August Open Write Day 1 of 3

Our host for the first day of the August Open Write at www.ethicalela.com is Denise Krebs, who lives in the Mojave Desert. A retired teacher, Denise gets out in nature every chance she gets and continues to write. She blogs regularly at Dare to Care, is the co-author of The Genius Hour Guidebook, and has some poems published in anthologies, including today’s prompt inspiration Picture Perfect Poetry. I’m blessed to share time each month with Denise at Ethicalela and in a small group of writers with The Stafford Challenge.

Denise inspires us to write ekphrastic poems today. An ekphrastic poem is one inspired by a piece of art or photograph. She suggests looking through our camera roll and considering something in nature, possibly using the 2-4-6-8 form, explaining, “I wrote my poem in a form I call a 2-4-6-8 poem. It may be a syllable-counting form I made up. Each line increases by two syllables. Write as many stanzas as needed. Your choice of rhyme scheme is optional.” Hop over to the site to see her photos of Joshua Trees and read her poem about them.

I was inspired to write about our tree frog who lives under the Blackstone grill on our front porch. I’d purchased the small griddle to go on the road with us when we travel in the Wayfarer, but after seasoning it and testing it out, I noticed that two tiny tree frogs were making their home in the grill cover. I couldn’t bear to move it, so now we have a grill on our front porch coffee table (it’s okay, there are no neighbors to complain). They have become my front porch friends now, hopping onto the watering jug whenever I water plants and peeping out to say hello from the grill cover. Incidentally, one made an appearance on the loveseat with me last time we were in our Stafford Challenge Google Meet. I introduce you today to one of the Johnson Funny Farm Front Porch Frogs.

Front Porch Tree Frog