NPM 2015: What Are You Wearing? It's a Wrap Dress

Tomorrow, we say farewell to National Poetry Month 2015. Thanks to all of you for following what's been an amazing series on poems about clothes. Why clothes? Read this post.

National Poetry Month may be ending,
but you can eat poetry anytime.
It's as easy as opening a book.

We've looked at everything from underwear to topcoats, from rainbow skirts to muddied white sneakers. I've learned so much from all of the guest bloggers. 

Clothes -- and poems about them can:

help us express our individual style,
make us feel connected to the person the article of clothing belonged to,
represent a season, a mood, or a longing,
be descriptive of a battlefield or a shared experience between parents and children,
create a sense of comfort and warmth,
be intimate, because they are held close to our bodies in a way that few other things are.

I am beginning a third grade poetry residency. This week, we worked on list poems. Naomi Shihab Nye's "Words in My Pillow" from the anthology Falling Down the Page was our model.

You'll find "Words in My Pillow"
in this anthology of list poems
from MacMillan.

Several students wrote a "Words in My Closet" poem. I decided to join them.

Words in My Closet
by Laura Shovan
after Naomi Shihab Nye

I keep words in my closet.
Words that make me look good.

CASHMERE
QUIRKY
PONCHO

No one sees them
until I put them on.
but I know what's in there--

DENIM
SNEAKERS
PURPLE
BATHROBE
STRIPES
ELEGANCE

UNDERWEAR is in there.
JELLYFISH SOCKS are in there.

The words plan outfits together
when I'm not looking.

This BLOUSE and that SKIRT
like hanging around together.
FLOWERS brighten up my closet.
RAVENS cheer "TOUCHDOWN!"
in my closet.

My friends the words
know better than I do
what fits me well.

Next week, I'll begin posting some of the third grader's list poems. They have been doing an awesome job.

Thanks again to all of the wonderful bloggers who let us into their poetry closets this month.

A skirt-full of flowers from me to you.
You'll find this and more floral skirts
at Polyvore.

ICYMI: In our poetry closet, you will find...

• Introductory Post
• Jane Elkin looks in her childhood closet. Poems by Mark Irwin and Ron Koertge.
• Tabatha Yeatts shares an ensemble of clothing poems by Greg Pincus.
• Margaret Gibson Simon tries on orange high heels. Poem by Ellen Bass.
• Robyn Hood Black borrows Alice Schertle's "Hand-me-down Sweatshirt."
• Jone MacCulloch wears her Grandma Mac's aprons.
• Heidi Mordhorst pulls on some big, black boots.
• Linda Baie's outfit would not be complete without a poem in her pocket.
• Catherine Johnson getting dressed with Alexander Resnikoff.
• Robyn Campbell is showing off her favorite vintage clothes with a poetic picture book from Mary Ann Hoberman.
• Donna Smith twirls her poetic skirts for us.
• Jan Godown Annino treasures a rainbow skirt worn by her mentor.
• Linda Kulp's shoe poem lesson gets muddy.

UPDATE: Thanks to all those who have posted a clothing poem on your home blogs and shared a link to AuthorAmok.

Read Irene Latham's ekphrastic poem "Yellow Dress."

Read about Carol Varsalona's vintage pantaloons!

And be sure to stop at Space City Scribes. The blogging team out of Houston (thus their cool name) is hosting Poetry Friday this week.

*Your suggested clothing poem prompt for Friday, May 1: Personification

If an article of clothing could talk, what stories would it tell? Whether it's a thrift store find, or an item for your closet, let your clothes speak for themselves. Has that black fedora traveled with you to Mexico? Was your daughter wearing that dress on her first day of kindergarten? Have your white Keds become mud-streaked from your hours spent in the garden? Maybe your jeans are tired of being patched and mended and would love to be retired.

Send your poems any time. I'll post original work and recommended poems on Friday.

NPM 2015: What Are You Wearing, Linda Kulp?

Words zip along the front of my jacket,

hide with lost pennies in my pockets.

Ink nestles in the space between my toes

and the tips of my shoes.

There is no coziness like mine.

I have been wearing poetry.

It's the last week of National Poetry Month 2015. Throughout April, guest bloggers are dressing up in their poetry finery as Author Amok features poems about clothes. Why clothes? Read this post.

In addition to the guest bloggers, every Friday in April I posted a round-up of original and recommended clothing poems. (Send those via email to laurashovan at gmail dot com or leave them in the comments). You'll find this week's writing prompt at the bottom of this post.  I'll post any final poems this Friday, May 1.

Today's guest blogger is poet and educator Linda Kulp of Write Time. 

In middle school, the type of shoes someone wears is a big deal.  Shoes are part of their identity.  As part of our “Who Am I?” unit, I created a lesson in which my students write a poem about their shoes.

I begin the lesson by bringing in a variety of shoes I purchased from a thrift store.

I hold up each pair of shoes and ask students to describe the person they think might have owned these shoes.  We make predictions about the owner such as: age, career, personality, lifestyle, etc.  Next, I read “Ode to Pablo’s Shoes” by Gary Soto. We talk about Pablo’s shoes and what we learn about him. Then we read “Grandpa’s Shoes” by Deborah Chandra.

Grandpa’s Shoes

Lying by the back door,

Grandpa’s shoes

speak in a husky

whisper:

            “Step inside,” they say.

            “We’re big and bruised

            and scuffed, but

            down past the tough

            we’ve worn ourselves soft.”

“We’ve been somewhere.”

               -Deborah Chandra (all rights reserved)

We discuss what our own shoes might say if they could talk. Then I tell them that every summer since I was a teenager, I buy a brand new pair of white canvas sneakers.  I love them because they are so comfortable and practically live in them all summer long!

I read them the poem I wrote about my sneakers.

Used

Lying on the laundry room floor

my old canvas sneakers

speak in a lonely voice.

“All summer long,” they say,

“you wore us during long walks

around the neighborhood

and on trips to shopping malls.”

“Now,” they sigh,

summer is over

and here we sit

worn and dirty,

waiting—

to be washed and worn

again.”

“Have you forgotten us?”

“We feel used!”

-Linda Kulp Trout

Finally, my students write a poem about their shoes. Of course all of this happens over several class periods. We review poetic elements such as structure, personification, sensory details, etc., but mostly, I try to keep it fun so students are free to use their creativity without too many “rules.”   My sixth grade students will be writing their poems next week. I’m looking forward to seeing what their shoes say about them.

What do your shoes say about you? 

Thank you for posting today, Linda. I love the idea of using thrift store shoes as inspiration for portrait poems. 

My shoes say that I am ready for spring.

Linda Kulp Trout is a middle school reading intervention teacher and poet.  She has taught reading and writing to students in kindergarten through adult. She is the author of an early reader and articles for children. Her poems have been published in children's magazines and anthologies. She is currently working on a middle grade novel-in-verse and a collection of poems for young children. Her two sons and grandchildren are the inspiration for many of her poems. She lives in PA with her husband and very bossy cat named Daisy.You can learn more about Linda Kulp at her website.

ICYMI: In our poetry closet, you will find...

Introductory Post

Jane Elkin looks in her childhood closet. Poems by Mark Irwin and Ron Koertge.

Tabatha Yeatts shares an ensemble of clothing poems by Greg Pincus.

Margaret Gibson Simon tries on orange high heels. Poem by Ellen Bass.

Robyn Hood Black borrows Alice Schertle's "Hand-me-down Sweatshirt."

Jone MacCulloch wears her Grandma Mac's aprons.

Heidi Mordhorst pulls on some big, black boots.

Linda Baie's outfit would not be complete without a poem in her pocket.

Catherine Johnson getting dressed with Alexander Resnikoff.

Robyn Campbell is showing off her favorite vintage clothes with a poetic picture book from Mary Ann Hoberman.

Donna Smith twirls her poetic skirts for us.

Jan Godown Annino treasures a rainbow skirt worn by her mentor.

*Your suggested clothing poem prompt for Friday, May 1: Personification

If an article of clothing could talk, what stories would it tell? Whether it's a thrift store find, or an item for your closet, let your clothes speak for themselves. Has that black fedora traveled with you to Mexico? Was your daughter wearing that dress on her first day of kindergarten? Have your white Keds become mud-streaked from your hours spent in the garden? Maybe your jeans are tired of being patched and mended and would love to be retired.

Send your poems any time. I'll post original work and recommended poems on Friday.

NPM 2015: What Are You Wearing, Jan Godown Annino?

What are you wearing for Poetry Friday readers?

Wearing this week's Poetry Friday host tiara
is the one and only Renee La Tulippe
of No Water River! Put your party clothes on
and go ring on Renee's doorbell. There will be plenty
of poetry sweets and treats for all. 

Today, I'm wearing a paisley scarf in black and Poetry Friday green in my hair. The scarf belonged to my grandmother, who was my first and dearest mentor. She died in 2003 and I treasure the Nanny Joy treasures that were handed down to me. They include a few pieces of clothing: the scarf I'm wearing, a corduroy jacket in plum.

Author Amok (circa 1972) and a super-stylish Joy
wearing a plum leather ensemble.

Throughout April, guest bloggers are dressing up in their poetry finery as Author Amok features poems about clothes. Why clothes? Read this post.

In addition to the guest bloggers, every Friday in April I'll post a round-up of original and recommended clothing poems. (Send those via email to laurashovan at gmail dot com or leave them in the comments). You'll find this week's writing prompt at the bottom of this post.

Today's guest blogger is Jan Godown Annino of Book Seed Studio. 

After I read Jan's original poem for today, and some of its back-story, I told her about my grandmother. No wonder Joy's clothes carry so much meaning for me. There's an intimacy to clothing, because we layer it on our physical forms and wear it against our skin. After Joy's husband died in 1977, she adopted his button down shirts and wore them until she passed away nearly 30 years later.

Joy in one of Poppy's shirts.
The little guy is my soon-to-be high school grad!

Like me, Jan has a piece of clothing that belonged to someone who was important in her life. So, Jan, what are you wearing?

Cloth Rainbow

©Jan Godown Annino, all rights reserved

honoring the Memory of Medicine Woman Ada Tiger,

her daughter’s first teacher

Betty Mae Tiger Jumper (1923-2011)

by Jan Godown Annino

She sits

sits and may feel a stitch

Bending to a small black machine                                        

she makes the Singer sing

Foot pumps a thread and needle

thrums a song of stitches

She stitches

sits and stitches colors

hides the stitch in her side

sits minutes making hours

strip sewing cloth into clothes

She stitches

sun yellow sky blue sun red night black

sits stitching cotton strips

Crawdad four directions lightning snake

hides the stitch in her side

She sits

wears a flowing skirt like one she stitches

orange bands aqua bands black bands

red diamonds purple diamonds yellow triangles

stitches a reservation rainbow

She sits

remembers 1937

boarded in cold mountains

sat for class

wore first store-bought dress

longed for Dania, Florida skirt

sang silently off cloth rainbows

hid the stitch in her side

©2015 Jan Godown Annino, all rights reserved

In Jan’s child days her father made a marionette stage for her stringed puppets. She lives in North Florida with her family and delights in the mysterious hurricane lily of their autumn yard.

©Jan Godown Annino, all rights reserved

After knowing Betty Mae Tiger Jumper for many years, this legend-keeper Seminole Indian leader authorized Jan to write about her for young readers in She Sang Promise. It is a Florida Book Awards winner and on national reading lists. Connect with Jan on twitter, JGA@BkSeedStudio and her site Bookseedstudio. Newish to PF Jan appreciates the morsels gleaned from PF posts.

You'll find the Kirkus review here,
but you have to scroll down!

Thanks so much for spending Poetry Friday at Author Amok, Jan. Your poem gave me a lot to think about and reminded me how much my grandmother's clothes mean to me, just like Betty Mae Tiger Jumper's beautiful rainbow skirt is meaningful for you.

ICYMI: In our poetry closet, you will find...

Introductory Post

Jane Elkin looks in her childhood closet. Poems by Mark Irwin and Ron Koertge.

Tabatha Yeatts shares an ensemble of clothing poems by Greg Pincus.

Margaret Gibson Simon tries on orange high heels. Poem by Ellen Bass.

Robyn Hood Black borrows Alice Schertle's "Hand-me-down Sweatshirt."

Jone MacCulloch wears her Grandma Mac's aprons.

Heidi Mordhorst pulls on some big, black boots.

Linda Baie's outfit would not be complete without a poem in her pocket.

Catherine Johnson getting dressed with Alexander Resnikoff.

Robyn Campbell is showing off her favorite vintage clothes with a poetic picture book from Mary Ann Hoberman.

Donna Smith twirls her poetic skirts for us.

Thanks to Tabatha Yeatts for suggesting a clothing-related rap song for us this week. Macklemore's "Thrift Shop" is awesome, but the non-radio version has a lot of non-kid-friendly language. I'll leave it to you to look up this ear worm if you're interested.

*Your suggested clothing poem prompt for Friday, April 24: Vintage

Tell the story of an old article of clothing. It might be the oldest thing currently hanging in your closet, something you found in a vintage or second hand store, a Christening gown passed down through your family (I have my grandfather's, from 1898), or an old concert tee that you can part with, even though it no longer fits. Begin with "It reminds me of the time when..."

Send your poems any time. I'll post original work and recommended poems on Friday.

NPM 2015: What Are You Wearing, Donna Smith?

What are you wearing for National Poetry Month 2015, readers? How about today's find, an upcycled denim skirt with ribbons of poetry embroidered on it?

Colors of the Snake River poem skirt
with poem hand-painted on silk ribbon
available at Etsy.

Throughout April, guest bloggers are dressing up in their poetry finery as Author Amok features poems about clothes. Why clothes? Read this post.

In addition to the guest bloggers, every Friday in April I'll post a round-up of original and recommended clothing poems. (Send those via email to laurashovan at gmail dot com or leave them in the comments). You'll find this week's writing prompt at the bottom of this post.

Time to stop skirting the issue and get to today's clothing poetry post. Guest blogging for us is Donna Smith of Mainely Write.  So, Donna, what are you wearing?

“What are you wearing for NPM?” they asked.

“Once I had a tutu or two”, I trilled, skirting the question addressed to me...

Quote by Elle MacPherson: “I wanted so badly to study ballet, but it was really all about wearing the tutu.”

For me it was not just about the tutu (though a good tutu can take attention off many a misstep).  I loved dance, especially ballet.  I began lessons when I was in first grade, but even before that, I would dance to any music playing...even the music playing in my head.

Alas, as I got into my middle teen years, I realized that I did not have that long, lean dancer’s body that I thought I should have, and gave up that dream.

My first poem offering here is an original, paying homage to my younger self, and my older self, who gave up becoming a dancer:

Skirted

when I was but a little girl

I loved to twirl

and swirl

my spinning skirt would billow out

I had no doubt

about

my dream that I was born to dance

as in a trance

I’d prance

with leaps and bounds, my pointed toe

smooth rhythm flow

aglow

upon my stage of grassy glade

in verdant shade

a maid

in skirt with pleats of flower hue

one day time flew

and blew

into the now my skirt was swept

no promise kept

I wept.

©Donna JT Smith, 2015

In some ways I think writing poetry and dancing are very similar.  You need a music and a rhythm, you need a flow, you need heart and soul, and you need to breathe it in and out.  I gave up dance, but found a new dance in poetry.

My daughter also learned to dance, (and sew). I wrote this poem for her when she sent me a picture of herself twirling out on the sunny green lawn in her new dress she made from a bed sheet:  

A Tyburn to a Twirl

Whirly

Twirly

Curly

Girlie

Spinning in her whirly, twirly dress

Is my little curly, girlie lass.

by Donna JT Smith, 2013

Just had to include this picture of my daughter’s skirt that she made from old neckties! It has been in storage, so it needs a little steaming perhaps, but you get the idea!

One of my favorite poets of all time, and probably greatest influence in my own writing is Robert Louis Stevenson.  He was one of the first poets of whom I was made aware as a child.  My mother gave me the book, A Child’s Garden of Verses (first published in 1900), and I read it over and over savoring the smooth and easy rhythms and rhymes in each poem.

There are two poems in this volume that have “skirts” mentioned in them.  Women always wore long skirts back then, and even in my childhood, skirts were the norm for women.  Even as a child in school, girls could not wear slacks, unless it was winter...and then only under your skirt outside at recess.

Check out (http://etc.usf.edu/lit2go/  Lit2Go.  It is a free collection of stories and poems in audio and pdf formats.  There are also many that have a word count, the reading level and activities for your classroom.

Auntie's Skirts

By Robert Louis Stevenson

Whenever Auntie moves around,

Her dresses make a curious sound,

They train behind her up the floor...

Read or hear the poem here.

The Wind

by Robert Louis Stevenson

I saw you toss the kites on high 

And blow the birds about the sky; 

And all around I heard you pass, 

Like ladies' skirts across the grass-- 

                   wind, a-blowing all day long, 

                   wind, that sings so loud a song! 

Read more of the poem here.

Hymn to the Night

by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

I heard the trailing garments of the Night

      Sweep through her marble halls!

I saw her sable skirts all fringed with light

      From the celestial walls!

Read the rest of the poem here.

Putting Tu and Two Together

Skirts,

Tutus, 

Dresses,

Muu muus

Require

you have

the proper

hair-dos,

And on

your feet

the right (and left)

shoe-shoes.

©Donna JT Smith, 2015

Donna has recently retired from teaching, having taught first, second, third and sixth grades; and computer technology. She has written many poems and has produced two photo/poem collection books: “The Fall of the Leaves of Fall” and “Winter Ways”; and has had her poem “Two Rainbows and the Moon” published in an online poetry collection by Shadow Express. Her blog, Mainely Write, has much of her poetry collection online.

BTW: Donna wears a skirt every day.  Yes, literally, every day. 

She has a skirt for every day;

She owns no slacks, no jeans for play -

And even in the snow they stay;

She likes the way they swish and sway!

©Donna JT Smith, 2015

Thank you for visiting Donna. I love that you are an unapologetic skirt-wearer. Skirts are my go-to in the summer months. And I still remember a favorite skirt from childhood that was nearly floor-length, quilted, and brown. What can I say, it was the 70s.

ICYMI: In our poetry closet, you will find...

Introductory Post

Jane Elkin looks in her childhood closet. Poems by Mark Irwin and Ron Koertge.

Tabatha Yeatts shares an ensemble of clothing poems by Greg Pincus.

Margaret Gibson Simon tries on orange high heels. Poem by Ellen Bass.

Robyn Hood Black borrows Alice Schertle's "Hand-me-down Sweatshirt."

Jone MacCulloch wears her Grandma Mac's aprons.

Heidi Mordhorst pulls on some big, black boots.

Linda Baie's outfit would not be complete without a poem in her pocket.

Catherine Johnson getting dressed with Alexander Resnikoff.

Robyn Campbell is showing off her favorite vintage clothes with a poetic picture book from Mary Ann Hoberman.

*Your suggested clothing poem prompt for Friday, April 24: Vintage

Tell the story of an old article of clothing. It might be the oldest thing currently hanging in your closet, something you found in a vintage or second hand store, a Christening gown passed down through your family (I have my grandfather's, from 1898), or an old concert tee that you can part with, even though it no longer fits. Begin with "It reminds me of the time when..."

Send your poems any time. I'll post original work and recommended poems on Friday.