Tag: poems

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Day 30 of #VerseLove with Dr. Sarah Donovan of Oklahoma on a Slice of Life

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Today we wrap up #VerseLove 2024 at http://www.ethicalela.com with a prompt from Dr. Sarah Donovan, inviting us to choose a favorite prompt from the month and write another poem on that same prompt. I chose Stacey Joy’s In Our Mama’s Kitchens and Fran Haley’s The First Time. A very special thanks to Sarah Donovan and to Two Writing Teachers for giving us a space to write and grow and encourage each other. I look back as a preacher’s kid growing up in a household where one truly never knew which way the ball was coming, and today’s poem takes me back to the first time I knew I needed to hold on tight.

Pastorium Perils

late summer 1971 
in rural Reynolds, Georgia 
the land of peach trees
in their time of ripeness

Mama was pregnant with
my baby brother and
we were in the den
Mama Daddy and me
when

 ~~whoosh~~

in through the kitchen door
a naked girl with 
long wet hair
streaked through
our house holding a towel
screaming all the way 
down the hall
to my parents’ bedroom

locking the door
on her heels her stepdad
pounding and screaming
threatening her life
I recognized them from church

I was five
the girl was a teenager 
(with flapping boobs 
……and hair….down there?)
her stepdad was drunk

my mother clutched me 
carried me like a football
into my room
locked the door

then ran through 
the connecting bathroom

I followed, fearful 
to stay alone
crawled under their bed

Mama found the girl 
huddled in the bottom
of their closet
shaking
crying uncontrollably
wailing for help
Mama comforted her
clothed her
sat on the bed 
holding her

called the cops

we listened 
in fear for Dad
as we waited

those slurred screams 
of fury
are seared 
into my memory forever

she comes with me
or I’ll go get
my ruiner
and ruin you

then more voices,
the crash of a lamp
furniture slamming

handcuffs, arrest, 
police report
one prominent
family in ruins

exposed

it was the first time
I knew
growing up a preacher’s
kid would bring
a whole cast of 
characters always calling
mostly clothed

it was the first time
I saw a naked teenager
running for her life

Special thanks to Two Writing Teachers

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Day 28 of #VerseLove with Glenda Funk: Strike Through Poetry

Glenda Funk of Idaho is our host for Day 28 of #VerseLove, inspiring us to write Strike Through Poems. You can read her full prompt here. Strikethrough poetry is similar to found or blackout poetry, where a poem exists within an existing poem.

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The Key

Don’t you wish we

could take the key

to the end of

the island like

we used to do

when I was little

and you could still

say Latin names

for each shell and bird and tree

your love for them pure

and passionate before

the day it all changed

for you?

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Day 26 of #VerseLove with Scott McCloskey: Billboard Poems

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Scott McCloskey is our host today for Day 26 of #VerseLove, inspiring us to write short billboard-type poems of wit and wisdom, the kind that stick with a reader and leave an impression. You can read his full prompt here, but I’m adding some notes below, too:

Scott explains:

This, of course, is not something new, this “poetry as billboard.”  Poems have replaced advertising on some buses (and other forms of transit) in Washington thanks to the Poetry in Public program. https://www.4culture.org/poetry/ And over thirty years ago, The Poetry in Motion folks did a similar thing, placing poems in various transit systems in Los Angeles, New York City, Nashville, and San Francisco (among many, many others).  https://poetrysociety.org/poetry-in-motion

Just looking at a small sampling of the poems from the New York Poetry in Motion selections https://poetrysociety.org/poetry-in-motion/category/new-york you’ll see some heavy hitters: Charles Simic, Audre Lorde, Tracy K. Smith, Maya Angelou, Seamus Heaney, Shakespeare, Sharon Olds, Billy Collins, Walt Whitman…look, I could just keep naming them, and you’d recognize all of them!  You’d also notice that their topics (and size of selections) are as varied as the poets themselves.

Clinking Pens

on Aisle 12

I caught him

peering around

the corner

“I thought that was you,”

he smiled, approaching.

“Remember me?”

Of course I did.

“Chandler!”

We side hugged,

I asked him

about life.

“I want to

thank you,”

he said.

“You taught me

if I remembered

nothing else

to always keep

a pen on me.”

He reached

in his pocket,

pulled out

a black pen

with gold banding.

“I just bought

my first house

and signed with

it. I thought

of you.”

My breath caught

a tear welled

and my heart

burst with

that now-I-can

die-a-teacher-

who-mattered-joy

I reached in

my purse

pulled out

my signature

Pilot Varsity

fountain pen,

blue ink,

and we clinked

pens, smiling

there on

Aisle 12

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Day 25 of #VerseLove with Tammi Belko: Where I’m From Poems

Tammi Belko of Ohio is our host for Day 25 of #VerseLove. You can read her full prompt here. She inspires us today to write Where I’m From poems, based on George Ella Lyon’s “Where I am From” poem. She provides a template to create a “Where I Am From” poem.

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Royal Fortress Meadow 

I’m from the Royal Fortress Meadow

from Breck shampoo and Johnson’s No More Tears

from wispy locks of amber gold, windblown in the breeze

I’m from chain-woven crowns of wildflowers, dandelions, and daisies

from backlit sunlight exposing the truth: there will never be no more tears

from churning butter and wondering why the pants don’t fit

I’m from ancestors of the lye soap stirred in the backyard tin tub

from the front porch swing and swigging Mason Jars of sweet tea

from wash behind your ears and do a good tick check

from a don’t you slam that screen door one more time! flyswatter granny

who swatted more than flies

I’m from the country church of the cardboard funeral fans

with the off-key piano

I’m from Georgia, Cherokee blood three generation branches up-tree,

still searching for the bloodstained earth of my ancestors

from Silver Queen corn, husks shucked

from shady pecan groves and Vidalia onion fields

from Okefenokee swamplands and railroads

that side that tallied three pees before flushing

from clotheslines of fresh sheets teeming with sweet dreams

from sleeping under a box window fan in sweltering summer heat

from folks doing what they could to survive

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Day 22 of #VerseLove with Donnetta Norris: Earth Day Poems

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Donnetta Norris of Texas is our host today for the 22nd day of #VerseLove. She inspires us to write Mother Earth poems. You can read her full prompt here. She encourages us to make a list of all the gifts we have received from Mother Earth and to write a poem in the form of our choice to say thank you. She also provides these links for inspiration:

Earth Day by Jane Yolk

Earth Day Poems

Ode to Earth Poems

Thank You Poems

Today, I chose a pantoum and rooted it in Ecclesiastes 1:9

Nothing New Pantoum

there is nothing new under the sun

mind-blowing truth of Ecclesiastes

since the dawn of time, nothing new

everything we see was here all along

mind-blowing truth of Ecclesiastes

God hid gifts in Mother Earth’s belly

everything we see was here all along

discovered, spun, re-mixed anew

God hid gifts in Mother Earth’s belly

riches to bestow, wonders to behold

discovered, spun, re-mixed anew

sacred scriptures ~ this is true

riches to bestow, wonders to behold

since the dawn of time, nothing new

sacred scripture ~ this is true

there is nothing new under the sun

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Day 21 of #VerseLove with Stacey Joy: Mama’s Kitchen Poems

Stacey Joy is our host today for the 21st day of #VerseLove. You can read her full prompt here. She inspires us to write Mama’s Kitchen Poems.

Kitchens are oftentimes the heartbeat of a home. They are gathering places and hold memories like no other room in a house. Stacey mentions a recent podcast episode featuring legendary author Judy Blume, finding herself mesmerized by Blume’s memories and stories of her mother’s kitchen. If you are interested in listening to that episode, here is the link. 

Next, Stacey shares the process: Let’s share our memories from our mothers’ kitchens, our own kitchens, or any kitchen that holds memories for you. 

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A Lock of Hair

there, hidden in the cakes and pies section

of Mom’s Gold Medal recipe box

with all the family secrets

an unsealed blue envelope

holds tender gold tendrils

~ cherished childhood hair ~

ethereal

long blond strands

of me

steeped

in

love, one

remaining

wisp of a child

blended, kneaded, shaped,

her own recipe for

disaster ~ aproned kitchen

ancestors gather still to check

on this bun baked through all their ovens:

did she fall? did she rise? did she turn out?

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Day 20 of #VerseLove with Susan Ahlbrand

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Susan Ahlbrand of Indiana is our host today for the 20th day of #VerseLove. She inspires us to write Noteworthy poems. You can read her full prompt here.

She shares the process for writing these poems: reflect on communications you’ve had in the past . . . notes like mine, phone calls, letters, texts, Facetimes, and then work them into a poem. Feel free to tinker with an inventive form.

Getting the Picture

there was this picture

this picture of a watermelon

A WATERMELON!

a watermelon sliced

sliced like cries

cries of a mother

a mother with cancer

cancer that consumed

consumed her, piece by piece

piece by piece, like a watermelon

like a watermelon, there was

there was this picture

picture a mother

a mother crying for mercy

for mercy denied

denied until the end

the end, after the pain

the pain of loss

loss of a body, loss of a family

a family broken, a shattered picture

picture a mother

a mother who mattered

mattered to her sons

her sons who loved her

loved her and listened

listened and heard

heard her pleas

her pleas for mercy

for mercy denied

denied by others

others who refused

refused to believe

believe she felt pain

pain that consumed, piece by piece

piece by piece consumed their mother

a mother who mattered

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Day 19 of #VerseLove with Dr. Stefani Boutelier of Michigan

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Stefani Boutelier leads us in Irish poetry today. You can read her full prompt, along with the poems and comments of others, here. She writes,”Today I will introduce the Deibide Baise Fri Toin form. It was difficult to find the full history of this form and more impossible to get a clear translation, but I like how it ends with one word to represent the power of single words and syllables. The quatrain form (3/7/7/1) is explained here:

Line 1: 3 syllables, rhyme A with two syllables

Line 2: 7 syllables, rhyme A with two syllables

Line 3: 7 syllables, rhyme B with one syllable

Line 4: 1 syllable, rhyme B

A published example of a Deibide Baise Fri Toin

This link provides a nice templated example at the bottom 

Praise!

shake and sing
gospel choir awakening 
hallelujah voices raise ~
praise!
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Day 16 of #VerseLove with Dave Wooley: Sevens Up

Dave Wooley is our host today at http://www.ethicalela.com for the 16th day of #VerseLove, inspiring us to write seven- line poems called Kwansabas. You can read his full prompt here, along with the poems and comments of others.

Dave describes this process:

The Kwansaba is an African-American poetic form that was created by Eugene Redmond in 1995. It is inspired by the seven days of Kwanzaa and it is a praise poem. 

The rules of the form are:
-it is a seven line poem,
-each line is seven words in length,
-each word is seven letters or less,
-and the poem should be a praise poem

He’s Back

today I praise this dim quiet spot

this sweet spot, still, fan breeze blowing

air on my face: my current view

is the ceiling and flutter eyelid blinks

because Vertigo demands all of my being

ghost thief of time, work, family dinners,

but mark my words: still, I’ll rise

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Day 14 of #VerseLove2024 with Margaret Simon of Louisiana leading us into Spring Days with Borrowed Line Poetry

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Margaret Simon of Louisiana is our host today for Day 14 of #VerseLove, inspiring us to use a borrowed line from a poem to inspire a new one. You can read her full prompt and the poems of others here. For Margaret’s prompt, she chose a favorite Billy Collins poem entitled Today and challenges us to use the line “If ever there were a spring day so perfect….” I’m letting that line be my title today for this borrowed line poem. With a huge thanks and a salute to Margaret Simon ~ and to Billy Collins.

If Ever There Were a Spring Day So Perfect

sun shining brightly would melt winter’s curse
planes would trail banners of poems and verse

flowers would smile pinkly, swaying in dance
groundhogs would high-five their weather-called chance

jasmine would fragrance porch swing breeze
beckoning readers to carpe this diem seize

sun-brewed sweet tea would pour extra-freely
buds would unfurl on branches green-treely

butterflies would turn pages of poetry books
hummingbirds sip nectar with grateful quick looks

napping hammocks would cradle a snooze
on a perfect spring day, we’ve got nothing to lose

wild bunnies would scamper, tumble, cavort
neighborhood club kids would hide in a fort

cows in the meadow would slumber unflied
folks would seek seashells on shores at low tide

woodpecker bellies would hammer with laughter
and the whole springtime world would live happy hereafter