Poetree

"I think that I shall never see 

A poem as lovely as a tree."

So begins a poem written by Joyce Kilmer in 1913.  

Often in our traveling the past few months, I have found myself being drawn to and impressed by trees.  I once commented to Janet, "Look at that tree!  There's poetry in it!"  And then I thought of this poem.  And I believe that it's true.  

I won't share any more of the poem in this blog entry.  Perhaps later.  You may look it up if you like.  However, I would like to present you with a challenge, preferably before you read Kilmer's poem.  I would like for you to write a poem.

One of my favorite units to teach, when teaching was my profession, was poetry.  I enjoy poetry myself, and I loved watching young people realize that they were poets.  Often the best poetry ever written during that unit was at the very beginning before I ever taught any of the "rules" of poetry composition.  As a teacher, I wrote poetry that modeled the rules of various styles of poetry and asked my students to give each style a try as well.  However, the poetry that I write for myself follows no rules.  They're just feelings written in non-paragraph form.  It's comfortable and true even if it's not technically "correct."  

So, before you say that you're not a poet, I'd like you to give it a shot.  I'm going to post some of my tree pictures and ask you to pick one and write a poem about it.  You don't have to share your poem with me or anybody else.  (Although if you go to the trouble of writing it, I would really love to see it!) Just write it.

And if, after writing one, you enjoyed the experience, pick another tree.  Write another poem.  Find your own tree and write about it.  

And if you choose not to share your poem with me, I'd still love to know that you wrote one.  Or even attempted.  I'll welcome every comment, poem and tree picture that you're willing to share.

Here are a few of my trees.

Tree #1

Tree #2

Tree #3

Tree #4

Tree #5

Tree #6

Tree #7

Tree #8

Tree #9

Tree #10

Tree #11

Tree #12

Tree #13

Tree #14

Tree #15

Tree #16

I really did trim the trees to include in this entry.  (Pun intended)

I have A LOT of pictures of trees! 

More tree entries to follow.  Much to everyone's delight, I'm sure!

In the meantime, enjoy your POETREE!