The name, 'Golden shovel,' refers to a form of poetry created by Terrance Hayes around 2010.   The following rules apply to the Golden Shovel Poetry form: Take a line (or lines) from a favourite poem Use each word in the chosen line (or lines) as an end word  for each line in your poem. Keep the end words in order. Give credit to the poet who originally wrote the line (or lines). Your newly created poem does not have to be about the same subject as the poem that provides the selected end words. If you select a line with six words, your poem will be six lines long. The more words you select, the longer the poem will be. Each selected word represents a line. Hayes initially used a frequently published Gwendolyn Brooks poem,  'We Real Cool.' His poem is called 'The Golden Shovel.'  So that's where the name originates. This poetic form offers more freedom for creativity than other forms of found poetry. Keeping the end words in the order th...

Today, I'm sharing a poem that I discovered in one of my notebooks, waiting patiently for me to return. That is often the fate of the words we capture within these pages. They wait for our return and the possibility of rediscovery... In this poem I am reflecting upon those family times when we gather together to share a meal and recount the events of the day. This is a celebration of coming together.  Hope you enjoy it. Maybe, it will spark some thoughts about your gatherings with family and friends. The where, the when and the why... Gathering The family sit,  surrounding The large wooden table of rustic oak Throughout the day They wandered through different landscape Thoughts dancing differently Their eyes set upon separate scenes But now they meet at the intersection of family and dinner time The deeds of the day entwine right here Their voices float across the table Conversation wraps around them Rising and falling Back and forth Up and down the t...

Let me introduce Lily. Lily is a student at Sunshine Heights Primary School. She is a young writer with a passion for poetry. I will step back now and allow Lily to tell her story... I'm a young poet, as many of you know. I do like to write poems as you will be able to tell... and here is a display board telling you about my life as a poet. When Did I Startt To Write Poems? I was a young girl and I was in Grade 2. I was about eight years old at that time. What inspired me was the author, Alan Wright and the poems from his book, ' Searching For Hen's Teeth. ' So then after Grade 2 when I was in Grade 3, I decided for the rest of my life, I would write poems and I would have to write many poems as the years past by. In Grade 5, which I'm currently in...it was after lunch time and Alan Wright came in, and that was the time the spotlight hit me and he made me feel like I could be more creative in my writing. Why Do I Like Poetry? I like writing poetry...

Today I want to introduce another English poet, Kit Wright, (born 17 June 1944 in Crockham Hill, Kent). Wright, no relation, is the author of more than twenty-five books, for both adults and children, and the winner of awards including an Arts Council Writers' Award, the Geoffrey Faber Memorial Prize, the Hawthornden Prize, the Alice Hunt Bartlett Prize and (jointly) the Heinemann Award. After a scholarship to Oxford University, he worked as a lecturer in Canada, then returned to England and a position in the Poetry Society.  His books of poetry include 'The Bear Looked Over the Mountain' (1977), which won the Geoffrey Faber Memorial Prize and the Alice Hunt Bartlett Award, and 'Short Afternoons' (1989), which won the Hawthornden Prize and was joint winner of the Heinemann Award. His poetry is collected in 'Hoping It Might Be So: Poems 1974-2000' (2000). His latest book of poetry is 'The Magic Box: Poems for Children' (2009). He currently li...