I’m the last to the party, crawling up to the word buffet, invitation in hand from Leigh Anne Eck in case this is one of those exclusive shindigs where they ask for ID.
And they might. I’m dragging a leg, my shoes don’t match, my jeans have holes not bought that way, and my hair’s a bedheaded mess. I look like I belong on the set of the Thriller video, and it’s Easter Sunday. It’s way early, we’re half-packed in the camper, and we might be headed out to find a Sunrise service on the lake beach of Callaway Gardens.
But first, coffee. And second, an invitation to continue the writing journey at http://www.ethicalela.com beginning tomorrow, where we will write poetry together each day thoughout April during #VerseLove as we celebrate National Poetry Month. If you’re part of the Slice of Life group, you’ve written for 31 days. You can make it to 61 – just say YES! That’s how I became a daily writer 3 years ago this past February. I’ll be your host tomorrow as we introduce ourselves, and others in this group will be hosting a day on the journey as well. Consider this your personal invitation to the next party.
And third – the buffet of words. Here are my words and expressions, countdown style:
5. tentative consonants (shh-, spp-, smm-)- this is a word combination my eyes didn’t want to leave in Georgia Poet Laureate Chelsea Rathburn‘s poem Returning to My Childhood Library coming out in her new book, defined in her poem as “the soft sounds of someone learning to read.”
4. hush – this word comes from the tipping point poem for me, the one that catapulted a love of poetry to an absolute fixation on it, where the nymph silences the goblin wanting her green glass beads in Overheard on a Salt Marsh by Harold Monro from Volume 1 Poems and Rhymes, the Childcraft volume with the pink spine band.
3. ceaselessly– my One Little Word for 2023 and 2024 is Pray. This is how we should pray. And also, it’s part of Gatsby’s last words: So we beat on, boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the past. F. Scott Fitzgerald, party animal as he was, is where our dog Fitz (a true transcendental – not a party dog – who came to us with the more fitting name of Henry) got his new name.
2. Tell me – because it’s how Mary Oliver started her (probably) most famous line of all time from her poem The Summer Day. There is a beckoning to know, to tell a tale, to listen as someone shares a plan. “Tell me, what is it you plan to do / with your one wild and precious life?” And it’s why our dog Ollie is named Ollie. It’s at the heart of why we rescue – so we can give our dogs a family and a hope for their one wild and precious life. Ollie eats poetry books – his favorite is anything by Ada Limon. I suspect that what led us to rescue this little dog was divine intervention – I truly believe that he is the reincarnate of one of Mary O’s own little rescues named Percy, for whom she seemed particularly partial in the Oliverist possible way.
1, Hey, Boo! – my cryingest scene in To Kill a Mockingbird, that tender moment when Boo is behind the door…..and Scout (I can’t….I can’t…..I’ll get weepy and I won’t stop)……these are the words that named our dog (abandoned by his previous family, left behind a door, rescued by us) Boo Radley. Boo, who is as white as a ghost and rivals the most damaged of little dogs, who we know without a doubt, despite all of his own random and quirky fears, would pounce on anyone who tried to hurt us if we were dressed as a ham out trick or treating.
Happy Easter, everyone! Hope to see you each day in April and on Tuesdays all year long!
Daily Writers
last day of slicing
leads to first day of #VerseLove
daily writers born