Dear Friends and Poetry Friday bloggers, I have to begin this post with a thank you. On Tuesday, I learned that THE LAST FIFTH GRADE OF EMERSON ELEMENTARY is the 2016 CYBILS award-winner for poetry. Many of you have cheered on my novel-in-verse for years — commenting on drafts of the poems on my blog, […]
Laura's Blog
Thursday, 16 February 2017
Thursday, 2 February 2017
Happy February, everyone. This week, we kicked off my annual poem project, which has moved over to Facebook. This year’s theme is #10FoundWords. We have a daily news story, speech, or current event selected by a project member. That person chooses 10 words from the news source, which makes up our word bank for the […]
Thursday, 26 January 2017
It’s the last Poetry Friday of January. That means I am gearing up for the annual February daily poem project. This year, I’m encouraging participants to engage with current events, news articles, political speeches, and interviews. Each day, we’ll be using 10 Found Words from a news-related source and building our poems around those words. […]
Wednesday, 25 January 2017
We’re coming up on the last Poetry Friday in January. You know what that means. It’s almost time for our annual daily writing workout! For the past four years, my blog has hosted a community poetry project. This started as a birthday project. In 2013, I wrote every day in response to vintage postcards. I mailed […]
Thursday, 19 January 2017
Well, here we are. It’s really happening. First, I’d like to thank all of you for your comments on the press conference found poems. Several Poetry Friday regulars have been engaging with transcripts of the president-elect’s words. By paring away (or emphasizing) the fluff, these poems help us expose problems with the way language is […]
Saturday, 14 January 2017
I’m still mining this week’s pre-inaugural press conference for found poetry. Today’s poem is pulled word for word, unabridged from an exchange between the president-elect and a reporter. In addition to the repetitiveness of Trump’s speech (repetition *is* a poetic technique, after all), the contrast between the two speakers, and the irony of Trump’s use […]
Friday, 13 January 2017
The pen is a mighty weapon, according to the old saying. To help kick off inauguration week in the spirit of activism, poets and authors all over the U.S. are performing at WRITERS RESIST events. You can read about the movement at PEN America. Writers Resist has its own website with a listing of readings across […]
Thursday, 5 January 2017
Happy Poetry Friday, friends. As I write this post on Thursday afternoon, we are expecting our first snow of the winter season. I went looking for a “winter walk” poem (preferably, with dog), and instead landed on Henry David Thoreau’s essay “A Winter Walk.” As an exercise, I took Section 4 (featuring a baying dog) […]
Thursday, 22 December 2016
After a long season of traveling, I’m home and happy to be back to Poetry Friday. Wednesday was the Winter Solstice, the shortest day of the year. Even though the poem I’m sharing today is set in autumn, its meditative quality reminds me of how brief, chilly winter days feel here in Maryland. This poem is […]
Thursday, 17 November 2016
This is going to be a difficult post, friends. It’s time to have a serious talk about girls and compliance. Let’s be clear right up front. On one level, this is about a dear friend’s book and how a review of that book got it wrong. Conflict of interest, I know. But I’m determined to […]
Laura Shovan is the author of the award-winning middle grade novel, The Last Fifth Grade of Emerson Elementary. Her second book, Takedown, is a Junior Library Guild and PJ Our Way selection. Look for A Place at the Table, co-written with Saadia Faruqi, in 2020. Laura is a poet-in-the-schools Maryland.
