It’s Poetry Friday. I’ve been away from my desk for several weeks because of a death in our family. The global pandemic has affected how we grieve, because it affects how we gather … or don’t. It has been difficult to say goodbye without friends and family around. Our family is finding solace in our […]
Original Poem
Thursday, 9 July 2020
Thursday, 20 February 2020
Hi, Poetry Friday friends. Are you ready for a robot invasion? I have a new robot friend. Its name is Po-M. Po-M Bot is helping me with this week’s post. We recently received a book from a robot-loving friend, author-illustrator Michael Rex. It’s called FACTS VS. OPINIONS VS. ROBOTS. As an educator, I love this […]
Thursday, 30 January 2020
About a week ago, my poet friend Michael Rothenberg messaged me. The message was this: This looked to me like a monster in need of a poem. So… Monster Poem #1After artwork by Michael Rothenberg A monster bought the house next door.When it moved in, I wasn’t surejust how this creature, tall and wide,would squeeze […]
Thursday, 5 December 2019
Happy Poetry Friday, everyone. I wanted to do NaNoWriMo this year, but knew I wasn’t ready to work on a new a novel. So I set myself a different task: RoPoWriMo. That’s RObot POem WRIting MOnth. My goal was to write a robot poem every day in November, with the ultimate aim of drafting 40 […]
Thursday, 17 October 2019
Happy Poetry Friday, everyone. This week, I have an original poem inspired by one of my new neighbors. This spider decided it was Guardian of the Mailbox. I found it there, sometimes on the handle, sometimes inside the box itself, for a few days in a row. I wondered, what would a spider be waiting […]
Thursday, 27 June 2019
Hi, Poetry Friday friends. Today, is my anniversary, but I’m not celebrating a wedding. More like a milestone. One year ago today, I posted my first robot doodle on Instagram. Much like the annual poetry project that I run each February, sharing my almost-daily robot doodles is an exercise in being creative without judging the […]
Thursday, 14 March 2019
Happy Poetry Friday! I think everyone knows by now, one of my favorite poetic forms is the portrait poem. Maybe it’s because I studied dramatic writing as an undergrad, but I think there’s something magical about bringing a character to life in the space of a small poem. My poem for this week was inspired […]
Wednesday, 5 December 2018
I’m posting my Poetry Friday offering early this week. I’ll be traveling on Friday, visiting the niece and nephews mentioned in the poem below. This is my first attempt at a haibun. It has also been forever since I shared a “random conversations” post. I wanted to capture the way an everyday moment (shopping) transformed into […]
Thursday, 15 November 2018
Hey, friends! I’m heading to the National Council of Teachers of English in Houston today. Will you be there too? My schedule is at the bottom of this post. I thought it would be a fun week for a throwback poem. This one is from the 2013 March Madness Poetry competition, run by Ed DeCaria […]
Thursday, 25 October 2018
Happy Friday, poets and poetry lovers! Autumn has arrived in full force. We had our first frost in Maryland this week, but I’m still thinking of the sunny days of summer. Last Friday, I brought you with me on a visit to the Sea Turtle Hospital on the Florida Keys. Today, let’s visit the beach. […]
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.
