Month: October 2022

I’ve been reading Kyle Vaughn’s Lightning Paths: 75 Poetry Writing Exercises, (available on Amazon, linked on title or here on NCTE), which inspired me to delve into another book study of poetry forms and responses. I’ll be making my way through the exercises and prompts between now and the end of the year.

56 -Year-Old's Dream Weekend

Smooth cotton pajamas
     the stretchy kind
Fresh, clean sheets
    air-dried on the breeze
Soap-scented showered 
       softness,
    fluffy-towel-dried and
      wrapped in a 
Warm, fleecy blanket 
    still, relaxed breathing
       drifting off to sleep
          dog snuggled close
             no worries
               no alarm set
                   for tomorrow
   
     

I’ve been reading Kyle Vaughn’s Lightning Paths: 75 Poetry Writing Exercises, which inspired me to delve into another book study of poetry forms and responses. I’ll be making my way through the exercises and prompts between now and the end of the year.

Today’s writing exercise focuses on Imagery of Body Language. Vaughn encourages writers to focus on body language that reveals the emotional or psychological state of a person.

The Grip

I can tell
without looking up
from my book
in traffic
when your hands
grip the wheel 
and your breathing
changes
gets rhythmic
louder

I know 
another driver
is on your nerves

I sink down a bit
brace my feet
against the floor

I’ve been reading Kyle Vaughn’s Lightning Paths: 75 Poetry Writing Exercises, which inspired me to delve into another book study of poetry forms and responses. I’ll be making my way through the exercises and prompts between now and the end of the year.

Today’s writing exercise focuses on Imagery of Time. Vaughn encourages writers to focus on an aspect of time in today’s writing and create imagery in the piece.

Retirement

some say it's not 
what you retire FROM~
it's what you retire TO,
not going home to 
sit in your chair and 
wait your turn to die
but getting out,
taking your turn to live

without having to set alarms
meet deadlines
be somewhere, dressed
and ready

......maybe it means restoring
a Vintage Scotty camper
paring down from the Outback
and embracing the simplicity
of fold-out windows
with three dogs
two coffee mugs
two spoons 
two forks
two chairs
on a lake
next to a fire
reading
writing

I’ve been reading Kyle Vaughn’s Lightning Paths: 75 Poetry Writing Exercises, (available on Amazon, linked on title or here on NCTE), which inspired me to delve into another book study of poetry forms and responses. I’ll be making my way through the exercises and prompts between now and the end of the year.

Today’s exercise is based on Wallace Stevens’s Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Blackbird to inspire multiple points of view in sections about the different ways we see a particular thing. I broke my ankle a week and a half before Fall Break….so I spend a lot of time looking at this elevated, swollen, bruised, broken ankle. But I’m on the mend.

Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Broken Ankle
I
a missed step
in an unlit stairwell
OH, SNAP!...SNAP!
II
nondisplaced fracture of
lateral malleolus of right fibula
and
displaced avulsion fracture of right talus
III
a pair of crutches 
like Tiny Tim's ~
God bless us, every one!
IV
a flashback fashion
black boot like that ice boot on  
Mendenhall Glacier for dogsledding
so I can pretend to be cold, 
mushing, Gee! Haw!
V
a shiny blue knee scooter (with basket)
borrowed from Mrs. Bell
(I got her a new blue bell)
it's fast like a dogsled
VI
no pain meds 
for three days 
workers compensation: inhumane
VII
no housework
no cooking
no laundry
just Netflix and Hallmark movies
and The Great Alone 
set in Alaska
VIII
no fall break vacation
to go hiking
in the mountains
at that cozy cabin
I cancelled
IX
challenging showertime
vulnerable nakedness
~what if I slip and fall again???~
~and can't get up???~
X
a temporary handicapped 
parking tag
when you want to go nowhere anyway
because you order even Aleve
and hairpins 
and all your pretend dogsledding gear
from Amazon
XI
a heightened sensitivity
to open doors,
assist those who need it
when you are healed
XII
a renewed appreciation 
for freedom of movement
XIII
praising God that 
it wasn't much worse
that you’re still alive
that your team is pulling you 

Today, I’m sharing some acrostics I am writing as I prepare to lead a fall poetry writing workshop in my small Georgia town, where the leaves are just beginning to turn, to spiral downward upon the town square sidewalks. Hay bales resemble giant cinnamon rolls on their sides in pastures throughout the rural countryside. Businesses on the square are festively decorated with scarecrows, pumpkins, and fall foliage. Our restored 1828 Coffeeshop workers greet locals by name and whip up pumpkin spice lattes and ever-changing creative fall teas and coffee blends sure to please! That’s the vibe right now in this most magical season of the year – like a Hallmark Christmas movie without all the shopping and baking deadlines! And children of all ages will be working their own magic ~ writing fall acrostics in schools and libraries in the coming days.

I took Ollie to the vet: one shot
one little heartworm injection~
I got that guilt trip stink eye:
get me out of here NOW, Mom -
before making a scene
flattening himself
onto the floor
playing dead.....
DRAMA
KING

he’s always guilty

when we hear noises camping…..

we know….treat bag down!

Church Dogs

three
schnoodles
sit with us
watching church on
Sunday morning like
they haven’t bickered all
morning at the heels of my
broken ankle, just like children
all dressed up, behaving one small hour

I broke my ankle in two places last week, falling down the stairs at work as I was bringing a box of writing supplies down for a workshop this coming week. My husband has been waiting on me hand and foot, but there’s no one else like Mom to soothe the pain and reassure me that this will all be okay. I was missing her so much, but then I heard a sweet sound and looked up…..there she was, a spirited message: you’re going to be fine, Kimmie.

Sunday Morning Songbird Nonet

one tweeting Sunday morning songbird
singing peace through my green-leaved wreath
a healing greeting from Mom
Heaven knows I need her
to soothe this broken
ankle, to lift 
my weary,
aching
heart

I missed the last step ~
couldn’t see in the stairwell 
X-Ray: two fractures