Inspiration
You have learned a lot in your lifetime. I bet you have some advice to give that would, if not make life easier for another, comfort them in their journey to make sense of this world. If you are up for it today, write an advice poem. If not, write about anything you wish.
Poem-ing Pointers
In thinking of advice, I am sure y’all can advise a new teacher, but perhaps today, as on day one, you will ponder your experience in other aspects of your life.
- What is a sport, hobby, or talent you have really become good at — cello, hockey, badminton, cake making, sewing, gardening, roller derby, stand-up comedy?
- What is an act of service that you once disliked but now “get” better (the purpose, the value, the people you help) — volunteering, mowing the lawn, picking up dog poop, selling GS cookies?
- What is something really small that you do well that maybe no one notices — it could be invisible, intangible like kindness, positive thinking, imagining?
- Try using apostrophe today — talking to an imaginary person who would benefit from your advice or addressing the activity/object directly with a “you.”
Craft your original poem in the comment section below and check back throughout the day to comment on others and receive the encouragement offered by your fellow poets! Swim in the #verselove2019.
Sarah’s Poem
Advice to all the Talls (not that I don’t love the Smalls)
When I was your age, I was 5’9”,
rather tall in the halls
of middle school.
My sisters called my pants
“floods” because they were
always
too short,
so I would steal my brother’s 32x34s Levi’s
belt them tight and join a world
not waiting for a flood.
In those days, there were no “
in the stores for girls as if being tall were some sort of wrong.
So between the pant thing and
the boy issue (being literally a foot taller than some),
I would slouch, and hunch, and hide
not knowing that it would get better.
It did get better.
It does get better.
The world of fashion caught up,
and you now benefit from stores (most online)
with longer sleeves, hems, and lengths (even 36s).
But clothes cannot stand tall for you.
Walk with your shoulders back and enjoy the view.
The daily inspirations for #verselove2019 are merely suggestions. If there is something within your heart or mind that you want to work through in verse today, please do so. There are no rules about the topic, length, or form — just poem any way you wish. Feel free to invite friends and colleagues to join us any time throughout April. Check out NCTE Verse for poem resources and click here for fifty verse novel recommendations.
For Elle, my five year old granddaughter, on the day I got to attend Grandparent’s Day at PreK:
Speak clearly
Stand up straight
Look ’em in the eye
Make the rules
Break the rules
The ceiling’s not so high
Love dearly
Hold the weight
See ’em as they are
Knock ’em down
Build ’em up
There’s power in your core
You, my dear, have gumption,
such a gifted guide
The mountains wait your journey
Now get your grip and ride
Amy — your granddaughter is a lucky girl. Your guidance will be such a wonderful part of her growing up! Susie
You will learn
their
words
don’t matter.
hurt at the time
you
will
want
to
cry.
You will feel
sick
want
to
go
home.
You will need
a
hug
a
friend
understanding.
You will grow
up
they
were
wrong.
You will understand
you
are
good
enough!
You will become
a
beautiful
person
who
is
loved!
You will…….
Tricia — I so appreciate the hopefulness of this. So often these wounds are so tough, and knowing that we are “a beautiful person” is so difficult to believe…but believe it we must! Susie
Rondeau Pour les Voyage
The world awaits your time to go
become the man the boy would know.
For when your time with me is done,
this I bestow to you my son;
chose the palette for your tableau.
Reserve a thought for tomorrow
although today is your rainbow.
Holding a prism to the sun,
the world awaits.
The sky above, the earth below,
savor the highs, endure the lows.
You may have plenty; maybe none.
Know that you’re not the only one.
Your home is always here although;
the world awaits.
To the Young Mother Beginning Her Baseball Mom Career
Never mention “no hitter” when one is happening
When his glove is over his mouth, he’s telling it what to do
A new bat needs time in the cages to learn its job properly
He jumps over the chalk lines to avoid angering the baseball gods
If he’s struggling on the mound, something must change. All you can do
is go to the bathroom or move your chair and hope that change is enough
Watch the subtle courtesies:
a catcher hit in the mask; ump walks the ball to the pitcher-speaks for a moment,
pitcher drops to one knee to tie a cleat.
Ump takes a foul ball off the chest protector. Catcher turn, sees he’s okay,
calls time, trots to the mound.
Pitcher and catcher confer, Coach walks the ball to the plate.
Game continues-everyone’s had time to recover-everyone’s pride intact
Enjoy the sights and sounds:
flag wafting over the center field fence
scratch of cleats in the on-deck circle
pop of the ball hitting the glove
And then it will end.
Maybe after over twenty years, from t-ball through college,
it will end
in the blink of a double play.
No one will want to leave.
Maybe he’ll tell you “”You know-I don’t mind walking away from baseball.
But this”-and he nods toward his teammates-“it’s hard for this to end.”
You’ll drive away
and glance back at the lights
You will know
They are all Fields of Dreams.
You brought back memories for me — so many days watching four son’s play ball. For years. Thank you!
Ode to New Teachers
It’s only my second year but this is so far what I’ve gleaned
Go home at 3
Not every day, not always, but do not have to spend every waking moment grading
You do not have to stay until dark every day perfecting lessons and completing a mountain of grading
You are a person with a life outside and it’s ok to devote one day to the darkness of grading mountain, but one day only
Smile before December
Kids don’t have to be afraid of you to respect you
Set clear, consistent expectations
But smile, talk to them, learn who they are
Greet them at the door and say goodbye as they leave
They are people too
Find the good ones
There will be many you encounter
who are burnt out and negative
and seem to be angry all the time
Don’t spend time with the thorns
Find the roses who care and love and laugh and grow
You will cry
You will lose sleep
You will run on Dunkin
You will wonder why
But you will laugh
You will learn from them
You will love them
You will be your best for them
Michelle, these are wise words! It takes many of us many years to learn these truths (ahem…especially the stanza dealing with the dark grading mountain). I adore these lines: “Don’t spend time with the thorns
Find the roses who care and love and laugh and grow.” Yes! Yes! Yes! The thorns will suck the life out of you. Find the new teachers and the veterans who, despite it all, still love their kiddos and have a passion for the work. These people are your life line. You can learn so much from them.
Good self-care advice for new teachers. My mountain of grading is Everest height, and I’m in year 38. I especially like the way the last two stanzas contrast.
Thank you for touching on the heart of what we do-it is our hearts!
Sarah, this was me, too. 5’9″ in 5th grade and shared your experience with too-short clothes. Two of my daughters went through much the same thing, exceeding my height as they entered their teens. Thanks for so beautifully putting together the words to describe what that was like. And thank you for concluding with “Walk with your shoulders back and enjoy the view.”
The Lie of Perfection
Elusive, hiding, just out of reach,
chasing the wind,
impossible dream.
Painful, stressful, maker of angst,
never worth it,
abandon it-now.
Hidden, anxious, fearful of risk,
unless perfect,
time to step away.
Relax, accept, leaper of faith,
it will be fine,
see re-a-li-ty.
Joyful, happy, liver of dreams,
mistakes enrich,
trust in what will be.
Tracy, another beautiful poem. As a perfectionist trying to kick the habit, “relax, accept, leaper of faith, it will be fin” really stuck out. It’s such a powerful message that faith and trust in ourselves can guide us and we can always learn by trying, even if we sometimes fail. Thank you for sharing!
As a recovering perfectionist, this poem kicked me in the soul. I especially love the emphasis “see re-a-li-ty.” I tell myself this daily.
“Advice from a Cat to a Worrywart”
Find someone who’ll love you, despite your fickle ways.
Make snack time a priority, and lounge around all your days.
Life’s too short to worry, might as well take a snooze.
Living like a cat is a sure cure for the blues.
Tiffany — Yes, those sweet kitties have got it down. I love your cat-ly ways. Fun! Makes me miss my ol’ Tootie. Thanks for sharing. Susie
I am sitting in my chair with my cat beside me, and he concurs! Or he would if he weren’t so busy napping.
For my novice and veteran colleagues:
You are good!
It’s okay to be good all alone.
So, just do what you should
To bring joy to yourself
And share joy with others.
You are kind!
It doesn’t matter
If I didn’t understand
When you did what you should
To bring peace to yourself
And share peace with others.
You are smart!
I just may be jealous
When you get accolades.
So keep doing what you should
To bring to light to yourself
And share light with others.
Thank you for sharing Anna! The ending of each stanza stuck out to me “to bring joy/ to bring peace/ to bring light” because it’s so important to show self-care when in a job or position of caretaker. I love how these lines structured the poem to be for “yourself” and others.
When I was your age, I was 5’9”,
rather tall in the halls
of middle school.
My sisters called my pants
“floods” because they were
always
too short,
so I would steal my brother’s 32x34s Levi’s
belt them tight and join a world
not waiting for a flood.
In those days, there were no “talls” or “longs”
in the stores for girls as if being tall were some sort of wrong.
So between the pant thing and
the boy issue (being literally a foot taller than some),
I would slouch, and hunch, and hide
not knowing that it would get better.
It did get better.
It does get better.
The world of fashion caught up,
and you now benefit from stores (most online)
with longer sleeves, hems, and lengths (even 36s).
But clothes cannot stand tall for you.
Walk with your shoulders back and enjoy the view.
Sarah — The imagery is so visual — I could just see the “floods”– what a funny term that rings true. How real it is that girls faced the “boy issue” with a “slouch, and hunch, and hide…” It’s such great advice to those girls we see struggling to wade through adolescence. I remember buying in the men’s department Levi 501 jeans with the button fly and having my dad lecture me about how inappropriate they were…. that sure didn’t help my “boy issue.” LOL! Growing up tall sure made for some stories. Thanks for sharing! Susie
Sarah — I was on the opposite end of the height spectrum in high school. These lines stand out “so I would steal my brother’s 32x34s Levi’s / belt them tight and join a world / not waiting for a flood” because I remember my awkward stage of being too old for boys shoes and not having big enough feet for men’s shoes, but the women’s shoes fit just fine. Ugh…I couldn’t muddy those up quick enough. Thank you for sharing.
I had the problem of being too short. At my tallest, I was 5’2″. Pants in those days did not come in petite, regular, or tall lengths, so mom had to hem every single pair of pants she bought for me. I would stand for what seemed like hours on the foot stool while she, with a mouth full of straight pins, would fold and pin, then unfold/refold and pin, until she had each leg at the exact length that she wanted them to be. Then there was more standing as she eyeballed both legs to be sure they were the same length. Whew! I was so glad when short lengths became available! So was mom!
“Clothes cannot stand tall for you” is a nice push against Polonius’s advice to Laertes: “Clothes oft make the man.” And is there a more awkward time than junior high/middle school? I hope you shared this w/ students. Kiddos need that “it gets better” promise. It does!
This could be my poem, my story. I love all of it!! “But clothes cannot stand tall for you” — I wish I would have learned this much sooner. My mother always told me to stand up straight, but it took me forever to understand that truly standing tall means more than “shoulders back.” Thank you for this beautiful poem!
“Advice for Those Seeking Love (in Response to Peak Break-Up Times)”
***Just a bit ‘o fun, folks!***
Don’t do it!
Realizing most won’t follow this advice,
I submit a list of hurdles that,
if you jump over, may indicate
you found “the one.”
1) You must find your special someone
near the end of summer vacation,
because data projects
a good three-month window of success.
2) Be wary of early winter holidays –
heartbreakers increase their attack
two weeks before Christmas Break.
3) If you make it through break
things seem to be in your favor,
especially on Christmas Day.
It’s the gifts, folks.
People are too lazy
to return their presents.
4) Make it this far and you should be good
until Valentine’s Day
when your significant other may
tear your heart of your chest and
offer it to you on that special day.
5) April 1st is a good day for relationships – Not!
Watch those pranks,
and remember
if you’re the only one laughing
you may not be
in a relationship for long.
6) Watch those Mondays throughout the year,
evidently even love can’t survive
a strong case of the Mondays.
7) When the summer comes
people shed their winter clothes
and old relationships
to clear the way for new love.
Protect your heart.
Make it through the summer and
you may, just may,
have found “the one.”
Your reward?
Another year of hurdles.
Be careful, folks.
It’s rough out there.
This is adorable. I learned a new word from the college writers I teach. It was around Halloween, and they were talking about “cuffing”: “Cuffing Season” is that period of time between Halloween and Valentine’s Day when everyone seems to be in a relationship, particularly if you’re single. One explained that the word came from “hand- cuffing.”
Great new word for me. I’m so glad you shared this. Susie
“People are too lazy to return their presents” made me laugh. Good advice coupled with good humor!
Andy — This is a stitch! I am laughing out loud. Each of these admonitions, while in jest, are pretty darned true. “…a strong case of the Mondays” will foul almost anything! Perfect! And the ending line….aah, fits just dandy. Seriously, I’m sharing this with a couple of my friends if that’s okay with you. It just really is funny. Thanks for this Thursday giggle. Susie
Glad you liked it, Susie. Lol…share away!
This is hilarious, Andy! My favorite part has to be that after you make it through those “hurdles,” you get to do it all over again as your reward. Perhaps a followup poem could be “Run! Run and Don’t Look Back!”
Andy, so hilarious! I loved the ending “your reward? Another year of hurdles” just when the reader thought they were in the clear, the reader realized more relationship work is ahead. Thanks for sharing!
“Be careful, folks, / It’s rough out there” is a nice culminating comment in the hurdles singles must jump to have a successful dating life. Glad I’m done w/ that mess. I laughed at the holiday references and remember a Valentines Day Dear John letter. Wonderful poem.
“May tear your heart out of your chest and offer it to you on that day” is making me roll with laughter. The sweetest day of the year and we are the meanest. So many expectations we can’t live up to! This is hilarious and I love it!
ADVICE
I could have slapped her
That pushy old cow
Elbowing me aside on her way
Up the tedious queue where
I was being patient and courteous and
All Girl-Scouty.
Your turn. No, your turn. No, your turn.
My feet hurt.
My legs hurt.
I was hungry.
And in an instant, I became red-face angry.
I barked something clever like, Hey,
Who died and left you in charge?
She waddled to a pause, looking back at me
With those crazy cow eyes, and slapped
Me instead…
“Aww, eat a fig newton and take a nap.”
Jackie — The voice in this is so very real… that instant confrontational anger and the kid voice (“barked something clever like, Hey, Who died and left you in charge?”) made me root for you to punch her (that “old cow”). “All Girl-Scouty” made me grin. The “cow’s” “crazy cow eyes” brings to mind those Little Rascals episodes when the kids were forever getting into scrapes and hurling their “fig newton” epithets. It also reminds me of the playground poem from yesterday that one of our poet colleague, Sarah, shared. And those elbows are very strategic parts of our anatomy — getting elbowed out of the way is a truly aggressive, bullying type of act. It’s funny to think of the Girl-Scouty persona who wants, deep down, to whack the “cow.” LOL! A fun piece to share! Susie
Yes, Susie. I was thinking of this connection, too. Jackie brings the body into this poem so vividly — the motion, struggle, tension internal (legs hurt, hunger) and external (waddle).
I’m glad to see someone else feeling the need for some slapping and violence in a poem. Welcome, violent one. Come sit by me! I can help you eat those cookies.
Advise to My Daughters
Be more than just beautiful–
Be gentle with yourself, silencing the forked-tongued voice in your head.
Welcome adventures, both big and small.
Let your voice be heard–speak new ideas, banish hurtful words
Be more than just beautiful–
Be the one who includes, providing safe harbor for those in the storm.
Walk strong in your faith, trusting the Creator’s purpose for you.
Let your light shine in the darkness
Be more than just beautiful–
Be confident that you are enough, even in your imperfection.
Bring joy to each day, blessing those around you.
Let your heart dream big dreams and believe they are possible.
Be more than just beautiful–be true to YOU.
Advice**– I needed to proofread!
Gentle, adventurous, confident, inclusive of others – great advice for your daughters and for all of us!
Gail, I love the repetition of “Be more than just beautiful-” There is so much more to a person than what catches the whims of another. Lovely poem for all. Your daughters are very lucky to call you their mother.
Gail — this line about being enough resonates deeply with me. I always hear (and too often listen) to the whispers of doubt. Your advice to your daughter is so accepting and encouraging. When we have someone we love believe in us, we certainly have a better chance of silencing the whispers and imposters.
Be more than just beautiful is not only good advice, it carries a nice rhthym with its repetition.
On the line
Between the twins
And the bull-headed
Stubborness of May,
You will find it hard
To just be.
One day flighty,
The next grounded and sure.
You will wonder
Which you
You will be
When you open
Your eyes each morning.
You will grow older.
You won’t figure
It out.
Whatever
It is.
But you will learn
To make peace
With the war inside
You
And find the beauty
In the struggle
To find
Balance.
I think “making peace with the war inside” captures the beauty of aging. You advice is timeless!
Katie, I love the clever use of horoscope traits you use to center this poem. My favorite phrase is “find the beauty / in the struggle.” Indeed. Thank you for sharing.
Advice to Those Who Mourn
Grief arrives in no small portion
A rebuke to loss of life
loss of health
loss of love
loss of self
It can crash down like an erupting wave
Or insidiously envelop — a fever
that radiates from the head through the limbs and into the extremities,
smoldering just beneath the surface,
invisible to many yet sensed
on some level
by all.
Grief chokes the breath out of everyday living
and disconnects from life’s energy.
Though necessary,
it often overstays its welcome.
Grief held too dearly is grief savored.
Grief clung to blinds us.
Don’t be selfish with your grief…
Others hurt too.
Loved this. I especially liked your word choice (rebuke is a word that I rarely see but find holds so much meaning, especially in this context).
Ruth, your power is powerful throughout, but the last stanza – wow!
“Grief held too dearly is grief savored. / Grief clung to blinds us. / Don’t be selfish with your grief… /
Others hurt too.” The truth in the last line rings loud and clear. Thank you for sharing.
**poem…. whoops, I submitted too soon.
Such a powerful simile: It can crash down like an erupting wave
I’ve not seen a more accurate depiction of over the overwhelming nature of grief.
So true, your words. ” It can crash down like an erupting wave.” Happens especially at night. Thanks for sharing such a powerful poem.
April 4, 2019
To Dennis and the Teachers Out There
When I took up guitar lessons
at age 59 a decade ago,
I thought “Hell yeah, I can do this; free now and really
it’ll be just like I’m 15 again.”
But
I was a first grader again
at guitar —
I knew four chords and Kum-By-Yah
when I was a teen, but really
all I remembered was G.
But there was this teacher,
Dennis, a patient, whiskery young man,
and there my journey began.
You looked at me,
saw me,
asked, “What is it you want to learn?”
You knew that I, this first grader in old-lady baggy jeans over a body fighting gravity,
would never stick with this
unless
it was what I really wanted to learn.
Advice #1: It’s not about what you want to teach; it’s about what the student wants to learn.
Really, I just want to play and sing by the campfire with my friends.
You set aside those Hal Leonard 1, 2, 3 scale-loaded primers,
asked, “What kinds of songs do you like?”
John Prine songs make me laugh and cry — I love him.
Emmylou always brings it home.
Willie…well, who doesn’t like “Blue Eyes Cryin’ in the Rain”?
And that is where we started:
my vague recollection of G and a song I loved;
Excited, but terribly embarrassed to be this fossil wanting to play
that beautiful mahogany Martin,
who did I think I was
plucking on that instrument
that rockers and pickers climbed the charts playing for the past 60 years?
You played with me, pacing a patient strum,
the D, the A7, and the G chords,
and I sang quietly, still red-faced,
but wanted this.
“Whoa, you can sing…that’s great… let’s try that again,”
You kept a slow and steady tempo,
never minded my questions.
I boom-chucked along,
struggling to keep up,
pitiful at guitar but I could sing, and I kept
trying
to walk-and-chew-gum.
Advice #2: Find the strengths, acknowledge them, focus on them, and they will take you forward.
Muscle memory …
tiny bits, then tiny bits more.
My fingers cracked on cold days; but
two measures better
every week,
calluses hardened;
out of my old fingers and love of singing song after song
that I died to share with anyone who would listen,
we chiseled a musician.
Advice #3: Little successful steps quickly turn into a sense of self, an identity.
Three years with me, every Thursday in the bowels of the music store.
sitting on a decrepit folding chair in that tiny room,
you mapped notes and tablature,
song after song after song.
At home each day I manually placed my bent, stiff fingers
onto the strings and plucked
note by note, string by string, chord by chord over and over … just fingers
till Travis Picking was mine,
smoother over time,
and I unearthed the sweet spot.
.
Now my Martin bears a decade-old patina
from rubbing the right way, our two curved bodies
meeting every morning and every evening
with a cup of coffee or a glass of Cab and musical thanks.
Released into the wild,
I haunt the campfires, play little gigs for forgiving ears,
and my life is fuller, better
because a teacher
was set on helping me reach
what I wanted to learn.
by Susie Morice
i’ve always envied musicians and would readily trade other attributes to be a natural, but i’m not, so i listen (i also love prine). “Advice #1: It’s not about what you want to teach; it’s about what the student wants to learn.” so profound, i want to say that’s been in my heart, but not necessarily conscience thought, although i’m not sure. i will now take it to heart and make a conscious effort to realize this each day in my classroom. thank you.
This is a terrific tribute to Dennis and all the teachers like him. “What do you want to learn?” is a question that changes the relationship of teacher and student. Well-written!
Susie, I love the way you situate your poignant advice as a teacher who is now the student. And…what great advice it is! My favorite is “Advice #2: Find the strengths, acknowledge them, focus on them, and they will take you forward.” Thank you for sharing.
This poem gives me hope. I want to learn to paint in retirement. And maybe play the ukulele. Favorite image: “this first grader in old-lady baggy jeans over a body fighting gravity.” Are you familiar w/ Tracy K. Smith’s podcast “The Slowdown”? A few days ago she read Kevin Young’s poem “Cresting,” which I shared w/ my AP Lit kids today. Your poem reminds me of Young’s poem in places. And I love the way you weave advice into the narrative.
Glenda — Thanks for the references… I’ll be checking on those. I appreciate it! Susie
I love this! Your country music resonates with me today. I had to drive an hour north of Nashville from an hour south of Atlanta (and back – 12 hours in the car) and my daughter and I were singing along to some old classic country songs. I started writing snippets of the lyrics of favorite songs to make a mash-up poem. It’ll be more difficult than I thought at first but Blue Eyes Cryin in the Rain may be another good one to use! My favorite one of the day was My Give a Damn’s Broken by JoDee Messina. I just love her attitude in that song! Your poem reminds me of special times and the role that music plays in our lives. Good times!
listen as you write
Characters speak their first words to you, the writer. Your mission: develop perfect pitch, take accurate dictation Cherish being alone w/ your words: clarity emerges/reveals itself in quiet places/Silence is the midwife of all art: Be still & know that words are gods
Thank you for this advice! Sometimes I forget to listen, to allow space for the characters to speak to me — “silence is the midwife of all art.”
Regina — I feel the passion in your words…each phrase is so commanding. I want to remember this advice every day! Thanks, Susie
“Clarity reveals itself in quiet places” – amen! I love this writerly advice!
Accept beauty, caring
Deny evil
Forget gaudy heraldry,
insipid jaundice, killing love
Man needs;
optimism,
peace,
quiet resolve,
safety, truth,
Unwavering virtuous world;
Xanadu
Youthful zeal.
In our 7th grade classroom, we were just talking about allusions, so Xanadu resonated. (Love being able to name moves writers make.) “Forget gaudy heraldry,/insipid jaundice” — whoa, this is complex and beautiful. I am re-reading and pondering.
Steve — My favorite bit is the need for “quiet resolve.” Boy, is that ever true! Thanks for sharing. Susie
You’ve got it all – A through Z! And it makes great sense and gives foolproof advice. Go, Steve Z!
Were you thinking about Coleridge w/ the allusion to Xanadu? “Insipid jaundice” evokes cowardice. I like the way this poem moves from the dystopian to the utopian.
“Silence”
You can’t hear the pain of silence
Can’t add syllable or sound to silence
Can’t repeat silent utterances
Can’t name quietude’s meaning or
Hide its wordless erasures, and
Silence like a slow rolling fog
Creeps cloaked in invisibility
Assumes polite posture
Performs quiet tableaux
Squats on speakers’ tongues, and
Silence shadows sons & sweethearts
Swears allegiance and
Seemingly oblivious to still
Small voices longing to speak
Snatches unsuspecting souls.
*I teach speech as well as English, so helping students find their voices defines my work.
“Silence shadows sons & sweethearts” — this line (and stanza) has lovely alliteration as so much of your poems do. I like to read your poems aloud to hear your artful use of consonants and vowels. The last line, however, is staying with me “snatches unsuspecting souls.”
Sarah, Thank you. I only started writing poetry w/ any regularity last year. Poetry is my weakest genre, but I have always loved it. I know when I’ve written a good essay, but I have no sensibility when it comes to my own poetry.
Glenda – My favorite image is “Silence like a slow rolling fog… assumes polite posture…” It forces me to pause and enjoy that slow image. And “squats on speakers’ tongues” is a dandy image. Playing with voice and messing with silence is a fine combination. I enjoyed thinking about your poem and some of its power words like “allegiance,” “squats,” “snatches.” Susie
I really appreciate “wordless erasures.” How many times do students ( or teachers or anyone) think about saying something, hesitate, then backtrack—for whatever reason—so their thought, their contribution never sees the light of day. And once again, they remain silent. Really insightfully captured.
Ignore Kondo
Clean out your closet by your own rules.
Not everything fits like a glove all the time.
Weight fluctuates.
Not everything fits the seasonal color palatte.
Be a unicorn.
Not everything sparks joy.
This isn’t Utopia.
Not everything is practical.
Make Gene Simmons proud!
Not everything is comfortable.
Neither is life.
Not everything is fashionable.
Be a trendsetter.
Not everything is worn every decade.
Be a hippie.
Not everything needs a designer label.
Learn from a Sneetch.
Not everything is new.
Embrace rescue clothes like rescue pets.
Be your own expert.
Write your own rules.
-Kim Johnson
Palette is the correct spelling – I could not figure out how to edit.
Marie Kondo list me when she said keep only 30 books. ?♀️ Your advice is spot on. Gene Simmons and Sneetch make me smile.
A other poem that made me LOL, as I mentioned Marie Kondo in my poem yesterday!
Also, when I woke up today I never expected to read a poem with a Gene Simmons reference! ? ?
Kim — This poem is packed with great advice. I stood looking in my closet yesterday, and your advice is exactly what I’m applying right now. Very real! Susie
“But clothes cannot stand tall for you” is my favorite line. We are who we are and the clothes do not make the man or stand for the man – or woman! I connected here because I remember a very long time ago when I wore a size 6x in elementary school. I wondered for a long time about that x. Why not make it A or B? Why x? “So sort of wrong” is a good way to put it! Love the advice to enjoy the view!
Wow! I truly never thought of this. Thanks for opening my mind so early this morning!
?I was responding to Sarah’s poem but I think I put the comment in the wrong place – a very me thing to do.
Kim, There is no “wrong” in this virtual space we are sharing. The sizing, the label on the clothes is definitely a trigger for me and my body image. Indeed, why the “x”?
Listen carefully
Helping, giving, loving more
Humbly walk the earth.
This poem has a great message. The advice is needed for our time! Thanks for sharing!
If we all did these things each day, we’d have world peace! We can make the world a better place. Thanks for these words that remind us!
Mo – Oh baby, spot-on! Ding! Ding! Ding! Yes! Susie
Ten words that could change the world. It doesn’t get much better than this. “Helping, giving, loving more”-That pretty much sums up what could be the new Golden Rule: Help, give, love whenever wherever you can. I love it.