Poetry Friday

Poetry Friday: Highlights of Highlights

May 5, 2023 /
 
Linda at the Teacher Dance is our Poetry Friday host for the week. Hop on over there for the roundup. 
 
 

Highlights of Highlights

 
At the beginning of April, I had such a great opportunity to go to Highlights for Charles Waters’ and Irene Latham’s fabulous workshop on writing poetry for children. I’ve been waiting for the right in-person Highlights workshop for me, and the time was right.
 
Charles and Irene are two of the most warm and encouraging people on the planet. They are also two of the most knowledgeable and amazing poets. I felt so grateful to be able to attend.
 
My rock says “Persevere.”
 
One of the things that we did each time we met together for a session was to do a check-in with how we were feeling. I remember three of my words:
 

Energized

This was my first word. It’s so energizing to be with other poets. When you gather with people who love words and love a niche part of the market as much as you do, it’s energizing. It’s also energizing to be in a room when people share their work and their hearts.
 

Grateful

Charles did a session on performing your poetry—something that honestly terrifies me. I can talk in front of kids. I do it every day all day. But memorizing my own poems and performing them in front of an adult audience is scary. I don’t have a theater background. But I have seen other poets share their poems from memory at presentations in the past, and it’s such an engaging way to present poetry.
 
I memorized and performed a spoken word poem that I wrote for my Hollinsummer students several years ago. I wasn’t thrilled with my performance, but I was incredibly grateful—grateful that Charles and Irene pushed us out of our comfort zones and encouraged us to try it. With practice, I can do it again. And I think it might be a good goal for me to try this when I do presentations with students.
 

Ready

By the end of the workshop, I felt ready–ready to take what I’d learned and put it into practice. Irene gave us so many tools for revising. I came home and put those techniques into practice right away with a revision that I’m doing. I also came home ready to revise a poetry collection (which is on the back burner until I meet the other deadline). But I’ll be ready!
 

Nevermores

Poetry Friday crew L to R: Irene, Marcie, Patricia, Rose

 

I’ve written several times about my Nevermores poetry group—Brooke, Erica, Patricia, and Rose. I’m so grateful for them and our poetry sisterhood. I was beyond thrilled to finally meet Patricia in person. Rose and I previously met at NCTE in 2019 and KSLA in 2021, but at the time we hadn’t formed Nevermores. It was so fun to chat, hang out, and hike together (wish I’d taken a picture of the hike).
 
 

Haiku of the Week

 
on spring’s first day
winter tangle of woods
celebrates with blooms
 
Photo and Haiku © 2023 Marcie Flinchum Atkins 
 
Photo Taken: March 20, 2023 at my sit spot in our woods
Haiku Written: March 23, 2023
 

Haiku Moments Playlist

Poetry Printables Page

Sign up for poetry postcards

 
 

What I’m Reading

 
I’m still on my Mary Oliver kick. I really loved this collection! 
 
 
 

What I’m Noticing

This is my current windowsill art. One of the things I’ve always wanted to do is stop in Honesdale on my way to Highlights. There are lots of awesome shops. I bought this beautiful vase at one of those shops. When I came home, my daffodils were gone and my other flowers hadn’t bloomed yet, so I bought some Trader Joe’s calla lilies to put in the vase. They’re still beautiful after two weeks! 

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