Tag: writing

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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 23 of #VerseLove with Anna Roseboro

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Anna Roseboro of Michigan is our host for Day 23 of #VerseLove. You can read her full prompt here. She inspires us to write April Showers Bring May Flowers poems about the idea that good things come from the not-so-good.

Her challenge: Think metaphorically, about a teary time or not so nice incident that preceded or evolved into a cheery time in your life, and then in sixteen lines or fewer, describe the time or incident that could be an affirmation that “Yes, April showers do bring May flowers” or the opposite.

What Makes them Rescues 

their misfortune makes
them rescues ~
the kind 
with serious baggage
where cell phone dings
and the 
smell of heat 
bring flattened-ear,
tucked-tail trembling,
the kind that
gaze into your
eyes, wishing
they could pour out
their story but
certain you
already know

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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 18 of #VerseLove with Shaun: Motivational Speech

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Shaun of Las Vegas, Nevada is our host today for the 18th day of #VerseLove2024. He inspires us to read this poem by Charles Bukowski that you can find here, along with the full prompt. [Bukowski, Charles. Sifting Through the Madness for the Word, the Line, the Way. New York: Ecco (An imprint of HarperCollins Publishers), 2003.]

Then, he urges, Think about your life. Do you feel like there is something holding you back? Do you feel stuck or helpless in your circumstances? Do you remember a time when you persevered and overcame the challenges thrown at you? Perhaps you can tap into your inner-coach and deliver that life-changing halftime motivational speech!

I found inspiration in these lines of Bukowski’s

just watch them.
Listen to them.

I also added ending lines from Old Woman of the Roads by Padraic Colum

out of the wind’s and the rain’s way

The Neighborhood

there they are
building nexts 
in the garage
again
three already

we can’t even
put the door 
down because
there’s one on top
and on the toolbox
and in the corner 
in a box

three wrens

friends?

just watch them.
Listen to them.

building houses
chirping dreams

in this
regular
bird-friendly
neighborhood

out of the wind’s
and the rain’s way

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Day 17 of #VerseLove with Erica Johnson

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Erica Johnson of Arkansas is our host today for the 17th day of #VerseLove. You can read her full prompt here as she inspires us to write Echoes from the Past.

Erica explains her process of writing an echo sonnet:

As I told my students, don’t worry too much about the traditional sonnet structure; focus instead on keeping it to a brief conversation of 14 lines between yourself and an “echo” of your choice. 

I’ve been down and out with vertigo this week, so the echoes have been loud in between the world spinning.

##!@ ##@* Vertigo Meadows

Green grasses sway and bend and spin (like wind!)

look less like blades, way more like monster fur (sure!)

I’m praying for this vertigo to end (when???)

It’s hard to think when all the world’s a blur (duhrrr!)

Who’s Epley? I get sick from his maneuver (a mover!)

Oh, wait! I jerk my head ~ear crystals shatter (scatter!)

This could be true – a vertigo improver (a soother!)

Just keep a barf bag close so things don’t splatter (it matters!)

Even chirping birds sing sideways songs (gongs)

and baby bunnies loop like Ferris wheels (banana peels)

I need this meadow back how it belongs (it’s all wrong)

my countryside set back on even keels (not these feels)

Royal Fortress Meadows sing their woe (echo)

This dizzy/jacked-up/whirling Vertigo ($h1t Sh*w)

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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 15 of #VerseLove2024 with Angie Braaten

Angie Braaten is our host today at http://www.ethicalela.com for the 15th day of #VerseLove2024. You can read her full prompt, along with the poems and comments of others, here. Today, Angie inspires us to write elegies in the style of Clint Smith. You can read two of Clint Smith’s poems here:

Clint Smith’s “Playground Elegy” and “No More Elegies Today”

Honey Buttered Toast

Today I will

write a poem

about a dog eating honey buttered toast

it will not be a metaphor for a land of milk and honey or savior-style pet rescue

it will not be an allegory for a character named Boo Radley, white as a ghost, who saved people, found standing behind a door

but rather about bottled wildflowers

sweetly spun nectar of honeybees

dancing through the meadow, kissing blossoms

but rather about buttery cream

freshly churned from Guernseys

grazing green grasses of the meadow

but rather about chaffed wheat

grain gleaned from the meadow

ground and baked and sliced and toasted

but rather about the blending of ordinary meadow things

that become the extraordinary

when the world doesn’t want to read another dog poem

Boo Radley and Briar eating honey buttered toast for breakfast