Laura Shovan: Summer Postcard Poetry

"Postcards" by Stefano Montagner

Having just returned from the 100 Thousand Poets for Change World Conference in Italy, TLD contributor Laura Shovan is here with a splendido postcard activity for the summer months. 

Welcome back, Laura!

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Summer is almost here. Do you have your day trips, camps, or vacations planned yet? The children may be out of school, but summer offers wonderful opportunities for families to write together. Whether you’re visiting the local science museum, spending a week at the beach, or stopping by a relative’s house, sending a postcard is a great way to encourage writing.

I love postcards. For years, I’ve kept a small album filled not with photographs, but with postcards that friends and family have sent our family from their travels.  Postcards aren’t just about the picture. The written message is a little peek into someone else’s exciting adventure.

Making a poetry postcard is one way to say “Wish You Were Here” to a friend back home. This is a simple project that families can work on together. I like using this project to work on imagery-writing skills: emergent writers can observe the five senses, while children who are ready for a challenge can opt to create similes.

Make Your Own Poetry Postcard

You will need:

• 4 x 6 index cards (or purchase a souvenir postcard)
• Paper for notes (or use index cards)
• Colored pencils (optional)
• Your five senses!

On Memorial Day, my husband and I went to an outdoor café at Lake Kittamaqundi. There were colorful paddle boats floating on the lake. It was such a beautiful day here in Maryland, I thought, “My niece and nephew would love to be here, paddling on the lake.”

Paddle boats at Lake Kittamaqundi

I took out my index card and started writing down notes about what I observed, with some help from my husband.

Taking notes at the café

Steps:

1.  On your paper or an extra index card, describe the place you’re observing using your five senses.

     What do you see?
     What do you hear?
     What do you feel?
     What do you smell?
     What do you taste?

2.  Challenge option: can you make a simile for any of your images? 

     SENSE: I see that the lake has ripples.
     SIMILE: The lake’s surface looks as rough
                       as a turtle’s shell.


3.  If you are making your own postcard, sketch a picture on the unlined side of a clean index card.

Sketch of the pirate boat (with Uncle Rob's pterodactyl)

4.  On the lined side of your postcard, draw a line to make a left and right side.

5.  Use your ideas from Step 1 and Step 2 to write a message on the left side of your postcard OR write a five senses poem using your notes.  (Be sure to leave the right side of the postcard blank for the address.)

Keep it simple for younger kids.

I see a red pirate ship paddle across the lake.
I feel the breeze play with my hair.
I smell the green of new leaves.
I hear ice tinkle in a glass.
I taste sharp, sweet lemonade.

6.  If you are making your own postcard, color or decorate it.

Finished drawing of Auntie Laura in the red pirate paddle boat

7.  Add an address and a stamp.

8.  Send!

Postcard from Lake Kittamaqundi
For Madeline & Caspian

Have you ever munched on the roots
of a blade of grass? That was the scent
on the breeze today, so I thought of you.
The lake was speckled with paddle boats—
a swan, a pink flamingo—
you would have captained the red
pirate ship, so I thought of you.
At the café, the waitress’s orange fingernails
were a bed of daylilies in bloom.
The ice in my lemonade tinkled
as the waitress handed it to me.
I took a sip and it was sweet,
so I thought of you.

© 2015 Laura Shovan. All rights reserved.

Laura Shovan is poetry editor for the literary journal Little Patuxent Review and of two poetry anthologies. Her chapbook, Mountain, Log, Salt and Stone, won the inaugural Harriss Poetry Prize. She works with young poets as a Maryland State Arts Council Artist-in-Residence. Her debut novel-in-verse for children, THE LAST FIFTH GRADE OF EMERSON ELEMENTARY, will be published in spring of 2016 (Wendy Lamb Books). Laura blogs about arts education at AuthorAmok.


What a wonderful momento of summertime adventures– thank you, Laura, for this fun family activity! 

Read Laura's other posts on Today's Little Ditty:

• In Defense of Great Writers
• Why I Hate Rhyme
• List Poem Workshop 

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In case you missed last week's interview with Corey Rosen Schwartz, we're stretching our rhyming muscles while building treehouses this month. Katie Gast's clever chicken was the first to be featured. What's next is up to you!

Jama is hosting this week's Poetry Friday roundup at Jama's Alphabet Soup. Stop by for a poem and a taste of something sweet.