Common Threads

Poetry challenge from Aida Salazar:  write a FREE VERSE poem that describes how celestial bodies affect you

ONE WITH THE CRAB

Cancer the Crab:  a sign of water – blue water
Island girl born peaceful and tranquilly crabby

Dim constellation in a quiet corner of the universe
She’s an oyster

Requires a telescope to see all his stars
Keeps her layers hidden, too

He boasts a beehive cluster of stars
Rich honey blocked by bees

Northern Donkey and Southern Donkey Stars at his heart
Explain the blue donkey at hers

Asellus Borealis and Asellus Australis
She’s Double-Stubborn, too

Origin of nativity pictures – donkeys behind a manger
She’s behind that manger as well

“Blind Stars” predict poor eyesight
Bumps into walls, but prophetic like Teiresias

“Stubborn donkeys” see what others cannot see in the path –
     protect others as they resist
She perceives what others don’t

His Superearth a “diamond world”
She’s the strongest stuff on Earth

 -Kim Johnson

Poetry challenge from Kip Wilson – write a poem that replaces lyrics with a popular or well-known song:

First line borrowed from Mary Oliver’s “The Hermit Crab”

Poem set to the chorus of “Still, Still, Still”

RESCUED

Once I looked inside
All the darkness that you could not hide
I found you fear noises
Saw you shun strangers
Learned you love living
Knew you’d need nurture
Once I reached inside
I found a friend who’ll remain by my side.

-Kim Johnson

Kip Wilson’s poetry challenge:  Write a poem about a school memory – good or bad.

Poetry challenge from Kip Wilson: write a poem using ten words you highlight from any news article, to make something not so happy something happy.

Words Highlighted:
Yellow rain slicker
Red stripes
Aviator sunglasses
Slicked-back hair
Scronched
Pummelled
Plane-sized
Pretzels

Poetry challenge from Kip Wilson – write a poem about a historical figure with whom you’ve always been fascinated.

Poetry Challenge from Kip Wilson:  Create a poem using book spines as the lines in the poem.

Poetry challenge from Anna Roseboro – use instrumental music from a wedding to inspire a poem about a wedding you have attended. 

Marriage of an Island Bride and a Funny Farm Groom

Happily Ever After came for her at 41
Matchmakers took what had for two folks come undone
Believed the perfect pairing that neither of them thought
Until a shattered window made clear what at first was not
A Gordon Lightfoot concert and a flattened trinket ring
Led to a proposal on a City Park swing
Two families both delighted at the coming wedding day
Plans took quirky twists and turns each step of the way
A mail-order wedding dress and gold spray-painted shoes
A sight-unseen wedding band gave juicy shocking news
“Lullaby” by Bond played as the bride strode down the aisle
White tulips standing straight at first, then kneeling afterwhile
Three preachers there to tie the knot with stories, vows, and prayer
Reminding all that love eases the burdens that we bear
Pronouncement, then a sudden change of script – surprise!
The ears could hear, but faces showed confusion in the eyes
Tradition thrown aside because it didn’t quite work for us –
We chose instead recessing to Handel’s Hallelujah Chorus!
Still Amen and Hallelujah strong

– Kim Johnson

Poetry challenge from Anna Roseboro – write a Lazy Sonnet, one word per line, 14 lines in the scheme of ABAB CDCD EFEF GG ending with a rhyming couplet. 

I tried for one word – – but still have too much baggage for that one-word sonnet suitcase. I also failed in my Lazy Sonnet because I added an extra set of rhymes to make it GHGH II at the ending.

Teas, Please

Pau d’arco
Chamomile Calm
Matcha Mango
Lemon Balm

Red Rooibos
Honey Yuzu
Pink Hibiscus
Oolong Voodoo

Ceylon Jasmine
Mint Darjeeling
Rose Mandarin
Honey Ginseng

Earl Gray
Pu-erh Spice
Yerba Mate
Bombay Chai

More Teas
Pretty Please

 -Kim Johnson

Poetry challenge from Anna Roseboro – Write a poem of transliteration using a piece of prose and converting it into a poem.

This poem was taken from a lengthy journal entry about ways that books throughout my life have shaped me. I took the early years of my life as my focus in order to keep the poem short – the journal entry is too long and rambling to share here, but this is my poem:

Books Shaped Me

I was blessed to be born to readers and writers.
Bedtime stories and early books shaped me.
I learned from “A Day in the Jungle” in the Bedtime Story Book that friends make us stronger.
I learned from “At the Seaside” in A Child’s Garden of Verses that the tide erases sandcastles.
I learned from Childcraft Poems and Rhymes that purple cows need friends.
I learned from “A Visit from St. Nicholas” that visions of sugarplums should keep dancing in my head.
I learned from Nancy Drew that life is a mystery.
I learned from the Boxcar children that families don’t always work out.
I learned from A Taste of Blackberries that people we love die.
I learned from the Bible that I’ll see those people again.

     -Kim Johnson

Poetry challenge from Anna J. Roseboro – write a Pantoum poem
about a memorable event in your life.

Appointment

Racing home for your last breath
Choosing your burial plot at Christ Church Cemetery
Dodging traffic on Frederica Road
Sprinting to your bedside, car still running
Choosing your burial plot
Deciding – historic section or new?
Sprinting to your bedside
Expecting an angel to fly
Deciding – which section?
Asking for a sign the choice was right
Expecting an angel
Rejoicing your suffering was over
Asking for a sign
Dodging traffic
Rejoicing
Racing home

   -Kim Johnson