Month: April 2024

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Day 10 of #VerseLove with Joanne Emery

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Our host today at http://www.ethialela.com for Day 10 of #VerseLove2024 is Joanne Emery, who inspires us to borrow ideas and lines from another poem to inspire our own. You can read her full prompt here, along with the poems and comments of others.

She explains her process: Find a line in the poem that stands out to you, expresses something about yourself. Then continue the poem while reflecting how you live your life. 

We used Jane Hirschfield’s poem My Life Was the Size of My Life, and I borrowed this line from hers:

and closed its hands, its windows

I also chose one from Joanne’s poem Larger than My Life

with perfect white teeth, smiling

Keystones

our house with keystones

with perfect white teeth, smiling

to raise our children

you pulled all its teeth

and closed its hands, its windows

we bloomed in the dark

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Day 9 of #VerseLove2024 with Denise Krebs: List Poems

Denise Krebs of California is our host today for #VerseLove2024. She inspires us to write List Poems. You can read her full prompt here. I’ve added some pictures, just for fun – – a quick glimpse of our wedding weekend on St. Simons Island, Georgia, where my brother Ken and his bride Jennifer were wed on Saturday afternoon. Narrowing it down to the top ten – – that was a tough challenge!

I love a list poem because it doesn’t have to rhyme, it can be random, and it can be completely out of order or it can run in a countdown fashion to the top of the list. Mine is random, and it’s a photographic prose list poem, a blend of all my favorite kinds. I could not pick a single favorite moment.

Top 10 Wedding Weekend Moments

Straight-from-the-soul smiles on my brother and his bride’s faces, so full of happiness and love,

meeting my brother’s new family and feeling both sides merge into one big family,

getting a new sister-in-law,

placing flowers on the altar in memory of our mothers,

seeing the shoes of my son and husband and feeling them lift me up when I fell,

watching the dads dance – one with a cane, one with bionic knees, but believe it: these two can groove,

watching my brother watch the love of his life come down the aisle,

spending time with extended family and close family (5 of our 6 grandchildren),

figuring out how to win the dinner bill argument with my son since I own nearly one million shares of Shiba Inu (only worth about $25.00 total at .00002 a share, but hey – – it worked),

playing and having a picnic in the parks and hearing my 5 year old grandson’s response when I tried to tell him my ice cream was mashed potatoes and he took the folded arm stance and firmly stated, “that’s impossible!” (they all got ice cream).

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Day 8 of #VerseLove with Mo Daley: Zip Odes

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Mo Daley of Michigan is our host today for the 8th day of #VerseLove2024, inspiring us to write Zip Odes (an ode to our Zip Codes) by considering our place and our zip code. You can read Mo’s full prompt and the poems and comments of others here.

To write a zip ode, write the numbers of your zip code down the left-hand side of the page. Each number determines the number of words in that line. For a zero, you can leave it blank, insert an emoji or symbol, or use any number of words between 1 and 9.

I thought of the meaning of my name as a connection between where I live and who I am.

From the Royal Fortress Meadow

3 royal fortress meadow

0 =

2 Kimberly‘s meaning

9 green pastures, rolling hillsides, fields full of countryside charms

2 rural Georgia

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Day 7 of #VerseLove with James Coates: Things (Better) Left Unsaid

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James Coates is our host today for the 7th day of #VerseLove2024. You can read his full prompt here, along with the poems of others. Today, James inspires us to write poems about a time when everything seemed wonderful and possible, using a form such as a Tanka or Choka. He explains that a Chōka is a Japanese poem of indefinite length, consisting of alternating lines of 5 and 7 syllables, with an extra 7-syllable line at the end.

My brother’s wedding yesterday was all of this and more – everything wonderful and possible- and I can’t wait to write poems and share pictures of the bride and groom once they have shared photos and made their social media announcements first, but I will follow rules of social media etiquette by waiting my turn with permission to reveal photos of their big day. Their dancing recessional out of the church doors brought to mind our own wedding day as we made our way down the aisle after our vows. It went something like this:

Hallelujah!

on my way down the
aisle, I leaned into the sound
booth and grinned at my brother
Let's change the music!
Only the recessional.  

The Hallelujah Chorus
seemed far more fitting

an eleventh-hour switch-hit
change at the bottom 
of the ninth inning
might bring a grand-slam homerun

amused wedding guests chuckled
three ministers laughed
as we made our way into
happily ever after

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Day 6 of #VerseLove with Katrina Morrison

Katrina Morrison is our host today at http://www.ethicalela.com for the sixth day of #VerseLove2024. Her prompt inspires writers to share a photo and write a poem from our photo stream on our phones.

She explains how: Select a photo from your photostream or capture an image of a photo you have on hand. Ideally, you should appear in the photo. If you remember what was going on in the photo, draw from your memories to recreate the scene. If you do not remember what was happening when the photo was taken, use your imagination to create a scene. 

I chose a photo from yesterday’s wedding rehearsal. My baby brother is getting married today at 4:30 on St. Simon’s Island, Georgia, and we could not be happier for him and his bride.


They Do

these two join hands, hearts

forever as one today

my brother, his bride

their blind date restored

hope, led to love, commitment ~

two become one flesh

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Day 5 of #VerseLove with Leilya Pitre – Friday Night Date Night Poems

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Leilya Pitre of Louisiana is our host at http://www.ethicalela.com today for our fifth day of #Verselove. You can read her poem here, along with the poem and comments of others. She inspires us to write a date night poem (about a memorable date or a standing date) using sevenlings. To write a sevenling, here is the form:

  1. Think about two contrasting ideas, concepts, people, or events (e.g., good/evil, humor/satire, war/peace, light/darkness, optimist/pessimist, flowers/weeds, etc.)
  2. Write a three-line stanza containing three things about the first one (description or explanation)
  3. Write another three-line stanza containing three other things about the second word. You may oppose the first stanza to the second or try to find some commonalities.
  4. The final line should present a kind of a punchline, a surprise, or an unusual, even oxymoronic conclusion.
  5. Add a title.

Here is my Sevenling: The Swing. 

The Swing

I said NO to a third date.
NO WAY. NEVER AGAIN.
I was running scared, hurt.

But you waited.
You asked again:
Let's go to the park, sit in the swing.

And God winked on us forever.
Actual swing where he proposed on February 16, 2008

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Day 4 of #VerseLove with Jennifer Jowett, inspiring us with Alphabeticals

Donkeys on the south side of the Funny Farm

Today, Jennifer Jowett of Michigan is our host at http://www.ethicalela.com for our fourth day of #VerseLove 2024. She offers a spectacular Alphabeticals prompt, using letters of the alphabet to create a poem. You can read her full prompt and the poems of others here.

My mind went straight to the farm as I looked at the letters on the keyboard. There’s a whole world of things to see if you let your eyes see what is held in each letter. Donkeys belonging to someone in our area keep getting loose, and my sister in law and I helped some other neighbors for two hours on Tuesday trying to trailer them, finally herding them into another neighbor’s fenced pasture. When they turned up in her yard again Wednesday, we decided to just make friends with them – they’re not halter trained, and we think they are lonely and seeking the companionship of humans.

They know they’ve found folks who are friendly. They’d rather live here on the Funny Farm, where things are amusingly quirky. 

RELAXing on the Funny Farm

R hangs out in the
barn, his back against the wall
relaxing cowboy

E stalls two horses
or goats or donkeys or mules
safe from elements

L stands firm, holds reins
hitching post for keeping us
right where we belong

A swing for sweethearts
porch side sunset views, sweet tea
two-strawed Mason jar

X makes a manger
to feed all of God’s creatures
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Day 3 of #VerseLove with Wendy Everard of New York, leading us to Inspriational Places

Today’s host of #VerseLove at http://www.ethicalela.com is Wendy Everard of New York, who inspires us to research our favorite writers’ places and our own favorites, and to write a poem inspired by that place. She wrote her poem as she walked around Emily Dickinson’s home and gardens.

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The Funny Farm

give me outdoors
on a bright, cloudy farm
one that's just a slant off
from the normal farm's charm

where the dogs think they're people
and there's no chimney-steeple

where the roosters don't stop - 
they crow 'round the clock

and the cats are all blind
(confused mice think them kind)

where the pigs all stay clean
but the John Deere stays green

and the fig-pickin's plenty
and the fence posts are denty
 
and we grow winter corn
once the goats' wool is shorn

and the rabbits stay single
'cause they don't like to.....mingle.....

and the cows oom
(not moo, like all other cows do)

and the deer never scare
they just stand there and stare

and the farmer wears oil rags
returns new clothes with price tags

wears his straw hat with holes
'cause he's got backwoods goals

and he can't eat no sausage
but it's really no loss-age

they just go out for dinner
(and for her, that's a winner!)

on this farm that's quite funny,
sipping coffee with honey

give me outdoors
on a bright, cloudy farm
one that's just a slant off
from the normal farm's charm
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Day 2 of #VerseLove with Bryan Ripley Crandall of Connecticut, Inspiring Magic Box Poems

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Bryan Ripley Crandall of Connecticut has quite a Magic Box process of turning out nonsense, whimsical poems that make us smile. You can read his full prompt along with the process (this one is loads of fun) and the poems of others here.

Just let words roll off the pen and see what pops up!

Turning the Tables

vintage green stamps in rose-hued sunglasses
sewing thimble, dogtag, thumbs of young lasses
Cracker Jack prizes
   trinkets and toys
     but pencils for scholarly girls and boys
crocheted tablecloth clamps
     stitched by all our Aunt Mabels
clothespinned lottery tickets turn all the tables
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Hashtag Acrostics on Day 1 of #VerseLove at www.ethicalela.com – and I’m Your Host! (Stafford Challenge Day 76)

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Today, I’m hosting the kickoff of #VerseLove 2024 at http://www.ethicalela.com, the website and writing community of Dr. Sarah J. Donovan of Oklahoma State University. Each day this month, we will be writing poetry together as we rotate hosting, celebrate writing together, and encourage one another. You can read the entire prompt below, but you can also read it (and the poetry of others) here.

Inspiration 

I enjoy unlocking the puzzles of smashed-together-word hashtags and considering their power to make a statement.  Like clever license plates and bumper stickers, hashtags can issue a call to action, proclaim characteristics, and identify members of a group.  Today, let’s use them to introduce ourselves as we begin our #VerseLove journey together this month. 

Process

Write your name vertically down the left side of a page.  You can use your first name, nickname, or full name – your choice! 

Place a hashtag in front of each letter of your name.

Jot a list of your hobbies, your passions, and any other aspects that you might use to introduce yourself to someone getting to know you.  You can scroll through photos, Facebook posts, or poems you’ve written to help you think of some ideas. 

Finally, use the letters to make a hashtag acrostic to introduce yourself to your #VerseLove family! You can #smashyourwordstogether or #space them apart. 

We are your people.  We can’t wait to get to know you better as we write and grow together.  

#Cheersforthejourney!

Kim’s #HashtagAcrostic Created on Canva