS

by April Halprin Wayland

I’m sure there’s a found poem somewhere here.

There usually is this time of year.

 

Didn’t a red-haired boy lose words

that were found last May by a flightless bird?

 

And then that search and rescue hound

dug up sixteen poems he’d found.

 

Listen for falling bulletin boards,

and scowling poem-poaching hordes

 

who stomp all over this hallowed ground

until the hidden poems are found.

 

I’ll bring a flashlight, you bring a rake

we’ll get down on our knees and make

 

a poem from words that have trampolined

off an internet ad or a magazine

 

into the woods some starry night

waiting for searching kids who might

 

find a poem if they’re brave and follow

the hoot of an owl to the end of the hollow.

published in The Poetry Friday Anthology for Middle School–Poems for the School Year with Connections to the Common Core, compiled by Sylvia Vardell and Janet Wong (Pomelo Books 2013)

Copyright © 2017 April Halprin Wayland. Used by permission of the author, who controls all rights.

 

younger poem:
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Three TeachingAuthors (Jill Esbaum, JoAnn Early Macken, and April Halprin Wayland)
read “Counting Out Rhyme” by Mary Ann Hoberman (…watch to the very end!)
Cooking up poetry on our panel
April Halprin Wayland, Robyn Hood Black, and Irene Latham cook up poetry from the Poetry Friday Anthologies
for a workshop at the Fay B. Kaigler Children’s Book Festival in Hattiesburg, Mississippi. (See Publishers Weekly)

What’s New with My Poetry (What’s new with My Books is here)

I am honored that one of my poems introduces the second edition of Sylvia Vardell‘s fabulous resource book, Poetry Aloud Here: Sharing Poetry with Children.

I am beyond proud that three of my poems appear on
Children’s Poet Laureate Kenn Nesbitt’s homepage ~
When Mom Plays Just for Me, Ice Cream Soup, and Winterku!

To your right are links to my poems for the month of April from 2010-2015. I’ve included poetry prompts in some of them so you can write your own poem…or use them in a lesson plan.
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In 2014, we’re exploring metaphors and similes, in 2013, the poems were “Ruff Drafts,” rough drafts of poems about dogs, and in 2012, all the poems are dog poems, too…followed by a poetry prompt.


And I have poems in dozens of anthologies, including several poems in each of the MARVELOUS
Poetry Friday Anthologies, (including 
The Poetry Friday Anthology for Science: Poems for the School Year Integrating Science, Reading, and Language)

The Poetry Friday Anthology for Science
 
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Peruse these interviews…I usually give a writing tip or exercise.
The first listing in Links on this website, is Poetry.
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And here are some handy-dandy POETRY REMINDERS from WHEN YOU ARE ALONE/IT KEEPS YOU CAPONE by my mentor, Myra Cohn Livingston (emphasis is mine):
    • Poetry doesn’t have to rhyme.
    • Anything in the world can be the subject of a poem.
    • You can’t write a meaningful poem without feeling strongly about it.
    • You don’t have to worry about spelling until after your poem is written and you want to share it.
    • Poetry is more than a series of facts or statements.
    • Word pictures are the art of poetry.
    • Every word counts in poetry.
    • Poetry is imagination and imagery.
    • You can communicate an idea or feeling by comparing two things.
    • Poetry is “the best choice of words.”
    • Rhyme is a tool of poetry to be used properly, not artificially.
    • Punctuation is for the purpose of making a poem easier to read.


You, too, can make yourself a poet’s hat!

See also Myra’s marvelous book, POEM-MAKING.
This book is written for perhaps a ten-year-old reading level—perfect for me!

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Here’s some background:

  • I studied for over 12 years was the esteemed poet, Myra Cohn Livingston (an instructor in the UCLA Extension Writers’ Program for over 20 years)
  • My poetry has been published in over 50 anthologies for children.
  • I’m connected to the universe of children’s poets in the Kidlitosphere, and am particularly engaged in Poetry Friday
  • I have published over 50 poems in Cricket Magazine, and was invited to write a poem for their anniversary issue.
  • And as for my novel in poems for young teens, Girl Coming in for a Landing (Knopf):

* winner of the Myra Cohn Livingston Award for Best Poetry Book

* winner Penn State’s Lee Bennett Hopkins Honor Award for Poetry

* Junior Library Guild selection

* Nominated as a Best Book for Young Adults by the American Library 

   Association (ALA)

* Nominated for Quick Picks for Reluctant Readers by ALA

* Selected for the California Collections by California Reader


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