Shaun of Las Vegas, Nevada is our host today for the 18th day of #VerseLove2024. He inspires us to read this poem by Charles Bukowski that you can find here, along with the full prompt. [Bukowski, Charles. Sifting Through the Madness for the Word, the Line, the Way. New York: Ecco (An imprint of HarperCollins Publishers), 2003.]
Then, he urges, Think about your life. Do you feel like there is something holding you back? Do you feel stuck or helpless in your circumstances? Do you remember a time when you persevered and overcame the challenges thrown at you? Perhaps you can tap into your inner-coach and deliver that life-changing halftime motivational speech!
I found inspiration in these lines of Bukowski’s
just watch them. Listen to them.
I also added ending lines from Old Woman of the Roads by Padraic Colum
out of the wind’s and the rain’s way
The Neighborhood
there they are building nexts in the garage again three already
we can’t even put the door down because there’s one on top and on the toolbox and in the corner in a box
Dave Wooley is our host today at http://www.ethicalela.com for the 16th day of #VerseLove, inspiring us to write seven- line poems called Kwansabas. You can read his full prompt here, along with the poems and comments of others.
Dave describes this process:
The Kwansaba is an African-American poetic form that was created by Eugene Redmond in 1995. It is inspired by the seven days of Kwanzaa and it is a praise poem.
The rules of the form are: -it is a seven line poem, -each line is seven words in length, -each word is seven letters or less, -and the poem should be a praise poem
Angie Braaten is our host today at http://www.ethicalela.com for the 15th day of #VerseLove2024. You can read her full prompt, along with the poems and comments of others, here. Today, Angie inspires us to write elegies in the style of Clint Smith. You can read two of Clint Smith’s poems here:
Margaret Simon of Louisiana is our host today for Day 14 of #VerseLove, inspiring us to use a borrowed line from a poem to inspire a new one. You can read her full prompt and the poems of others here. For Margaret’s prompt, she chose a favorite Billy Collins poem entitled Today and challenges us to use the line “If ever there were a spring day so perfect….” I’m letting that line be my title today for this borrowed line poem. With a huge thanks and a salute to Margaret Simon ~ and to Billy Collins.
If Ever There Were a Spring Day So Perfect
sun shining brightly would melt winter’s curse planes would trail banners of poems and verse
flowers would smile pinkly, swaying in dance groundhogs would high-five their weather-called chance
jasmine would fragrance porch swing breeze beckoning readers to carpe this diem seize
sun-brewed sweet tea would pour extra-freely buds would unfurl on branches green-treely
butterflies would turn pages of poetry books hummingbirds sip nectar with grateful quick looks
napping hammocks would cradle a snooze on a perfect spring day, we’ve got nothing to lose
wild bunnies would scamper, tumble, cavort neighborhood club kids would hide in a fort
cows in the meadow would slumber unflied folks would seek seashells on shores at low tide
woodpecker bellies would hammer with laughter and the whole springtime world would live happy hereafter
The Poetry Fox in 1828 Coffee Company in Zebulon, Georgia
Barb Edler of Iowa is our host today for the 13th day of #VerseLove2024, inspiring us to use a brain dump process to craft a poem. You can read her full prompt and the poems and comments of others here.
My role as the District Literacy Specialist for Pike County Schools in Georgia involves utilizing grant funds to create Literacy events to ignite reading and writing passion in our schools and throughout our community. When my soul sister Fran Haley of North Carolina posted about The Poetry Fox visiting her school years ago, I tucked that thought away as a dream to bring him from her school event in Zebulon, North Carolina to our coffee shop in Zebulon, Georgia to work his magic, sitting at his table in a fox suit, pounding out poems on his vintage typewriter for folks who stand in line to offer him their word.
He made that 7 hour trip this week from his home in Durham, NC and produced nearly 60 poems between 3:00 and 6:15, delighting people of all ages and from all walks of life – funeral directors who gave the words tears and gravestones, a pilot who offered the word sky, children who offered all sorts of words from monster truck to axolotl, teenagers who brought the words hooligan and baseball, and a librarian who brought the word library – and so many more! I’ve included the list of words in a photo at the bottom of this post. My words were royal fortress meadow since my name, Kimberly, means from the royal fortress meadow.
After three hours of writing poems, he packed up his fox suit and walked down to the barbecue restaurant on our town square and had a barbecue sandwich, baked beans, and banana pudding with me. When we returned at 7:00, he shared a delightful hour telling us about who he is, what he does, and how he came to do it. Beyond watching him work, there is as much amazement in the person of Chris Vitiello as there is the jaw-dropping magic of….
The Poetry Fox!
I. The Suit
there must have been
some magic in that old
fox suit they found
for when he placed it
on his head
keys began to dance around
to swirl up typewriter dust
conjuring the memories
reaching deep for connections
once forgotten, resurrected now
in the deep recesses of minds
and souls
the piercings of heartstrings by
moments of life
summoning past
awakening present
cultivating future
pounded out with two fingers
often superglued for
tenderness support
a suit ~
left behind, abandoned, forgotten
given as a gift by a
friend who knew the quirky depths
of brilliance in THE one who would
wear it best
II. The Roots
because as a kid
he read newspapers
enjoyed the flapping of paper
and the words they held, and
this future fox word volleyed
(forget board games – he played word games)
with friends
to build schema
set egg timers and each wrote 5 poems
all about one word
that had to be different from any other
with his knees against a heater
where his desk sat
the heat rising as the breath
of a boy who would someday
write to the tune of sweat
in a toasty fox costume
III. The Pursuit
and every day live out
his dream of writing
his love of meaning
his incessant hunger
for the exchange of words
for the gift of poetry
this soul-spark of wonder
when words touch places
long ignored
and breath catches
and tears well and spill
and loved ones lost return, smiling
between the lines
and children laugh
because the clever fox
explains in all logic
through poetry
that people don’t
make monster trucks ~
monsters do
and people aren’t the
only ones who write poems
foxes do, too
A group stands watching The Poetry Fox work his magic
I said, “Royal Fortress Meadow,” and this is my poem on the meaning of my nameA poem about monster trucksThe word list The Poetry Fox keeps – for all the words folks give him at his events
Jordan S. of Virginia is our host today for the 12th day of #VerseLove2024. You can read her full prompt here. She inspires us to write an ode to an underpraised or undercelebrated being.
Ode to a Mosquito
O, Mosquito whose proboscis I well know whose kiss makes most skin glow, an inflamed inferno oozing volcano
across the globe in every zone your overt poke ain’t no joke
no matter how remote in glacial smoke or tropical oaks you and your droves of blood-bloated homies drone over innocent uncloaked folks
so to you, my chosen poker, I wholly devote this toast of an ode
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
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
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
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.
Common Threads 