Patchwork Prose and Verse
This Year, The Rodent Got it Right
just three months ago from today it
was Groundhog Day (my favorite
holiday, to tell the truth)
no gifts to buy, no food
to cook, no decor
just the stuff of
dreams of warmth ~
early
spring
as
forecast
by sleeping
(pulled out of bed)
prognosticator
who has only one job:
snooze all year, then toss a coin
like the regular weather guy
who still gets it wrong most of the time
Today, Dr. Sarah Donovan, founder of Ethicalela.com, is our host for the last day of VerseLove 2025. She inspires us with several prompt options, which you can read here. I chose to take a line from each host’s poem throughout the 30 days, in order, to create a new poem. I took the last line from my poem on the day that I hosted to become the title. Poets’ names are in the order in which their line appears under the poem.
Even Now
I bequeath myself to the dirt to grow from the grass I love
a new leaf
our friendship remains
wind whips snow and rain and sleet, stinging our smiling faces
older now, but happy
I am from green sticker grass, speckled with dandelions
twining vines together to be held in the right places
a lullaby for what cannot be undone
you might have ooh’d and aaw’d
to keep the memories
unraveling
to write the tears and cry into absence that hope might
taking me to a different time and place
let us walk in the woods
a truer friend is hard to find, so kind
there will be joy in the morning
mind drifting under periwinkle sky
something like the snowballs we wished to have
knowing we will someday die
nor think the illusion a mirage
warm and bittersweet
everything is ghastly white –
all a reminder that newness brings life
secretly embracing
that this wasn’t really
like my thoughts
in the midst of the storm, it can be hard to see clear
into life’s unknown
and still, I hold onto hope
A huge hug and thank you to these host poets with borrowed lines, in order:
Jennifer, Leilya, Denise, Dave, Bryan, Stacey, Erica, Darius, Britt, Joanne, Kate, Sarah, Padma, Brittany, Katrina, Angie, Tammi, Jordan, Susan, Glenda, Margaret, Barb, Larin, Ashley, Scott, Alexis, Donnetta, Stefani, Sarah/Maureen
Donnetta Norris is a 2nd grade teacher in Arlington, TX, and is our host today for the 28th day of Verse Love 2025. She inspires us to write cause and effect relationship poems. You can read her full prompt here. She encourages us to write a poem that depicts or expresses how good can come from what is seemingly bad.
Turning the Tables on a Narcissist
sometimes you don’t realize it right then
a certain someone cuts you off
because you wrinkle their plan
you begin to question
the reasons for their
bad choice, then just
like that you’re
cut off ~
thank
God!
you were
dealing with
a narcissist
but hadn’t figured
it out until you were
next on the flying monkey
list but you knew right from wrong and
turned the cutoff into your own choice
you escaped! (as always, they play victim)
Margaret Simon, our host for VerseLove Day 22, lives in Louisiana.
Margaret inspires us to write prose poems of emotion today. She explains, “A prose poem looks like prose; however, there are poetic elements that set it apart from a paragraph. There is a rhythm of poetry within the prose-like lines. Contemplate an invitation to an emotion. Write it out in prose. Let your words flow out like the water from a teapot.”
Click, Click, Click, Ding
….at the table with The Poetry Fox ~ his vintage typewriter clicks like my mind, wondering how he works this magic. Writing poems in a minute, pounding out letters, words, thoughts, feelings. Bringing tears of sentiment, laughter of imaginings, words and images to life. Like a heartbeat, rhythmic and steady, not skipping a beat until the poem is complete and he stamps his paw print, reads the gift aloud, winding my joy-filled heart right into the ribbon of those keys I can still clearly hear…..
click, click, click,
ding,
click, click, click, click, click
ding
click, click-click, click
Jordan, our host for this 19th day of #VerseLove 2025, lives in Suffolk, VA.
She inspires us today to write poems about food.
lots of things I don’t do right in this world
but making a fresh sprout and kale wrap
with beets and a half dollop of
mayonnaise is not one of
them, fortunately ~ and
the difference is
right outside on
the porch where
it grows
fresh
Dr. Sarah J. Donovan is the founder of Ethical ELA, a community for teacher-writers, and a 2024 Fellow for the Genocide Education Project. A former middle school English teacher and author, she advocates for humanizing literacy practices, genocide education, and poetry as witness. Her work bridges pedagogy, justice, and storytelling.
Sarah inspires us to write poems in recognition of the past and in celebration of the Armenian people, their voices, and their enduring culture. You can read her full prompt here. I’m sharing a celebration pantoum.
Armenian Culture Pantoum
elders are respected
children are revered
Hellenistic temples
intricate khachkars
children are revered
strong family values
intricate khachkars
lavash and harissa
strong family values
Yarkhushta marriage dance
lavash and harissa
Artsakh carpets
Yarkhushta marriage dance
Hellenistic temples
Artsakh carpets
elders are respected
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
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
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….
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!
