Common Threads

Anna Roseboro brings the Pantoum to us today! My husband and I do a lot of camping together, but on my last trip, I attended a session in a state park about the GirlCamper group and their workshops and meet-ups. I have been looking for a 1966 Scotty to restore and take on my solo writing weekends with my soul schnoodle. Cheers to Anna Roseboro for hosting today and motivating and inspiring writers always.

1966 Serro Scotty

I’m looking for you, 1966 Serro Scotty
I’ll breathe new life into your old wheels
we’ll hit the road, be best friends
when I find you, look out!

I’ll breathe new life into your old wheels
restore your soul, rest in your embrace
when I find you, look out!
we’ll blaze new trails

restore your soul, rest in your embrace
listen to the symphony of the trees
we’ll blaze new trails
camping out under the stars

listen to the symphony of the trees
we’ll hit the road, be best friends
camping out under the stars
I’m looking for you, 1966 Serro Scotty

I’ve been reading Kyle Vaughn’s Lightning Paths: 75 Poetry Writing Exercises, which inspired me to delve into another book study of poetry forms and responses. I’ll be making my way through the exercises and prompts between now and the end of the year.

Today’s exercise involves writing a poem based on a painting or other work of art, diving into the rich description to evoke the mood, tone, or emotion present in the piece.

Take Me There

log cabin
  hygge,
     warmth of fire inside
aurora borealis against 
    the Alaska night

the vast universe 
playing for keeps

I’ve been reading Kyle Vaughn’s Lightning Paths: 75 Poetry Writing Exercises, which inspired me to delve into another book study of poetry forms and responses. I’ll be making my way through the exercises and prompts between now and the end of the year.

Today’s writing exercise focuses on Imagery of Taste. Vaughn encourages writers to focus on an aspect of taste in today’s writing and create bursts of flavor in the piece.

Family Grandiose Narcissist

don't worry

her day is coming

that taste of her own 
elder abuse
neglect
someone else
   in control
     denying pain management
        through cancer
          like it was natural childbirth,
            some feat of honor

that one

you know, the one
    who didn't want to 
"dope her mother up and let her die," 
    as if living were a choice
who instead put her in a 
   chair over in the corner
      and let her suffer~
she grew too weary to sit
     whacked her face falling
        on a coffee table corner
          carried a blackened bruise 
                   to the grave

(let me tell you: there are 
      things worse than dying 
         peacefully with dignity)

that one, yes

you know, the one who has
       no regrets
          because she thinks
            only about 
               herself
      never apologizes~
       because mistakes? her? no way!

that one, yes

you know, the one 
     who excluded others' photos
         from the family Powerpoint
     making herself the slideshow queen
        because she's the only one 
          that matters to herself

that one, yes

who was a second bride  
    at her son's wedding
      causing the videographer
        to quit at the last minute
(no video ever happened
    and family who didn't go 
       along with her choice to
        let her mother suffer?
         no wedding for those
           who'd saved the date)

that one, yes

she will have her own taste

her day is coming

don't worry

I’ve been reading Kyle Vaughn’s Lightning Paths: 75 Poetry Writing Exercises, (available on Amazon, linked on title or here on NCTE), which inspired me to delve into another book study of poetry forms and responses. I’ll be making my way through the exercises and prompts between now and the end of the year.

Today’s writing exercise focuses on smell and memory – the most connected sense to remembering the past. Vaughn encourages writers to explore the sense of smell connected to a memory in the writing.

Her Charm Bracelet

Mom's Estee Lauder lingers
even now, 7 years later
in my closet 
     on her scarves I kept
in her mirrored box
    lined with burgundy velvet
      where her charm bracelet rests
          jingles when I need to hear her here
             next to me

I breathe in, smell her presence
    hold her here

    then exhale, 
                                  release
knowing everything will be okay



 

I’ve been reading Kyle Vaughn’s Lightning Paths: 75 Poetry Writing Exercises, (available on Amazon, linked on title or here on NCTE), which inspired me to delve into another book study of poetry forms and responses. I’ll be making my way through the exercises and prompts between now and the end of the year.

56 -Year-Old's Dream Weekend

Smooth cotton pajamas
     the stretchy kind
Fresh, clean sheets
    air-dried on the breeze
Soap-scented showered 
       softness,
    fluffy-towel-dried and
      wrapped in a 
Warm, fleecy blanket 
    still, relaxed breathing
       drifting off to sleep
          dog snuggled close
             no worries
               no alarm set
                   for tomorrow
   
     

I’ve been reading Kyle Vaughn’s Lightning Paths: 75 Poetry Writing Exercises, which inspired me to delve into another book study of poetry forms and responses. I’ll be making my way through the exercises and prompts between now and the end of the year.

Today’s writing exercise focuses on Imagery of Body Language. Vaughn encourages writers to focus on body language that reveals the emotional or psychological state of a person.

The Grip

I can tell
without looking up
from my book
in traffic
when your hands
grip the wheel 
and your breathing
changes
gets rhythmic
louder

I know 
another driver
is on your nerves

I sink down a bit
brace my feet
against the floor

I’ve been reading Kyle Vaughn’s Lightning Paths: 75 Poetry Writing Exercises, which inspired me to delve into another book study of poetry forms and responses. I’ll be making my way through the exercises and prompts between now and the end of the year.

Today’s writing exercise focuses on Imagery of Time. Vaughn encourages writers to focus on an aspect of time in today’s writing and create imagery in the piece.

Retirement

some say it's not 
what you retire FROM~
it's what you retire TO,
not going home to 
sit in your chair and 
wait your turn to die
but getting out,
taking your turn to live

without having to set alarms
meet deadlines
be somewhere, dressed
and ready

......maybe it means restoring
a Vintage Scotty camper
paring down from the Outback
and embracing the simplicity
of fold-out windows
with three dogs
two coffee mugs
two spoons 
two forks
two chairs
on a lake
next to a fire
reading
writing

I’ve been reading Kyle Vaughn’s Lightning Paths: 75 Poetry Writing Exercises, (available on Amazon, linked on title or here on NCTE), which inspired me to delve into another book study of poetry forms and responses. I’ll be making my way through the exercises and prompts between now and the end of the year.

Today’s exercise is based on Wallace Stevens’s Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Blackbird to inspire multiple points of view in sections about the different ways we see a particular thing. I broke my ankle a week and a half before Fall Break….so I spend a lot of time looking at this elevated, swollen, bruised, broken ankle. But I’m on the mend.

Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Broken Ankle
I
a missed step
in an unlit stairwell
OH, SNAP!...SNAP!
II
nondisplaced fracture of
lateral malleolus of right fibula
and
displaced avulsion fracture of right talus
III
a pair of crutches 
like Tiny Tim's ~
God bless us, every one!
IV
a flashback fashion
black boot like that ice boot on  
Mendenhall Glacier for dogsledding
so I can pretend to be cold, 
mushing, Gee! Haw!
V
a shiny blue knee scooter (with basket)
borrowed from Mrs. Bell
(I got her a new blue bell)
it's fast like a dogsled
VI
no pain meds 
for three days 
workers compensation: inhumane
VII
no housework
no cooking
no laundry
just Netflix and Hallmark movies
and The Great Alone 
set in Alaska
VIII
no fall break vacation
to go hiking
in the mountains
at that cozy cabin
I cancelled
IX
challenging showertime
vulnerable nakedness
~what if I slip and fall again???~
~and can't get up???~
X
a temporary handicapped 
parking tag
when you want to go nowhere anyway
because you order even Aleve
and hairpins 
and all your pretend dogsledding gear
from Amazon
XI
a heightened sensitivity
to open doors,
assist those who need it
when you are healed
XII
a renewed appreciation 
for freedom of movement
XIII
praising God that 
it wasn't much worse
that you’re still alive
that your team is pulling you 

Today, I’m sharing some acrostics I am writing as I prepare to lead a fall poetry writing workshop in my small Georgia town, where the leaves are just beginning to turn, to spiral downward upon the town square sidewalks. Hay bales resemble giant cinnamon rolls on their sides in pastures throughout the rural countryside. Businesses on the square are festively decorated with scarecrows, pumpkins, and fall foliage. Our restored 1828 Coffeeshop workers greet locals by name and whip up pumpkin spice lattes and ever-changing creative fall teas and coffee blends sure to please! That’s the vibe right now in this most magical season of the year – like a Hallmark Christmas movie without all the shopping and baking deadlines! And children of all ages will be working their own magic ~ writing fall acrostics in schools and libraries in the coming days.

I took Ollie to the vet: one shot
one little heartworm injection~
I got that guilt trip stink eye:
get me out of here NOW, Mom -
before making a scene
flattening himself
onto the floor
playing dead.....
DRAMA
KING