Month: April 2025

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VerseLove Day 11: I Remember

I’m hosting Day 11 of VerseLove 2025, and I’m excited to share my prompt with you today. You can read it below, or you can see it on the ethicalela.com website here.

Inspiration

I’m using a prompt from 90 Ways of Community (p. 140) for today’s inspiration.  You can download a free copy here. In the book, I describe Joe Brainard’s  I Remember strategy. When members of EthicalELA attended the National Council of Teachers of English conference in Boston, Massachusetts, I combined the I Remember approach with Linda Reif’s Quick Write model to inspire attendees to create random poems in a short time frame.  The most heartfelt poems came out of that session.  Imagine my surprise when I realized that Linda Reif herself was in that session as we shared her Quick Write model!  

Process

● Reminisce on a time and place in your life that you want to revisit, or

● Ruminate on a time and place in your life that you want to re-imagine

with new eyes and perspective, or

● Imagine the future and predict what you will remember.

Give yourself two minutes to list whatever comes to mind, keeping your pen moving the entire time.  Circle one idea, then write for two more minutes on your chosen idea.  Repeat the process as many times as you like to unearth the specifics.  Your poem can be as short or as long as you’d like, and take any form your prefer (see here for a list of form suggestions).  Accept that whatever you write is good enough. Give yourself permission to reject this idea and instead write whatever the universe calls you to write today.  I’m sharing a previously written poem as my sample poem.

I Remember

I remember clutching 

her warm hand 

as the death rattle beat the drum 

of her final march 

deferring to my brother, 

“I picked the spot. 

You pick the plot” 

I remember pleading, 

“Lord, I need a sign 

she can rest in peace” 

confessing I’d prayed for a sign: 

a majestic bird in flight, wings outstretched, 

assuring peace 

I remember fighting tears, 

wanting to shoot three birds circling overhead 

resisting the urge to punch my brother, 

who was fighting his own tears

wait……of laughter? 

I remember eyeing him, 

raising one questioning brow, 

tightening my lips, 

muttering obscenities 

wondering if he was drunk 

as he whispered sideways, 

“She showed up! With her parents!” 

I remember feeling the full force of her humor, 

her sign: sending buzzards in place of an eagle 

I remember my animal-loving mother – 

prankish and ever-present. 

Even now.

Since my poem was previously written, I’ve added a borrowed line poem to today’s blog, since I pledged to write a new poem each day for The Stafford Challenge. I used lines from yesterday’s poems on http://www.ethicalela.com to compose this Cento poem:

I Step Outside

to tend to the present

cradled crescents

the softening sounds of spring

curled against

that dark corner

the return of yellow

watch a swallowtail circle

fuschia petals

the sitting still

but don’t we all?

what I needed that day

comforting

peace

welcome to my front porch

no longer held in expectation’s thrall

the black, brown, gray, sometimes mossy green

most of the morning, watching birds

shouldn’t we give shelter when we can?

I lift the binoculars

I chat with them

which I am grateful and so at home

this present iteration

and all that it holds within

bringing hope for spring

a messenger of change

wait for it….

like a breath not yet let go

outside my window now

a drifting hush like a silent call

smiles ruefully

forever-alive bright

so direct, clear, certain

the fields of flowers and

swirling colors and rainbow creation

steady the tensions

there’s lots of good stuff to smell here

so far, so good……

now I scarcely remember

yesterday

I look around for birds

that are calling to become

will become a constellation of stars and I realize

His treasure.

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#VerseLove Day 10 with JoAnne Emery – Look Closely

Today’s host at http://www.ethicalela.com for the 10th day of #VerseLove2025 is Joanne Emery, who inspires us to look closely at something in nature and write a poem about it. You can read her full prompt here.

I was on my way to Mississippi on Tuesday when I stopped for a memory card and noticed a huge mural proclaiming Greenville as Alabama’s Camellia City. I stopped and looked. I hadn’t thought of camellias in a long time, but my mother had loved them so much. It felt like a hello from Heaven.

Hello from Heaven

two days ago

passing through

Greenville, Alabama

I noticed a mural~

Alabama’s Camellia City

fuchsia petals

and yellow anthers

adorning the corners

and thought of

my mother, who loved them

yesterday

in Hattiesburg, Mississippi

I drove past a camellia

bush of these exact colors

and thought again of

my mother, who loved them

this gentle wave from Heaven

to remind me of her

sent me on a quest

to discover more about

the Japan rose

which symbolizes

advancing women’s rights

and is used to make tea

and food seasoning

and to protect the blades

of sharp cutting instruments ~

interesting, but where is the

message from Heaven?

my brother will be at

The Masters, where the

10th Hole is The Camellia Hole

so I will tell him to look for a

sign from our mother there

and perhaps, just perhaps

he’ll see a

Freedom Bell or

Cornish Show, Inspiration,

Royalty, or a Spring Festival

maybe my own message is

here, now, ~ in To Kill a

Mockingbird, Jem destroys

Mrs. Dubose’s garden when

she insults his family but is

later given a bud from the

dying woman who struggled

to overcome her

morphine addiction

and perhaps, just perhaps

this camellia wave is

every assurance that

forgiveness of others

is the work my heart

needs to do

and perhaps, just perhaps

I’ll plant a camellia this spring

to welcome more

hellos from Heaven from

my mother, who loved them

I glance up at the coffee table

in the VRBO where I’m staying

and notice a decorative box

I hadn’t noticed before now

gold-outlined camellias

as if my mother has been

sitting with me as I write this poem

and perhaps, just perhaps

she has

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#VerseLove Day 9 – with Britt Decker of Texas – Depending on When You Met Me

Our host for the 9th day of #VerseLove2025 is Britt Decker of Houston, Texas, who inspires us to write. a poem about who we were at various times in our lives. You can read her full prompt here. Maybe you’ll come write with us today! I’ve chosen a list poem for today’s poem.

Depending on when you met me, you would have known

I was a wild preacher’s kid running amok with a

cast of characters that weren’t Southern Baptists ~

that I became them in my closet with a flashlight

obsessed with the words, the characters, the places

in Childcraft Volume 1: Poems and Rhymes

the book with the gold and pink banded spine

where they lived on pages but came alive

in me ~ and stay with me still

I’m Pirate Don Durk of Dowdee

I’m a sugar plum tree at the Lollipop Sea

I’m a little turtle climbing on the rocks

I’m Wee Willie Winkie, crying through the locks

I’m a water nymph with green glass beads

I’m a goblin in the marsh, howling in the reeds

I’m Mary, Mary, quite contrary

I’m a little puffin on an island in the sea

I’m a gypsy, a gypsy, earrings in my ears

I’m a cave boy with a spear hunting prehistoric deer

I’m the Raggedy Man with a wobble-ly calf

I’m the Ice Cream man with a cart full of laughs

I’m Young Melissa sweeping a room

I’m an astronaut….3, ….2,…..1……BOOM!

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#VerseLove Day 8 with Darius Phelps of New York – The Good Son

Dr. Darius Phelps, our host for Day 8 of #VerseLove 2025, is the Assistant Director of Programs at the Center For Publishing, Writing, and Media at NYU. You can read his full prompt here.

He encourages us to write poems about something we carry from someone before us, or something/someone we try to imitate.

Cricketing

I cricket.

I rub my feet together

to relax.

My father did it

and his mother, too.

It scares me

these repetitive motions

the oldness of it all.

I cricket.

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#VerseLove Day 7 with Erica Johnson of Arkansas – Villanelle on the Vine

Erica Johnson of Arkansas is our host for Day 7 of #VerseLove 2025. She inspires us to write poems today about meanings behind favorite flowers using a villanelle. She offers this process: “I started by simply searching for the meaning behind my favorite flowers.  Once I had a list, I selected my favorite connection and started work on shaping that into a villanelle.  Because it is a closed-form poem it has pretty strict rules about rhyme (ABA) and repetition (the 1st and 3rd lines repeat throughout) – this can be challenging, but I find that is also part of the fun!” You can read Erica’s full prompt here.

I chose the Larkspur as my flower, because as a child in the village of St. Simons Island, Georgia, I enjoyed the annual craft fair, where one year in the mid 1970s I got a leather bracelet with my birth flower and name stamped into the leather. Larkspurs symbolize lightheartedness and youth, likely because they grow in the summertime when carefree days are spent away from school.

Village Hippie Villanelle

leather Larkspur bracelet for a July lass

birth month flowers stamped and snapped on thin tan straps

village craft fair hippie, barefoot in the grass

groovy girlfriends ~ running wild, full of sass

softball jerseys, cleats and shorts and backward caps

leather Larkspur bracelet for a July lass

snippy, snappy, clicky clackers ~ spheres of glass

banana seats and wheel spoke straws click and clap

village craft fair hippie, barefoot in the grass

Kissing Potion, Lip Smacker, and Sunjuns (Bass)

macrame and halter tops and treasure maps

leather Larkspur bracelet for a July lass

roller skates and unicycles need no gas

gaucho pants and go-go boots and cowboy chaps

village craft fair hippie, barefoot in the grass

childhood in a decade-era school of class

dancing queens of disco, jazz, ballet, and tap

leather Larkspur bracelet for a July lass

village craft fair hippie, barefoot in the grass

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#VerseLove Day 6 with Stacey Joy of California – Where I’m From, Again!

Stacey Joy, our host for Day 6 of #VerseLove 2025, is a National Board Certified Teacher, Google Certified Educator, and 2013 L.A. County Teacher of the Year. Stacey has taught elementary school for 39 years in Los Angeles Unified School District.

Today, Stacey invites us to write Where I’m From poems. She offers this process: “Visit George Ella Lyon’s website for a refresher on Where I’m From. If you are a list person, create a list of people/places/things/memories. Then compose your poem in any way you prefer. If you are more comfortable with a form, you can write your poem following a form you prefer.” You can read her full prompt here.

Today, I’m writing a Where I’m Not From poem.

I’m not from here.

I’m not from this chaos.

I won’t play these games.

I won’t clean up the mess.

I won’t sit at the table.

I won’t partake of the feast.

I won’t bow for a fake prayer (I know the difference)~

I won’t smile and pretend.

I won’t take the bait.

I’m not from this chaos.

I’m not from here.

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VerseLove Day 5 with Bryan Ripley Crandall of Connecticut – Scars

Bryan Ripley Crandall, our host for Day 5 of VerseLove 2025 at http://www.ethicalela.com, lives in Stratford, Connecticut, where he directs the Connecticut Writing Project and is Professor of English Education at Fairfield University.

Bryan offers these directions: “Write about a scar, one that may be physical in nature or one that might be more  emotional.” You can read his full prompt here.

I chose a Pantoum form for this poem and made the decision to keep a staccato rhythm, as if touching a hot stove and getting burned.

Heart Scar Pantoum

my heart is scarred

it opened

it believed

it got stomped

it opened

it trusted

it got stomped

it realized

it trusted

it committed

it realized

it learned

it committed

it believed

it learned

my heart is scarred

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#VerseLove Day 4 with Dave Wooley of Pennsylvania – Oh, The Places You’ll Go!

Dave Wooley, our host for Day 4 of #VerseLove 2025, lives in Pennsylvania.

Dave inspires us to write from the perspective of a traveller, choosing to focus on the place, or focus on the experience of traveling, or maybe just the idea of being a traveller. He suggests using photos to help relive moments and inspire the thoughts of the poem. You can read his full prompt here.

I chose a photo of my youngest granddaughter with me having ice cream at Leopold’s in Savannah, Georgia and wrote a pantoum poem to capture the memory.

Sisterhood of the Southern Sweet Tooth

there we were, so sassy

Magnolia Mae and I

eating rose petal ice cream

at Leopold’s in Savannah, Georgia

Magnolia Mae and I~

grandmother and granddaughter

at Leopold’s in Savannah, Georgia

of the Sisterhood of the Southern Sweet Tooth

grandmother and granddaughter

sharing a spoon and a knowing smile

of the Sisterhood of the Southern Sweet Tooth

Georgia girls with flowery style

sharing a spoon and a knowing smile

eating rose petal ice cream

Georgia girls with flowery style

there we were, together

My youngest granddaughter and I – sharing ice cream
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#VerseLove Day 3 with Denise Krebs of California – Borrowed Rhymes

Our host for our third day of #VerseLove is Denise Krebs, who lives in Yucca Valley, California, near Joshua Tree National Park. She blogs and resists at Dare to Care. 

Denise invites us to write Borrowed Rhymes poems today in her prompt. You can read the prompt in full here. Please jump in today to read the posts and feel all the harnessed energy of a community of writers. We’d love to have you!

Denise encourages us to find a poem with rhyming or song lyrics we like. “Extract the rhymes and write them down on the right margin. Fill in your own line for each rhyme,” she explains.

I extracted these words: blue, knew, round, down, time, mine, care, anywhere from my favorite Eagles song, Take it to the Limit. I wrote them at the end of each line and crafted my poem using these pairs.

More Time

….when out of the blue,

who even knew?!

can I last one more round?

do I feel too beat down?

I want more time

to call mine – ALL MINE!

to spend time how I care

to day trip anywhere….

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#VerseLove Day 2 with Leilya Pitre of Louisiana – When Spring Speaks in Tricubes

Leilya Pitre, our host for Day 2 of VerseLove at http://www.ethicalela.com, lives in Ponchatoula, LA, which is known as the Strawberry Capital of the World. She teaches at Southeastern Louisiana University and coordinates the English Education Program.

Leilya inspires us to write spring tricubes, and you can read her full prompt here. A tricube consists of three stanzas, each with three lines, and each line having three syllables—quick, rhythmic, and focused. It’s easy to remember as 3:3:3.

It’s a great day to think about spring!

Springtime Tricube

umbrellas

daffodils

rain showers

butterflies

Easter eggs

wildflowers

hummingbirds

sunshine’s warmth

trees tower

Come join us today – read, write, and share! And if you happen to be in middle Georgia today, come by 1828 Coffee Company in Zebulon, Georgia and meet The Poetry Fox. He’ll write a free poem for you between 3:00 and 6:00 and share about his life between 7:00 and 8:00. Hope to see you there!