Skip to main content

Poetry Friday: Full Circle




I've always viewed scrapbooking as a form of storytelling. It's how we preserve the stories of the people and experiences in our lives. One of the first scrapbook pages I ever made was called "I is for Immigrant." 

My poem today is a poetic interpretation of that page. It's a shape poem - a poetic form where the words on the page form a shape related to the content of the poem.

This week's Poetry Friday is hosted by Matt Forrest at Radio, Rhythm, and Rhyme.
Hop over here to find links to the other writers participating this week.

Labels:

Comments

  1. Matt Forrest EsenwineApril 30, 2021 at 3:47 PM

    If more folks thought this way, our world would be a better place. We all travel full circle, in some way!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. ElisabethMay 6, 2021 at 10:08 AM

      I agree completely! Thanks for hosting Poetry Friday, Matt.

      Delete
  2. Bridget MageeApril 30, 2021 at 4:52 PM

    'A is for awesome' shape poem, Elisabeth. Your students are lucky to have your unique language-learner perspective. :)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. ElisabethMay 6, 2021 at 10:08 AM

      A perspective I know you share! Thanks for stopping by and for introducing me to the wonderful world of Poetry Friday :-).

      Delete
  3. Buffy SilvermanApril 30, 2021 at 10:24 PM

    Great shape for your poem!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. ElisabethMay 6, 2021 at 10:11 AM

      Thanks Buffy! I appreciate you stopping by.

      Delete
  4. Sally MurphyMay 1, 2021 at 1:57 AM

    Elisabeth, this such a perfect use of shape poetry! I love the story it conveys in just a few words and that perfect circle. Thank you.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. ElisabethMay 6, 2021 at 10:09 AM

      Thank you Sally! It feels like the words need the shape in order to fully express themselves, the same way a picture book isn't complete without the illustrations.

      Delete
  5. RuthMay 2, 2021 at 2:59 AM

    Here's to teaching English! And especially to immigrants!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. ElisabethMay 6, 2021 at 10:11 AM

      Thank you Ruth! I feel like my writing makes me a better teacher, and being a language teacher makes me a better writer. Another full circle!

      Delete
  6. TabathaMay 2, 2021 at 11:04 AM

    I remember these as "concrete poems," and I do love them! Wish I saw more of them. Yours is wonderful!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. ElisabethMay 6, 2021 at 10:10 AM

      Thank you Tabatha! I'm inspired to see if I can come up with more poems like this.

      Delete
  7. Carol VarsalonaMay 5, 2021 at 4:58 PM

    What a delightful full circle story poem you created!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. ElisabethMay 6, 2021 at 10:12 AM

      Thank you Carol! It's fun to try to convey a sense of story in as few words as possible - almost like flash fiction.

      Delete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Poetry Friday: Thoughts about History and Timelines

History is a timeline of events, each event a dot too small to express the millions of experiences of a given day week month year of a given war earthquake flood famine drought tragedy Each dot on a timeline is a period, a pause that says “Stop! This is something you should know about.” The timeline pulls us inexorably forward, the dots behind us growing smaller as we look back over our shoulders. Some merge with the line, too small to stop anyone in their tracks anymore, the stories around that dot lost to time. But some dots are not diminished with time. Some dots will always make us pause to remember. ©2021, Elisabeth Norton, all rights reserved Our Poetry Friday host is Tricia over at The Miss Rumphious Effect. Hop over to her blog for all of today's poetic inspiration. I'd also like to highlight a wonderful poem 9/11/02 or One Year Later , written by my friend Jennifer in honor of some of the first responders to 9/11. 
23 comments
Read more

Poetry Friday: Spooktober

I've been immersed in poetry and verse in the past couple of weeks - first in a Novel in Verse virtual workshop led by the amazing Nikki Grimes and Padma Venkatraman, then in my own work as I dived in deep to apply all the insights and tips that I took away from that experience.  Poems arrived in my inbox this week, via the Academy of American Poets newsletter featuring a selection of poems for Indigenous Peoples' Day.  I particularly loved the poem by Rainy Dawn Ortiz that starts: Something Else. Some one else Some where else That place is here, In my home, We are here. You can read the rest of the poem and learn more about the poet here .  One of the things I love about being a part of Poetry Friday is the inspiration to play with different poetic forms. Thoughts about poetic forms were milling around in my mind when they bumped into Inktober, an annual event in which illustrators create a drawing each day during the month of October. Sparks flew and an idea was born. I searc
26 comments
Read more

Poetry Friday: The Party is Here!

 Welcome everyone to Poetry Friday! If you're new to Poetry Friday, you can read more about it here . I've been chasing deadlines all week, but poetry always provides a welcome pause in the busiest of schedules. Perhaps because of the kind of writing I've been doing (which is not related to poetry at all) it was a bit hard to get started on a poem this week. I looked at a few of the poetic forms I've bookmarked over the past months, but in the end, turned to one of my favorite forms, the acrostic .  Thanks for joining the Poetry Friday party today! Add your link to the party below. You are invited to the Inlinkz link party! Click here to enter
24 comments
Read more