Women’s Equality Day

August 26 is National Women’s Equality Day. Today’s poetic form is a Renga – – the first poet writes the first three lines in seventeen syllables, followed by two lines with seven syllables each written by a second poet. This can be a collaborative effort between two or the same poet can write the entire poem.

I’m going to write a stanza of seventeen syllables, and I invite you to add two lines containing seven syllables per line to finish the Renga.

to better the world

eliminate privilege

remove pedestals

*During the months of August and September on days when I’m not participating in the Open Write at www.ethicalela.com, I will be writing in response to the pages of Dictionary for a Better World: Poems, Quotes, and Anecdotes from A to Z by Irene Latham and Charles Waters, illustrated by Mehrdokht Amini. The poems, poetic forms, narratives, quotes, and calls to action to make one small difference might be just the medicine my world – or the whole world – needs. I’ll be inviting insights in the form of an immersion into a 10-minute-a-day book study (just long enough to read the page, reflect, and connect). If you don’t have a copy of the book, you can order one here on Amazon. I invite you to join me in making August and September a time of deep personal book friendship. A few teachers will be following the blog and engaging in classroom readings and responses to the text. So come along! Let’s turn the pages into intentionally crafting beautiful change together.