HAPPY SEPTEMBER! 

It’s lovely to be back now that fall is in the air. Summer was long and hot, and I’m looking forward to baking apple pies and making apple sauce and baking apples, and…doing other non-apple-related activities.

Now sit down, grab an apple, and let’s catch up…

There’s some new stuff in progress here at No Water River. I had BIG PLANS for my five weeks off from blogging, but I was so busy thinking about apples that I only made the tiniest dent in my to-do list. Over on your right you’ll see that I made some BIG BUTTONS to help people find their way around, and up top I’ve added drop-down menus to the navigation bar. For the poetry video library, that means people can see all the videos available, or narrow it down to videos of my original poems, or videos of poems by guest poets, or videos of classic poems. The sidebar buttons go to the entire post, complete with interviews and extension activities.

I’ve also added a RESOURCES section, which is still woefully unfinished. Step carefully, as there are loose screws and ladders strewn about. When it’s done, it will contain a really big list of children’s poets and pages for poetic forms and terms. Working on it!

On the writing front, I’ve been doing a little experimenting and horizon expanding, spurred on by the Summer Short & Sweets series of writing prompts on Susanna Leonard Hill’s blog (a series she’ll thankfully be continuing throughout the year). My go-to form is the ballad verse because I love creating characters and telling little stories, like “Scaredy Cats” and “Tiny Tina Tinseltooth.” But I’ve been feeling the need to break free, so I’ve been dabbling in various forms, writing shorter poems, and playing with language. The poem parodies I recently posted also did wonders for freeing up the right side of my brain — I highly recommend giving parody a chance!

I’m not quite ready to debut a villanelle — and I didn’t stray too far in today’s poem — but I did try to have some fun with language and “write tight” in a shorter form. I hope you like them apples, and please do not crunch loudly during the presentation.

(Can’t see the video? REFRESH your screen or watch it on YouTube here!) 

APPLE PIE WITH SYNONYM

apple pie with synonym
smothered in vanilla ice cream

took some on a picnic
down by the backyard stream

sliced a thick slice, really big
set it on a wrapkin

had three bites and heard a buzz–
bumblebees attackin’!

jumping, thumping, “Buzz off, bees!”
sat down, flusterated

reached for apple pie…not there?
antonyms must’a ate it

Extension Activities: “Apple Pie with Synonym”

• Writing:
  • Choose some adjectives, then use a thesaurus to look up synonyms for those adjectives. Combine synonyms to create new words, then use them in a nonsense poem. For example, I combined flustered and frustrated to create flusterated.
  • Write a poem about your favorite and least favorite foods. Use synonyms and antonyms to describe smell, taste, touch, and sight.
• Reading
  • The Apple Pie Tree by Zoe Hall
  • Ten Apples Up On Top! by Dr. Seuss
  • Apples for Everyone by Jill Esbaum
• Arts and crafts:
  • Lots of apple arts and crafts at DLTK Kids
• In the kitchen:
  • apple-shaped cupcakes, Kermit the Frog apples, apple smiles, wormy apples, baked apples, apple thins with cinnamon

Video Location: Apple Pie Avenue, Tuscany.