Words from the Heart

As I have said many times before, poetry is painting pictures with words.  Like any art, the more ones practices the better one gets.  Often, my students will tell me that it is too difficult to write poetry; however, I remind them that everything in life can be difficult, until we learn to make it our own. So, this past month, I had some of my ESOL students write haiku...the results were so beautiful that I created a newsletter with the pictures they used as prompts along side the haiku they wrote.  Needless to say, they were impressed with the fact that they could write something good enough to go into print.  So, begins their personal journeys into creative writing! This is the poem I wrote for my students - my heroes - who struggle against so many odds to learn English. Safe Haven   They come beaten and battered by the storm  of dictatorial lies and systematic cruelty,  looking for the promised asylum offered by  the great colo...

Image by juliejordanscott via Flickr Ever notice how kids have no problem painting word pictures?  They may not know what the word is they should use, but they come up with great synonyms, just the same.   Here are a few examples of word pictures from my past as a mother and teacher...   Thumb hat Mom uses her thumb hat when she sews.   Foot mitties I hope I get new foot mitties ; my old ones don't fit.   Wing pits That bird on the rocks looks like he is airing out his wing pits .   day-nighty Can we stay out till it gets day-nighty ?  It's still not dark.   (At the end, I will give you the synonyms to these words.)   I bet, even without looking at the end of the article, you will be able to tell what the words are, right? The word pictures that kids create usually are right on the money. As a writer, I often find myself stumbling for alternative words that will create interesting text.  O...