Tag: open write

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July Open Write Day 1 of 3 with Jennifer Jowett

Today’s host for the first day of the July Open Write at http://www.ethicalela.com is Jennifer Jowett of Michigan. You can read her full prompt here, inspiring writers to compose a poem of Memory Threads – – a way to breathe in healing through fabric of story and connection.

This month, I’ve been capturing Dad’s final words and stories in audio clips and poems as he inched closer and closer to Heaven, one foot in this world and one in the next. It’s as if Jennifer’s prompt was written just for me. That’s the thing about poetry ~ it meets you exactly where you are and invites you into the vast realm of each moment, scattering the light and blanketing the dark and swimming fully immersed in the shadows. For me, there is no greater healing than what is found in prayer and verse. I’m convinced it’s why the Bible itself – the Holy Scripture – is written in verse. Because it casts light on all truth and heals souls right where they are, and it invites personal response.

I hope you will visit the link above today and read some of the poems and, perhaps, write your own. Even if you don’t share it with anyone, my wish for you is the peace of writing and the healing of expression. Forget perfection. Forget whether it’s good or not, whether it’s right or wrong. There are no rules.

Just dive in.

Still Life with Dying Father

my brother and I

sat by our father

in his final hours

each labored breath

casting ethereal ripples

on the gossamer veil

hanging sheer and thin

between man and Maker

each weakening whisper

each story

each prayer

each memory

becoming weightless

dancing gracefully

toward the shimmering glow

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June Open Write Day 3 of 3 with Leilya Pitre

Leilya Pitre of Louisiana is our host today for the last day of the June Open Write. You can read her full prompt here. She inspires us to write poems about small acts of kindness. If you’ve ever curated a music playlist on a theme, you know there is excitement in the discovery of related verse – it’s an addictive cognitive hobby. Leilya has done that – curated a group of poems on a theme – and offers several model poems to use as inspiration. She shares these below:

She explains the process and urges us to write an etheree or nonet as our poetry form.

  1. Choose a small action or quality that you believe helps make someone a decent human being or good citizen. It may be kindness, honesty, fairness, patience, curiosity, listening, speaking up, sharing, helping, apologizing, forgiving, welcoming, learning, planting, voting, mending, repairing, thanking…
  2. Brainstorm what this word or act looks like in daily life. How does it show up? Who taught it to you? How do you practice or witness it?
  3. Write a poem celebrating or exploring this quality or act.
  • Nonet → 9 lines; starts with 9 syllables, decreasing by one each line.
  • Etheree → 10 lines; starts with 1 syllable, increasing by one each line.

A Gift of Dill Pickle Chip

I slide my dill pickle to the side

a rippled chip, algae-hued green

floppy, salty, puckery

knowing he’s eyeing it,

never having to

ask for this chip

he knows I’ll

offer

it

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June Open Write Day 2 of 3 with Tammi Belko

Tammi Belko of Ohio is our host today for the second day of the June Open Write, inspiring us to write poems about our normalcy. You can read her full prompt here.

Tammi explains the process:

1. Use the word “normal” or another word of your choice.
2. Brainstorm examples or characteristics of that word as they relate to your life or the world around you past or present.

3. Write a poem that defines your chosen word. Your poem may take any form.

Teaching Ideas:

  • Choose nuanced vocabulary words for students to incorporate into their poems.
  • Have students select nuanced words to describe a character from a novel studied in class and use the word in their poem.

Kim’s Normal Poem

the day normal changed

normal changed on Friday the 13th

the way things do

when Dad drew his last breath

my brother and I

had gone home

for showers and sleep

planning to return

shortly

but shortly came sooner

than we’d thought

and the Hospice nurse

called to tell us

we could come spend time

with him before

she called the funeral home

we walked in to find him

under a scripture-embroidered

bright yellow blanket

wearing his Georgia Bulldogs cap

as if he were taking a nap

right before the game

at perfect peace

with the world

as we exchanged

a knowing look:

it would only be normal

for our quirky dad to

wear his velvet-sleeved

doctoral robe

and ball cap straight

through the pearly gates

***

he brought tears

and laughter as folks

realized: this is so Felix!

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June Open Write Day 1 of 3 with Leilya Pitre of Louisiana

Our host today for the first day of the June Open Write is Leilya Pitre of Louisiana. She inspires us to write dictionary poems. You can write read her full prompt here.

She outlines this process for writing a dictionary poem:

Choose a word that may describe you, and then then write your poem as if it were a dictionary entry from your life. Include some or all of the following parts:

  • Etymology: Where did this word enter your life? Who gave it to you? When did it start to matter?
  • Definition: What does this word really mean to you now?
  • Synonyms/Antonyms: What words shadow it? What words have you replaced it with?
  • Misuses: When was the word used unfairly or wrongly?
  • Example Sentence: Include a personal memory or story that shows this word in action—your version of how it lived in your world.

What word have you carried? Write your own life-definition poem. You may follow this format closely or bend it to suit you. You may completely disregard the prompt and/or the instructions and write whatever brings you joy today.

Before Dad died, he kept urging us to tap into the serendipitous steering currents of the spirit. He loved words and their sounds and meanings. I’m choosing the word serendipitous today as my dictionary word.

serendipitous (adj.) – a favorite word of Felix Haynes; he referred to the serendipitous steering currents of the spirit – it began mattering in the days leading up to his death when he urged us to watch for things to happen – to unfold in unexpected and divinely inspired ways.

definition – the divineness of the hand that parts waters, lights stars, and moves mountains like in Romans 8:28, making a way where there seems to be no way.

synonym – beneficial

antonym – unfortunate

misuses – planned, controlled, humanly intentional

sentence: Don’t be surprised when the serendipitous steering currents of the spirit sweep in and cause miracles to happen.

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Making Body Butter

My sister in law and I have been making various salves, lotions, balms, and body butters. It all started in April. She found a recipe for Bergamot Body Butter, and it’s been fun ever since. We each ordered some of the ingredients and a slew of containers, fired up the stove, and got to stirring and mixing, making our own magnesium and shea butter foot creams.

Today’s poem is a simple tricube – three stanzas of three lines with three syllables!

Sister Time Tricube

bergamot
shea butter
olive oil

lavender
mixing bowls
minerals

beeswax flakes
kitchen fun
sister time
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May Open Write – Day 3 of 3 with Sarah J. Donovan for Demi Sonnets

Today’s host at http://www.ethicalela.com for our final day of the May Open Write is Sarah J. Donovan, who inspires us to write Demi-Sonnets about something we almost missed. You can read her full prompt here. Sarah says, of Demi-Sonnets:

  • 7 lines.
  • It’s formal without being, you know, strictly formal.
  • They are encouraged to end with a full or a slant rhyme. (An Emily Dickinson approved form.) Instead of a perfect rhyme where the ending sounds match exactly (like cat and hat), slant rhymes have slight variations in sound like hope and cup, bridge and grudge.
  • Erin describes them as “aphoristic” and something of an “elongated fortune cookie” 
  • There’s no set syllable count.

Call Interference

front porch phone call late at night

unfurling starburst: opening show

caught my eye in the moon’s spotlight

petal by petal, revealing its brilliance

conversation ~ a bloom interference

most never see this nocturnal sight:

Queen of the Night crowning waterlily-bright!

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May Open Write Day 2 of 3

Dr. Sarah J. Donovan is our host today at http://www.ethicalela.com for Day 2 of the May Open Write. She inspires us to write poems of our heritage through place and culture. You can read her full prompt here.

Home is Changing

here in rural Georgia

on my front porch

on this drizzly Sunday morning

on the Johnson Funny Farm

with my coffee

and banana protein shake

I sit in my nightgown

and a pair of flip flops

hair in a clip

computer in my lap

listening

hearing

feeling

crying inside

what has been home

is changing

what has brought comfort

is falling

in sickening thuds

what has brought deep peace

is disappearing

by the log-truck load

birdwatching

here

is almost over

what remains

is perhaps

five more mornings

and my heart is sick

grieving with loss

for my birds

and their nests

and their eggs

and their choir

but this morning

those in trees

still standing sing like

all those Whos in Whoville

in the absence of place or thing

not knowing their tree

is next

today’s song is in joy of overcoming

others are

singing their goodbyes

one by one they’ve come

to the single row of pines

closest to the porch

and perched

like a last hug at the airport

said farewell

and flown off

no luggage in hand

to the next life

my tears here on this porch

don’t stop

won’t stop

how do I live in the absence of

morning birdsong

deep in the woods?

more important~

how do they?

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May Open Write Day 1 of 3

Today’s prompt at http://www.ethicalela.com for the first day of the May Open Write is by Dr. Sarah Donovan, who encourages poems related to the stages of forgiveness and pain. I’ve chosen a double haiku followed by a shadorma for today’s verse, blending madness and sadness of grief that lingers. I’m reminded that sometimes forgiveness is a long time coming.

For Today

all lies, no mercy ~
how can I choose forgiveness?
I’m still working through
things that can never
be replaced, lived out rightly
the way she’d wanted

perhaps in
time there will be a
change of heart
but for now
for this hour, for this moment
my soul can’t forget

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May 2: Winter or Warmth?

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

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March 19: 2:36-3:07 Lucky Me! A Proud Nana Nonet

Our hosts today for the fifth and final day of the March Open Write at http://www.ethicalela.com are preservice teachers, students at Aquinas College. Come on over and read their prompt as they inspire us to write a nonet.

All I can do is daydream about spending time with my grandchildren, so that’s what I do most afternoons in the 2:36-3:07 slice of my day. I have photos of my family on my desk, and I think on the happy memories when I was rocking newborn Silas, playing Yahtzee with 15 year old Aidan, and pushing Saylor and Noli on the swings, catching River and Beckham at the bottom of the slide, and helping Sawyer put on his new rollerblades at the park. These are the days I look forward to in retirement, and while I can’t be there yet, I can surely daydream about it……..


I’m proud of my seven grandchildren

days steeped in workday retirement

daydreams to spend time with them ~

rocking, reading, playground

visits, traveling,

loving them up

proud nana

full time

fun