Celebrating Young Writers Since 2016
These two stunning poems by 13-year-old Kim show a thoughtful way of looking at the world.
They move from rivers and forests to friendships at school, reminding us that small choices can make a real difference. The images are simple, striking, and honest, and that’s what makes these poems so memorable.
We would love to see more, Kim!
These three poems from Sylvie show a big imagination at work.
There’s a wonderful sense of magic and mood in each one: from a glittering night sky to a powerful question, to a lonely ruru calling for a queen.
Sylvie has a great ear for rhythm and really knows how to create a feeling with just a few words.
More please, Sylvie!
Are you feeling fierce and tiger-like? Are you full of energy like a bolt of lightning?
Whatever mood you’re in, turn it into a poetic comparison. If you’re happy, perhaps you’re a sky full of stars. If you’ve had a bad morning, maybe you’re a storm on a grey beach. Write down your comparison at the top of your page; this is now the title of a poem. It’s time to push that comparison further. Give us an action. If you’re Storm On A Grey Beach, what do you do? Do you surge, roar, and smash?
If you’re looking for inspiration, check out this wonderful poem by Holly, aged 9.
In another poem, Holly became a flower. The line ‘above me, I see the light blue sky’ is particularly good. It helps put the reader in the scene. Well done, Holly!
Recently, I visited St Kentigern Girls’ School with fellow poet, Gus Simonovic. Gus and I had a wonderful time working with the junior school students and their teachers. Between breaks in the rain, we dashed outside for several poetry walks. While adventuring, the students drew on their senses to come up with original, striking, and imaginative observations. Gus and I scribbled at high speed, gathering their thoughts and poetic comparisons. Back in the classroom, the students, teachers, Gus, and I all worked as one giant poetic brain to turn our adventures into class poems. Gus and I were blown away by the girls’ enthusiasm and love of language.
You’re going to enjoy reading their work!
Caroline
Roll up your sleeves, writer. In this post, we’re going deep on recrafting! A good poem takes quite a bit of polishing. As poet Samuel Taylor Coleridge famously said, ‘poetry = the best words in the best order’.
Tinkering with a poem is a bit like completing a jigsaw puzzle. The easiest way to start on a jigsaw is to sort the pieces first. Sometimes different jigsaw pieces have been stuffed in the wrong box. As you sort through, you realise what doesn’t belong. We can approach a poem in the same way. Use the slideshow below to help you sort your work.
Great, now that’s sorted, you can work on stimulating the reader’s imagination and emotions. Check out the images below for a few ideas.
Read over your work again and alter anything that’s not working. Finally, try editing for form and structure.
What do you think of your polished poem? I bet it’s amazing! Hey, since you’re here, why not submit it! https://poetry-fridays.com/submission-guidelines-2/
Looking for inspiration? Grab some dice, counters, and paper, and print out the gameboard below.
Instructions:
This game works best in pairs.
Each player throws the dice. The player with the highest total starts the play:
Place your counter on the space marked “GO,” throw the dice, and move your counter to the number of spaces indicated by the dice.
Each space contains a prompt. Use that prompt to write a line of poetry. If you land on a space with 3 words, include at least one of those words in your line.
If you land on a space containing a prompt followed by an ellipsis, use that prompt at the beginning of your line of poetry.
When both players have arrived at the end of the game, they will have the bones of a poem!
Next week, we will focus on reworking and polishing the poetry from this game.
It’s been a fierce winter in New Zealand with weather bombs, numerous floods, and the odd atmospheric river or two. Yet, fortunately, amidst the chaos, poems brewed.
Before spring moves onto the scene, it’s fitting that we celebrate winter with a few stunning poems from our star writers:
I met another talented group of poets last week.
They joined me for a workshop at the wonderful Titirangi Library. We started off the afternoon with a little warm up and the poets wrote some fantastic lines…
What a creative bunch! I was really impressed with their poetry. Here are some of my favourites…
Thank you so much to Titirangi Library for hosting us!
Exciting things are happening this summer…
I had such a fun afternoon! I got to hang out with some wonderful young poets at New Lynn Library.
We read some poetry by Laura Ranger and talked about how she uses poetic comparisons to create interesting images in the reader’s mind. The writers came up with some great poetic comparisons of their own. Here’s a few by talented 10 year old writer, Oleg.
I particularly love Oleg’s first image! We talked about how poetry is a bit like painting. If you shut your eyes and listen to a great line, like Oleg’s, you’ll see lots of pictures in your head.
The poems below have some wonderful images in them…
We were inspired by these two poems by Laura. The first one is a bit cheeky!
We created our own poems about things we’d like to get rid of…
We wrote about things we like too…
I’d like to say a big thank you to Lois and the New Lynn Library for hosting us. We had so much fun!
I had the most exciting day yesterday!
I ran two poetry workshops at my favourite library in Titirangi and I got to met 17 talented young poets.
The children had so many original ideas and it was so exciting to see language being used in such fresh and inventive ways.
Their poems are beautiful, imaginative and full of natural music. I was blown away by them, and I know you will be too…
I’d like to say a huge thank you to Erica and the Titirangi Library for hosting us. The library was the perfect setting for our poetry adventure.
Meet Erin, our talented Poet of the Week,
Hi my name is Erin, I am 8 years old. I have 2 brothers but only one alive.
I have the nicest Maths teacher. My favourite subject is English.
My first food was banana and I love poetry. I also hate to go food shopping, my mum loves it.
Here’s one of Erin’s fantastic poems… enjoy!
Poetry Fridays 