Category Archives: Poetry Pondered

Storytelling often consists of elements of fantasy and reality. Combining fantasy and reality is how I created this poem, “I Dream”.  Taking pieces of documents dreams and a moment in time, I wove together this poem which led me to wonder about the meaning since such powerful pieces of dream imagery to express but now I’m left with different thought of why this was so powerful.  It is the descriptive imagery of how I shaped this poem inspired by vivid dreams. I wrote this poem in 2008 and  I feel that it is one of my best poetry pieces, with playful and thoughtful tone.

Dream on…

Playfully,

Amy

 I Dream

 

I reminisce

His quiet questions,

 “What is going on in that head of yours?”

 “What do you dream of?”

Words disappeared at the time.

           

I dream,

Looking, upon lush grassy mountains,

With paved gray mazes,

Winding upward through shaped cotton clouds,

 In the lightest of blue skies.

 

I dream,

Envisioning the earth, atmosphere,

Oceans of aquamarine,

Filled with silver-shaded diving dolphins,

Swimming in circles.

 

I dream,

Falling, floating down

On a soft, salt, sand beach

Discovering hidden treasures of gold.

 

I dream,

Visualizing, children dancing with colorful ribbons,

Laughing in melodic tone,

Shining under winter’s luminous light.

 

I dream,

Imagining, a passionate poet

With his sweet sounding song,

Guiding me down the slate stones, hand in hand,

“Follow me” he said, “I will lead you through the winding way.”

 

I dream,

Picturing him wondering about me,

Sensing everything, feeling free, wishing for the moment’s return

So I could respond so sweetly.

 

.

Written by Amy DuVall Clark

At the daycare center where I work, we recently had an area poet visit our center. While watching him interact with the children, and sharing his stories of inspiration for his poems. This brought to mind of how stories can be told on long narrative or short narrative, through just pictures or just words. Sometimes it is the picture that captivates us with its stillness and silence. However, we cannot ignore the written form of the story gives us, given it some sort of deeper or alternate meaning, that some may not pay attention to just visual. It is the combination of words, pictures and sound that given us the whole story.

Our visiting poet used dramatic gestures and descriptive language to tell the children his experience with what he observed and the children were captivated by his stories. The poet gave varied accounts on how he related his experience through storytelling, first sharing the whole experience through dramatic storytelling, then sharing his written poems, verbally to the class. After he shared his poetry, he read our class poems, that teachers created through conversations we had with the children about counting, what we see outside, and the squirrel that we observe eating the birdseed from birdfeeder. The poems we created all based on their descriptions about what they have observed.

Sharing stories is a main tradition that our center’s director started years ago and is a main focus for discussions with children, parents and staff in promoting a better understanding and respect for others. What are the stories we have to share? Why are our stories important? Communication and actively listening to others is the key. Conversations with children and giving the children experiences with storytelling, songs and poetry are the most favorite pieces about my profession.

Playfully,

Amy

“If you are a dreamer come in
If you are a dreamer a wisher a liar
A hoper a pray-er a magic-bean-buyer
If youre a pretender come sit by my fire
For we have some flax golden tales to spin
Come in!
Come in!”
-Shel Silverstein

My parents still have my Vincy the Vacuum story from the second grade framed in their house. It is an alliterative tale of an alien from Venus, with the shape of the household appliance, traveling to Earth, Vermont to be exact. This is where it begins finding our voice… silly or sensitive or sassy or sarcastic or soulful. I remember my teacher commending my story to my parents as it displayed amongst the other stories for open house. This was my first cherished experience with writing.

The playground where I work is a luxury and is one of the largest outdoor play yards, I have seen at a daycare center. The children can explore, investigate, create and imagine in the natural world. I simply love this piece about my workplace and savor the outdoor world with the children. The playground is another playful place of peace where I gather insight, dialogue and experiences through the eyes of a child. Through the interaction with these little humans, at the wise old age of two and three, I share my learning as they share theirs. I take advantage of the outside environment to be one of them… running, pretending, creating and laughing. They are now at my favorite age where language is rapidly growing and they are starting to understand the concept of rhyming. One three year old boy eagerly states to me, “Hey, Amy. Socks, clocks and blocks rhyme.”

Riddles and rhymes are favorites in our classroom. We often read the stories and poems of Shel Silverstein, Dr Seuss and Douglas Florian. We have a visiting poet come to our center to enhance literacy and writing in the form of poetry each year with 3-5 year olds through reading and creating their own classroom poetry. Other poets writings, throughout the history of poetry,  are a source of inspiration , as in any work of art, artists look to their predecessors to gather a form and thought to use as a guide…to serve as framework, to surpass, or even as a little appreciative of their work. Playgrounds and poets are two other sources of my inspiration for writing and poetry. Inspirations can arrive in the form of people, places and things; anything you can possibly imagine in the infinite playground… the universe.

Playfully,

Amy