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 […]
Original Poem
Friday, 13 January 2017
Thursday, 15 September 2016
We are having a big celebration at the Shovan house this weekend, Poetry Friday friends. After a year of planning, hard-work, painting, and poetry-writing, our Little Free Library is finally open for visitors! I don’t know why dragons have proliferated in our front yard. We have a dragon whirligig. His name is Clyde and he’s riding […]
Thursday, 14 July 2016
Happy Poetry Friday! On Sunday, I had a chance to observe Olympian Jordan Burroughs working with high school wrestlers on Maryland’s national team. The team of about 60 teens will be competing in Fargo, North Dakota this weekend. It’s the freestyle wrestling national championships. Although he gave it up after middle school, my son wrestled […]
Thursday, 30 June 2016
Happy Poetry Friday! Today, I’m sharing a concrete poem written by a poet named Jackie Kozell. Let’s take a look at it first, and then I’ll share the story behind this poem. Jackie is a talented artist, which you can see in the shape of the poem. But her artist’s eye also makes her observant […]
Friday, 4 March 2016
Happy Poetry Friday, everyone. Today, I’m wrapping up the annual daily write-in project. In January, I invited everyone to join me for a month-long project, writing in response to found objects (the original post is here). This is the fourth time I’ve celebrated my February birthday with a daily project that gives back to the writing community. […]
Monday, 29 February 2016
Dear friends, thank you for taking the leap and writing with me every day (or most days, or some days) during the month of February. I’m astounded by the number of people who participated this year. The poems everyone shared were a marvel. I loved seeing resonances and echoes between the poems every day, just […]
Saturday, 27 February 2016
It’s Day 27 of our month-long daily writing project. This year’s theme is FOUND OBJECTS. For those of you who are new to the project, please read my introductory post. You’ll find more information and all of the Week 4 FOUND OBJECTS at this post. Now that we are down to the final three days, I’d like to see […]
Friday, 26 February 2016
Hello, Found Object Poets and Poetry Friday people. We have family visiting today, so my friend, the poet Michael Ratcliffe, is guest hosting. While you’re visiting Mike’s new blog, be sure to check out his just-published book of poems, SHARDS OF BLUE. FOUND: Sun Sign You will find the Day 26 Found Object Poem Project post […]
Thursday, 25 February 2016
It’s Day 25 of our month-long daily writing project. This year’s theme is FOUND OBJECTS. For those of you who are new to the project, please read my introductory post. You’ll find more information and all of the Week 4 FOUND OBJECTS at this post. How is everyone feeling now that there are only five days of found object prompts […]
Wednesday, 24 February 2016
It’s Day 24 of our 2016 daily write-in. This year’s theme is FOUND OBJECTS. We have a new writing prompt for every day in February. For those of you who are new to my blog, please read my introductory post about the February daily write-in. You’ll find more information and all of the Week 4 FOUND OBJECTS at this post. […]
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.
