Patchwork Prose and Verse
Today at http://www.ethicalela.com for VerseLove, Tammy Breitweiser is our host for What I Didn’t Do Poems.
I Didn’t
I didn’t take the bait
strike, spark, ignite
I didn’t smile at the watermelon memories
flicker, flame, burn
I didn’t buy the celebration dresses
sizzle, fizzle, smolder
I stayed home.
With my dogs.
We ate cake.
sparkle, glimmer, shine
And if anyone will not receive you or listen to your words, shake off the dust from your feet when you leave that house or town.
Today our host at http://www.ethicalela.com for VerseLove, Sheri Vasinda, inspired us to write How To Be Poems. I immediately thought of the video I received from my son on Easter, after the kayaking adventure with his two older children when they saw a pod of dolphins. They live on the coast and kayak frequently.
I love the way he and his wife are raising their children to be lovers of the outdoors, and it made me think about how to be a coastal adventure parent.
How to be a Coastal Adventure Parent
O Lord, how manifold are your works! In wisdom have you made them all; the earth is full of your creatures. Here is the sea, great and wide, which teems with creatures innumerable, living things both small and great.
Maureen Ingram is our host today, inspiring us to write painful truths about challenging issues as Lucille Clifton often wrote.
The Pattern
the pattern began
before he was born
when his left him
he watched and learned
then he left his own
they watched, learned,
one of his left hers, too ~
it pains us all, still
but one learned
to keep his closer
to have
to hold
to love
to cherish
to raise
to break the pattern
and show the way
Train up a child in the way he should go; even when he is old he will not depart from it.
Gayle Sands is our host today at http://www.ethicalela.com for VerseLove, inspiring us to write poems about choices. One Easter, my oldest daughter and I chose to make our eggs to last – not a year we dyed them, but a year we painted them instead, because she wanted to try something artistic and different.
Happy Easter!
Eggs
we blew insides out
whites and yolks through tiny holes
all those years ago
painted them, hung them
in the kitchen sink window
with clear fishing line
together, just us
today these eggs are treasures
memories cherished
He is not here, for he has risen, as he said. Come, see the place where he lay.
Cara Fortey is our host at VerseLove today at http://www.ethicalela.com, inspiring us to write Tankas, traditionally with the syllable line count of 5-7-5-7-7 – but now spread out over 3 lines totaling 31. Mine are strung together.
Bumblebee Tik Tok
Security Cam Notification Alert – I check the footage~ A bumblebee dances like it’s his personal Tik Tok
Irish jig step groove Shimmy shimmy Coco Puff Shimmy shimmy pow Tik Tok salsa, sashaycrunk Virginia Reel….promenade
then the two steppin’ cowboy boogie do the butterfly round round round and round you go it’s time to show out wit’ yo
bad
bee
self
They surrounded me like bees; they went out like a fire among thorns; in the name of the Lord I cut them off!
Anna J. Small Roseboro is our host of VerseLove today at http://www.ethicalela.com. On this Good Friday, she inspires us to write about our favorite day of the week!
Wee Hour Haiku
better than the day
is the wee hour of writing ~
early morning joy!
my favorite time
ink to paper, font to screen
mind chewing on words
like clothes-fitting rooms
what fits? what’s too small? too big?
finding the right shade
or like cereal ~
mind consuming breakfast bites
of milk-laden words
better than the day
is the wee hour of writing ~
early morning joy!
For anything that becomes visible is light. Therefore it says, “Awake, O sleeper, and arise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you.”
Our host today for VerseLove at http://www.ethicalela.com is Andy Schoenborn, who inspires us to write Tumble Down Poetry by writing first a paragraph about shoes in prose, and then….
“Once your paragraph is written, look for naturally occurring repetition, alliteration, striking images, and moments of emphasis fit for enjambments.
Then play with the structure and form as a poem tumbles down the page.”
My shoe paragraph:
I traded my fifteen dollar clearance Merrills I wore through Europe in 2019 for a more stylish pair of On Clouds when I went to San Antonio, Texas in February. They came with a whole new odometer, set at zero steps, ready to count miles like a new car. My running shoes years back were easier to tally the 500 mile lifespan in training runs and races – these, not as easy. They’re my new traveling shoes. They have built-in air flow to let my feet breathe, and I can feel my breath-taken toes taking me to new places and enjoying the sights up through the mesh topscreens. Traveling shoes. There’s nothing like them for seeing the world.
Travelin’ Shoes
travelin’ shoes –
odometer pair, clocking moments
as breath-taken toes
carry me to new places
walking on clouds
to see the world together
just me and my
travelin’ shoes
These wineskins were new when we filled them, and behold, they have burst. And these garments and sandals of ours are worn out from the very long journey.”
Stacey Joy is our host for VerseLove today at http://www.ethicalela.com, and inspires us to write Goghohka poems. She writes, “The Gogyohka is a form of verse developed…. in 1957. The idea behind the Gogyohka was to take the traditional form of Tanka poetry (which is written in five lines with 5-7-5-7-7 syllable counts) and liberate its structure, creating a freer form of verse. In the 1990s, Kusakabe began his efforts to spread Gogyohka as a new movement in poetry, and there are now around half a million people writing this form of verse in Japan.”
Today I write from a place of growing, which a year ago was a place of wondering. Could I be a writer who writes every single day? I celebrated a year of daily writing at the end of February 2022 and began another year. I stumbled across a book by Kobi Yamada, illustrated by Gabriella Barouch, entitled maybe while in Asheville, North Carolina last week. I was mesmerized, and this book has become my Year 2 inspiration to get me over the hurdles that will inevitably come. It’s worth the read, it’s worth the purchase, it’s worth reading every morning as I get dressed and start the day.
The Journey of a Year of Writing Begins with a Single Word
preparing to write
outlining themes for the year
selecting topics
calendarizing stories
scheduling daily blog posts
I used to wonder
how writers write every day
for an entire year
now the mystery is solved:
we plan ahead, write ahead
I celebrated
a year of daily writing
in February,
began Year Two with Journeys
and moved to April Poems
May will be Moments
June hasn’t been decided
it will flash through my
soul like lightning, revealing
itself as my monthly theme
I’ll collect ideas
I may write four posts one day
only one the next
I never stop editing
even after it’s posted
this is for you: yeah,
you: writer, friend, inspirer
there holding the gift
wondering what to do next –
add one more month to your goal!
At the end of two
months, you’ll be one-sixth of the
way through the whole year!
you’ll tell yourself: I CAN WRITE
every day. It’s who I am.
You’ll think, I should push
myself, pace myself, take the
ultra-marathon
writing challenge and write each
day – if only one sentence.
You’re almost one
half of the way through April!
you’ve firmly begun
chart your course, revise your goal!
imagine what you’ll achieve!
take up this gauntlet
that has landed at your feet
place it on your hand
see it as your writing glove
continue on this journey!
open that journal
break out those favorite pens
start that daily blog
take the short postcard approach:
begin with one sentence. Go!
The Lord will fulfill his purpose for me; your steadfast love, O Lord, endures forever. Do not forsake the work of your hands.
Susie Morice is our host today for VerseLove at http://www.ethicalela.com , inspiring us to use the news to write poetry of place, time, era. I found an article in this month’s Georgia Magazine for today’s poem.
Macon Music Again
Capricorn Studios
Macon, Georgia
birthplace of
Southern Rock~
southern soul
and Rock and Roll~
50 years ago
when Otis Redding
and Phil Walden
booked frat party gigs
at Mercer University~
Allman Brothers Band
Marshall Tucker Band
Lynyrd Skynyrd~
But the music stopped
historic tax credits
private gifts and grants
resurrected the bankrupt
studio in disrepair
a drumbeat ~a heartbeat~
pum PUM, pum PUM, pum PUM~
brought life back
to this timeless studio treasure
‘Macon Music’ again
ghosts of the heyday
haunt halls
roam Recording booths
musical magic
to inspire generations
of rising stars
I found an article in April 2002 Georgia Magazine, but a similar link is here: https://capricorn.mercer.edu/history/
Oh come, let us sing to the Lord; let us make a joyful noise to the rock of our salvation!
Quirky Poems
Our Host
Inspiration
In the book Poemcrazy: freeing your life with words by Susan Goldsmith Woodridge, I felt a deep sense of connection when I read about how Wooldridge’s younger brother had made fun of their dad’s tacky blue socks – nylon, with two black stripes around the top and, upon his return to college, found his dad’s ugly socks hiding in his suitcase. The next time he returned home, he hid them in the house until they were found by his parents and returned during the next family gathering, even once making an appearance next to a rubber chicken in his honeymoon getaway car. Twenty-five years later, they are still exchanging these socks that they hide until one finds them and returns them. It brought back memories of my parents, who, up until my mother’s death, took turns hiding a Where’s Waldo figurine around the house for the other to find.
Process
We all do quirky, bold things that break the ice and bring us closer together. Think of a time that you’ve done something quirky – – with friends, with family, with students or even complete strangers. Let’s share our quirky exchanges today and whatever emotions they bring – in whatever form of poetry we choose.
Silke with Squeaky in Berlin, Germany, May 2019
Quirky Quackers
in Berlin, Germany
with tour guide
Silke /Zilkuh/
who said we could
call her Silky
“like my hair”
she joked
and smiled
and laughed
by the wall
but group rules
were no joke
she had a little duck
named Squeaky
she’d squeeze
all through the crowded
streets so we didn’t
waddle off
people stopped and stared
at this grown woman
little duck
held high
squeaking
leading a team
wondering whether they, too,
might better get in line
we were her ducks
in a row
until it was time for
pair-square-quads
we grabbed a partner
and then another pair
and quacked by fours
to be sure all her ducks
were safe
swearing we would never
use these quirky tricks with our
own groups of touring students
then secretly rushing off to buy
our own squeaky ducks
Proverbs 17:22 A joyful heart is good medicine, but a crushed spirit dries up the bones.
Common Threads 