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
#HashtagPoems: #allinthelanguageoftoday’syouth
Hashtag poems don’t have to rhyme, but they’re fun to write that way. One easy way is to choose a topic that you love – a pet, coffee creamer flavors, things you need for the hobbies you enjoy, musicians or songs, and list words and phrases about your topic. Play with the words, arrange them in rhyme or sequence, and pour them into stanzas and verse. Add hashtags where they seem most fitting, and do use spaces between words if you wish – – or not.
Kim’s Poem
#rescued
#one’s a Schnoodle #one’s a Schnauzer
#peaceful hippie #rabble-rouser
#flattened chin #bearded snout
#one with mustache #one without
#whale-spray tail #pine tree stub
#back scratch #tummy rub
#grumpy dog
#bump on a log
#black #white
#portly #sprite
#yin and yang
#paw and fang
#upside-down #right-side up
#sweet old soul #playful pup
#prized lamb #black sheep
#fearful growl #pleading bleat
#wants to play #sleeps all day
#up all night #snores away
#kneads and nooks #sits and looks
#twists and jerks #full of quirks
#lifts his leg #squats to pee
#both a he #not one she
#crack of dawn #dark of night
#playful tussle #vicious fight
#most expressive #blank glare
#raised eyebrows #stoic stare
#gnashing teeth #quivering lip
#holds it in #lets it rip
#one is docile #one gets zoomies
#in the car they’re kennel roomies
#needs a leash #runs away
#comes right back #here to stay
#self-served timeout #who’s in trouble?
#regrets mischief #lives in bubble
#nutmeg sofa #khaki chair
#king-size bed we all four share
#digs, sniffs, circles #plops right down
#crowds dad’s pjs #seeks mom’s gown
#neither fetches #both can sit
#both catch popcorn #lively wit
#table beggars #hopeful snackers
#turkey bacon #graham crackers
#love to ride #windows cracked
#heads in wind #playthings packed
#noises frighten #cuddling calms
#transcendental #fretful qualms
#one’s a purebred #one’s a mix
#does blood matter? #ask the ticks!
#designer dog #pedigreed
#worthless titles, most agree
#both were rescued #one abused
#one abandoned #each refused
#old ties severed #new lifesong
#not neglected #now belong
#both now wanted #both adored
#cherished deeply #family scored
– 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.
#borninthewrongcentury
#borninthewrongcountry
.
everyone has that #cantrelate moment
#someone says they don’t belong
.
#lol #bahahaha #hehehe
.
#metoo
.
#weareallinthisboattogether
.
some are #reallife in the boats together
.
#wheremypeepsat
.
because it is so dang easy to
#lifestyle #exploreeverything #abcd
without
#knowingthestyle #seeingeverything #understandingwhatyoutyping
.
#lookthemintheeyes
Coffee Rx
#Thefirsttwosips of #coffee reroute my brain.
It’s more than being #woke: It’s becoming
sane.
#Brownsolvent stills the #riotinggraymatter.
Bridges synaptic clefts —
#clearthoughtflows thereafter.
No need to flavor #sipsmostmedicinal.
#Blackbrewoilslick #harness the subliminal.
Eyes #focus.
#Memory sound.
My love becomes a verb instead of a noun.
I remember to call — can process how to care
Thanks to Adderall’s cousin #Coffee
I’m #aware.
#firstgeneration #mastersdegree
And because that was their #lifegoal, then mine,
#ineverfelt #free
#firstinthefamily #twodegreessmarter
#doesntmeananything when to them,
#loveislove is #inthegutter
#independent #foundmyvoice
Works out in the #realworld
But never to those raising you teaching you that to them, #youhavenochoice
#illshowthem #illshowtheworld
Never matters until #illprovetomyself
Becomes #priority; #thisismyworld
Summer, you are in a unique place in your family, and I am sure that they are all proud of you, each in their own way. Sometimes it’s hard to break traditions in families, with education, opportunities, and values – but you are finding your way. I like the way you use the hashtags in your poem to share with us the struggle you feel between being bound to achieving a #lifegoal and #youhavenochoice but are at the same time #independent. I particularly love the ending, when you take the globe in your hands and declare “thisismyworld. You’ve used a hashtag poem to move from feelings of restraint to pure freedom. Cathartic! Thank you for giving us a glimpse into YOU today – – successful you!
Summer,
When you wrote that voices matter in the “real world” but not to our parents, I connected deeply with your words and emotions. Why is it the most difficult to stand up to the ones we love? You deftly captured the struggle between family expectations and personal desires, and it’s a struggle I know many people grapple with. Thank you for sharing this wonderful poem!
For the Love of Cotton!
#Summer’s here! # fresh styles
#swap meet bargains # clothing aisles
#cotton fabric #no blends
#cool clothes #flow in wind
#natural fibers #low carbon footprint
#breathable fabric #cools skin
#batik # gauze
#linen #crepe
#easy-sew patterns #versatility
#durable wear #comfort-fit
for me!
Hi Candace,
I I felt the physicality(?) and relief of summer’s weightlessness through your poem. I like that it also sends a productive “help the world heal” message!
Candace,
You capture the feeling that every teacher would love to feel all year – the comfort of clothes that are not binding is used as a symbol of an unbinding summer, where the days are ours and there are no dress codes. Your hashtags are used to help readers feel free – – words like comfort, easy, versatility, breathable, cool, fresh….I like the way your hashtag words are used as repetition to help us take a deep breath, don some cottton fabric clothing, and go out and seize the day – – while we have it. Thank you for sharing with us today!
Oh, wow. You did it again, Kim! You sent me into a spiral of exploration! What are the top #hashtags on #insta right now? I used several of them (plus ones I determined SHOULD be on that list) in my short poem about an adventure I picked up two years ago: playing the accordion–mostly at care centers, community events, and family reunions (#uninvited). Thank you for another evening of #WordPlay!
I’ve been known to commit the #accordioncrime:
I have played, #uninvited, and well past my #prime.
As I perch for my #selfie, with squeeze box held #tight–
I share #instagood #music played into the #night.
It is more #fun to play than listen to, #friend.
There is #joy in the #giving; Can I hear an #amen?
Do you know the 70s song “Squeeze Box”? I have an image of you w/ the accordion and that song playing in the background. Such a fun poem. It makes me smile.
Allison, you won’t get a more enthusiastic Amen from anyone else! In fact, I’ll see anyone’s AMEN and raise them a Hallelujah! Confession: I love an accordion playing a great polka, and when I was in Germany I got to hear some of this – – I stopped at every. single. street. squeezebox. player and started the video to preserve some of those moments. So your poem is music to my ears, and I see no #accordioncrime when the motive is enjoyment and laughter and fun! What I love about your hashtag usage is that it snapshots the progression of your evening: an acknowledgement that maybe you’re not the world’s #1 accordion player but that you are playing – – like it or not; moving into a moment of playing and preserving the moments on social media; and then reasoning that the joy was all yours as the artist. I adore this poem, and I’m asking Google to play accordion music on Pandora – – right now – – at 8:26 in the morning – – oh, the energy. You have a unique talent, both writing and squeezeboxing. Thank you for sharing with us!
I have an addiction.
Not one that will hurt my health or others.
Actually, I think it helps others.
#wanttoknow
#books
I am forever addicted.
#lovethesmell
#lovethefeel
Books can make you feel things
Experience things
Teach you things.
#brainfull
#amazonprime
Boxes delivered
Oooo the excitement.
Pull, tug rip open .
Can’t remember which books were ordered.
#cantwaittoshare
Students waiting wanting.
#creatingclassroomofreaders
Can we have the next one?
Are there more?
#ofcousetherearemore
#imaddicted
#ilovebooks
Thank you! I have come to call my addiction a gambling habit: I gamble on kids and books. I figure dropping $10 or $30 on an Amazon order (again and again) is better than pouring it into a slot machine. I have pretty good odds on my return! I especially loved “can’t remember which books were ordered”–I could relate!
#BuyNow
I share your addiction. Being surrounded by books comforts me. “Can’t remember which books were ordered” makes me smile as I open boxes of the same book I forgot I already ordered.
Tricia,
I can definitely empathize with your urge for sharing that same urge to the younger ones for reading. I didn’t always find the love in reading, I use that to my advantage when working with my students. Why is it that I fee that love that you have only sometimes and not every time like you…? I love discussing this with my super reluctant students-I am sometimes one of them!
Tricia, we are soul sisters. Kindred spirits. Only book lovers know what it’s like to pull, tug, rip open a package not knowing which books await discovery in the Amazon package. When we built our house, the plans BEGAN with my reading room – – wall to wall bookcases filled with my favorites. I’m an addict, too…..What I love about the use of your hashtags is that they create the sense that you want the addiction to be contagious for your students – you share your love, and then you declare #cantwaittoshare and #ofcoursetherearemore. You are doing what every great teacher wants to do – – create the love of reading in students. Thank you for sharing your healthy addiction with us!
I have followed current events since I was seven and my father insisted I watch the news and read the paper. I tried to compose a “fun” poem but find myself obsessed with the divisiveness in our country. I am unapologetically anti the current president and his policies.
“Oppositions”
#Make America Great–Again #MAGA
#Make America America—Again #Resist
#Go back to where you all came from
#Huddled masses Lady Liberty’s sum
#Very fine people on both sides
Our #Constitution offers guides
#Send the squad of women back
#POTUS 45 is a racist hack
#Xenophobic national pride
#Inclusion unites & won’t divide
#Minority base rules his day
#Rhetoric of hate will not sway
#Gerrymander every vote
#Love and kindness we must stoke
#No collusion Tweet and chime
#Election dependent on Russian dime
#Rally & Rhetoric for voting booth
#10,000 plus lies & little truth
#Graft & greed make That Guy rich
#Emoluments clause: imperfect pitch
#Mar a Lago pay to play
#Taxpayer dole; we have no say
#Climate denier; science reject
#Arctic ice melts; nature wrecked
#Regulations? kill them all.
#Consumer protection? They all fall
#Claims his hands aren’t that small
#Liar in Cheat explains it all
#Sir, he says, in sloppy ties
#Everything Trump Touches Dies
Glenda,
I tried to write a similar poem today but was so disheartened and SAD. Thank you for tackling this important current event. “#Inclusion unites & won’t divide” and “#Love and kindness we must stoke” offer hope that our country will survive if we can stay united.
Was your “Sir, he says” line based on Daniel Dale’s piece today identifying this particular “tell”? You are up to the minute with this piece! I believe poetry can turn the pain of the human condition into beauty. In this case you have turned the pain of now into a rhyme–which seems to add to the absurdity of what we are experiencing. #United
Yes. I read Dale’s piece this morning, and it fascinated me. Trump’s speech is inelegant. His rhetorical moves make Aristotle and Cicero spin in their graves.
Oh, dear friend! Your passion is unparalleled and your hashtags capture this with no margin of doubt. I usually look for a standout, favorite line, but your lines make it difficult to choose just one. Let me choose the one with which I have a true text to text connection: #Go back to where you all came from. This week, one of the books I’ve been rereading is Ralph McGill’s The Fleas Come With the Dog. McGill is a former AJC Reporter. In it, he says, “All right, we will go back where we came from. But let us take with us the canals we dug, the tunnels we made, the subways we built, the rails we laid, the excavations we seated out, the bricks and stones we made into great buildings….” and goes on to mention other things like the books and music written as well. Thank you for sharing your hashtag poem with us today. It is filled with passion – which is the hallmark of truly great poetry!
I had to look up Ralph McGill and found a facsimile copy of the book on Amazon, so I ordered it. It sounds so timely and important. Thank you for your kind words, Kim.
#poundsign
#keepingitrealwithwificonnection
#classroomsfullofdevicesohmy
#Keepingupwiththemillenials
#whathappensonlinestaysonline
#culturalappropriationofdigitalnatives
#edtechgonewilderthanpaperandpen
#publishedauthorsbyhashtagsandtweets
#howdowegobacktopresocialmedia
#beforeblackscreensreplacedeyecontact
#whoknowswhatapoundsignis
#GN
I wrote another response, but it hasn’t shown up yet…
Stefani,
I relate to this poem SO much! I am a millennial, but I can be a technophobe at times. The part about going back to “#beforeblackscreensreplacedeyecontact” is visceral to me. Sometimes I even have to ask my PARENTS to put away their phones so we can have an actual conversation! Thank you for your poem!
So current. I long for the days of students not being able to look it up in a second without working for it. Constantly trying to keep up with it all.
Your lines #wholnowswhatapoundsignis is spot on!
I love how you invented the #crazylong hashtags for each line, then ended on the recognized #GN. Two of my favorite lines:
#edtechgonewilderthanpaperandpen
#publishedauthorsbyhashtagsandtweets
Stefani, I am enjoying all the ways different poets used the hashtag in their poems today, but yours really drives at what I meant in the prompt by #allinthelanguageoftoday’syouth. Your poem is ABOUT the fast-paced changes in technology and its roles in the classroom, but it also SHOWS the reader that there is a whole new language to all of this – one we all have to learn and gain proficiency with to relate to our students of today. Example: I think of a student going back to elementary school classes of the 1970s and handing this poem to a teacher to read. Can you imagine the phone call home to her parents? “Your daughter is using a pound sign at the start of her sentences and she really needs to work on spacing between her words……” But that same daughter, grown up in the teacher’s role, is thrilled with her student for writing such truth about technology and the ways that we have to adjust. And that teacher understands. What’s great about your poem is the whole idea of adjusting to a “new type of student” is that it is a metaphor for all of those adjustments in life – not just technology. Thank you so much for your brave insights today!
#AdventureAwaits
Around the bend
#NewExperiences
Waiting to behold
#CherishedMemories
And photographs to share
#WouldNotTradeItForTheWorld
This precious time away
Martie, your poem reminds me of a great travel journal entry, and I love how you used no spaces on the hashtags and spaces on the lines following each hashtag. Something about #AdventureAwaits has me ready to go find some fun!
Martie,
I connect most to your last two lines and feel I could start a story of one of my own travel adventures with those words. Traveling and exploring are precious.
The Iowa State Fair is coming up, and I’m not looking forward to being inundated with political candidates and reporters. The hashtags are actual hashtags reporters have used to describe Iowa.
They descend like Asian lady beetles,
these coastal reporters:
swooping in on the farmer in overalls,
scooping up soundbites,
spitting out distaste in their wake.
Six months to the Iowa Caucus.
#TooOld
#TooRural
#TooWhite
They may shake hands
and roll up sleeves and loosen their ties,
But I’ve seen how they roll their eyes
At our butter cow and purse their lips at
deep-fried Snickers.
They use words like “folksy,” “quaint,” and
“down-home.”
I want to vomit.
#VeryFlat
#TerrifyingDirtRoads
#NoAlmondMilkAnywhere
No almond milk anywhere?!
MA’AM.
Our local Hy-Vees boast 20 varieties
of the concoction,
right next to the moo juice!
And we’re not flat, we’re rolling!
If you want flat, just go to
Nebraska.
#ExtremelyWell-InformedCaucaus-Goers
Well, that may be one correct hashtag.
I just love this! The snark about the almond milk just speaks to me.
Jessica, I can see these candidates – you paint such a telling picture here:
But I’ve seen how they roll their eyes
At our butter cow and
purse their lips at deep-fried Snickers.
Your poem reminds me of one of my favorite parts of Sy Montgomery’s The Good Good Pig, where she describes how her parents looked down on her choice to have a pet pig and also didn’t particularly care for her husband and she came to terms with all of this, but while she was tolerant of their feelings toward her husband she got most annoyed when they insulted her pig! This is a wonderful text to text connection for me, as you describe it so well.
I like the way you used hashtags to show the actual hashtags used. I love your poem!
Oh my, Jessica. I love this. Just dripping with disdain, speaking truth, revealing point of view in the strongest voice. That almond mile. That eye roll. Amazing. I can imagine this being in a verse novel set during a presidential election and the main character is a precocious youth wanting to shake up the world. What were you like as a teen?
Sarah,
I was most definitely a “shaker” as a teen! And I still am, much to my family’s dismay. 🙂
Jessica – I’m feeling your voice…solid, sure, and ready to rumble. I’ve been to the IA State Fair and know the honest eye you’ve turned on these folks who may or may not ever really “get” who midlanders really are. For one thing, we/they are so much more than a labeled demographic. We are people. Yet, they, too, are people. Your poem could go a very long way to extend clearer perceptions, broaden the discourse, and find the common ground. I love your poem. Thank you, Susie
I want to join this discussion! I am from Iowa, and I share so many of the feelings expressed here! That said, I teach journalism and so I am also sympathetic to the #godforsaken reporters who come to our state and try to tap the pulse of our kaleidoscopic identity. I want to scream when they peg us as bumbling Trump supporters–but then I am given pause and recognize that, frankly, many Iowans are. #WeHaveWorkToDo
I love all the thoughts and feelings your poem delivered to me tonight!
I realized as I got into this that it could just keep going. So many voices needing to be heard.
I stand with the children,
their voices their own,
carrying backpacks filled
with empty lunch boxes,
aching hearts, and learning gaps.
#MeToo
I stand with women,
their voices their own,
carrying stories filled
with what has been taken.
Identity. Choice.
#MeToo
I stand with first people,
their voices their own,
carrying a land filled
with outsiders claiming
ownership and rights.
#MeToo
I stand with survivors,
their voices their own,
carrying stories filled
with immeasurable loss.
Struggles. Leftovers.
#MeToo
I stand with all sizes,
all shapes, and all shades.
Their voices are #MeToo
Their stories are #MeToo
Their worlds are #MeToo
All I can say is thank you for this poem. It is very meaningful.
Amen, sista! You nailed the power of this strong voice! Every single one of these proclamations matters deeply and rings out in your voice. Thank you for your honest and heartfelt compassion. #Me too
Susie
I love the way you took one hashtag–#MeToo–and remind us that we, too belong standing with women, children, survivors, and all others whose voices deserve hearing, whose stories are our own.
Jennifer,
your poem is so powerful – the same hashtag throughout for repetition and as a way of indicating that you identify and stand with those who are underserved, mistreated, grieving, and suffering in various ways. This is simply and magnificently beautiful!
Jennifer,
As you noted, this can go on and on, and while we would like to live in and even imagine a world with equity and justice, we are just not there, may never be. The hashtags resonate but your line breaks list the life and literal movement (hopefully toward something better) and the commas indicate there is more to come. Not sure if this is on purpose, by your last three lines do not have end punctuation — and I certainly hope that is, well, a sign of hope. Possibility!
Thank you, friend,
Sarah
Jennifer,
The sheer weight of the intangibles these groups carry is enormous! The style reminds me of the first chapter of Tim O’Brien’s “The Things They Carried”–so much of the burden isn’t easily seen by others. This poem is beautiful and powerful in its simplicity. Thank you for sharing it!
Love this! So much said with few words. Thank you for this.
#SummerMomLife
#MomWheresBreakfast
#CrapWheresMyCoffee
#NeedCoffee
#OhCrapNeedToPoo
#DamnCoffee
#MomCanIhaveaSnack
#NurseBaby
#ScreamingTeethingBaby
#MomImHungry
#NeedMoreCoffee
#NurseBaby
#NapTime
#WhatToDoNow
#MomImHungry
#CanIHaveaNap
#DaddysHome
#PeaceOutMom
#ShoppingInPeace
#NightNightTime
#WineDineHubbyTime
Rachel,
Oh, the days of motherhood with infants and young children. The pacing of this day comes through so clearly with your use of the hashtag to show the demands of the day and the progression of time in your stanzas – I see morning breakfast, a snack, an afternoon/lunch time and a dinner time stanza and I love how the poem begins and ends with food and family. I love this most: #PeaceOutMom 🙂
The staccato rhythm of this litany really packs a punch. What a loaded day of responsibility! Exhausting and ending with such a sweet final image. I loved the truth in “need more coffee” and “damn coffee”—made me chuckle.
Thanks for this glimpses into our community here. Susie
Rachel, your final hashtag is my favorite and a wonderful contrast to how much work summer brings to moms at home. I’m exhausted thinking about all the many demands on the time of young moms.
Rachel,
I so appreciate you taking us through your day from #DamnCoffee to #WineDineHubbyTime. Love the beverage choices to bookmark the day! This was a slice of real life with nice touches of struggle and humor.
Peace,
Sarah
I could feel the frantic pace in your writing. Loved it!
Rachel, This is perfect timing and all, oh so true. I have lived all of these hashtags. If you are still gifted with naptime, take it as long as you can. I miss scheduled naps.
JULY MORNING @ PINEY CREEK, WY
One eye, then two
#awake
Rain? No.
#Bighorn breeze in the pines,
#creek @ full tilt coursing snow-melt,
#gulps, gurgles over stones rubbed to smooth skin.
Outhouse
#a must;
shoes cold, damp, till warmed,
#feet still radiating heat from the screened porch bed
with its clean sheets
#mountain cabin comfort.
Swaddling myself,
#old worn robe;
check the cracked white thermometer
nailed to the maple on the outhouse path,
#59
#perfection.
Business is brief, surprisingly quiet,
#no pee slashing in a bowl of swirling water,
Outhouses
#quiet places.
Scramble back to the porch.
Debate,
#socks/no socks, socks/no socks —
#no socks;
yank on jeans, wrangle the hooded sweatshirt,
brush tangled
#bed head;
bloop Crest on toothbrush, step out on the stoop,
#chisel & gargle away the night cooties,
#spit into the pine needles,
smear lipstick,
#ever-present crack in my lip.
Where’s my iPhone? Today’s prompt?
##Oh dear.
Press coffee through its courses,
#tank up my tumbler.
Canvas chair slung over my shoulder,
laptop and coffee in hand, iPhone pocketed,
#traipse to the creek.
Critter-check
#tiny grey water dippers,
flitting rock to rock,
#whitetail pulls his head up, ears
#satellite dishes detecting me,
he slips silently into the underbrush,
#wild turkeys peck along the edges of the Piney.
Unfolding my chair, cradling my computer,
toes delightfully chilled in my sandals,
dawn injects color shifts high in the ponderosas,
a long draught of coffee
prompts my observations—
#time to archive the morning
Into a
#poem.
by Susie Morice
Susie,
I love how your journeying continues into the hashtag poem! You certainly archived your morning – I was with you step by step, damp feet and outhouse and critter check and coffee and iPhone search and canvas chair and computer and all. I tried to feel the 59 degrees on the thermostat, but that part didn’t work for me here in sweltering Georgia. I am envying your travels – your immersion in nature, your simple moments that are richer than any other excursion that a traveler might consider. I like your use of oo – – bloop, stoop, Cooties. I also love your use of the double hashtag! Thank you for preserving your memories and allowing us a glimpse of the swaddling robe, the river, the deer, and you as you write!
Susie! Oh, my! I read this aloud and the hashtag sound really creates a cool music to your verse. Your stanzas are clever, and I am just swimming in the lines “Unfolding my chair,/cradling my computer,/toes delightfully chilled in my sandals” with the gesture, temperature, and movement. So vivid (and my poem was about toes today, too). So good to be with you again this July!
Sarah
Susie, I lived vicariously, recalling last summer’s camping in Banff, as I read about your cold toes, the critter checks, and all the glories of nature in your poem, Susie.
Welcome to Professional Development
Teachers get summers off, right?
#doyouwanttofight
In this conference for the 3rd day
#withoutsummerpay
I admit, I am learning a ton
#talkingwithteachersisfun
“Students should be able to…”
#whatamIgoingtodo
Lets talk needing equity and access
#timetocelanupthemess
Another acronym? For real?
#Icantdeal
Can we talk about student choice?
#givethekidsavoice
“Make sure you are doing this and that…”
#teacherswearallthehats
Teach the kid to their own advocate
#bethemasterofyourfate
I love this job, I really do
#true
Kate – Such a teacher my poem! This resonated with me in every line. I laughed out loud at the PD Day realities at first…no pay and the misperception that we have our summers free. Then the shift into the importance of teachers talking and all the important topics that become PD discourse. I love the student voice, for sure. And that we do all this because we do, indeed, love it. Thanks, Susie
Kate, your expressions and feelings are shared by teachers everywhere who are trying to detach and enjoy summer but find themselves dipping back into the rink. I enjoyed the hashtag use to give us kind of a secret headphone into your thoughts. I was reading, imagining that the non-hashtags are snippets of what you are hearing in the PD session and the hashtags are your own private thoughts and what you would say aloud in response. That’s a great way to hear the perspectives of two different voices – someone leading a session and someone trying to appreciate being there to get the most out of it because she loves her job! Thank you for showing us how a hashtag poem can be used to share inner thoughts and voice with the reader!
Kate, you capture the angst and joy of PD. I love the question, hashtag response format. Is there any other profession w/ such acronym overload as education?
Right on, Kate! I just love this and the call and response quality to the lines and hashtags. It is the perfect balance of criticism and acceptance.
I appreciate so much about this! The hashtags are legit! The feelings so common! Just all good stuff going on here! Thanks for sharing!
wedge, kitten, flare,
stack, cone, comma
mule, espadrille
peep-toe and flip flop
#bunionsnhammertoes
#pseudosixthtoe
#prettyshoesdonotequalprettyfeet
#yogatoesrelief
this little piggy and
that little piggy
atrophied
squeezed
into too-small toe boxes
for fashion’s sake
#freephalanges
#awakenatrophiedtoeabductors
#relaxAchilles
#nomoregaitcompensation
barefoot, unshod,
shoeless & discalceate, (pronounced dis-kalst– I had to look it up)
wriggle into #yogatoes:
medical-grade, toe-separating
web-stretching, posture-correcting
little-piggy loving gels
#bogoshoesale
Well, thanks for making me look up “comma heels” so early in the morning. Am I the only one who didn’t know what they are?!? Your poem will resonate with so many people! I loved your word choice, especially atrophied and unshod. Your hashtags, though! #WinningTheHashtagGame
Sarah,
I am always so inspired by the way you give us glimpses into issues that we struggle with – – like when we want to be fashionable with our footwear and the price is right but the pain is real. I like how you used your hashtags as the pleading voice of your feet to create the likely imagery of your toes standing up holding picket signs to say how they really feel. I especially like #freephalanges! The struggle of teachers on our feet – – we are cheering right there with your piggies. Thanks for your creative voice of toes and their platforms! 🙂
Just like Mo Daley, I to did not know what “comma heels” were. I love learning through others. I also like how you incorporated hashtags in your poem.
There’s fun in this piece (this little piggy) and humor in the hashtags (#freephalanges). I always appreciate writers who can do this well, and you have! I think the nature of this prompt called for a fun response and I’m glad you brought that. Thanks, also, for giving us a new word.
Sarah – The way you set this up was so effective—that barrage of shoe types, for example, and then the hash tagged reality. Plus, I LOVE the “pretty shoes don’t equal pretty feet” truth. For sure!! How did I ever walk on platform shoes?!!! OMG! And a new word, “discalceate,” to boot! Ha, pun intended! ?. And I loved remembering the “little piggies.” Cool poem. Susie
Kim, you’ve really captured the personalities of your dogs. I could almost see them as I read your poem. I caught myself smiling as I read. I have three rescue dogs- a schnauzer, a maltipoo, and a lowchen. Now I feel like I need to write a poem about them!
My son is engaged and has just started wedding planning. Here we go!
#GettingMarried
#wedding #kisses
#welcome Mr. & Mrs.
#engagement ring
#lots of bling
#parties and wedding showers
#what was mine is now ours
#make the guest list
#hope no one was missed
#doves and butterflies
#fireworks in the skies
#let’s get married in a castle
#is it really worth the hassle
#say yes to the expensive dress
#oh boy, can’t we do this for less
#we should step back and take a look
#we just need a priest and the good book
#friends and family all around
#they’ll see our love abound
#I love you and you love me
#I just can’t wait for what our future will be
Hi, I am dropping in very quickly from vacay to say I LOOOOOOOOOVE this prompt and poem. I wish I was home and could dream of ways to respond right now with a poem. But, I’m delighted that I can come back to it. Thank you!
Mo,
I am smiling from ear to ear because of your rhyme and because of your truth. As always, I make these poems about me and project, so this has me thinking about our wedding 20 years ago in September. We cut so many corners to keep the cost down but the worth really was in the #friends and family all around! Congrats to you and your family #bighugandlove.
Sarah
Mo,
First, congratulations to your son and to all of your family! Exciting times – great moments ahead, and a lifetime of love! I think my favorite line is #what was mine is now ours – just because in my own marriage it is so commonly referenced as truth/humor in my own life. I also love #oh boy, can’t we do this for less! I know your ambivalence with price, but I also know you’ll find ways to make it work affordably so everyone is happy. You used a fun and peppy rhyme scheme, and you grabbed my interest with the very first one: kisses and Mrs. Thanks for sharing your happy hashtag poem with us!
I love it! Although, it brought me back to when I was engaged & all of this made me go “Honey, let’s elope!”
Love this! I love how your rhymes worked without being forced. I love that you hit upon all the oh, no’s and the oh, yes’s involved in weddings. And I especially love that you reminded us of what it’s all about in the last two stanzas. Congratulations to your son and new DIL!
Kim, I love your poem and this form. And as a dog mom of two rescued pups w/ opposite personalities, I see our pets in so many lines, form squatting vs. lifting to their opposite personalities.
Thank you so much. I’m enjoying seeing all the ways that the hashtags are being used in our poems today – not just showing different perspectives or personalities, but also different voices and inner thoughts. We are so blessed to be part of such a creative group of writers!