POEMS OF ENCOURAGEMENT AND INSPIRATION

I love to encourage others, especially children, to write and to believe in themselves. I would never have discovered my love of poetry, and definitely not my flair for it, without the encouragement of people who saw past the imperfections of my work as a beginner, and gave me the confidence to believe in myself as a poet, and to self-develop and improve upon my work with the benefit of time and experience. I have been fascinated when, with hindsight, I have looked back on my life and recognised so many areas of my life that involved poetry, yet I never truly discovered my real interest or talent until I was 38 years old. I am very keen to make sure that children in particular do not take as long to discover the fun in poetry that I did! Therefore, these are all of my poems of encouragement and inspiration which I have written specifically for the purpose of being read, or performed, to children to offer them encouragement and/ or inspiration to write, to be themselves, to aim for their dreams, or just simply to have some self purpose and value.

What Makes a Winner?

13 February 2012

      This encouragement poem encourages the reader to always do their best to reach their own potential, as a winning attitude is far greater than a prize winning performance.  

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The Power of The Written Word

10 February 2012

This encouragement, performance poem, written with rhyme and rhythm, very clearly puts across my belief that the written word has real power, and encourages every child to learn to develop that skill to use it to their maximum potential.

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Striving for Success

8 February 2012

    This free verse poem is full of word play, metaphors and strong verbs.  I usually prefer to write with rhyme and rhythm but this is one of those occasions when I felt that free verse would be better as it gave so much freedom to play with words that have two different meanings.

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Rotherham Ambassador Award

30 January 2012

This rhyming, rhythmic letter poem is full of genuine and personal emotion as I wrote it on the day that I received an award at the Rotherham Learning Ambassadors Celebration in June 2010.  It also includes metaphors, hyperbole, and a simile.

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Our Safe Place

30 January 2012

This poem is intended to be placed somewhere in the home, identifying that place as somewhere to speak freely and openly about the things we find it hard to discuss.  My hope is that it will encourage the development of a feeling of safety, openness and honesty within families, so that feelings aren’t left buried […]

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Laughter and Progress : Best Friends Forever

28 January 2012

This story poem uses word play to make the case  that it’s good for education to be fun and that laughter helps us to make progress, whilst remembering that we must get the balance right too.  Read it, first of all as a story about Laughter and Progress as two living beings.  Then read it […]

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A Poem for the Teacher

18 January 2012

  I wrote this poem on one of those occasions when I wanted to write a poem, but couldn’t think of anything to write about – so that became my topic!   I’ve got to write a poem, I don’t know what to say. The trouble is, my teacher wants it handing in today.

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A Poetic Nature Trail

15 January 2012

A Poetic Nature Trail   This children’s poem is full of alliteration and word play, with some hyperbole (exaggeration for effect) and similes and metaphors.  The poem is deliberately written to be ‘performed’ by a teacher, as if on a nature trail, with the purpose of encouraging children that they could be undiscovered poets.

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