Wordy Girls

Wordy Girls is no longer an active blog, and its two main posters are each posting individually. Laura Salas is posting on her own blog, laura salas: writing the world for kids, and Susan Taylor Brown is posting on hers, susan writes: once upon a time there was a girl who wanted to write. Thanks for your comments, ideas, and discussions over the past 9 months. Please come join visit both of us! 

P.S. For those who asked--this was not a "breakup" of any kind. Our critique group of four (Bonny Becker, Susan Heyboer O'Keefe, Susan Taylor Brown, and Laura Purdie Salas) decided to try a group blog, and we did. Bonny and Susan Heyboer O'Keefe don't feel they are bloggers--they are not one with the blog, have not been bitten by the blog bug, etc. And Susan Taylor Brown (susanwrites) has another blog, too. So we decided to end Wordy Girls, let Susan Taylor Brown get back to her own blog, and I've started my own too. But we're all still a critique group!

 
Thanks to some terrific advice from a bloggerific friend, I'm changing up 15 Words or Less poems to simplify them.  From now on, I'll post the picture on Thursday, and the poems will stay in the comments section. On Friday, I'll go to whoever is hosting Poetry Friday and invite folks to check out the poems already written and add their own.

This is the final Wordy Girls post! Laura Salas is posting on her own blog, laura salas: writing the world for kids, and Susan Taylor Brown is posting on hers, susan writes: once upon a time there was a girl who wanted to write. Please come join us there! 

When clean wind
clears away
red light exhaust,
head,
forepaws
and grin
roll out.

---Liz Jones


Lazy day--
don't stay away
too long,
there's so much
out there
to play with. 

---Diane M. Davis


No Worries

I can wait
love
you
I can wait
love
you
I can wait
love
you

---Deb Marshall


I could
have caught
that cat
if you
would
have let me
just keep running

---Susan Taylor Brown


If you opened that door
I just might go
And never look back.

---Bonny Becker


Perfect Dog Day

fire hydrant
pungent trees
cool weather
lack of fleas
can’t complain
life’s a breeze

---Laura Purdie Salas

If You Could Read My Mind

Objects
Closer
Peekaboo
Life in rewind
My rear view
Who's the poet:
me or you?

---Pamela Ross

How cute is he? Here in Minnesota, people take their dogs everywhere spring - fall. It was a gorgeous day yesterday--cool, sunny, breezy, upper 60s, and on the way home from racquetball I took a pic of the dog in the car next door (I wasn't driving!). What's he thinking? What's his mood? Or what does he remind you of? Car trips from childhood? Waiting in the car while Mom ran errands? Let your imagination go and write a 15 Words or Less poem. Here are the guidelines, if you're new to this. Have fun!

Lee Bennett Hopkins

Lee and me


Lee Bennett Hopkins gave the closing keynote at the L.A. conference. (I'll also post a few notes on his poetry master class later this week.)

In 3 words: passionate, heartfelt, storyteller

Favorite bits: 

Every word we put on paper must be thought of as poetry.

Times change.
Time changes things.
Children change.
But some things remain constant.
Poetry must reveal constants, too.