I recently had the pleasure of conducting a workshop on Wordplay and its important role in growing writers. Here are some of the messages I was able to share with participants. Trust they add to your thinking around the teaching of writing... Wordplay is such an omnipotent thing. It is unavoidable. Conversation, songs, TV shows advertisements, literature , greeting cards, brochures magazines and newspapers all employ word play abundantly. Everywhere we go, it leaps out at us. In many schools however the study of words, has over time, been shrunken down to mean little more than reading and vocabulary knowledge. And yet, I still recall my teachers encouraging me to play with malapropisms, oxymorons, listen for tautology and wonder at the mystery of invented words in Lewis Carroll's poem 'Jabberwocky.' I recall the fun we had creating rhyming couplets and discovering palindromic words. At home, my father regularly engaged me in wordplay and riddles. There were also ...

I am an unashamed collector of books and it is with great excitement I share my very latest poetic acquisition, The Lost Words by Robert MacFarlane.  MacFarlane is a proud logophile (me too) and this beautifully written and illustrated book( courtesy of Jackie Morris) is a book I highly recommend to everyone out there who loves the beauty and power of language. It serves to highlight the infinite treasure existing in the natural world. treasure we can curious learners to tap into with a sense of relish and delight. It immediately conjures up multiple possibilities for teaching poetry, growing vocabulary and celebrating the wonders of the natural world we all inhabit.  This is a book I will eagerly share with poets of all ages. This is a book to make a word lover's heart sing! This is a big book in every respect. It was not an inexpensive purchase, but it presented as an investment I was more than happy to make given it's rare and  beautiful contents. As soon a...

Poets Use ALLUSION A poet uses allusion when the words in a poem they have written make a clear connection to another poem or story. The poet may use this device to honour the earlier piece, or it may be used in order to create a humourous effect.   In the poem posted below, 'Homework Haunts Hamlet', I have quite deliberately employed allusion.  I have linked the vexing issue of homework to the famous soliloquy (spoken monologue from a play) from William Shakespeare's play, Hamlet. I am attempting to inject a touch of humour into an otherwise concerning matter.    'Homework Haunts Hamlet' appears in my latest book, I Bet There's No Broccoli On The Moon.  Homework Haunts Hamlet To do or not to do? That is the question. Whether ’tis nobler on the mind To suffer the slings and arrows of outraged parents and teachers And engage willingly in work avoidance, To look away from homework And towards fun and merriment. To do or not ...