It’s Day 7 of our month-long #WaterPoemProject.  If you’re new to this project, please read the Introduction and FAQ.

Or you can watch this video of me describing how to participate. It’s on the YouTube channel Authors Everywhere.

How did Week 1 go for you? When I’ve done this project in the past, the first week is filled with energy. I have ideas! I am excited to write! Sometimes by week 2, my poems aren’t the greatest. I’m just happy to get them done. If that’s happening for you, it’s okay. This project is about experimenting and generating lots of new writing, not about producing a perfect poem every day.

I am so happy that my dear friend Amy Ludwig VanDerwater is visiting (virtually) from her Poem Farm today.

Amy’s poetry prompt is: A Water Memory, Real or Not

Here is Amy’s cat Mini Monster… he likes water too!

We are water. We drink water. We bathe and swim and play and work with water. So each one of us has many water memories. Some water memories connect to special times in lakes or creeks and some are as ordinary as washing a glass in the kitchen sink.

I enjoyed rereading some of my own water poems in thinking about Laura’s #WaterPoemProject, and my memory is part true and part untrue. I first shared this poem in April 2013, along with a little sketch, HERE at The Poem Farm.

Yes, I have had sips of water from my cupped hands. But I did not taste deer and moonlight and coyote calls. Or did I?

When we write poetry, we can tell things straight-true or we can bend and create the stories we imagine. 

If you are unsure of how to begin, make a list of a few water memories. Then, if you are still unsure, begin with a one word line – Once.

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Your task is to draft a poem with a water memory (real or imagined) before the end of the day tomorrow, Sunday, March 28, 2020.

If you’re doing the #WaterPoemProject with a group, be sure to share or post your rough draft, read other people’s poems, and cheer for their efforts. Or leave your poem here, in the comments.

Amy Ludwig VanDerwater

Amy Ludwig VanDerwater is author of many books for children. She has taught writing for over 20 years and is currently teaching a new writing lesson each day from her vintage camper, Betsy. Find Amy’s poems at www.poemfarm.amylv.com and the notebook lessons at www.sharingournotebooks.amylv.com.

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#WaterPoemProject Series Posts:

Project Introduction
FAQ
Prompt 1: Irene Latham, The Language of Water
Prompt 2: Elizabeth Steinglass, What Would a Raindrop Say?
Prompt 3: Linda Mitchell, Found Haiku
Prompt 4: Shari Green, Fogbow Fibonacci
Prompt 5: Margaret Simon, The Taste of Water
Prompt 6: Heather Meloche, The Shape of a Wave
Prompt 7: Amy Ludwig VanDerwater, A Water Memory
Prompt 8: Laura Shovan, Rainy Day Opposites
Prompt 9: Kathryn Apel, Silly Solage
Prompt 10: Buffy Silverman, A Watery Home
Prompt 11: Kara Laughlin, Frozen Fog
Prompt 12: Debbie Levy, Jump into a Limerick
Prompt 13: Joy McCullough, What Are Water Bears?
Prompt 14: Linda Baie, Frozen Water Skinny
Prompt 15: Chris Baron, The Hidden World of Water
Prompt 16: Michelle Heidenrich Barnes, Water Wordplay
Prompt 17: Susan Tan, The Sound of Water
Prompt 18: Mike Grosso, Waterplay!
Prompt 19: R. L. Toalson, Wishing Well
Prompt 20: Margarita Engle, Ode to the Shore
Prompt 21: Faye McCray, Poem in a Bubble
Prompt 22: Meg Eden, Surprising Connections.

Amy’s got a new book: Write! Write! Write!

Please support the #WaterPoemProject authors by buying their books from your favorite independent bookstore.