Patchwork Prose and Verse
a honeybee
took a liking
to my Cayman Jack
margarita
climbing into
the bottle
taking a long swig
then a dip
then a plunge
then a swirl
and died
a senseless
death as I
tried to help
her back
to a better life
but she
refused to
admit her
problem ~
she’s buried
at campsite 301
by the fire pit
a pollinator
extraordinare
her life cut
short by
the delusional
pleasures of
this world
a tiny black wet
Schnoodle nose
nudges my arm as
marble-black eyes
covered with wild brows
peer up at me
from the camper seat
when I lift my arm
to raise my mug,
drink cold brew coffee
from my Halloween
Snoopy mug I truly
believe will make
the cool temperatures
arrive sooner ~
Fitz is slumped
against me,
seeking, too, all
the magic of
forthcoming fall
the changing
of seasons, gentle
wind blowing outside,
a tad early for the
acorns peppering the
camper’s roof but
all the rest of
the comfort of rituals
he knows as
reassuring trust
and belonging
in his forever family
next time he
goes to a
storytelling night
he will time his
cliffhanger at
exactly two and
one half minutes
and then when
they tap that
ridiculous spoon
on the coffee cup
to signal thirty
more seconds
he will smile
return to his seat
leave everyone
hanging
and sit down
Today: Book Launch Day
order your copies to read
and to pass along!
(see the links below)
🌟 Exciting News! 🌟
We’re thrilled to announce the release of our new books designed to inspire and support teachers in creating classrooms where every student feels seen and heard. 📚✏️
Free download here: http://www.ethicalela.com/store
Free download here: https://open.library.okstate.edu/justya/
For sale here: https://www.amazon.com/stores/Sarah-J.-Donovan/author/B01GLZG89Y
Want to hear the story behind the books? Watch this video where we share the journey and heart behind these resources that aim to bring more connection, creativity, and compassion into your classrooms. 🎥✨
👉 https://youtu.be/tdRSC0dYPgI?si=QR9E7mY0l7LWGqX8
We can’t wait to see how these books will spark creativity and foster community in classrooms across the country. Happy reading and writing! 💙 #NewBooks #TeachingResources #PoetryInClassrooms #InclusiveEducation #90WaysofCommunity #WordsThatMend #JustYA
it occurred to me
in the shower
this morning that
the work shoes
I just bought
may be the last ones
I’ll need for my career ~
these last-hurrah celebration shoes:
Life Stride flats with
Velocity 2.0 footbeds
in navy and taupe
may get me through my
remaining years
taking me straight into
the retirement years of
my soul spirit
classic hippie Birkenstocks
for all the frayed denim
and fringed shawl
days ahead
just not today,
not yet.
Anna Roseboro of Michigan is our host today for our fifth and final day of the August Open Write. Anna encourages us to walk through poetry from #VerseLove 2024 and apply the TIME acronym to the elements of a poem and construct a verse about one of our choice. You can read her full prompt here. I chose Stacey Joy’s Our Old Kitchen Table to think about these elements in her poem and to write about each.
Time
Imagery
Music
Emotion
Tabletime Tempos
Through all these tender table times
In games, gatherings, cartoons, showers,
Meals, drumrolls of dice and laughter and tears against
the backdrop of time ticking
Emanating life tempos tintinnabulated and tolled, thus told
around the old kitchen table
sometimes when
I am alone
only the stars are visible
in the empty darkness
my mother’s laughter
twinkles from Heaven
and I feel the
narrowness
of my grief
only the stars are
visible when
the trees close their
eyes and lift
their leaves
in prayer
when this
pinhole light
of heaven
seeps down
breathing song
into leaf
into branch
into trunk
into forest
when shimmery
halo glitter
of ancestral
angels
cascades down
swaying waves
into oceans
into lakes
into streams
and creeks
for all the world
to hear
the music
of hope
for all those
still here
who listen
**first lines inspired by words photographed at The Immersive Titanic Exhibit in Atlanta, Georgia last weekend
that moment when you
see your book cover
for the first time with
your group of writing
friends and hold back tears
for all the waiting,
for all the writing,
for all the hours spent
anticipating
what you always but
never dreamed so real
and possible and
finally right here
here it is, set to
launch September 2
stay tuned for the link
to our stories, to
our wounds, to our hearts,
to our healing words
Cheers for Words That Mend!
she’s there
but I can’t
hear her
I can only see her
she comes to me
in dreams
we travel
climb stairs
sit at tables
drinking coffee
in B&Bs
holding presence
Common Threads 