Denise Krebs, a writing group friend who lives in California after returning from several years in Bahrain as a missionary and teacher, inspires us to write Odes to Childhood Loves today. You can see the prompt and responses with examples here. I chose a Nonet to share my deep, thick, rich, sweet, chocolate love of Koogle….

Ode to Koogle chocolate, banana, strawberry Koogle: flavored peanut butter Nutella’s family tree oh, how I miss you so- your sandwiches rocked after-school snacks… (I hid you in my room…)

*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.