Today’s writing inspiration comes from Kimberly Johnson, Ed.D. She is a literacy coach and media specialist in a public school in rural Georgia. A former public school classroom teacher for 20 Years, she taught all grades except 4th and 12th, and she is the author of Father, Forgive Me: Confessions of a Southern Baptist Preacher’s Kid. Meet Dr. Johnson at NCTE 2019 in Baltimore where she will be giving two presentations: Adventure Book Clubs and Project-Based Learning.
Inspiration
Travel Tanka Poems – During the summer months, families take vacations or trips as we enjoy time away from work and deadlines. Whether a trip takes us to faraway lands or on an adventure right in our own backyards, the discoveries along the way shape us as we go and grow. Consider the John Steinbeck quote, “We don’t take a trip. A trip takes us.” (Travels With Charley). In what ways have journeys taken you to new places?
Process
- Write a Tanka poem about a trip or adventure you have taken, are taking, or are planning to take. The format for a Tanka is 5 lines, with syllable counts of 5-7-5-7-7 per stanza. Include as many stanzas as you wish.
- Is your journey inward or outward – or both?
- Does your adventure take you overseas? Out of state? To your own backyard?
- Does your trip last for weeks, days, hours, or moments?
- Take us with you – somewhere, anywhere!
Kim’s Poem
“Eating My Way Through Europe”
In a London pub
Fish and chips, malt vinegar
Beer and lemonade Shandy
Warm bread pudding for dessert
Scoop of vanilla ice cream
Eating escargot
Espresso shot with sugar
Outdoor cafe in Paris
Melted Camembert on toast
Chocolate mousse for dessert
Florence, winding streets
Pasta arrabbiata
Shredded Parmesan
Spicy penne with basil
Pistachio gelato
Rome, table upstairs
Hot pizza margherita
Mozzarella cheese
Red peppery olive oil
Thin, crispy crust for dipping
White asparagus
Buttery tasting in soup
Berlin restaurant
Tangy red cabbage side dish
Apfelkuchen for dessert
Farmhouse in America
Fresh eggs from backyard chickens
Fried over easy
Yolk-sopped buttery wheat toast
Apple butter and coffee
Still no place like home for food
-Kim Johnson
Post your writing any time today. If the prompt does not work for you today, that is fine– make-up your own prompt or a twist on this one. All writing is welcome. Please be sure to respond to at least three writers. Below are some suggestions for commenting with care. Oh, and a note about edits: The comment feature of this blog (and many blogs) does not permit edits. Since we are writing in short bursts, we all are understanding (and even welcome) the typos that remind us we are human.
My journey takes me
to AZ yet my journey
is in here belly
full of butterflies flutter
whispers of family hurt
I responded to this prompt with a blog post 😉
https://awordedgewiselindamitchell.blogspot.com/
My Happy Place
Big Sky Montana
My happy place forever
Where mountains surround
the fields of bright wildflowers
Rivers serenade my soul
Lovely Yellowstone
Bison and elk along roads
Huge waterfalls flow
Geysers astound all who watch
Divine creation indeed!
Glacier hikes through snow
Mountain goats and marmots greet
Visitors from all over
Whose admiration unites
Memories are made with love.
Montana, my happy place!
Christi,
Thank for you joining us!I so love the line “Rivers serenade my soul” as the personification and alliteration bring alive the music you reference. All throughout your use of consonance creates this music of place, your “happy place.” “Lovely Yellowstone/Bison and elk along roads” — all the ls just strumming along. Gorgeous!
Sarah
Tending Young Plants
The morning ritual
of watering tomatoes,
carrots, onions, squash —
ill-content to mind it’s space –
peppers, herbs, waning flowers
is experience
all its own, despite mere steps
through the green strands
–albeit, yellower now –
of lawn – possibility
full as a harvest basket.
Quiet and careful,
noticing weeds and fresh blooms,
tendrils of stretching
vine, coiling around support
like my own son’s fingers, tight
around mine, secure,
growing and hopeful and strong.
But we can’t predict
the hail, the rabbit, the beetle.
Neither can we protect son
from sorrow, pain, fear.
Gardeners, we nourish
and tend, defend and bolster,
plant him in rich soil, give light.
Then we hold our breath and wait.
Oh Haley, This is I am so glad you shared this here. I love the possibility full as a harvest basket…and the hail, rabbits and beetles we can’t predict. I relished again the image of your son’s tendril fingers in yours.
Dallas, Texas by Rachel B.
Wandering around
Train tracks, food, and mosquitos.
Bucking bulls, wranglers,
Shopping, wine, and family time.
Family time–priceless
You created a poem rich with imagery of Dallas, Texas, and I enjoy the sensory effects of the sound of train tracks, the smell of food, the itchy feel of mosquitos, the sounds of bucking bulls and sights of wranglers and family walking around shopping – oh, and the taste of wine…….I love that taste of wine! Thank you for taking us to Texas to wander around with you today!
My mind won’t shutoff
What can I do better next year
When will the house sell
I wish I could enjoy life
As I sit poolside at this hotel
I’m glad you tackled the honesty of taking us on the journey of worry. We’re all there at times – – truly, we can be sitting in beautiful places and can enjoy neither the scenery nor the moments for the stress and concerns that put the emergency brake on us at times. It’s another of the journeys that we all take. Thanks for sharing with us!
So relatable! I could write a poem like this about waking up in the middle of the night!
Do you really think
The world is connected by
Roads and aeroplanes?
I miss you when I’m alone
I’m packing it up today
I know it’s not long
Until the landscape changes
Like caterpillars
Convulsing into mountains
Pines dancing like teenagers
Music bouncing us
Like ‘30s Disney cartoons
Uphill to heaven
With its pert lowercase “H”
But still, it is pretty good
Suicidal deer
Like dying in the hot night
I like the stars’ songs
Their brisk bright lyrics sung to
Sober silent melodies
I’m here so we can
Celebrate a spry success
So the Earth is round
Would you have settled for less?
A Frisbee…under duress…
Your use of simile and metaphor in this poem is brilliant! I particularly love the second stanza: I know it’s not long
Until the landscape changes
Like caterpillars
Convulsing into mountains
Pines dancing like teenagers
And I love, love, love the Frisbee under duress metaphor for the Earth
Your second stanza blew me away- so vivid! Was it wrong of me to smile when I read “Suicidal deer?”
Equilibrium Restored
I sit. I rest. Peace.
Fabulous sunsets, they are.
Mint tea and colors,
Inhaling and exhaling,
My life returns home to me.
Candace, your poem may be about your own restoration of equilibrium, but I felt it was mine. I like how the inhaling and exhaling line gave me tactile, action imagery in addition to the sights and tastes of the earlier lines. I love the final line. Lovely.
Your poem is a delight. It makes me feel so calm. I loved the reminder to breathe so that life returns home.
Good evening! I loved writing with several of you during the June writing challenge. My goal is to poet-up these next five days! Tonight I wrote about attending the NTCE Affiliates Conference last weekend. I love the push and nudge of writing with a specific syllable count. It makes me slow down, rearrange, re-think.
For Haley, JoAnn, and Kirstey
Five a.m. airport:
we laugh to spy each other
across the concourse
and rush to gate C18.
We are late, joyful, in sync.
We land in D.C.
Learn the Metro, still laughing.
Iowa, husbands,
children, nudged off our radar.
Independence fuels this place.
First to the Folgers.
Shakespeare: “It is I, Hamlet
the Dane!” with raucous
cheers, then weight of awe:
First folio in the flesh.
Three days to sate our
English-teacher hungers for
connection of heart.
To “Open our hands if we
want to be held.” And we do.
Allyson, this helped me to recall the excitement of traveling somewhere to be a part of a valuable and important event in a faraway land. Oftentimes I felt this way as a student in Wales, especially when contemplating meeting up with my colleagues in neighboring countries for historical tours and such. I really enjoyed the attention to quote Shakespeare here, as you so eloquently announced your presence at the “coffee bar.” Many a student, including myself, have experienced this very same sequence of events. Nicely relatable. Love this piece!
Allison – I love the spunky attitude that comes through your poem. Finally free of the husband and kiddos to enjoy and cherish time with friends. Wonderful!
The Southern Tour
Three states in three days,
Williamsburg to Atlanta.
A “former” student,
Always my priority.
Education never stops.
I like how your title informs the poem, and how your use of quotation marks on “former” prepared me for your final line. The specificity of “Williamsburg to Atlanta” put me on your map. Thank you.
Kate,
I enjoy the contrast that is created as the tangible is juxtaposed to the intangible, traveling through states vs traveling through the mind, always learning. Traveling is an education in itself. Thank you for sharing.
Kate,
When you used the line Williamsburg to Atlanta, I felt a tad jealousy. I have also wanted to visit Williamsburg. I too am a “former” student, always planning trips not just for fun, but to learn.
Teaching
My heart beats faster
when I start a new school year.
Often hesitant,
unsure and awkward, despite
the number of years I’ve taught.
Curiosity,
the who, what, when, where
manipulator,
reminds me of the reason
why I return to my room.
A journey in months,
a mere nine to be exact.
The very number
it takes to grow a new life,
making something from nothing.
Jennifer,
I really appreciate your perspective on the journey of teaching! This will be my 10th year, and I know I will still feel unsure and awkward in August. It’s easy to get lost in the minutiae of day-to-day life, but when I take the time to reflect, I remember those moments of “making something from nothing.” You really captured the beauty and wonder of a school year, and I love your use of metaphor in the last stanza. Thank you for your beautiful words!
Thank you! I’ve been teaching since 1989, and while it’s a bit easier, the nervousness and doubt still find a place at the beginning of a new year, a new unit, a new idea! Have a wonderful 10th year!
Jennifer — I sure do remember the “heart beats faster” and the overall anxiety of starting another term. You’ve captured that. I so appreciate that you are reminded “of the reason why I return,” as I know that helps ground teachers in the solid sense of mission of “making something.” Each year we grow new lives…something I actually liked about the long haul of a career in the classroom… the sense of renewal. Nicely done! Thanks, Susie
Oh I just love how your final lines “grow a new life, making something from nothing” moved me. I recognized myself in your poem. Truth!
Jennifer, that last stanza – wow! It really touched me. What an amazing analogy with the constant being “time,” precious time for transformation of self and students. I guess what most resonates with me is the imagery it creates for the reader which has stamped a positive impression upon my mind, preparing to begin this new journey again. Thanks so much for sharing.
I’m not traveling much, but I choose to surround myself with people who help me de-stress and enjoy my summer. As long as I have good company, I’m fine being anywhere (even having a staycation in my wonderful suburb, Aurora). Here’s a quick, two stanza, poem that captures my perfect summer/time away from my daily routine of being a teacher!
“My Kind of Summer”
June, July, August
Months away from the classroom
De-stress, relax, calm
It is not where I’m headed
But who I’ll spend my time with
Sun, rain, or strong winds
Our smiles will still stay as bright
Laugh, talk, and enjoy
With you, each day is better
My kind of summer is you
Jessica, you’ve got the prescription for a great teacher’s summer! I love these lines so much: “It is not where I’m headed but who I’ll spend my time with” and “My kind of summer is you.” You have captured the essence of the remarkable journey of building a relationship with those who are special to you. Those journeys are the most important ones we take, and your last line shows that you value togetherness! Thanks for sharing your journey with us!
Jessica,
Your poem really resonates with me! I felt sorry for myself at the beginning of the summer because I didn’t have any grand summer plans. However, your line “It’s not where I’m headed…” makes me thankful for being able to reconnect with “my people” this summer. Thank you for sharing!
As a teacher, I can definitely relate to this! Those precious months to re-energize are needed. I love how you ended this – my kind of summer is you. It reminds me that it’s the people who are important in our lives, those we “laugh, talk, and enjoy” time with. Thanks for sharing this!
[Note: Since I’m on the road and staying tonight way out in the grasslands of South Dakota, I took some time with those images.]
Buffalo Gap Grasslands
Afternoon rain line
hovers on the horizon
daring to blend blue
to green and refill the swales
in vast Dakota grasslands.
Winds swept from the West
comb the grass in a tremor,
an undulation,
a murmuration of green:
reminders of what was here.
Stepping quietly
into the grass, holding still,
witness what remains,
feel the bison pulse,
hear native voices whisper.
by Susie Morice
Second stanza is my favorite, and “undulation, murmuration” are my favorite words. This poem echos the poem you wrote in April describing the highway and rain. As always I have a clear image in my mind of the rain awaiting on the plain.
You stole my heart with your poem – especially knowing that you are standing there stepping quietly into the grass, feeling the sweeping winds and holding still. That last stanza, “witness what remains, feel the bison pulse, hear native voices whisper” put me there with you and sent me running to my bookshelf of my all-time top favorites to retrieve my copy of Aldo Leopold’s A Sand County Almanac – – the dogeared one that I have re-read 99 times at least and has all of my favorite passages marked and notes in all the margins…..so I turned to page 49 in the chapter “Prairie Birthday” and reread this sentence: “What a thousand acres of Silphiums looked like when they tickled the bellies of the buffalo is a question never again to be answered, and perhaps not even asked.” You did today what Aldo Leopold suspected no one may ever do again – – you imagined what it looked like! What a moment – – you made my heart take a pause and wonder, too. Thank you for the beautiful connection to your journey as you allowed me to live vicariously through you and Leopold today.
This is beautiful. I can see and feel and hear every bit of this. The details you add – daring to blend blue to green, the figurative language – comb the grass in a tremor – are powerful. I love the “reminders of what was here” and thought I liked that best until I arrived at the bison pulse and native voices whispering. Thank you for sharing this snapshot!
Hi Susie! I’m so happy to see you again!
When you said “rain line
hovers on the horizon
daring to blend blue
to green” I suddenly thought/felt: I know that!
To “comb the grass with a tremor” was another strong moment for me in your poem.
And then “murmuration”! What an UNDULATING word choice to mirror the line before.
As I entered the final stanza, I felt the combination of surprise and “ah, yes” that you built up to so artfully.
Beautiful. Thank you.
Susie,
Your words really moved me because your attention to detail with the imagery was outstanding.
I’ve travelled the world
But the absolute best place
Is near my small pond
Nathan in my lap, reading
Goodnight Moon again, again
Mo,
Nathan is so fortunate to have such a safe place to travel to the moon! Love this!
Sarah
Mo, I love the vastness of all the journeys in this poem – – around the world, to the small pond, to a child’s heart through a shared favorite book, and to the moon again and again……the journey clearly continues both in time and in love! Thank you for reminding us that the best travel is in the simple moments with those we love.
Love the sweet and beautiful imagery – mom & son, pond, precious sharing of a book. just love it all!!!
Mo — this is a very touching image. Being by a pond — so soothing and then to have Goodnight Moon being the retold story is very sweet.
Susie
Such a sweet image, Mo, of a father sharing a favorite book w/ his child.
Thank you all for your thoughtful comments and feedback. Nathan is my grandson. I’m lucky to be able to spend so much time with him and encouraging his love of reading.
Ir started outside,
But ended inside my heart.
East Coast Africa
On a long teacher exchange
Who knew how my heart would change?
At first it felt strange,
Being so far from my home.
“Are you of my tribe?”
“Sir, how would I know? My folks
Left Africa, sold as slaves.”
Kenya …Uganda
Old and young would say to me,
“You are one of us.”
By time the trip was over,
My heart said, “You now are home.”
What a lovely tribute, Anna. Travel changes hearts- I think you got right to the gist of it. My students always want to know why I travel so much. I may steal your line when explaining it in the future!
Mo, you’ve hit it on the head. Travel anywhere reminds us how much each plays pulls on our hearts. It may be the beauty of the place; it may be spices in the food; most often, though, it’s the warm of the people. Sometimes…it’s all three!
Ooh, Anna, the use of the word “tribe” here has so many charged layers of belonging intimately tied to physical and psychological geography, what it means to claim a home. So much resonating in these stanzas!
This is amazing to see what words or phrases resonate with different readers. I hadn’t thought about the contemporary use of the word “tribe” to mean someone of like interests.
Yes, this poem refers to a Rotary International Teacher Exchange with educators from East Africa. Part of my team’s itinerary included visiting schools in the three countries who had sent teachers to our schools in the San Diego area! We were of the same tribes, even though the group with which I traveled represented four different ethnic groups!
As educators, we have to remain open to what our student readers bring to the reading!
I like your “This is amazing to see what words or phrases resonate with different readers.” This is why we need to hear from the people who read our words.
Anna,
The sense of belonging that I feel in reading this poem is riveting. Your use of the words home, heart, tribe, folks, one of us – – those are words that we all long to hear and feel and know. Your journey was both inward and outward, as you mentioned in the first two lines – a faraway homecoming that is like comfort food for a hungry heart. Thank you for sharing your journey with us today!
Anna — What an important journey! To unveil the stories of who we are and where we come from is a powerful moment. “You are one of us.” I love that. Susie
I felt such a powerful build as I read your words. The final stanza gave me the rush of feeling that I want from a poem. I love how you have found your metaphorical home just as you are returning to your literal home. Lovely.
In June my husband and I spent two and a half weeks in Greece. Before departing school, a colleague asked me to take a bracelet honoring her daughter–who died the previous year from a self-inflicted, accidental gunshot–and take pictures with it in the places we visited. I did this and shared some of the photos with my colleague. Peyton was in eighth grade when she died.
“For Peyton” by Glenda Funk
Peyton traveled, too
Embossed spirit in light blue
Symbol of her life
Small band wound round my right wrist
An ever present presence
Acropolis ruins
Mingle with blue band and sky
Fallen Parthenon
Rises from an ancient world
To Gaze on Athen’s children
Aegean blue sea
Mirrors Santorini domed
Cycladic Churches
Pale blue band rests on a cross
Honoring this holy place
Ancient Agora
Meteora’s monasteries
Chios, Milos, and beyond
We journeyed with #TeamPeyton
Time to find, to seek, to yield.
Wow, Glenda! This is beautiful. You’ve painted a gorgeous picture for me and are now responsible for adding another place to my “Must See” list. I love how you’ve dedicated this for Peyton. Will you share this with her family?
Yes, but I might work on the poem more before sharing it w/ “mom.” I’d like to get some of the photos printed and framed, and I might include the poem in the framing.
Glenda,
I have never been to Greece, but I feel sun-drenched (in the best way possible) from reading your poem. This is a beautiful tribute to Peyton, and I love how the color of her bracelet is woven in with the sights of ancient Greece. I also love the significance of changing the last line of “Ulysses”–there is also power in yielding to the present moment. Thank you for sharing!
The heartbreak and joy is on overload in this poem – and to think such a lovely young lady was remembered in such iconic landmarks to pay tribute to her spirit as you traveled on a trip. I know her family is grateful. Your poetry is simply stunning – as always – with use of similar words and alliteration at key points for emphasis and for readers to pause to consider the beauty of the language (much like your pause to consider Peyton in these special places). Your repetition of blue throughout the first three verses and then the reference to what I believe must be imprinted on the blue band in the final stanza is powerful. .In reference to the Steinbeck quote, “We don’t take a trip. A trip takes us” – you have taken a trip that has taken not only you and your husband, but also a thriving young spirit whose life was cut short far too young, and the hopes that her family had and continues to have in her. Nope, there was no greater gift that you could have given through your travels to Greece!
How beautiful for you to take Peyton along on this journey. I can only imagine how much it meant to her mom. Will you share these beautiful words with her also? May this be the beginning of many adventures….
Glenda — What an incredible tribute to something that had to be heart wrenching over and over. You did such a beautiful kindness in having “Peyton traveled too.” You’ve made something so alive in this poem. I particularly love the ending line…the act of yielding is just the right thing…nearly impossible to do, yet yielding can bring you to a better place. So touching. Susie
It is the word “yield” at the end that brought the power of this poem to its apex for me. It was so unexpected as a word choice, yet so thought-provoking. I’m not sure what it even means, only that I, too, felt a need to yield. Thank you, Glenda, for this beautiful, powerful poem.
Kim, one of my favorite travel activities is eating local food, but I’m always ready to return home and return to my normal eating habits, which includes fried eggs over medium and buttery toast! The apple butter is a treat I indulge only when returning to Missouri, which makes me wonder where you are since in my mind apple butter is uniquely Ozarkian. My stomach growled when I read your poem this morning and is continuing to growl as I revisit culinary delights in your poem. It’s a sin not to eat fish ‘n chips in a London pub when traveling to London.
Geographically, this rural Georgian should be slathering my buttery yolk-sopped toast with peach preserves, since I live in the heart of the peach belt. But there’s something far more compelling about apple butter – – the cinnamony taste that reminds me of my favorite season throughout the year – – fall! I envy your periodic proximity to this Ozarkian specialty, as I’m sure it’s so much better than the popular store brand I buy. I agree with you fully that “it’s a sin” not to eat the trademark foods of the cultures and locations we visit. Sharing food is one of the most pleasurable experiences we can enjoy! Happy hungry Monday!
Glenda, I just bought some apple butter on my way home from Michigan last week!
I decided to post this before I messed around with it too much. It’s my main takeaway from traveling.
Broke, confused, tired.
And I don’t know where I am.
Instead of panic
I remain calm and hopeful,
Navigating foreign lands.
Clutch my paper map.
Find a reassuring face.
Kindness of strangers
Has never disappointed.
They will help me find my way.
I know from travels,
What I have seen of this world–
People are people.
I have been helped when in need;
They could have just turned away.
Jessica,
Oh, I love that you chose to write about the choice to find peace in the midst of the chaos of being lost, and that you seek that peace in the reassuring faces and kindnesses of strangers. The clutching of the map, the feelings of being broke, confused and tired while being lost help us all identify with that discomfort and discord of travel experiences, but you bring out the heart of people all over the world to be of assistance as your hope and comfort. I love this part: ” I know from travels, What I have seen of this world – People are people. ” What a beautiful tribute to the power of a stranger’s kindness, and what a message it has for all of us to be those kind strangers and seek to comfort those who seem lost. Thank you for re-orienting our compasses today!
Jessica,
First, I completely understand the “post this before I messed around with it too much.” I am trying these challenges with a 15 minute time-limit to see what I can do without messing with it too much. Maybe I will go back to one or two later and see what happens when I do.
Now, I love the “clutch” of the paper map and the finding of “reassuring face” which is really why so much of us travel — to see places and the faces. Maps are important but people will point you in directions you may never have discovered on a map. Such a lovely message, Jessica. Oh, and I always love to see a dash in poetry.
Thanks,
Sarah
I so appreciate the 15-minute time suggestion, as it relieves me of the weight of expectation! Without permission to post before perfection , I may never have joined this writing community!
Jessica, I love that you captured so many frustrating feelings many of us have when we travel. I also love your go-with-the-flow attitude that I’m sure serves you well when things are difficult. I love your ending sentiment that makes me feel calm and welcome wherever I might be.
Jessica, you are reiterating a common theme – it’s the people! But, you’ve made this personal. I find the lines “clutch my paper map, find a reassuring face.” particularly moving.
You’re reminding us who travel, that it often it a scary experiencing; and you’re letting those who’ve not yet begun to travel, that they are likely to find a kind person to help them find their way.
Thanks.
Love your observation that “people are people.” Also something I find when traveling…. people are kinder than normally given credit for. The world is filled with good. We just need to step out of our normal, often narrow lives to see it.
I love the poem, and I also love Martie’s response here. One of my strongest travel memories comes from the school children in China who knew English and could help me find my daughters in the train station (a story for another time). The children were thrilled to help me, and I was BEYOND thrilled for their assistance. Do they remember that day they helped me? I will never forget it. People are wonderful.
Jessica — It felt so real to have this start out with the confusion and frustrations of travel, and then come to the reality that folks are folks — they are mostly quite wonderful. Very refreshing! Susie
Jessica—
I love these first 2 lines. They work on so many levels for so many types of journeys. The beauty of being helped by those when we are most vulnerable is so powerful. I love how you capture it without overstating it.
Jessica,
Your words really expressed how I feel every time traveling with my own kids or even with students.
Travel Tanka – Family Reunion
Beautiful rivers
Winding between steep hillsides
Vibrant greens and browns
Oh so pretty everywhere
This land that God created
Majestic mountains
Colorful Colorado
Beckoning my soul
Climbing steadily onward
To reach our destination
Familiar faces
Greeting me at the doorway
Brothers and Sisters
Coming together at last
Bringing memories to share
Laughter and stories
Filling the once empty rooms
The smile on mom’s face
Making this moment precious
Six siblings reunited
Too many years passed
Miles that have kept us apart
All busy as bees
Longing for simplicity
Enjoying our company
Fresh mountainous air
Quietude surrounding us
Energizing souls
This family reunion
The highlight of our summer
Your Tanka is priceless! I love that six brothers and sisters have climbed to this spot in Colorado, making simplicity and each other’s company a priority. The literal and figurative climb to be there is heartfelt. This one line is my favorite: The smile on mom’s face – – because I understand the feeling that having one’s family all together at the same time in the same place when everyone has made it a priority is something that does not happen very often, and the joy it creates creeps out through our expressions. I also like the use of the word “highlight” at the end, to convey both geographic and emotional altitude! Thanks for sharing your reunion memories with us!
Thank you for your kind and heartfelt comments. It was a great reunion!
Judy,
I just love how this tanka series moves from place to faces (just read Jessica’s which also focused on people). The first stanza created just stunning movement of rivers winding, hillsides, and greens. The landscape that brought all these people together to create an entirely new landscape of “busy bees” and “energizing souls.” Love, love.
Sarah
Sarah – This was a fun one to write – it just sort of flowed once I began. Thanks for your kind words.
Judy, you’ve really captured the joy of this family reunion, as well as the mundane things that may keep families apart. My favorite line is “Beckoning my soul.” That really makes me see how much you value your home. Well done!
Thanks, Mo! It wa a great reunion!
This poem reminds me of the novel “Eat, Pray, Love”. I’ll probably never be able to eat my way through Europe again (did in college in Berlin), but I’m working on the United States.
“Summer Trek”
Heading to the East,
South Carolina in my sights.
Sisters reunite;
It’s been far too long since last.
Can’t wait to give nephews hugs.
We weren’t close before
Because she’s the little sister.
Now, it’s different.
Will spend long nights talking,
Drinking coffee together.
Wish to stay longer,
But a week will have to do.
Will go to the beach,
Will soak up lots of sunshine.
Together instead of over the phone.
Treasure these moments,
Bittersweet times due to distance.
Lots of pictures snapped.
Lots of laughter and hugs shared.
Time will slip quickly this week,
So making memories is key.
Tiffany, this is a lovely tribute to your sister and reminder of how important our time w/ sisters is. I, too, had a short time w/ my sister this summer (in Greece). We had not seen each other in over ten years, but growing older reminds us to “Treasure these moments, / Bittersweet times due to distance.”
Tiffany,
What a great opportunity – going to school in Berlin! Your experiences of immersion in German culture, language (AND FOOD) are enviable!
Your poem hits home. As a former South Carolina beach resident of 27 years, I have the scenes from memory of sitting on the Atlantic shore, enjoying the ebb and flow of the surf and feeling cooled warmth of the wind-conditioned sunshine during great conversation (with a brother, not a sister). The long nights talking and drinking coffee and the sense of urgency to make memories makes it all feel like it’s happening right this moment. Thanks for sharing those treasured moments with us.
Oh, Tiffany, as one of eight sisters (plus three bros), I felt twinges in my heart (a little envy) as you united with yours soaking “up lots of sunshine.” The long nights talking just don’t happen on the phone as that proximity creates time and space to soak up one anothers’ lives. Love this. I am also hearing lots of consonance in the lines creating a sound and rhythm to the sisters reunion.
Peace,
Sarah
Tiffany, your poem reminds us of the joy and inevitability of life.
Treasure these moments,
Bittersweet times due to distance.
We need both view to be prepared to enjoy the present and not be surprised by the future;
Thanks.
Kim – Food is quite possibly my favorite part of traveling, so I adored your poem. However, what I think I loved most is how you brought us back home…. which is always the sweetest.
I wrote 4 independent poems. Loved the prompt as I am currently on summer break trip #2. This one is vacation. The first was a mission trip – hard work, but still involved traveling 2/3 of the way across the country.
A journey away
Sometimes nearby. Sometimes far.
Always a time to
Grow. Explore. Learn. Stretch. Reflect.
Adventure vest tightly on.
“I work to travel!”
I always explain to folks
Who do not seem to
Understand why I need to
Escape from the place I love
The need for a map
Puts songs in my heart. New sights,
New menus, New faves.
One never knows what awaits
Around the next curving bend.
Writing far from home
Planes. A car. Nine hundred miles.
The pace? Leisurely.
Driving just to see what’s there.
Recharging the mind and heart.
Martie, you have me aching to plan my next trip! I am in awe of your word choice and the way you captured the spirit of travel – – “Adventure vest tightly on,” reminds me of that feeling I get when I’m about to take a ride in an amusement park and I’m ready for the thrill of the ride. You circle back to that adventure when you write, “One never knows what awaits around the next curving bend.” It could be anything! I like so much that you included the line Grow. Explore. Learn. Stretch. Reflect. That reflection part is the promise of memories that you are making that will keep you working hard until the next trip….working hard to play hard and travel. Most of all, perhaps, I love this: “The pace? Leisurely…..Recharging the mind and heart.” Enjoy your journey – – and thanks for sharing a piece of it with us!
Kim, thanks for the thoughtful words! “Adventure vest” is a phrase my son coined when he was in elementary school. It’s a family favorite that’s stuck for 15ish years!
“I work to travel” is my mantra, too. I like the last in your fourth line of the first stanza:” Grow. Explore. Learn. Stretch. Reflect.” You’ve captured many of my thoughts about travel, Martie.
Martie,
I notice in your poem form the use of asyndeton, which was a new word for me last year — writing lists without conjunctions. You create just rhythm and a staccato pace with your word choice, which gives relevant movement in these tanka about travel.
I so appreciate your reflection on travel and this “work to travel” idea that Europeans seem to embrace much more easily than some American (sorry for the stereotype). Indeed, there is a recharge of the “mind and heart.”
Peace,
Sarah
Sarah, thank you for defining “asyndeton.” I had NO idea what that was! I use that technique often in my poetry writing…. especially when there’s a word/syllable count. However, I also appreciate the rhythm it gives to lines.
Thanks for your thoughtful feedback!
Others have mentioned the same line that stands out for me, “Adventure vest tightly on.” So often the anxiety overshadows the joy of travel. But, your poem reminds us to rest along the way, write our day, and enjoy the blessings of the opportunity to see new places as a guest or as a helper.
19.7 miles of asphalt
take me from the ‘burbs
to Oak Street Beach.
Chicago.
Lake Michigan.
Spot hero and $12 parks me at the historic Drake Hotel.
I walk along the Magnifent Mile carrying my volleyball.
I cross Lake Shore drive in an underpass adorned with an MLK mural
and wave to the CPD bike squad patrolling the shoreline.
A scientist, project manager, doc student and I
trade our work attire for bikinis and trucker hats
to play volleyball in the shadows of the Hancock
on a Tuesday summer night.
31.2 miles of asphalt
take me from the ‘burbs
to Foster Beach.
Chicago.
Lake Michigan.
Free parking welcomes families to picnic, soccer teams to unite.
Miles of paths make space for racing cyclists and leisurely strolls.
No boats making waves here, just gentle kayakers.
No towers or hotels to shadow the sand, just parkland.
Two mom’s still breastfeeding — both on leave from executive jobs,
an accountant, and I
set up the net, adjust the lines, and spray-on sunscreen
to play volleyball in the shadow of our younger selves
at dawn on a Sunday morning.
Chicago.
Lake Michigan.
Beaches.
As a runner, who is always calculating distances in her head, I love the specificity of the lines – “31.2 miles” “19.7 miles.”
I also like the contrast of the 4 friends trading in their day job clothes for the beach volleyball uniforms.
Everything about your poem is a journey that takes me right along with you and has me feeling ready to serve a volleyball (which I don’t think I’ve done since high school). The journey of the asphalt roads, from the suburbs to the city and beaches…..the journey on foot along the Magnificent Mile….they journey from work attire to bikinis/trucker hats (great imagery)!……..the journey that the volleyball players are all experiencing from the scientist’s experiment to the doctoral student’s growth to the project manager’s progression, and the breastfeeding mothers’ journeys of feeding little ones……even the journey of the sun with its shadows and the breaking of dawn…..the movement of the kayakers and cyclists……and my favorite two journeys – – the mention of MLK and his forward momentum of this country we love, and the journey of the reality of time in the mention of the shadow of younger selves. Your constant movement has us on the journey to play alongside you in the enjoyment of life. I like the vowel sounds throughout, especially “make space for racing cyclists.” No net ball here – – it’s a master slam!
In my mind, Sarah, your poem maps a place, and I feel as though I’m traveling w/ you along Lake Shore Drive. I particularly like the line “Free parking welcomes families…” and its reminder that we’re all free to wander and wonder.
Sarah, my favorite line from this lovely poetry picture is ” in the shadow of our younger selves”. Not sure why this stood out for me other than the fact that I just returned from a trip where I walked in a familiar place and found it took much more effort to complete the same distance that it had as my “younger self”! 🙂 Maybe it’s the fact that you mentioned distances. For me, it was the same distance….just more effort…but thankfully that shadow reminded me that I’d done it before and could do it again!
Your repetition of the five lines beginning with miles grounds us within your piece. Thank you for giving us the glimpse of the four of you setting up the net – it’s just a glimpse, but it says so much. I loved the way you end this ” in the shadow of our younger selves at dawn on a Sunday morning.” There’s nostalgia there but strength as well. I hope you find this again in your new home.
Tonight I wrote about how a weekend in DC with my NCTE friends fed my soul. We may have been writing about the same thing: the need to tap into our most true and independent selves. These selves may get buried under the daily weight of…daily weights! But they are still there. Poetry helps me remember that. Thank you.
I forgot to mention in the prompt……just like those Haikus that often have syllable miscounts and leave you with a furrowed brow and too many or too few fingers in the air, it’s okay to have some Tanka miscounts too – – just enjoy the process and be original! Dance to your own music, run at your own pace, and syllabicate to your own poetic form……
“syllabicate” — — cute word! 🙂
Kim! I woke up here in South Dakota on my trek West, and now I feel must have fish n chips and that smell of malt vinegar. Must melt gooey cheese on toast! Must find and plant my lips on some apple kuchen. Am drooling for egg sopped toast. You sent me into a world class pang for FOOD! Mission accomplished! I’m there. I’m hungry. I fear this Best Western is not going to measure up! LOL! Loved this tanka delight.
I always look forward to your poetry treasures, and I’m even more excited that you are on your own trek as you write about your adventures. I know that sometime today, you will delight our appetites for poetry with your very unique “signature Susie” Tanka. It’s like being at a table and wondering what’s for dessert…..I somehow know you’ll give us the Best of the West (ern)…..