Last week I was on vacation in the southwest. As is my practice, I began each morning checking email and doing some professional reading. I wanted to keep up with the “Writing About Reading” series on Two Writing Teachers. One of the ideas Stacey shared in her post about the different ways she uses her writer’s notebook to write about reading was copy-changing, where a writer uses a poem or another piece of writing as a scaffold to create one of their own. The poem Stacey cited, “Today” by Billy Collins, inspired me to write about the natural beauty surrounding me in my travels. While perhaps not a true copy-change, I used Collins’ first line and couplet structure as a jumping off point.
Sedona
If ever there were a place so perfect,
so full of natural wonder
where the morning sun sets the red rocks ablaze,
welcoming the day,
where prickly pear cactus
line dusty trails to ancient ruins,
where majestic mountains loom large, red and white,
beneath bright blue skies,
where juniper trees dot the landscape
with puffs of forest green,
If ever there were a place so perfect
well, Sedona is that kind of place.
Sedona
If ever there were a place so perfect,
so full of natural wonder
where the morning sun sets the red rocks ablaze,
welcoming the day,
where prickly pear cactus
line dusty trails to ancient ruins,
where majestic mountains loom large, red and white,
beneath bright blue skies,
where juniper trees dot the landscape
with puffs of forest green,
If ever there were a place so perfect
well, Sedona is that kind of place.
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