This day of the month is my favorite – the day when all three of my online writing groups converge – The Slice of Life (www.twowritingteachers.org), The Open Write (www.ethicalela.com), and The Stafford Challenge (a group on Facebook, led by Brian Rohr and inspired by William Stafford). I look forward to seeing my fellow writers in person at NCTE in Boston in November and hereby volunteer to work with others to help set up meet and greet points where we can all eat and write together. There is something special about getting to know a person through writing and then meeting them face to face.
Today’s host at http://www.ethicalela.com for Day 4 of the July Open Write is Gayle Sands of Maryland. She inspires us to write Important Thing Poems based on the childhood classic Goodnight Moon by Margaret Wise Brown. You can read Gayle’s full prompt here, and I hope you will write a poem and share it!
I so love this prompt and its reach to everyone, everywhere. This prompt would work to inspire verse in grades Pre-K through 12 and beyond. Classic books have the power to change the world, I am convinced.
Sparking Hope
The important thing
about a flame
is that it sparks hope.
You can warm by it,
hold hands by it,
kiss by it, sleep by it.
You can see with it,
you can remember through it,
you can glow in it, pray over it,
refine gold in it,
say goodbye or goodnight with it.
But the important thing
about a flame
is that it sparks hope.
Special thanks to Two Writing Teachers at Slice of Life for inspiring teachers to share their writing and giving space to read the work of all and share the love of the writinghood.
Common Threads 
Kim, I love your poem. My mom prays by lighting candles so that first and last line are so true for me – hope!
Denise introduced me to you and hers work with EthicalELA this weekend. I am definitely coming to Boston now so I can meet in person and learn about more ways to write in community with other writers. So glad I met you here!
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Sally, I read your comments about our book, and thank you! Denise is amazing, and I’m so proud to call her a friend. I’m also glad that we met here and in California the night of the Slice of Life dinner meetup, the night I asked those people on the streets of Los Angeles if they were going to the Slicer meetup and they looked at me like I had a blade tucked in my sock or something. Yes, fun memories! And just think – – now we get to make some more memories in Boston!
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This is a GREAT format for organizing thinking and sharing thoughts. Plus, your thinking about light and the hope it inspires in all of us is profound.
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Thank you, Anita. I so enjoy the writing and the interaction of groups. I learn so much from all of you.
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I love the comparison of hope and a flame. Thank-you for ur simplicity.
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Your post today has me thinking of you a lot. I have been where you are and would welcome a coffee phone chat sometime. You’re on my mind, my friend.
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I’m not going to Boston this year. This will be the first year in 10 years that I have missed.
I love how you found an image to share with this poem, a spark of inspiration.
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Nooooooo, Margaret, we will miss you! I missed last year and remember how sad I was. I kept wondering what everyone was doing, and when Tom Hanks was scheduled to take center stage I was practically in tears. I’m so sorry. On a positive note, though, your puppy will be happy that you are there for him, little Al-Bear Albert, and you won’t have to pack and risk losing a suitcase. If we do any gathering of writers and you’d like to be there, just sing out and we can FaceTime. I always look forward to seeing everyone, so that makes my heart heavy.
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I love that hope-sparking flame and your poem that celebrates all the important things about a flame. I also used this prompt for my response today. I’m reminded what a great mentor text “The Important Book” is, and am pondering how I might use it in my classroom next year. So many ideas!
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I’m so glad you used the prompt today. I love the times we use children’s literature as inspiration for poetry. It all begins with wonder, and there was a day that Margaret Simon used The Wonder House as inspiration as well. I seem to remember those because I associate the pictures with the writing, and anything helps at my age…..
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Kim, I am adding to my thoughts from Ethical ELA here… to me this poem is the essence of you. The flame, like the ever-present hope in your soul, burns so brightly. It’s a cheering and comforting image for these frequently-dark days… a little flame casts a wide circle, does it not? You do this so often for the rest of us, with your words. “You can remember through it” – love that. Hallowed memory, love-memory. Let us hold our flame -our hope- high as we walk the path laid out before us.
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Thank you, Fran! You bring such encouragement with your kind words and empowering gifts. We need a Southeastern United States Writing Retreat somewhere with others who are in our quadrant of the United States or beyond- Grove Park Inn, the Dillard House, Amicalola Falls Lodge, somewhere where a long weekend for writers would involve a fireplace and writing and sharing – and, of course, food and comfortable chairs. with writing candles for everyone and locations that rotate spring and fall. We should plan and make it happen as a next step toward retirement, two Zebulon sisters.
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