This week, I’ve been thinking about verbs. Specifically gerunds and participles. (Don’t ask why!) The more I thought about this, I decided why wouldn’t you want to be able to turn power-house verbs into nouns and adjectives. What better way to energize your writing? I also wanted to gather some well-crafted lines showing exactly how gerunds and participles work. Joyce Sidman is one of my go-to mentors, and sure enough, I found several verbals, along with many other examples of fine writing, in this gem.
“The Season’s Campaign”
by Joyce Sidman
I. Spring
We burst forth,
crisp green squads
bristling with spears.
We encircle the pond.
…
III. Fall
All red-winged generals
desert us. Courage
clumps and fluffs
like bursting pillows.
Read the whole poem here.
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Reading to the Core 
Interesting! I’ve been thinking about words too…looking for just the right word for the TLD challenge. It hasn’t hit me yet. But, I did talk about verbs all day with 7th grade. Those red-winged generals are my favorite!
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What a wonderful poem with fabulous word choice–Each stanza offers such rewards! I just read something, somewhere, that was talking about the power of using different types of words, like verbs, as adjectives. Unfortunately, right now I can’t, for the life of me, recall what it was (though I know the author discussed was Cynthia Rylant)! Thanks for sharing this poem and for reminding me that I need to spend some more time reading Joyce Sidman.
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Words can be fascinating and fun to play with. I love “Courage
clumps and fluffs
like bursting pillows.” I need some of that courage. Thanks for sharing.
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Thank you for this, Catherine! It’s great to think about language in this way, isn’t it? So muh FUN to be a poet. 🙂 And it doesn’t get better than Joyce Sidman. Adding this to my writing notebook. xo
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Thanks for the post about gerunds and participles. A good chance to review the formal definitions. Lovely how Sidman captures the seasons: green squads/ bursting with spears.
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It’s a terrific ‘learning’ post, Catherine. Thank you for your search and finding Sidman’s wonderful poem.I love those ‘bursting pillows’ too!
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Is that ever gorgeous! Thanks so much for sharing, Catherine. Word choice is serious business. 🙂
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Thanks so much for this Joyce Sidman poem. I’ve been thinking about sumac across the seasons and scribbling bits of a poem. This motivates me to go back and scribble some more.
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What a lovely example. Joyce’s word choice is perfection.
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A gem indeed! Thanks for this one.
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Joyce Sidman is an absolute favourite – she brings magic to nature and the changing of the seasons through her verse. Thanks for sharing this. 🙂
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Joyce Sidman is one of my favorites! Thanks for sharing this poem.
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