Write a Hidden Word Poem for Poetry Friday!

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Howdy Campers--happy Poetry Friday!  Happy Summer!

Truly a summer girl...from morguefile.com

So--how's life?

Well, if you're poet and author B.J. Lee, life is pretty great, because you've just won our giveaway from my June 22nd interview of poet David L. Harrison.  B.J. won David's new poetry book, Cowboys! Congratulations, B.J!  (B.J, btw, along with David himself and Teaching Authors Carmela Martino and JoAnn Early Macken, will have a poem in the forthcoming poetry anthology, And The Crowd Goes Wild! A Global Gathering of Sports Poems!)

Ah, summertime!  When I read Carmela's post below, asking for our favorite summertime writing venues, I knew exactly what I'd answer.  Coffee shops.  I love, love, love working in coffee shops.  I love the blur of words around me that aren't directed at me.  I love the energy.  I love that no plants are asking to be watered, no Eli is making big-puppy eyes, asking to be walked, no refrigerator is singing sexy songs to me...yay, coffee shops!

My refrigerator sings sexy songs to me when I'm trying to write...does yours?

As you may remember, I write one poem every day.  And as you might imagine, not every one is a great poem.  Or even a good poem.

So I have what I call PHPs...Place Holder Poems.  A PHP is my wild card, it's what I call a "not-very-good-poem-but-at-least-I-wrote-a-poem-today" poem.

Last July I was playing with writing poems and hiding words in them.

Here's a Hidden Word poem that's definitely a PHP...(I'm only sharing this with you because I know you understand about writing stinky poems...)

HIDDEN WORDS OF SUMMER
by April Halprin Wayland

Mom's CAMPaigning for us to turn off the TV.
if we do, she says we’ll have a great summer.

She says we have to pay atTENTion
or we’ll miss the falling stars.

I like exploring in the foREST—
it's so...so...I don't know, relaxing.

So, what do you think we should do
after we catch a sNAPping turtle?

 WRITING WORKOUT:
  Hidden Word Poems

1) Decide on a theme.  I chose summer.

2) Make a list of simple words that might nestle inside other words. 

My list: camp, tent, rest, nap. (My first brainstorming list was much longer:
sun, slow, no school, sand, barefeet, toes, swim, moon, stars, beach, ocean, sea, sail, sleep, peanuts, popcorn, crackerjacks, win, hotdog, rest, nap, goof, play...)

3) Can you weave your words into a poem? Give it a try!

4) Remember to write with joy ~

If this doesn't say summer, I don't know what does...from morguefile.com

And hey!  TeachingAuthors will be taking a summer break, July 1-15th!  We'll be back on July 16th to celebrate TeachingAuthor Mary Ann Rodman's The Rollercoaster Kid--yay, Mary Ann!

Tah-tah for now!  And happy first half of July! ~ April Halprin Wayland

Poem and drawing (c) 2012 April Halprin Wayland. All rights reserved. (Yes, even if it is a stinky poem.)

 Poetry Friday is hosted by The Paper Tigers today--thanks, gang!