Category Archives: Articles

poetry lessons

In a Drought, the Sky Still Sings-Word Chords 2014

Posted on February 6, 2014 by Winding Stream Press

Clouds swirl              across   the sky              push      sunlight             down.     The dark clouds swarm                     … Continue reading →

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Let’s Write in Music 4 – Word Chords

Posted on February 5, 2014 by Winding Stream Press

  I love experimenting with poetry.  I love music.  So I have combined the two repeatedly.  As with all experimentation some ideas work some ideas don’t.  Part of what makes music so enjoyable for me is the harmonies that twist … Continue reading →

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Presenting a Lesson on Empathy to Graduate Students

Posted on August 4, 2013 by Winding Stream Press

Recently Helen Shoemaker and I were asked to present a poetry lesson from our book, Leaping Off into Space: A Travel Guide to Risk and the Imagination.  The setting was a class on language arts for graduate students in education.  … Continue reading →

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Episode V-Ants on the Blacktop Weeds on the Hill

Posted on March 5, 2013 by Winding Stream Press

A poet can usually point to a defining moment when a poem leads the way into a new understanding of what poetry can be.  For me that discovery came in high school when I decided to do a paper on … Continue reading →

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Episode IV-Ants on the Blacktop Weeds on the Hill

Posted on February 5, 2013 by Winding Stream Press

I thought this would be the last episode. But it’s not. There is one more lesson to go and just to add suspense it contains one of my most memorable student poems. Episode IV The next lesson also works well … Continue reading →

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Episode III-Ants on the Blacktop Weeds on the Hill

Posted on January 14, 2013 by Winding Stream Press

I can see it was a wise decision on my part to split this article into episodes. It’s long. But I had a mission of illustrating different ways a poet-teacher could use going outside to create images. Let’s face it … Continue reading →

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Episode I-Ants on the Blacktop Weeds on the Hill

Posted on January 7, 2013 by Winding Stream Press

Nature as Teacher Student as Observer            (This is only the first segment of this article.  It will follow in stages as the article presents several different lessons used for gathering writing ideas outside.) Imagine thirty … Continue reading →

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Episode II-Ants on the Blacktop Weeds on the Will

Posted on January 6, 2013 by Winding Stream Press

Another first day lesson- John Moffitt’s “To Look at Any Thing” is the first session poem I’ve used for the longest time.  After we find each image, we talk about the lines, “you must/ Be the thing you see.”  The … Continue reading →

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