Stacey L. Joy is a National Board Certified Teacher, Google Certified Educator, L.A. County and LAUSD Teacher of the Year with over 37 years of elementary classroom teaching experience. She currently teaches 5th grade at Baldwin Hills Gifted Magnet and Pilot School. Teaching her Joyteam Stars the power of their history, self-advocacy, justice, and joy are the core of her practice. Stacey is a poet at heart with one self-published book and several poems published in various anthologies. Follow Stacey on Twitter @joyteamstars or on Instagram @joyteam.
Inspiration
I love delicious and soothing words! I savor words that name those things that are sometimes indescribable. Explore some beautiful, delectable words to inspire your writing today. Perhaps the word will help you share something you have been holding in a safe secret place. Perhaps the word will inspire you to unpack or view something from a new perspective. You might even find a word that helps you better understand something from the past, present or future.
Here’s a link to a few of my favorite words.
Here is a link to a rabbit hole of unique and beautiful words!
Process
Choose a word or a few words that resonate with you. Jot down some ideas that come to your heart and mind. Try writing a Haiku Sonnet like I did, try free verse, or go with any form you prefer. Haiku Sonnets consist of 4 haiku and two lines at the end to make a total of 14 lines like a sonnet.
Stacey’s Haiku Sonnet
Ubuntu
Our joy is a gift
Ancestors’ prayers and dreams
Came to pass for us
Our love, enduring
Generations prevailing
Rising together
Our hopes for the world
Safe spaces to live and learn
Fearless, audacious
Our strength is mighty
Gives meaning to Ubuntu
Powered to push on
I am, we are, each others’
Healing redemption song
Your Turn
Now, scroll to the comment section below to write your own poem. (This is a public space, so you may choose to use only your first name or initials depending on your privacy preferences.) Not ready? That’s okay. Read the poems already posted for more inspiration. Ponder your own throughout the day. Return later. And, if the prompt does not work for you, that is fine. All writing is welcome. Just write something. Also, please be sure to respond to at least three writers. Oh, and a note about drafting: Since we are writing in short bursts, we all understand (and even welcome) the typos and partial poems that remind us we are human and that writing is always becoming. If you’d like to invite other teachers to write with us, tell them to subscribe.
So much power in that one word you chose and the words you used in the poem.
I am behind on my poems!
Incendiary, a haiku sonnet
Me, rabble-rouser
Stoking the treacherous flame
Goodbye status quo
You, the real trouble
Dousing my wild wicked flames
With old tradition
My ember stays strong
Gathering, spreading, rising
Ember-flicker-flame
You sense the danger
Use inflammatory words
To choke my fire
I am the incendiary device
You cannot stop this inferno of change
Literacy
Mommy read to me
My children gather around
Our bedtime routine
Wordless picture book
Imagery makes new magic
Sorcery unfolds
Left to right eyes seek
Graphemes hold hands make meaning
Decode, be fluent
Open a new book
Pages dancing for readers
Begging to be read
Windows, mirrors, sliding glass doors
An endless tapestry of stories
I just love the haiku with the sonnet, so unique! ❤️.
The idea that we can and do endure so many challenges and still find joy, is what makes the journey of life beautiful and mysterious.
I know there is no rhyme in Haiku, but I decided to give myself some freedom and have fun with it.
Jazzy from NOLA
Rescued with fleas to my knees
Still the love runs deep
Wild and untamed
Everything I had known changed
My heart bursting wide
Now a Cali girl
Riding luminescent waves
Time floats so quickly
My golden girl looks
Deep into my soul sometimes
Her gray, wise face knows
We will part one day, but our souls
intertwined can never define our love.
Joanna,
Your poem captures the ebb and flow of what happens when we leave our homes and make new ones. I feel like you captured two distinct chapters in your life with the haikus and the last two line highlight the finality in life.
Joy, I began perusing your links for words that might spark an idea. Then, I remembered two of my favorite words.
Shenanigans and Tomfoolery
Shenanigans and Tomfoolery
Two words like to use because of their hint of humor.
Shenanigans and Tomfoolery
Two words with meanings I have a hard time tolerating.
Ain’t nobody got time for the shenanigans and tomfoolery.
Stacey, thanks for this new-to-me form of poetry. I thought about it all day yesterday and could not move forward without trying it out.
————————————-
Ripple
tossing a pebble
plop into pond water
a motion of rings
infinite waves of
ripple and wistfulness
reaching further and
further into what
is possible and what is lost
then fading into
a strange wherewithal
breathing in, breathing out, and
finding the next pebble
This is where I begin and end, always
on the edge of water, breath, and ripple.
Oh, Shelly, what a soothing experience! I loved the images of the ripples here:
But the final lines are heaven sent! Thank you. Grateful I returned this morning to see what I missed.
🌸
I can really see the imagery here! The pebbles being tossed, dancing in the air. Capturing a beautiful moment in time.
Roger
I hear you: Roger
Message received loud and clear
You’re here, to be heard
Your fists are blue knotted
globes of fury pounding against
air and brutal light
Yes Roger Roger
Message received you’ve found
your furious thumb
Let it be known: You
are here knitting opinions
between tight baby brows
Our world needs a scolding.
Message received, Roger. Roger.
–My daughter named her baby Roger yesterday (born 4/2/23), so that was my word of course. I accidentally posted it in Sunday’s comments. SMH
Allison,
This was great! What made it even better was that I didn’t read your commentary until after I’d read the poem and thought that it was about angry texting…lol!! Then I reread it with new eyes and saw your new grandchild. And then I realized how texters are often like angry children… 🙂
Oh my goodness! YES, it can be read that way! :’)
Congratulations on your new grandchild, Allison! I love your wordplay on the child’s name, and it’s so true: “Our world needs a scolding.” May Roger be heard!
Allison,
I love how you have capture the brand new life of your grandbaby. I can see those “blue knotted” fists and “tight baby brow.” Your line in the final stanza, “our world needs a scolding” fits both poignantly, yet leaves room for hope. Thanks for your beautiful words.
Congratulations, Allison! What a sweet way to honor your new grandbaby, Roger. I wasn’t sure whose fists were “globes of fury” at first. Clever! I’m in love with the idea of “knitting opinions between tight baby brows…”
Cute! Enjoy this precious new soul!
❤️
Allison– Congratulations on baby Roger, I love the echo from the first to the last stanza–“you’re here, to be heard” is just a cool play on hear/here, and “our world needs a scolding” is just a perfect line. What a lovely birthday gift for Roger and your daughter.
Joy, thank you for inviting this beautiful symphony of words. I enjoyed reading and playing with this form.
Penultimate
Could be a cookie
Left alone on crumbly tray
No one wants to snag
Could be a chapter
Beckoning to tramp toward
Mixed emotions stay
Could be an pick-up
Toddlers walk then run, slipping
Away on foot one day
Senses too sharp when
We know something is ending,
The just before sings.
A gift to know
A gift not to
Oops, I called you Joy instead of Stacey! Thank you, STACEY 🙂
Penultimate – such a beautiful word and such beautiful poetry. These lines are so true:
Brenna – You did a beautiful job of capturing the moment of knowing something important is ending. “When we know …the just before sings” — I love that. And the gift pulling both ways. So elegant. I’m glad I awoke and went back to read this. Thank you. Susie
Brenna, this is lovely. These lines touch that tender space between love and loss:
We know something is ending,
The just before sings.
The moment before a child learns to skip/hop away. I can make myself really blue if I try to remember the last times I nursed a child or held him on my hip– Maybe it’s good I CAN’T remember the tang on such penultimate moments.
Thank you for these salt-sharp images.
Brenna, loved the thoughtful direction you took this in. My favorite stanza:
“Could be an pick-up
Toddlers walk then run, slipping
Away on foot one day”
And loved the last couplet. 🙂
Hi Brenna, I am often called Joy so no worries.
Your poem is a sweet reminder to stay present and to watch for the gifts of what’s to come. I love the image of toddlers
Completely agree with your couplet! I’m usually happier not knowing. LOL.
Stacey, what a delightful dive into words! I also love words, and felt pretty competent in the resources you linked until I arrived at the last grouping of words, where I only knew about half of them! I’ve continued to reminisce about Montréal and the ten years I lived there. Both of my 20-something sons were born there, one of my daughters and her family live there, I have dear friends there, and I spent many focused (and sometimes disheartened) hours trying to master the French language. One of the things I delighted in was the idiomatic expressions, which in any language are nuances that cannot be directly translated. Québec French is also different from Parisian French, similarly to the differences between British and American English, and franglais is prominent. Here goes:
Le franglais
Ouais, il pleut des clous
And it’s raining cats and dogs
Jeepers! Who’da thunk?
Is it just cold?
Mais, non! Il fait vraiment frette!
Yesterday fût froid
Je suis dans la lune
Because I’m sure the forecast
disait qu’il ferait…
Anyway, ça marche
I dig your amitié
More than the weather
Tu me manque toujours Montréal,
I long to immerse myself again.
Well, there goes my graduate-level French class – ! Of course, that was 20+ years ago, so no use to me here, but I enjoyed trying to suss out the meaning based on the context. I can get the informal tone from it, the friendliness of the exchange, and the ending. So, sometimes poetry can definitely be about the feeling it elicits even if the words cannot be fully understood. Fun read this morning, Charlene. I hope you get to return someday!
I added a translation, Denise, to make it more accessible!
Charlene, I had to read your poem a second time, skimming across the surface and waving at the author on shore (thanks, Billy Collins) where I felt the delight of half understanding! You made me long to immerse myself in a place/language that speaks in ways untranslatable.
What a treat! Thank you.
I imagine, Allison, that every language has certain terms that are untranslatable. A couple that come to mind that have been adopted into English are schadenfreude and kamikaze.
Hi Charlene, I took a year of French as a freshman in college. I remember 1, 2, 3 and how are you? LOL
I love that I needed to struggle with this one but I feel like I got it. I hope you get to Montréal again soon! Ready for the cold?
❄️☃️
I’ve added a translation, Stacey. I was in Montreal last week, where I was welcomed by about 8″ of new snow! 😂
Thanks for pointing out that my poem was indecipherable! 😄 Even with some French language background. Here’s a translation (which doesn’t fully fit the haiku format):
Yeah, it’s raining nails
And it’s raining cats and dogs
Jeepers! Who’da thunk?
Is it just cold?
Definitely not! It is truly “frette!”
Yesterday was cold
I must be dreaming
Because I’m sure the forecast
Said that it would be…
Anyway, it’s fine
I dig your friendship
More than the weather
I still miss you Montréal,
I long to immerse myself again.
“Frette” is a term used when the cold is beyond cold.
Bon soir mon amie! C’est une nuit parfaite pour moi d’essayer mon français amateur. Je pense que les deux langues sont belles.
I think translanguaging can be so powerful in poetry because you show so much of yourself.
Thanks, Ashley! It was fun to play with, and I think every language has it’s particular power and beauty.
lunar
waxing moon shrouded
by clouds, soft evening air holds
night’s sounds whispering
season’s changes, hint
of life springing from the soil
with soft leaves spreading
how did lunacy
draw from the moon? quiet and
predictable sight
howling at the moon
hint at the lunatic’s voice
not a quiet orb
how did the quiet celestial being
get mixed up with the likes of the werewolf?
Jamie, what a wonderful progression in your poem. I love your final question
Jamie — I stood outside tonight and soaked up that gibbous moon waxing. I’m so glad you wrote about it. And so elegantly. Indeed, how did it ever get mixed up with werewolves?! Beautiful poem. Thank you! Susie
Funny ending – indeed how(l) did that happen? : ) I love the “life springing from the soil / with soft leave spreading” mimicking the birthing process, but also the kind of “teasing” spring does when all we see at the beginning is just that “hint” – or some may see it as a promise. “quiet orb” is also a sweet phrasing – one I will hear in my mind when I see that vision next. Lovely and fun, Jamie!
Oh, this is a treat! I loved watching the moon with you and moving through your thoughts. The volta of the third stanza gave me a visceral shift as we moved from soft images to lunacy. You create a contrast worth chewing on. Wow.
Jamie, fun poem with the word lunar! I didn’t expect your turn of events. I lingered with the gentle loving kindness of these lines before venturing into the werewolf’s howl!
I wrote this one quickly and the meter is off. I played with the idea of learning new words and trying them out for the first time, often without precision. I remember using the word olfactory, but pronounced it “old factory” and my teacher corrected me and I felt embarrassed. I probably have too many ideas going on here, but I tried to weave the mispronunciation of the word and it forming in the mouth like a flower blooming in a field of new words, expecting success (as explored through scents) and finding something else.
The Smell of Memory
Olfactory is
Seared into my memory
Like a soured perfume.
In 6th grade English,
I plucked it from my field of
vocabulary,
Fresh and sweet and new,
Let lips roll round, my tongue
Rising to the roof
Of my mouth, clucking
Briefly behind the front teeth
Before f’s air reached
Like a flower’s stem
Bursting through soil, stretching
Its tight bud toward sun,
A petaled fist full
of heady honey floating
in the air — sweet, bright.
Then the open vowel,
Like the petals blooming wide
Relaxing in y.
Olfactory, I
said, but mispronounced the word.
An acidic nip
Instead. I’d expected
Pungent florals and praise for
My garden of words.
My teacher kindly
Smiled, corrected, but the
Scent had already turned rank.
Not exactly a Proustian madeleine,.
But a memory, scented and preserved, in time.
I love how you connected these juxtaposed ideas of fragrance and reek. Your last stanza really completes the poem well–I love how the memory is “scented” (although, not for a good reason. It sucks feeling called out or “wrong”).
Haley, this took me right back to a high school classroom when a teacher asked (because he didn’t know) for the definition of “fecund” and I gave him one that was incorrect. He didn’t know the difference but the snarky boy behind me did and your line—“an acidic nip”—really nails that pit-in-the-stomach feeling when you are corrected for something you took such pride in knowing. I didn’t think you were doing too much with this poem; I thought it was just right. Thank you for sharing!
Oh, I can so relate, Haley! Those middle school years are especially fraught with awkward moments! Your poem reminds me, as an educator, that my words (and reactions) carry more weight than I realize!
I love this poem! So much sensory detail; I love the use of both fragrance imagery and words connected to growth. The last line is divine.
Oh, Haley, this is a GEM.
My delight soared on the third line: Like a soured perfume.
I think your garden/compost smell works very well: pungent, rank move us (nose us along?) as we empty the vase of a bouquet that only days before delighted us.
Your ending is perfect: “Not exactly a Proustian madeleine” scented and preserved!
I enjoyed this so much.
Gosh, I needed this today! I have been a funky acidic nipper lately. LOL. It is one of those years. I teach 5th grade and stay with my class all day. When it’s a rough group, it’s a lonnnnng year. When it’s a fun group, the time flies. I need this spring break to break free from my acidic nipping.
I will be better by Monday. Thank you! I feel like this was meant for me.
😁
Stacey! Thank you so much for this prompt. This past week was linguistic justice week in my multicultural ed class, and I’d been talking with them about my Appalachian-infused rural language variety, so this was perfect in lotsa ways.
Sigogglin’ [psy-GAWG-lin]
When things just ain’t right
all askew or outta line
then they’s a-sigogglin’
Could be time or rhyme
what we build with words or hands
might could be sigogglin’
Just like today was
everything was all sideways
couldn’t nothin’ go right
It was all sigogglin’
I was all sigogglin’
And so is this poem
I reckon there’s beauty
in all that imperfection
in all that sigogglin’
How ’bout you?
WOW! This was so fun to read and learn. There’s so much character in this word and you emphasize it through your playful tone. Thanks for sharing!
Chea, vernacular is so intriguing to me, so thank you for sharing a glimpse into your Appalachian roots! I reckon there’s a whole lot I could learn from you!
A language onto its own, and beautiful in its own right. Nicely captured here, Chea. There is something comforting about being able to capture this sound in written form. I can definitely ‘hear’ this one in my head, almost as if the written words melt away.
Woohoooooo!! I love what you did with the prompt and how applicable it is for linguistic justice week! I think sigogglin’ describes my school year to a T! Fun poem!
Glad I didn’t miss it!
Stacey, what a prompt! I was thinking about it all day. Thanks for the accessible entry into poetry this month, and thanks for introducing me to this form and ubuntu.
Impermanence
cherry blossom snow
lilac bushes in full bloom
fall’s yellows and reds
freshly bathed baby
blank pages yearning for words
a friend’s short visit
licking the plate clean
sunrise coffee while camping
Grandpa’s story time
Revel in the pure joy these tiny moments bring–
and let’s toast to the impermanence of things!
Such beautiful tiny moments, Rachelle! I just love the first stanza.
Rachelle,
This is wonderful–so many images that perfectly embody impermanence! I especially like the first stanza: “cherry blossom snow / lilac bushes in full bloom / fall’s yellows and reds” –which makes me want to take a walk even though it snowed and hailed today (brr!).
I love the way your list plays with the juxtaposition of impermanence when those are some of the very things that carry so much weight. You used beautiful concrete details. I love sunrise coffee while camping. What a great detail to include!
Rachelle,
Your first stanza makes my lil heart happy. Cherry blossom snow is pure joy, closely followed by the colors of fall. You even included coffee for me 💖
Rachelle- I love that you celebrate impermanence rather than mourn it, as sometimes we tend to do. You capture the joy in words like “freshly” and “licking” and “sunrise” and “revel.” It feels good to read your poem… it’s amazing that a poem can carry the power of producing smiles. Thank you! Susie
Wow, Rachelle, did you have any idea that I’ve been writing about impermanence in many of my comments? Seredipity!
In my meditations, impermanence creeps up more often than not. I’ve been noticing how much it helps to acknowledge impermanence in everything and everyone.Your poem is exactly what I needed! You nailed it. It’s in nature (cherry blossom snow), in humans (a friend’s short visit) and all around (sunrise coffee).
Brilliant and beautiful! ☀️
typo: serendipity
I feel as though each of these experiences resonated with me and I could read a list like this forever. It definitely reminds me of the simple pleasures and poetic moments to capture! Thank you!
Choices
By: Emily Yamasaki
Misty blue sea foam
iris lavender eggshell
ivory forest
jungle floor palm fronds
dusk midnight hour dark skies
lost at sea ocean floor
fern dusty miller
mauve rose blush sunkissed cheeks flushed
river waters flow
many choices to
choose from, splash it on the walls
which sheen suits us best
how does paint on walls show
love, warmth, safety?
So many beautiful and vivid colors, Emily. I adore your last couplet with its deep question.
This is full of such rich color descriptions. I really enjoyed the uncertainty of meaning — opening with the list of colors — before the reader lands on what these colors are tethered to — paint! I also appreciate your use of water descriptions throughout and the the verb “splash” when you get to the paint. Thank you for this!
I’ve always loved paint color names. Sometimes I choose a shade of green, ‘cause I like the name. A list of colors paints a beautiful poem. What a fun play with words.
I loved the surprise of learning you were talking about paint colors, Emily! And yes, how does paint on walls show love, warmth, safety?
Emily, yes, the paint colors for the win, all of them! I know the struggle of choosing but don’t you just adore the names?
I like this so much. Now I want to look up the colors! Thanks, my friend!
Emily,
The shift in the last two lines surprised me but made me smile and laugh at how delightful paint color names can be! At first I thought you were traveling and hiking across different landscapes, and I now picture paint chips splattered across your desk or table wondering which direction to follow.
Ode to Spring Break
By Mo Daley 4/3/23
Finally! Spring break is upon us!
I was about to go doolally
with the pressure and no respite in sight.
I was becoming anserine right before my bill,
I MEAN EYES-
you see what I mean, right?
Day three of break and I am relaxed,
in my cwtch
reading and writing
and living the dream.
I learned these words from the word maven, Susie Dent.
Anserine- gooselike
Doolally- not in possession of one’s faculties
Cwtch- a cubbyhole
Ooh, I feel relaxed and spring break like right along with you! Enjoy the cwtch and thanks for teaching me some fantastic new words- doolally and ansernine totally capture pre break madness!! Love the line about the bill, I Mean eyes!
Mo – I love the joy here and the playfulness. Doolally is dandy! My fave is cwtch, a word I must add to my stash! Thank you! Susie
I can feel the itch before the break, Mo – you’ve rendered it so perfectly here. And the reward of some well-earned time to seriously just sit and do NOTHING by all outward appearances. Enjoy “living the dream” – for a few days, anyway! : )
Ohhh, I love doolally! I’m with you, beyond grateful for this break. I aim to stay in the moment and go no further unless required. LOL.
I’m with you here:
🤗Enjoy!
Apricity
no longer too chilly
for baby cheeks and dog paws
we jump up to go
dodge around puddles
muddy paths through spruce and pine-
take shelter from wind
walking and squawking
spilling the tea, small town style-
catch me up, my friend!
the warm rays of sun
slice through winter’s icy shell-
face up and revel
It has been too long
Let’s do it again
Emily,
I had to look up your word, but I am totally using that as much as I can in the next few weeks as we creep into spring (we just had snow showers this morning). I love this line: “the warm rays of sun / slice through winter’s icy shell.” Lovely!
I love everything about this, Emily. I felt like I was right there with you!
Wow, Emily! I LOVE the energy in this poem. From “jump up to go” I’m dodging puddles with you, walking and squawking. That third stanza is delightful, and I love the syntax of “catch me up, my friend!”. I have turned my face up to revel in the sun and could FEEL that in your poem.
Your word is new to me. As someone who prefers weather where socks are not necessary I’m glad to have learned it from your poem. Love “no longer too chilly for baby cheeks and dog paws.” Also “warm rays of sun slice through winter’s icy shell.” Thank you for turning me on to a new word. Apricity.
Emily! Thanks for teaching me a new word. Here in Iowa, it has still felt very wintery, and I connected your images to a chilly April arriving–with so much promise. I love the third stanza and the last line “catch me up, my friend!” It’s so optimistic and inviting.
Emily – The tone of glee zips happily through each stanza. You so perfectly start it with a pace that builds till it’s the dash of “catch up with me.” I love the happiness here. And it really makes me smile to think of those baby cheeks! I’ve missed you! My email changed & have had no access to the old one… am hoping you got my email back in December… checking on you and “baby cheeks.” Hugs, Susie
hey Susie! Thanks for checking in! I didn’t get your email, but let’s try again! emilymaracohn@gmail.com and I will send pictures of baby cheeks!
The imagery in this brings back so many happy memories for myself. What a beautiful way to capture time and memory from the outdoors.
I’m afraid I went a little overboard with the delicious words. Whoops! Thank you so much for the fun prompt!
Words are fodder for
a sesquipedalian
like me who revels
in the ylem of
literature and the pother
of life and fiction
When in the maelstrom
of communication, oft
we find ephemeral
meaning in long words
with murmurations both
simple and vexing
The ineffable dilemma of clarity
is nothing to quibble over
HI Cara,
“Ylem” may be my favorite new word! This is a super clever ode to the art of choosing the right words!
Cara- I love this feast of delicious words!
you make this delightful poem trip off the tongue and seem effortless, which takes a skill of weaving these words together in a way that made sense, even if I forgot what they meant, I got it enough to know that we were indulging in beauty with you! Thanks for this lovely offering!
This prompt is SO you! I learned a few words while reading. I love the way you wrapped it up!
Cara,
You did not go overboard!! This poem is perfectly you!! As a mom of five “The ineffable dilemma of clarity is nothing to quibble ove” hit home. Clarity saves the day.
Mizpah
Cardinal visits
Early morning for three days
Is it you grammy?
You left me too soon
Are these visits from Heaven?
I wish you were here
What I need right now
Is unconditional love
Only you gave me
Mizpah is why I
Awoke at the hour of your death
Connected always
You know I need you now
So you perch on my car window and wave
Oh, wow, Heidi. This is beautiful. How lucky you are to have had grammy and still have her. I used mizpah in my poem, too. The whole concept of it hits me deeply. I especially appreciate this stanza:
Heidi,
You chose brought this one home! So many emotions and wonderings. I whole-heartedly believe our loved ones are closer to us after they’ve passed than they could ever have been while here in the flesh. I love this and I know your Grammy loves the poem and you too!
Thank you for sharing this heart-felt poem.
Heidi- you have expressed this yearning in a beautiful, piercing way. Your repeated use of questions brings up this emotion for me. This early spring mizpah, this connection feels both comforting and a little lonely to me. I hope lots more cardinals cross your path!
What a lovely tribute to your grammy, Heidi. It’s apparent the two of you had a special bond, and I’m glad she comes to visit you when you need her!
Stacey, what a joy-inducing prompt. On a Monday with only seven weeks of school to go and kids ready to be gone, I needed this. I beat out the poem on my fingers as I walked the dog. Thank you!
A furry brown tail
I think I see high up in
Yon New-leafing tree
Then a cardinal
Drops to rest on nearby branch
Just to say, “See you!”
A bold, bright moth bides
Its time on the wind sooner
Gone than it is seen
The redbud’s fuchsia
Blooms complain that spring just here
Won’t stay long enough
At sixty times around the sun
This season still amazes me
Here is the inspiration for the poem.
Katrina,
I am so jealous of all enjoying spring. The cardinal, moth, fuchsia blooms all elude us, except in my imagination through the gift of your words. Here we see nothing but snow.,
Thank you! Boo, snow!
Gorgeous images dance across the page! Katrina, I keep getting reminders about embracing impermanence in the poems shared today. This is another beautiful reminder:
Enjoy the moments!
Katrina- I am connecting with all this vibrancy you point out on your walk! I like how your ending couplet gives us perspective on your gratitude for wonder in your life! Thanks for showing us the bold moth and letting me listen to the cardinals and blossoms! Love the personification of complaining blooms!
Does this mean happy birthday? Big thoughts like this often come to me on morning walks with the dog. Your observations so sharp and clear – furry brown tail, New-leafing tree – why the capital N? redbud’s fuchsia tells me your north of me. Details, so small can say so much. Thank you for taking us on your walk.
Stacy—I love this new-to-me format! As I hiked and explored today, I was composing potential Haiku in my head, trying to capture the wonder and beauty (and the ferocious wind) around me. Thanks so much for the invitation.
Time to Explore
Twirling and swirling
Hair soaring like sacred bird
Breath stolen by wind
Define resilience
Windswept tree emerges from rock
Strength is surviving
Scrambling. Rocks not eggs
Terrain fit for mountain goats
Will hike for ahhh, views
Rare desert water
Liquid gold, secret to life
Listen. It’s singing
Glimpses, moments, stay present
Appreciate nature’s bounty.
(you can find the photo essay version on my blog)
https://thinkingthroughmylens.com/2023/04/03/time-to-explore-a-haiku-sonnet-npm23-day-3/
Kim,
After you mentioned Death Valley in an early post, I told my husband we should drive down there for a couple of days to escape the cold and snow, so we’re taking an impromptu jaunt to Las Vegas, to Death Valley for a couple days and back to our long winter. Your photos are amazing, as is your poem. “Twirling, swirling, soaring” capture the wind. I love the way both poem and nature reward hikers who brave the desert terrain.
Kim, your poem presents a beautiful image of strength – that of nature and that of the humans that inhabit nature. “Strength is surviving” – so true in the desert.
Kim, your blog post sealed the deal! Gorgeous pictures accompany your haiku sonnet and leave me wanting to go back to Red Rock! I love:
I love the final two lines as they remind me that I made the right decision to cancel my gym membership last Saturday to partake in the wonders of nature walks/hikes instead.
This is a treasure and I am grateful!
Kim,
I love hiking and your poem paints a really vivid picture of the beauty and adventure of the hike. I really love the 3rd stanza–the scrambling up rocks fit for mountain goats!
“Scrambling. / Rocks not eggs” made me chuckle, Kim. Such beautiful pictures you paint in your poem, and your photo essay further adds to the impact.
Thank you, Stacey Joy, for the invitation to write a haiku sonnet about a word that resonates with me. I am a word nerd, so today’s prompt was a bit challenging. It was difficult for me to pick just one, so I included a few. You also combined my favorite form (haiku) with the most challenging form (sonnet) for me. I feel like I am going in circles a bit.
Mellifluous Words
Difficult to find,
put together, and convey
the heart’s intention
Sing soft secrets to
the wind and traverse the skies
to find open minds
Pierce the soul, causing
ripples of thoughts that create
eternal changes
Passed unto others-
sanguine and effervescent,
lifting spirits up
Words matter
Mellifluous words spread joy
Heather,
I hear the melodies in your poem. It embodies “Mellifluous.” The sounds that appeal most to me are the alliteration in “sing, soft, secrets.” The image of words piercing and causing ripples creates a skipping stone image in my mind. It’s lovely.
Heather, mellifluous…feels smooth in my mouth!
I recently taught a lesson about the power of words and how words matter. You nailed it!
Oh, I so appreciate the sound work you’ve done in this!
Such a wonderful prompt, Stacey! Thank you so much for the inspiration, beautiful words, and a rabbit hole, of course. Your haiku sonnet beautifully conveys your value of joy, love, hope, and strength. The closing lines are so profound:
“I am, we are, each others’
Healing redemption song.”
Here is my poetic attempt for today, also in a form of a haiku chain.
Words and Places
In the world of words,
One may find ineffable bliss
Or ethereal peace.
I find querencia
Beneath a favorite tree
Called mulberry.
Not a mighty sequoia
From Cali redwood forest,
It grows in Crimea.
Familiar home scents
Secure a sacred retreat.
Soul rests in fika.
Like a pluviophile
Dancing in the petrichor,
I welcome rebirth.
One more word I didn’t highlight – fika, a moment to slow down and appreciate good things in life.
Love this thread of haiku contemplating the origins and its perfect end with “rebirth.”
Familiar home scents and sacred retreat calmed me instantly. I love how you used these beautiful words.
Leila, so many beautiful words here. I love the dance within the petrichor, especially as it offers rebirth. I definitely found ethereal peace within your poem today!
Leilya,
Wow, you really worked the haiku and word play well. I love the last haiku and savor the image of dancing in the rain!
“Word Theft”
Is it misappropriation
to steal a word
from a language and culture
not you’re own?
If so,
guilty as charged.
Sawbona.
I see you.
You matter.
All of you.
Your joy
and your darkness.
Your celebration
and your suffering.
Your virtues,
your weaknesses.
Without you
a space would exist
that could never
be filled.
Sawbona.
I see you.
This is a perfect word to steal, Kim! “I see you” – sawbona! Thank you for teaching me a new word today. I am stealing it too.
I feel I should fold my hands over my heart and bow. That’s a greeting in Asian countries that I believe we should adopt. I didn’t know the word sawbona, but it seems to mean the same thing, an honor, a greeting, you matter.
When I googled, it came up as sawubona. The meaning is as you wrote it “I see you.”
Margaret, you are right! Everyone, please correct to “sawubona.”
Kim,
English would be a barren, sparse, perhaps dead language if we took. o words from other cultures. We should all be guilty of sawbona and be present for the myriad moments of life.
is an absolutely gorgeous stanza and a perfect way to follow the preceding stanza. I love this word!
Hi Kim,
I had to Google this one! I’m in love! I need to use this word, sawubona, to acknowledge my darling students who make life sweeter! I will write this one down.
I appreciate the acceptance and welcoming of the totality of each soul:
Kim! I love the way you played with structure in this poem — asking the question as an entry point and then unfurling it. The last two lines land powerfully.
Flapdoodle
The word flapdoodle
Something I had to google
I’m a good pupil
The word pantoufle
You don’t wear when your frugal
But I’m past…nubile
Cinnamon strudel
Food that I can canoodle
I love Thai noodle
Winnie the Poodle
The rhyme becoming futile
Taps, plays the bugle
Foolish talk is the definition
My way to make some lexical decision
Jennifer, you are clearly a word guru! I could literally hear this poem being said/sung. Loved it!
Jennifer,
Fun rhyme. I’m in a lexicon canoodle! 😉 Maybe a little befoodelded. Scratching my gray matter noodle. Off to consult Dr. McGoogle.
Snaps. So many clever turns here to get the rhyme as whimsical as the play with words today. You were so much better with context clues than I, so I feel welcomed into the fold even though there are so many words I don’t know and resist googling.
Cheers,
Sarah
This is just brilliant, Jennifer! I love the rhyming, the word play, and your sense of humor. Thank you for sharing and making me smile.
This is funny and fun to try to read aloud!
Pure fun. I loved the sounds and the variety of words you played with in your poem.
Jennifer, your fun and playful poem reminds me of just how silly words can be. Now I will have to Google (a silly word in itself) Flapdoodle.
Jennifer, I sure appreciate the long hold on the word to get the dictionary to pop up! I am cracking up on:
You mastered the rhymes and the words! I’m in awe! Your final two lines, yessss! You’ve made some incredible lexical decisions!
👏🏽👏🏽👏🏽👏🏽👏🏽👏🏽
Ohhh, Stacey! I am so challenged to make choices, but dangitall if this word didn’t come to my head and would not leave me all day, even after trying others, so I gave in! Totally fun prompt, and one I will return to for exploring topics that come to me through words.
discombobulation
cuz it rolls
off my tongue beating
reckless quiet
thoughts confused
lost or shaken; still
they hold roots
mindful breath
connects soul, mind, earth
dis the dis
waltz my way
through-ation
take a bow
obstacles offer opportunities
never turn down the chance to dance
Denise, I like what I experienced in this poem: you turn “discombobulation” on its head!
Thank you for teaching me this word, Denise! Your final lines situate your challenges properly: “obstacles offer opportunities / never turn down the chance to dance.”
We all need to remember this more often.
I recently attended a women’s wellness retreat where we did mindful breathing and dancing. I love the mantra “never turn down the chance to dance.”
Denise,
Very cool, fun poem, and “never turn down the chance to dance” are words to live by!
Discombobulation is a fun word to say and a challenging word to endure when it’s happening. I’ve suffered the effects of vertigo recently, and so the discombobulation of confusion and fog are felt on the cognitive level in this poem. Love dis the dis!
Stacey, I’m a lover of words too! And Ubuntu has been one of my favorites for a long time. Your poem for it is so perfect. Thank you for this!
After such a long time, thanks to this prompt, I was able to revisit a guilty pleasure – The Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows. I found a number of words that I wanted to write about including ringlorn, austice, and exulansis. I ended up writing about…
Agnosthesia
Mediocrity I can
Handle easily, I don’t
have to feel too deep.
But with good news or
Bad, when I need to feel the
big feels, I balk, stutter.
It takes me hours and
Sometimes days to process what
and how much I feel.
And when the pain comes,
Or the joy, it is always
“Too little” / “too late.”
As the world rages outside me, and the immensity rages inside,
I cave, capitulate, isolate, alienate, and whither.
What a perfect poem to describe your word. I love your last stanza.
Saba, such a lovely meditation on agnosthesia. The processing across Haiku creates a rhythm to parallel the speaker’s relationship. “and wither” is just the perfect closing image.
Jennifer, I relate so strongly to these lines
It takes me hours and
Sometimes days to process what
and how much I feel.
Wow! Yes – – – that’s what happens to me, too. I have to reflect once I’m no longer preoccupied and really think about the way I feel about things.
Saba, thank you, for this honest gift in your poetry! I love that you opened up from the very start. Mediocrity is a safe space for so many and it’s good that you know where you stand.
This hits me and makes me remember, again, impermanence…this won’t last forever.
Thank you, Stacey for this prompt. I read it early this morning and have been carrying words with me all day trying to compose a poem. In March, I wrote about birds every day, so I still have birds on my mind!
Words on Birds
From a clutch of eggs
Emerges a chirping brood –
Come, feathered siblings
Bright songbirds gather
Warble every morning
Singing in the spring
Behold, grand plumage
Fly away to foreign places
Feathers bring freedom
Soar along flyway.
Follow the migration route
All through the seasons
Gather in wonder and gratitude
For these angels on earth.
Joanne,
This lovely poem is a fitting gift culminating your bird anthology. I like the holding of words as a way to emphasize traits, and I’m drawn to the /f/ alliteration, I do “gather in winder and gratitude / for these angels on earth.” I’ve been watching the birds in our clump birch and no fruit bearing crab apple tree, but the robins have abandoned the trees. It’s too cold and snowy. We’ve been feeding them and the sparrows. I worry these birds will not return. I worry they’re confused about the seasons. Your poems have heightened my awareness of our feathered friends.
Joanne,
Your first stanza reminds me of the doves I’ve watched hatch in my hanging baskets on the back porch. I love all the stanzas and feel a need to sit and watch for birds with “wonder and gratitude.”
Stacey, thank you for this inspiration; I love the idea of treasuring words, delving deep within them – and to do so with a haiku sonnet is just lovely. Your couplet is breathtaking, such a beautiful definition of ubuntu, I think.
liminal
seeing the shadows
to glimpse what was and will be
while at the present
moving back and forth
in-between a hallowed space
holding multiples
the dark and the light
sit with everything at once
finding space in pain
life is transition
surrender at the thresholds
nothing lasts love now
tending to the soul
liminal unfolds
So beautiful. Love the stanza –
the dark and the light
sit with everything at once
finding space in pain
Thank you!
Ooooohhh, good word!! I like how it sounds and feels and all the ways you’ve embraced liminal in your poem. I’m reminded, yet again, of impermanence. Thank you, Maureen!
A soft and cozy space awaits through all of life’s changes!
A great word and a beautiful poem, Maureen! This word reminds me of my graduate studies, where we all felt in that mysterious “liminal space” thinking it had some kind of determined time frame, or boundaries, and forgetting to live our lives. So much wisdom in your lines!
Maureen,
Clint Smith’s new poetry collection has a poem called “All at Once” in it that reminds me of your gorgeous words. These lines in particular echo that sentiment: “holding multiples” and “sit with everything at once.” “Liminal” itself has an ethereal lilt that comforts and sits softly in my ear. Gorgeous poem.
Maureen, thank you for writing this poem. I think I’ve been searching for the word “liminal” for weeks or maybe even months! You beautifully capture liminal in concept but your diction works so well. I love that last haiku. Thank you for sharing!
Maureen, your poem is compelling, beautiful and provocative! I love the message about transitions, the contrast with shadow and light, and I especially loved “finding space in pain” This is the kind of poem that has layers to unfold. Absolutely brilliant! Kudos!
Maureen, I sense this word more strongly as I age. Occupying both sides of the threshold, nothing can last forever, being ready to surrender like passing a baton to the next generation – – it’s happiness and sadness all rolled into one.
Maureen, what a great word to write a haiku sonnet about today.
Those lines remind me of crossroads in my life. And I love the “liminal unfolds” conclusion. Unfolds is a powerful word there.
Maureen – I feel a sort of grace in your poem, one that comes with finding balance even in transition. It almost feels like a poem that should be whispered. I love that. Great word choice … liminal. You accomplish this delicate movement so beautifully. It might be odd but it makes me think of the slow sway of an elephant’s trunk as she navigates, sensing patterns of what’s known and unknown as she moves through the arid landscape toward water. Something majestic about that. Beautiful poem. Susie
Stacey, what a wonderful prompt. I appreciate learning about the haiku sonnet. What a lovely and joyful form to help us shape and share our joy with words today. Thank you!
Springtime Joy
In honor of my father, who’d be 102 today if he were still alive.
delicate blooms lean
into the afternoon sun
smiling happily
breathtaking bluebirds
lightly land on a slender
limb, flutter their wings
lazy cats lounging
stretch their cat claws savoring
the birds trilling song
afternoon breeze
flirts with the kitchen curtain
promising springtime
my joyful spirit
flies into the blue-white sky
Barb Edler
3 April 2023
Hi Barb,
Thanks so much for sharing this delightful spring haiku sonnet and happy heavenly birthday to your dad.
I felt the freedom of spring here especially:
a flirting breeze…brilliant!
Hugs, my friend!
Barb,
Im holding every image to my heart as we face more snow today. Your poem has both a lovely, dreamy quality and is the embodiment of life and hope. That concluding couplet is stunning.
Barb, your poem radiates spring and its many joyful signs. A treasure of a poem to celebrate your father. I love the bluebird stanza especially – its happy alliteration, the way the second line folds into the thirds, and the very sound of the word “flutter” which makes me hear their wings.
Love this, Barb! My mom would have been 102 in February. I love – my joyful spirit flies into the blue-white sky.
Happy heavenly birthday to your father, Barb! I love the gentle spring sonnet. I love the consonance created with “l” sounds, especially in the first three stanzas. The ending is uplifting and hopeful:
“my joyful spirit
flies into the blue-white sky”
Just beautiful! Thank you for sharing.
Barb, I’m so glad this form allows us to deep-dive because I would have needed so much of this world than a traditional haiku. I especially loved the breeze flirting with the curtain. Happy birthday to your dad!
Barb, I long to see your “breathtaking bluebirds.” I honestly don’t know if I have ever seen one “lightly land on a slender limb.
Barb, you’re a master of internal rhyme and the lilting of language throughout this poem. The closely positioned matching vowel sounds in the words ~ like music, especially when read aloud. And the images and the peace – – it’s all just beautiful language and image.
Yes, Barb! This is spring ! I love the images that have such a lightness… my fave is the “flirts with the kitchen curtain/promising…” Ahh, that is a beautiful spring moment. I’d say this poem would feel so good to your dad. Hugs, Susie
Barb, that is gorgeous, a thing of springtime beauty for your dad. Nice alliteration and personification throughout this lovely sonnet. I’m thinking of him and you today.
Psithurism
def: the sound of wind in the trees
A secret rustle
gently rolls leaves to and fro
comfort on the breeze
Long exhaled whooshes
sway treetops in unison
gaining momentum
Continuous groans
as branches shake, rattle and roll
change is a coming
Howling, shrieking force
splintering arms from core
will the damage heal
What melody will your symphony compose today?
The musicians are at the mercy of the mercurial mistral.
Wow this poem is so cool! “Psithurism” is a new word to me, but you described it to a T. I love the tone shift from the calm first 2 stanzas (could have rocked me to sleep!) to the last 2. And awesome ending too – I love the image of the “merurial mistral.” Thank you!!
Thank you! It was hard for me to find words to describe the sounds so I am glad it came across.
Wow, I love the definition of Psithurism, and the way the poem shows the word’s definition. I can feel a strong wind in your poem. We’ve had a lot of storms with more predicted this week so I can relate to the musicians at the “mercy of the mercurial mistral”. Wonderful poem and word play!
Hi,
I chose this same word last month for a poetry challenge. You’ve crafted a gorgeous poem, rich with onomatopoeia and sensory images that certainly the wind should admire!
I loved this:
The idea of groaning with change is the core of humanity! Thank you for sharing your Psithurism poem today.
Thank you. Your comment about groaning and change made me look at my poem with new eyes.
That is such an amazing word – one can feel the power of wind in its very composition, I think. In your poem, I notice how the wind sound builds from stanza to stanza, with a resounding “Howling, shrieking force” by stanza four; impressive! That last couplet is provocative, I think – we are dependent upon mother nature and her melodies.
Oh my gosh, I love this! I didn’t know there was a term for the sound wind makes through the trees. Really wonderful poem – I can hear it; I can feel it. Thank you!
I can hear your poem. Great details, and reminds us that trees feel.
I love all the sounds you incorporated into your poem. It builds in suspense with each stanza.
What a beautiful word! I loved playing around with the sound of it for a bit before delving into your poem, with all its softness and gentle invitation before the big crescendo at end. And the lovely m’s had me going mmm hmmm, mmm mmm, hmmm!
Stacy, this was fun! I love the use of Ubuntu and your poem, and, if he hasn’t already, I’m sure Bryan Crandall, will have something interesting to say about that wonderful principle!
I’m feeling a bit froggy today, so hopefully the poem comes off in the serio-comic way that it was intended!
Iconoclastic earthworms
Iconoclastic
earthworms burrow beneath walls.
Opening borders?
One step at a time,
ants feed crumbs to insurgent
armies, building strength.
Small acts save planets.
Prodigious pollinators
fuel flowers, forests.
All is possible.
Hummingbirds dart backwards
on paltry pinions.
What cannot be done
confronting iniquity?
Dave, I could visualize all of the action in your poem. Your closing question is powerful!
Hey Dave! Yes, Bryan has shared our kindred connection to ubuntu.
I love what you did here to remind us how even the smallest of actions can create vast changes. And yes, let us all confront iniquity to undo this insanity around us.
🌺
This is a poem of hope and inspiration, filled with metaphors and deep meaning. Might we be like ordinary earthworms, channeling actions to “confronting iniquity” ? All of us, one small step at a time. To think, basic movements on our part could prove iconoclastic, toppling destructive systems. Thank you for this!
Thank you for the prompt today! I usually shy away from structure, but decided to try it out while watching my students complete a project for the text we just finished reading.
Incendiary
Students scribble quotes,
Sketch symbols, analyzing
One young man’s story
Of fire, ash, and Night.
Sophomore minds whirl to make
Sense of the senseless.
How can we envision
Small bodies reduced to ash?
See flames which engulfed
A faith, a culture,
Countless families? Eighty
Years later, your words
Create fires in young minds,
Hoping to give voice to the silenced.
Beautiful. The way you crafted the line breaks creates such a nice flow in your poem. My favorite parts: “make / sense of the senseless.” and “your words / Create fires in young minds.” Such a hard, but necessary topic to present to these teenagers. I hope you show them this poem!
Jordan, yes! I absolutely applaud your poem. I love your third stanza’s question, and it’s clear the reading is Night even without your mentioning it in the second stanza. Your final line is delivered exquisitely! I felt completely pulled back into the classroom, understanding this moment, the power of the text, and the horror of the first-hand accounts.
Thank you, Jordan! This poem should be shared widely. We maintain hope that our student will “give voice to the silenced” and continue to fight the oppresive systems in place.
Perfect title!
I know your students appreciate you!
Gorgeous delving into the word incendiary…such a powerful project for your students to wrestle with. Love how you captured their engagement,
This is a powerful poem. I love the alliteration and the line breaks. I can envision your classroom working and thinking.
Jordan — This is truly an important poem. You honor those lost. The “small bodies reduced to ash” is so haunting, yet so painfully real. And here we are 80 years later indeed…I’m so glad you are teaching! Thank you. Susie
I love how you use Night as the foundation for the poem and the way you work with the fire metaphor is so powerful. We ask a lot of our students sometimes to make sense of a senseless world and you capture the essence of that work in this. Thanks for this!
Stacey! Thank you for introducing me to a new form and inviting us to play with words—my favorite!
April in Arkansas
Petrichor wafts round,
An ethereal fluid,
Tales of quench and throat.
Psithurism teases?
No, threatens? Or, foreshadows?
You can’t trust a breeze.
Metaphors swirl through
Conversation trying to
Name the unexplained.
Prisms splash rainbows
In spite of and clear across
Gray, marshmallow skies.
Euphoria as weather follows
Schisms in pressure.
Laura, your poetry is beautiful. I love the “ethereal fluid” and the questions you ask in stanza two. I especially enjoyed “Gray, marshmallow skies”. Your closing lines say it all, and I absolutely love your title!
Hi Laura,
I’ve missed your poetry and you too! So glad this prompt resonated with you. Your poem moves me, each haiku and the final couplet! I adore the prisms splashing rainbows…
So happy you’re here!
I love how you weave in so many of ‘beautiful, delectable’ (Stacey’s adjectives) words while giving us a glimpse of the wild weather machinations you’ve been experiencing in Arkansas. I lived there years ago and I have been watching the news closely. Your final lines are so glowing, as this weather system (hopefully) moves on through. I love the line “prisms splash rainbows’.
Generation Ripple
My mom tells stories
when she rolled about, back of
a station wagon.
Dad reminisces
riding his motorcycle
to California.
Growing up we camped —
Arizona sunsets to
fishing in Oregon.
Now I take my sons:
California, Oregon and
Arizona. Trips.
Where they went; where we went;
Where we go. Where’ll they go?
I enjoyed the time travel through your stanzas. Love your that question- Where’ll they go? Gives a feeling of endless memories of travel.
Amber, I love your title and the action you open with is fantastic. I could completely relate to being in a car for a very long trip. I like how you connect the before, the now, the after in your closing couplet.
Brilliant title, Amber! I love going back in time with you and moving so smoothly into the present. I wonder, like you, where my son and daughter will go. Beautiful!
Amber, the generation ripple you describe is so delightful here – – I remember, too, the days of rolling around in the back of a station wagon. We had a big station wagon and a VW squareback. I have distinctive memories of lying back there gazing up at the night sky as we rode – and I wish that were the type of ripple I could pass along, but alas – – seatbelts these days.
Saudade
Out in the hallway
Before school starts, we share words
Part our ways to teach
Out in the hallway
Between classes we catch eyes
Wink and go back in
Out in the hallway
After the bell rings, farewell
We drive off alone
Everything once deep
Now reduced to surface talk
Grateful but yearning
A word that English lacks: Saudade–A longing for home, filled with love, hope, and more.
My heart reaches for you and waits for you to gather courage and act too on the saudade.
M M,
Thank you for teaching me a new word today.
I love the use of anaphor to start the stanzas. I think we’ve all been in those “out in the hallway” situations, especially ones that have morphed and changed. You capture it well with the culminating lines
Niiiiiice!!! I’m intrigued! Is this someone who will not go back to the depth of the past? I love the mystery of it all. Perfect word, saudade. I sense you could keep going with this one.
MM, this is sensual and mysterious – – I have so many questions about the wink and the yearning and the deep talk vs. surface talk. That kind of yearning is the desire for deeper connection, I believe – – and I’m pulling for that!
M M, wow, this is mysterious and beautiful. I definitely sense the longing. That last stanza shows more of the history of this relationship. You are “grateful, but yearning.” It makes the reader wonder and hope with you. Is this a Portuguese word? Is it something you knew or just discovered today?
Yes, it is a Portuguese word. I spent a stretch of time in Brazil and learned it then.
Thank you so much for this fun word filled prompt. I had fun reading so many words, picking a few to fill my personal poem word bank. Not all those words were used, but it was fun to play around with them this morning. 🙂
My wanderlust is starting to grow stronger
Yearning to enjoy a strong mug of coffee lagoon side
As aurora walks across the sky slow waking other
This is a peaceful time just for me
My wanderlust is growing stronger
Yearning to enjoy locations far away
Where the beaches are warm
With soft white sand beneath my feet
My wanderlust is growing stronger
Yearning to walk cobblestone streets
Where much of history was made
Art and architecture meld as one
My wanderlust grows stronger
Yearning to be out in the world
My wanderlust grows
Yearning…
DeAnna, I can feel your wanderlust growing in this poem. Your use of repetition is effective and wonderful. I want to be at that beach with you, feeling the warm sand “beneath my feet”. Loved your line: “As aurora walks across the sky slow waking other”. Beautiful poem!
What a lovely form you followed here, DeAnna. I enjoy when I get caught up in the imagery and feel like I am “wandering” with you, if only in the desire! As the day here offers a first true hope of spring, I am feeling this same yearning, and ending on that word with the ellipses captures the promise that it will be fulfilled!
DeAnna, Enjoying a “mug of coffee lagoon side” or walking on a warm beach “[w]ith soft white sand beneath [your] feet” sounds wonderful! Thank you for sharing your “wanderlust” with us!
DeAnna,
This is a nice ode to the siren call of travel. I, too, would love to
Thank you for sharing.
DeAnna, please take me with you! I am ready! The repetition and form work well with your yearning!
My favorite lines reflect my happy places on earth:
🌞☀️
DeAnna, the repetition in this poem is just spot-on! It mimics the taunting echoes of something that starts as a small idea, but forms into something much bigger! I’ll admit, as I read this poem I could picture myself at all these destinations–beach, cobblestone streets, art museum or more. Doesn’t matter where I end up, now I just want to go!
Silhouette
third grade art project
pencilled, cut, and glued with care
hanging in the hall
shoulders to head tops
in black construction paper
bright colors weaved behind
blank, shadowed faces
just the edges give a clue
to who is who
and if you look close
perhaps some mismatched strips
jagged cuts, warps, kinks
Then, as now,
our flaws made us unique.
Rachel,
I’m embracing and celebrating the innocence of a kindergarten art project and the way “mismatched strips / jagged cuts, warps, kinks” validate “our flaws” and make “us unique.” I so wish we could/would live this way.
I love the detailed imagery that you use. Your words helped the location and emotions come to life and helped me to feel. Thank you!
Oh wow! I remember doing silhouettes! I love how you’ve really made this poem form your own…it really seems made for the idea you wanted to share. I especially love the rhyme and image in your 3rd stanza.
Thank you for this fun memory today!
Rachel,
I remember making these silhouettes in school, I never thought of those jagged cuts or kinks as making me unique, just as flaws. Thank you for helping change that prospective.
Love, love, love this! The ending is perfect! Thank you!
Oh, how I remember the silhouette activity! You’ve captured it well. Do you do this with your students are was it a memory? I haven’t seen this in a long while and would love to see it return to the elementary classrooms.
Important lesson in your final lines. That’s one the children need to appreciate. Thank you, Rachel!
Yeah, this just
seems made up.
Now, I realize that
all words are, in fact,
made up. I get that.
I do.
And far be it for me
to be the arbiter of
what makes a word
a word. That’s not
a job I want. (Look,
I’m still double
spacing after
some punctuation.
So, I figure, there
are some decisions
I’m definitely not
qualified to make.)
But, come on.
Syzygy?
Really?
Can we do this now,
just randomly put
random letters
together and call
it a word?
This seems like
it was just invented
by people who
wanted to win
at Scrabble.
Oh, my bad.
After a very
limited Google
search, I see
that this is,
indeed,
a legit word:
its honest-to-goodness
bona fides include
Carl Jung
and that’s not
nothing,
and apparently,
again after a very
limited amount
of “research,” I
found out that on
March 28 (literally
just a few days ago)
five planets in our
solar system were
in a row.
And I had no idea.
I was probably
bingeing some
TV show while,
unbeknownst to
me, these heavenly
bodies were quietly
aligning themselves
with one another.
Things are happening
all the time.
Everywhere.
And, I guess,
sometimes
you just have to
look up.
Oh, and it was
Will Trent, by the way.
And I’m enjoying it
so far.
____________________________________________________
Stacey, thank you for your prompt and your mentor poem! “Ubuntu” is such a wonderful word! It sings of the strength of generations (and of this community, too!). And I also really enjoyed your Canva doc of some of your favorite words! Petrichor makes my “list,” too.
I simply love the energy of your poems, Scott. The impishness and play. I don’t think you’re being a ‘syzygy’ at all…just the opposite (bah dum dum ch). It’s either Scrabble or Words with Friends (although I think there’s syzygy between them both.
Hey, Scott — In rare form and knock-out terrific…as always…but then, that wouldn’t be “rare,” would it. Seriously, I love the journey of the lines and found myself laughing out loud AGAIN (again, maybe not so rare in the Scottworld). Here are my LOL spots:
“still double/spacing” — ahahaha, so funny…me too
“sygyzy” — I thought the very same thing first time I tripped on it
“people who/ wanted to win/at Scrabble” — oh geez, there I am
“Carl Jung… bonafide” — ahahahahaha
“binging …Will Trent… while the planets align” — aren’t we such clumsy humans?
Dang, you are funny…right to dem bones, funny bones.
Thanks for the fun. Susie
Scott,
I really enjoyed your poem today. I too often feel likes someone out there trying to win a Scrabble game came up with a new word. 🙂
I love this response because I had the same thought but just went on and ignored it like it would go away and not bother me. But we should look up at the stars, if only to feel small, which is really good for the ego.
LOL!!! The winding narrative in this is great (as usual). It’s always fun to see where you’re going to take us on these days. All while being quietly profound–“sometimes you just have to look up”.
Stacey,
I love the haiku sonnet form and the idea of “delicious and soothing words.” This took me back to a trip to Costa Rica, which became my inspiration.
Pura Vida
Live life simply like
slow moving sloths on high in
jungle canopies;
Dwell in positive
Vibes filled with gratitude for
Earth’s majestic gems.
Notice nature’s bounty:
this unspoiled edenic
Costa Rican life.
Choose little pleasures:
ways of being present, laid
back lifestyle, at peace.
Beyond words: Pura Vida
offers nirvana & karma.
–Glenda Funk
April 3, 2023
Good morning Glenda,
Costa Rica is on my bucket list. I love the reminder and effect of “little pleasures” and “nirvana & karma” flow well together. Thank you for sharing today.
Aaah, soooooothing words, Glenda. The lines flow with a sort of calming in-the-present-ness. “Peace” indeed. And even we poets find ourselves “beyond words”… I want to open my palms now and invite “Pura Vida.” Thank you for the balm of your poem today. Susie
Glenda, your opening stanza is so inviting. Yes, I can feel that warm simple life. The positivity and magic of Costa Rica shines throughout this poem. I love the “unspoiled edenic” “little pleasures” and your last line is absolutely divine: “offers nirvana & karma”. I need some positivity today. Thank you for sharing your exquisite craft today!
Ah yes, ‘pure vida’ – how I loved ‘living’ those words on our trip to Costa Rica. I love how you let other ‘beautiful, delectable’ words trickle in throughout this poem, especially the word ‘edenic’ – I wonder, how long will this beautiful nature of Costa Rica be unspoiled? We can’t resist (pun on Eden, yes) screwing up mother nature…
Glenda, pura vida – that happy vibe of Costa Rica, the lifestyle and mentality of choosing joy – – and they make jewelry that is of the brand name Pura Vida, too – – I got a mood ring in Asheville, NC by this company. Those little pleasures – – the slow travel, being present in the moment, calm and serene and taking it all in. Your words bring the serenity of the evening, the sounds of waves and birds and sweet nectar.
Glenda, I’m going to get there some day! And your poem only makes it a more immediate destination, your stanzas hushed, gentle, and relaxing. Something I greatly desire at present. In the meantime, I’ll be focusing on choosing those little pleasures and trying to be more laid back (that one’s not likely to happen).
Glenda, you’ve painted such a calming and soothing image here. Thank you for the poem and the word ‘edenic’!
Stacey, I had to get bloodwork done this morning so writing was difficult without coffee. (I loved everyone’s poems yesterday!) Thanks for this unique prompt. I wrote in my notes app on the way to school and forgot about the beautiful words.
Bleeding on the Page
I worry I can’t
do what other poets do
bleeding with deep love.
I gave blood today
opening my elbow for
piercing, dark red flow.
A tiny bruise dot
reminds me I’m human–
Blood tells a story.
Hemmingway says write,
it’s easy, open your veins
Bleed the words that flow.
So here I am sharing
my bloodsong with you.
Margaret,
I appreciate how the scenes of our lives, the most immediate and proximate ones, invite poems. “I gave blood today” has literal and figurative meanings for the teachers here specifically but then the “tiny bruise dot” and the “blood tells a story” extend broadly to our shared humanity within and beyond this poetry space. I welcomed some Hemingway today, and that last phrase includes a beautiful word perfect for today’s prompt: bloodsong.
Peace,
Sarah
Margaret, this is gorgeous, and I love,
Blood does tell a story…I have one. I can’t give blood. I’ve tried. Because I lived in London as a 19 year old in 1992, there’s this stipulation (usually the last question they ask…did you live in England between 1988-1992 and I have to answer yes). Still, the bloodsong is being sung with you.
Margaret,
Wow, “bleed the words that flow” is so beautiful and dark. I like where you went with this prompt today. Thank you for sharing.
Margaret — Wonderful! Well, bleeding isn’t so wonderful…but your poem is! I really love the image of the elbow bending for that donation and the letting of blood that happens when we pen our words. Your “bloodsong” is just right today! Susie
I love how you are combining the ideas associated with writing and literal blood. You do so without either of them losing meaning nor being dramatic. Friend, you may worry that “I worry I can’t
do what other poets do
bleeding with deep love.” But here’s the thing, you just did that exact thing. Thank you.
Margaret!!!! Wow! I am in love with your haiku sonnet! Grateful you gave us this gift today! The power in knowing “Blood tells a story.” Clever!
This poem is tight. All stanzas lead up to the final two lines. I love this.
Margaret – I love the word – bloodsong. It’s got me thinking. I am a carrier for hemophilia so this brings up a lot of images and memories. I think I may borrow your word and write a poem. Thank you!
I loved the connection you made between blood and stories. Your first stanza is how I feel about my writing today. I almost did not write/share. Hitting the submit button was a victory for me.
Margaret, thank you for the poem and for giving blood today! I love every word here, especially the third stanza—you are a human, and “Blood tells a story.” A beautiful “bloodsong”!
Margaret, this is perfect, from the “worry” in the first stanza (which I share at times, too — about me, not about you…lol…you have a very keen understanding of the human condition which you illustrate time and time again in your verse!) to the reminder that “Blood tells a story” to the Hemmingway paraphrase to the ending with your “sharing / [of your] bloodsong.” So good!
Wow! The marriage of literally giving blood and the “bleeding of words” is so powerful. The whole poem is beautiful, but I especially love the imagery of sharing a “bloodsong” in the last line.
Thanks, Stacey. I just spent time with the “cool English” words on the website to see what might come: https://www.berlitz.com/blog/beautiful-cool-english-words
“Cool English” Haiku Sonnet
bumfluff firsts: peachfuzz
sprouting on teen chins ‘n’ lips
bumfuzzling pimples
collywobbles ache
when love or insults land hard
digestion lollygag
peripatetic
poets sample meter, form
kerfuffling customs
flawsomeness reigns here
mollycoddling woebegones
assuages kakorrhaphi-
ophobia failure fears
have their place in poetry
Sarah,
I don’t know if there are enough hours in a Monday for me to look up all these words, so I’m relying on context clues. Love the title. Very clever and one of those “wish I’d thought of that” moments for me. I need to pluck the peachfuzz (aka chin whisker). I don’t know what collywobbles are but I have lots of aching body parts but see the teen heartache, too. I’d love to explore this poem with students and have both a close reading and written response with them. Lots of fun.
Sarah, this is a fun tongue-twister of a poem. The first haiku had me laughing as I have a teen experiencing these exact “cool word” experiences.
Sarah — I think Will Shortz of the NYT crossword puzzle would eat up your poem… these words wobbled into a crossword would be spectacular. I LOVE… and so would Will S… the wordplay! I think collywobbles is my fave. Susie
Sarah, what a bunch of fun here! I saw that section and laughed, and your condensed version of it here is a winner. It seems there was no kakorrhaphiophobia for you in this poem! That first stanza using bumfuzzle and bumfluff is spot on!
Sarah, your video sealed the deal! Love the written words but your recitation is PERFECTION! Loved hearing you pronounce kakorrhaphiophobia and I love knowing we are all supporting each others’ fears of failure in poetry. You rocked this! So many fun words to enjoy!
My sister and I do a silly sister thing and text each other nonsense words on Wednesdays. For some reason, these lines seem like they’d be a perfect Wednesday text but she’d have to know collywobbles is a real word! 😂
What a mouthful of fabulouso vocabulary! Like Glenda, relying on context, I think you nailed it. But if I share this poem with my students, I may frighten those mollycoddling woebegones.
Joy, I love your song drawing generations together: “Fearless, audacious” hopes. Your people have been relentlessly hopeful and courageous for centuries. “I am, we are, each others’ / healing redemption song.” And may white people get out of the way, more and more.
I love that haiku sonnet. I want to try it, but today this formed seemed easier for the tiny moment I wanted to capture. Today I found a new word–apricity–in this rabbit hole of unique and beautiful words, as Stacey so aptly described it. When I saw that apricity means “the warm rays of sun in the winter” it brought me back to a homesick day during my first winter in frosty Iowa. I sat in the dining room in a beautiful ray of sunshine and may have felt warm for the first time in months. It was that moment I tried to capture:
Sprung into my soul, this apricity
Reminded me of hope in the cold
Brilliant snow reflected felicity
Sprung into my soul, this apricity
Here, frigid and warm duplicity
Image for lavish life takes hold
Sprung into my soul, this apricity
Reminded me of hope in the cold
Denise,
Thank you for apricity! I have been yearning for the “warm rays” on my skin, but your words make me realizing it is a soul warmth that I need. “Spring into my soul, this apricity”! That repetition is perfect for emulating the rays being absorbed deeper and deeper.
Sarah
As I look out my window at the snow that continues to fall and feel my personal hopes that are fighting against life’s metaphorical snow, I felt the sunshine through your words. Your words both captured sunshine and the cold. Thank you.
Denise, first of all, I appreciate your intro and chuckled at “may white people get out of the way…” thanks for that!
Apricity is a beautiful word and warms my spirit so it makes sense you’d pick that word. Your poems always warm my heart. Thank you, Denise.
This is a vibe that I want to savor:
Denise, yes, I understand. Your final line says it all: “Reminded me of hope in the cold”. I can just imagine your homesickness during a cold Iowa day.
Beautiful word, Denise! Love the song-like repetition of “Sprung into my soul, this apricity.” I am reminded of how cats often nestle in the sun. I love this sensation too.
Denise, I’m ready for the warmth of sun in spring – but that apricity warmth of sun in winter reminds me so much of the little pool of light that my dogs all seek as they nap in the winter, looking for just that certain slant of light. Dogs know it. And it also reminds me now of your skylight – – your stargazing window that casts the light, shining the possibility of apricity right in your living room!
Denise, when I first learnt the word ‘apricity’ and what it meant, it took me back to my first winter in Islamabad. Before that I had only known the Sun as harsh and unforgiving, but that was my first experience of the Sun being warm and comforting. Thank you for this beautiful poem that reminded me of good times!
Thank you, Stacey! I loved exploring your lists of words. Even before writing, I gained so much by researching the origin of these words. Fika stood out to me in particular 🙂 Such a beautiful concept!
We sip our coffee
We split our cake in two halves
Our phones are facedown
For a moment in
The day, emails go unread
To-do lists unchecked
My heartbeat slows down
Despite the caffeine pumping
Because we are here
The only sounds are
Our chatter, and the flicker
Of a cozy candle
Fika, a coffee and a cake break
No purpose other than to realize what it’s all for
Megan,
I feel at ease reading your poem. I love the idea of sharing time and treats, the setting aside all the to-do things and taking a break with “No purpose other than to realize what it’s all for.” Lovely.
Megan, I am with you enjoying the soft sweet space you’re in! Your poem evokes peace and calm (and the bliss of java). It would have worked well yesterday too for the coffee shop prompt!
I aim for this to be me all week while I’m on Spring Break:
Now, I only wish I had cake with my coffee. 😁😋
Ooo – your poem flows. I feel at ease – ready to take a much needed break! Thank you!
Your poem made me want to join you for fika. It describes a perfect moment of being present with someone special.
Megan, I really enjoyed this! And I love the specific details of “[o]ur phones are facedown” and the “flicker / [o]f a cozy candle.” Fika, indeed! Thank you for writing and sharing today!
Oh, what a wonderful new word. I love the way the phones are face down, the cake is split into two, and you sip the coffee. These and other details help to make this a relaxing state of mind in your both, an authentic fika, not just a quick coffee break. Beautiful!
It’s good to see you here, Megan!
Stacy, thank you for leading us today. The power of your last line “healing redemptions song”–just wow! I went a bit rogue as I thought of non-English words my grandmother (Oma) would use and how many of them seemed like only she used. This is an ode to her and those words.
unknown origins: non-words?
words my oma cooked to, yelled out in excitement & anger
we searched and searched, even before she
left our multilingual world: german, serbian, hungarian?
oma didn’t always know either
so many words & phrases that morphed to tell us her story
i heard it as koptshte me pupsi mucha funga
if we were bored she pelted it: stand on your head
and catch flies with your dupa
(which to us was simply butt, but to google
is the vulgar form of ass in german)
then there was koflelfa, the notorious wooden spoon
she’d threaten to slap our dupa with if we weren’t schatzis
knockla, like speitzel, my favorite dish
dumplings full of flour, eggs, and salt
inquiry in their origins were always whisked
the flavor of her food, the flavor of her mood
the flavor of her humor never changed
even without knowing the word origins
yet, one that was clear and defined
ich liebe dich, i love you too, oma
Stefani,
Your poem makes me long for the local color of lost days, those unique ways of speaking that show love and culture. I’m adding “dupa” to my lexicon.
I love the ease at which you mixed languages in your poem. It felt like I was eating something delicious and made today feel more alive. Thank you for sharing your heritage and your words.
Stefani, what a treasured collection of both words and memories! My grandmother had a wooden spoon that I got smacked with more than I care to recall. 😂
This is beautiful and loving! Thank you for sharing your oma with us.
Thanks, Gayle, for a prompt that reminded me of a special time in the Redwoods with my husband, up in Eureka, CA. The word list included just the right combination of words that onomatopoetically revived that memory. I’ve “bolded” the words from the list. (Yes, I know the “grammar” is not correct, but to get the rhyme, one more time….:-) )
SANGUINE SEQUOIA
Serendipitous day
We saw two sequoia trees
Duet silhouette
We thought it was us
Striving to be together
Without too much fuss
Scintillating time
Oh, what sanguine solitude!
Now in poem with rhyme
Alliteration and rhyme! In few words, you capture a feeling from a memory, a moment, that many of us can relate to. Thank you for sharing!
Hi, Anna, it’s Stacey but maybe Gayle is on your heart😆.
I love “s” words and “s” alliterations more than any other! Your poem brings the awe of the sequoias to us with ease.
This morning, I’m enjoying “sanguine solitude.”
🥰Lovely, Anna!
Sorry, Stacey. 🙁 Please accept my apology. Okay? 🙂 This group is on my heart!
I love all these S alliterative words, but that duet silhouette with the picture of the two trees is just a beautiful way to put that!
Thank you, Stacey, for providing such a cool prompt and giving us some tools to help it work.
I brainstormed a few of my favorite words and pulled some of yours and quickly tried to look at how they could flow. I like the haiku sonnet.
Daybreak
gorgeous aurora
a fresh new day beckons me
foggy brain awakes
eyes flutter open
nostalgic thoughts take over
day begins going back
an epiphany . . .
quit letting the past rule you
and all your actions.
climbing out of bed
nonchalantly moving on
wearing the mask again
the password was mizpah
you’d think I could remember that.
~Susan Ahlbrand
3 April 2023
“climbing out of bed / nonchalantly moving on / wearing the mask again”
I’m a bit in awe at balance and movement in this stanza. As you from the epiphany of not “letting past actions rule you” to “moving on,” but “wearing the mask again,” I sense a reluctance to fully move on, almost as if the act of climbing out of bed, or fully awakening, has placed the narrator back at the beginning of a cycle of self-struggle. It’s as if your poem is suggesting there is a comfort that a new morning can bring, but then a dim reality sets in the moment the blankets are cast to the side.
Susan, the same lines James quoted are the ones that strike me. How often this is true!
:climbing out of bed
nonchalantly moving on
wearing the mask again
Your poem reminds me of Paul Lawrence Dunbar’s “We Wear the Mask” Remember? Here’s a link: https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/44203/we-wear-the-mask
Susan, the ending line of your poem brings a chuckle and a knowing nod of “me too,” as I think of all the things I should be remembering these days. I’m learning so many new words today – – mizpah like a watchtower. I like the watchtower ending to the foggy brain start, kind of like a lighthouse shining the way as you rise.
Good morning, Stacey! This is a great writing prompt. I love writing that is based on a word (or an image). Thank you for sharing some of your favorite words with us this morning. This one jumped right off my screen…
Tacenda
I cried before you
As a student wrote about
Painting our room red
I was stunned, shaken
I felt hollowed out, unable
To move or breathe
Despite this horror
You sat unmoved, unaltered
Aloofness at its worst
Your silence cut deeper
Than any verbal assault
I have endured
I may not be as strong as you
But my heart pumps in the right direction
James — Oh yes, this is a killa word! I’d like to think of the red as the love in a red rose…but we have too much blood on our hands these days as one horror after the next unfolds and “silence cut[s] deeper” with each school room “painted” red goes unheeded by those who control guns in this country. Your heart does indeed “pump in the right direction.” Sending you all the words you need… and a bucket of paint. Hugs, Susie
James,
I am enjoying the way the haiku sonnet is a comfort from one poem to the next but that the words and scenes are different in each. The title here “tacenda” is unfamiliar to me, so I read each stanza with a wanting to know and understand how this word lives in your poem. The I and you here creates an intimate scene, situating the reader (me) as a witness. I am watching and listening intently. The red and paint have layers of meanings here that stirs discomfort for my readerly stance. That last line of “heart pumps” and the “right” of the direction gesture at how this scene is closed but perhaps not resolved for the I and the you.
Peace,
Sarah
James, this reminds me of that scary silence when someone has the unfeeling eyes of a great white shark and is just as nonverbal and just as lurking. Painting the room red here, we can imagine the worst in this student’s statement, this terroristic allusion. Oh my – – that ending – – your heart pumping in the right direction – – is just the way to show the contrast of a teacher/protector and one whose intentions are the opposite. This is a gut punch – – quite effective!
BOOHOO TRAJECTORIES
Such a goofy word —
those lugubrious oooo’s,
all those o’s,
like a word with two sets of eyeballs,
and who chose the B and the H
and why; could we try a Z and a P?
Boohoo falls short,
doesn’t do justice to tears, sadness,
in times of madness,
not nearly adequate
for school shootings,
scarring shards of war;
children know all about boohoo,
so freely tears bubble
from their learning eyes;
teenagers turn boohoo tears
into snark,
“ooo, big boohoo to you, dork”;
mid-lifers negotiate boohoos,
save them, spend them in fits
at losing time, grit, sleep, their wits split;
elders graduate from boohoo
to stifled sobs, to welling up
and holding back
at the mere thought
of missing you.
by Susie Morice, April 3, 2023©
Susie – your poem hit hard. I’ve never felt so choked up over my morning coffee. As a mid-lifer, I couldn’t agree more with your insight on how I negotiate the “boohoos.” They really do often come in fits – usually in a bout of frustration when I feel like drowning in a sea of apathy.
Thank you for opening up and sharing this morning.
Susie, wow! Let me use your word: WOWZER! I am thinking about changing boohoo to zoopoo from now on! I love what you’ve done and how we see those 6 letters shift in meaning and power over time. I keep tissue closeby, quick-to-boohoo elder!
Love you, Susie! 💜
Susie,
I often think “I have no words” when the many tragedies you delineate befall us. Talk is cheap is another one of those cliches on my mind. Same with “thoughts and prayers.” Then there’s the boohoo emojis. They, as you say,
“Boohoo falls short,
doesn’t do justice to tears, sadness,
in times of madness,”
Sadly, we could go on w/ an endless list of things that make us cry. As always, I love your poem. Hugs and peace.
Susie, my children told my husband before we married not to worry – – “mom’s cried all the tears she’ll ever cry.” I so understand these boohoos and the way you describe them
elders graduate from boohoo
to stifled sobs, to welling up
and holding back
I think I’ve ugly cried a handful of times in the past 15 years, usually more when I’m mad than when I’m upset.
And not being enough for school shootings. Oh, my heart. Yes, yes, let’s try a Z and a P or a J and an M or something. Boohoo doesn’t even come close. I love your thinking on this one!
Susie, you’ve somehow made boohoo both sad and sweet simultaneously (with a bit of comedy at the nonsensical sound!). I’m not sure I want to graduate to stifled sobs (but maybe I’m already there). Such a thoughtful exploration of this word, done as only you can do!
The Joy of Stacey! Kicking off this Monday with one of my favorite words of all time. Human Togetherness. I am, because we are.
Learned these words from a S. African friend who came to my summer institute. I don’t think I’m getting the Joy of Stacey out of my mind today, tomorrow, or even May (cough cough, we’re waiting to unearth joy with a certain glitter of gold in May). Ah, but a poem.
Ohrwurm
/öö-er: verm / trans. ear worm
German slang: a song stuck in your head
I’ve always wanted to know,
Is this the real life?
Is this just fantasy?
caught in a landside,
no escape from reality?
because there seems to be
so much ocean for us to swim,
I mean….
Baby Shark, doo-doo, doo-doo
Baby Shark, doo-doo, doo-doo
Baby Shark, doo-doo, doo-doo
before we take our bow
with Kermit on his show
Mahna Mahna
Do doo be-do-do
Mahna Mahna
Do do-do do
Mahna Mahna
Do doo be-do-do be-do-do be-do-do
be-do-do-doodle do do do-doo do!
It’s just one Macarena after another —
& there should be a Tony for this basil.
Oh, Mickey,
You’re so fine.
You’re so fine,
You blow my mind
Hey, Mickey.
these mind games, so tricky
in my head so quickly,
Never gonna give you up
Never gonna let you down
Never gonna run around and desert you
Never gonna make you cry
Never gonna say goodbye
Never gonna tell a lie and hurt you
Why? Because I’m the Bry-guy,
the frog freak, a love for dragonflies,
who simply wants you to know,
It’s a world of laughter
a world of tears
it’s a world of hopes
and a world of fears
there’s so much that we share
that it’s time we’re aware
it’s a small world after all.
Need a Q-tip?
Bryan, I haven’t thought of Rick Astley in years. This medley of songs will ring in my ears all day, maybe even all week – – maybe longer. Ohrwurm. The random creativity here is second to none. I love the eclectic collection of the musical tunes…..I once had a friend get stuck on the Disney boat ride in It’s A Small World with her kid and it took them a while to get the boats going again, but the music never stopped. She said she heard that song at night for years echoing through her mind and even still does. Ohrwurm. Is this where we get earworm? And the kickoff song, by the way – – fabulous. Bohemian Rhapsody can stay stuck in my head as long as it wants. Welcome Queen!
Bryan — What a terrific word… I love the earworm word A WHOLE LOT1 And you pulled off one earworm after the next… so witty. I really love this! Susie
And now, instead of ONE ear worm, I have a selection for the rest of the day. I loved this poem- and I will be taking your name in vain later, I am sure!!
🤣I’m still laughing at Baby Shark! My great niece is 2 and the entire first year of her life was one big Ohrwurm with doo-doo, doo-doo!!
I need to hear this poem performed by YOU! OMG, I am sure it will go viral. Thank you for entertaining us with your musical genius! No Q-tip needed!
Can’t wait for May’s unearthing either!!
🌞💛
Delightful! You captured the essence of the word and I now want to take that word and share it. Thank you for the smile that your words brought me!
This was just fantastic! I could sing along with all of those lyrics. You really brought that word to life.
I have experienced every single one of those earworms! This was fabulous. Love being introduced to the German word “Ohrwurm” – and this sent me down a dictionary wormhole, trying to discover the roots of these. So fun!
Wow! I didn’t know there was a word for that! I love what you do with this! Very creative and playful! Thank you!
Stacey,
Good morning! Thanks for providing this great prompt: the poem that I wrote this morning proved cathartic as my mom and I struggle to understand each other this week, and your beautiful word and concept “ubuntu” took me down a rabbit hole to discover its meaning and gave me the gift of a focus and title to my poem — thank you! 🙂
Ubuntu Redux
An eternity,
we have not: my mother and
I – friends forged by flame
Incendiary
Fire folk with ineffable
feelings, words, we dance
through a labyrinth –
dodge, parry, thrust of thoughts that
don’t quite hit the mark:
Then cease fire, tired
from burdensome expression,
chasing denouement.
Joy seems elusive at times
Idyllic life lives only in these rhymes.
Wow, this seems like a poem written for the relationship I have with my mom sometimes. That last line: “idyllic life lives only in these rhymes” sometimes so true. Thank you for sharing something so relatable, Wendy!
Wendy, there are things I will never understand. I almost wrote this same poem topic today – – but figure I need time to let it cool off some. Your words just ring so true, and I’m thankful that you are so honest about the idyllic life ringing only in rhymes, only in the words on a page, not the truth of the moment sometimes.
I can very much connect with mother-child struggle to understand. You weave in the words from Stacey’s list so seamlessly.
I love this line:
Wendy, I’m impressed with your inclusion of so many savory words. It’s as though you had a word bank, and you popped in as many as you could. Yet your poem still holds so much meaning, contains so much imagery and rhythm. The way I had to speed up or slow down forced me to stop and think, to reread, to take it all in in all the layers you provide. Thank you!!
Wendy, this needed to be shared today. I fear the day my relationship with my son and daughter gets icky or when we no longer connect. I wish my relationship with my mom was ALWAYS the best memories and not the worst. It’s so hard. I miss her more than I can express, along with the arguments, but even more the love and support that only she could give.
I love the use of the words you chose and the last two lines are 100% truth! Thankful that we can craft “idyllic life” in our poetry!
Hugs!
Wendy, this is a beautiful back and forth. The imagery of fire and the flickering out/flaming up within a labyrinth that involves meandering reflects your relationship. I love that last couplet!
Stacey, what a fabulous prompt on this first Monday of April, when we can feel all the promise of spring and the budding words, when shimmers of dew sparkle on the morning grass. This is a lovely way to start the day. Your poem abounds with all hope and promise, restoring my morning of a sleepless night. I took your second line ~ Ancestors’ prayers and dreams ~ and meditated on this as I considered the quality of sleep that plagues me for weeks on end after the spring time change, last night especially. I also added one extra Haiku to the mix because I can’t ever count. Thank you for investing in us as writers today!
Life at Times
sleeping country nights
overhead ceiling fan whirs
windows open wide
blurred nightmare airing
my life hangs in layers on
laundry line in dreams
night fog, striated layers
dense as fear, tense as monsters
past, present, future
random rumblings
REM: impossible journey
uncertain murmurs
billowing slumber
sheets dancing, ghostly breezes
whipping, wrestling, wavering
woeful, restless angst
real nightmares play out
The haunting feel of this is intense, I love the alliteration throughout and “ghostly breezes” – I’ve always been a good sleeper but of course that seems to be changing just like every other part of my physical self. Thanks for sharing, Kim!
This was just gorgeous, Kim! the haunting imagery and the tug of war between restfulness and restlessness. Beautiful!
Kim — You’ve captured the woes of sleep loss, erratic, rotten sleep/no sleep. I love the images that ring true to my own sleep “issues”: “night fog” and “whipping, wrestling” and “layers on/laundry line in dreams” …all these just teem with the discomfort of sleep deprivation. Well done! I’m sending you vibes of blissful, calm sleep. When you get horizontal tonight, I hope sleep settles over you in a calming balm. Hugs, Susie
Wow. Just…wow. I enjoy not only how haunting your piece is, but how you juxtapose that feeling of dread against the lovely – almost playful – word play (this moment really stands out: “tense as monsters/past, present, future). Upon a second reading, I noticed some assonance and alliteration. This all feels disarming in a way – as if you’re lulling the reader into a false sense of security with the beauty of your craft even though there is a nightmare looming on the horizon. This is such a joy to read.
Kim,
Each haiku works so well in and of itself but the way they each flow so well together is super impressive. I struggled with that.
I love the sound and the idea of these lines:
Ooooohhhh, we might have both been awake at the same time. I tossed and turned and that never happens when I’m on spring break. Go figure. Your poem brings every sensory experience of sleeplessness to the page. I love the alliteration throughout.
Praying we both sleep better tonight! Thanks, friend! Rest!
Kim,
You’ve captured the insomnia that plagues us all from time to time. Favorite lines:
“my life hangs in layers on
laundry line in dreams”
I can see and feel that image. Love the alliteration in “whipping, wrestling, wavering, woeful,” too.
Have you tried Dr. Teal’s? Yoga? They might help.
Wow, I bet you would vote for year-round no changing the clocks! I loved that when I lived in Arizona for ten years. The rest of the country went through that nonsense, and we stayed steady. Your poem is haunting and shows the intensity that insomnia can have on someone’s well-being. Here’s to a good night’s sleep tonight; you’ll be ready for it.
This is my favorite haiku, so I’m glad you added an extra!
Kim, your ‘woeful, restless angst’ is palpable in this poem, steadily building with every stanza. I hope whatever makes you sleepless is nothing but fake monsters, gone with the morning sun. I loved
such an apt metaphor, I think, for rural living.
To better sleep!
Kim, I am struck by the ceiling fans as an opening metaphor for the circular pattern of, angst, disturbed sleep, and nightmares. “My life hangs in layers on laundry line in dreams” is an absolute jewel of phrasing – and perfectly paints the picture of helplessness as the nightmare “airs”. The fog, the ghosts, all those w- words that describe the mist you’re fighting while so desperate for sleep…eerie. And so accurately conveyed: my youngest has had a sleep disorder since he was five, around the time our house was broken into and his Nintendo and favorite game were taken. He could not understand why “bad strangers” would do this. A nightmare danse macabre…I know it well. Here’s to settled circadian rhythms soon!
Stacey, so many of your beautiful words sing in my own heart: joy, healing, redemption, the whole concept of Ubuntu as humanity to others. We are parts of a whole, and our story, in the end, is one. Your haiku sonnet is a vibrant song of strength and overcoming – I especially love the lines about ancestor’s prayers and dreams coming to pass for future generations. I think a lot about future generations. Everything we do now matters… I could say so much more but I will let my little poem fly. Thank you for this powerful poem, which stirs such sparks my own heartsong…I guess that should be my title 🙂
Haiku Sonnet: Heartsong
I once read that awe
makes you more altruistic.
Meditate on this.
Consider the stars.
You, o Human, are sprinkled
with their ancient dust.
Like the stars, you sing.
You were born, and you shall die.
Give the in-between
all the star-fire
of your wild and precious soul
for warming others.
Untold transformation takes place
in learning unforced rhythms of grace.
******
(with a nod to Mary Oliver and Eugene H. Peterson for the paraphrase of Matthew 11:28-30 in The Message: “Learn the unforced rhythms of grace.”)
Oh, Fran these lines are lovely:
“Give the in-between
all the star-fire
of your wild and precious soul
for warming others”
I love the service of it and the power.
Wow. Just wow! Inspirational.
Fran, so often as I read poetry, I have favorite lines and then lines I need. My favorites are
all the star-fire
of your wild and precious soul
But the lines I NEEDED to read today are
Untold transformation takes place
in learning unforced rhythms of grace.
Boy, oh boy, that’s a tough one. Grace is so hard to give, and sometimes equally as hard to take when it rests on our conscience and guilt grips so tightly like velcro, not letting go. Shoulda, coulda, woulda creeps in. But oh, the transformation – – untold miracles abound when grace is greater than all our sins.
Ooo, Fran — this is great food for thought… “awe/makes you more altruistic”… I do believe that is true…just the act of slowing down the find the awe creates a space for altruism. And I love the imperative to “give the in-between/all the star-fire…for warming others.” Yes! Your poem reads like a prayer this morning. Lovely. Susie
I love your call to action! Meditate on this…absolutely! Your use of words like “fire” and “wild” so close together bring a ferocious energy to your poem. Something to most certainly meditate on!! Thank you!
Oh, Fran, what a spectacular piece! Life lessons on love and grace! I must say I’ve had a school year that has yanked every bit of grace right out of me. Hoping I have enough left to finish the year. 🤣
Pure gold!
Stacey, I love collecting words.
It’s funny…I had just encountered the word I’m going to use in the book Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow (highly recommend, if you haven’t read it!)…it’s not often that I encounter a word I’ve never heard before. So, your prompt today was perfectly timed…it gave me an excuse to play with this particular word.
Ouroboros
A serpent eating
its own tail, ancient symbol
of life, death, rebirth
I must sacrifice
comfort, safety, the known–
literally consumed by
my own life choices.
Time never stops–endless wheel
turning both away
and toward in one seamless move
The serpent, wise fool, dies, yet
lives on, shape shifting
Acceptance of death
leads to new life
Wow, that’s a great word. Never heard of it. I love these lines:
”Time never stops–endless wheel
turning both away
and toward in one seamless move”
the alliteration, the description, the juxtaposition.
Tomorrow, Tomorrow, and Tomorrow has been on my TBR! Will get to it…
Julie, ouroboros is a fascinating word and image – it is easy to think it a self-defeating cycle but there is much more to it, as you illustrate so beautifully. I hear overtones of Shakespeare’s sonnet 73 (my favorite – and I note the Bard’s shadow book title you recommend): “As the deathbed whereon it must expire/Consumed with that which it was nourished by…” Your poem is a profound reflection of life and those ending lines hit home with me. Magnificent – thank you!
Julie,
Wow, this was fierce! Very cool imagery, loved the paradoxes and metaphors throughout — what a beautiful, tightly crafted piece of poetry.
Julie, those final two lines are true of people and are sad and hopeful all at once. I think of pruning a plant, and picking off the dead leaves brings new buds. That’s a wonderful new word to savor and meditate on. Ouroboros.
Julie — I recently read Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow… it was a surprisingly wonderful read. You chose a doozie of a word… I love it…love the serpentine-ness of how Stacey’s form fits it…”seamless move.” I certainly know the struggle of being “consumed by/my own life choices.” Thank you. Susie
Julie, so much to behold! In my meditations lately, I’ve been encountering more time to grasp and accept impermanence. I want full acceptance because why battle what I can’t change! Your poem speaks to my heart like you’ve sat me down for therapy. Thank you!
Stacey, I love playing with words I like. I remember Margaret’s Definito prompt from last year and how I didn’t just write one for that either. Thanks for the prompt and the form! Haiku Sonnet was fun! I love the Ubuntu philosophy and your poem does it justice.
Aurora
Borealis, yes?
Northern lights, the color swirl
of greens and blues and purples
Bucket list locale
but also what we will name
our daughter one day
Early morning dawn.
What a beautiful meaning
for how you may live
and symbolizing
the beginning of
the rest of our lives,
lives that you may change
if we’re ever blessed
Hiraeth
“A home which maybe
never was” – makes me wonder
about those “if” homes
“If” scenarios,
maybe if I never left
the states, what home would
I have made somewhere
there – Louisiana, or
Texas, or any
where with family.
Will I ever live near them
again? Hiraeth makes
you question things like this, like going
back in time, making different decisions
Sure
I don’t like this word for
its confident demeanor,
I’m often unsure.
Since this is true, I
guess I’m sometimes envious
of its certainty.
But I enjoy more
the yesness of its context.
Its been my fave for
a long time because
my definition means
whatever you want
Will you help me? Can I do this? Do you want to?
Sure.
Here is the image of how I learned about this word years ago…
I love this word and its meaning! And I just loved all of your poems this morning, Angie. Loved your personification of “sure” and found myself agreeing with you though I’d never thought of it that way before — it is a cocky little word! XD
Angie – these words!! Aurora is a gorgeous one which happens to have multiple significant meanings to me, both literal (a place of my ancestry) and in mythological symbolism. Hiraeth – that great longing – oh, I know the pull of it. I’m amazed by your word-weavings; they’re like silken threads glittering with iridescent dew. Breathtaking.
Angie, Hiraeth happened to me when they tore down my childhood home and my childhood school. As if those places never existed. My memories are clear, and now I imagine that chalkboard, the one I always tried to sneak-write on with the good kind of compressed chalk, not the air-bubbled kind like for sidewalks, and wonder where that board is now, the board that made me want to be a teacher so I could write the days away. These are some lovely words – – and I love how you chose 3 and wrote about each of them.
Ohhh that needs to be a poem!
Angie, I am beyond grateful you shared more than one word and haiku sonnet. All of them needed to be here today, thank you! I adore hiraeth. My family is still suffering from the loss of our family home but we have a deep belief that we will return and it will be ours again.
I see all the beauty and wonder in your Aurora poem. You nailed it with Sure. Love how it has power and you reel it in by giving it your definition at the end.
💙
Wow, Angie, I love all your haiku sonnets. These make me want to try one soon. I love the name Aurora, and your poem is sweet and touching. Hiraeth, with all your moves, is definitely a word for you. Thanks for making this look so easy today. Will I write one? Sure.
Learning, learning, learning! I’ve been seeing “Ubuntu” more and more these days now that it’s a word used in the tech world. I have wondered what it means. Now I know and your poem inspired me to check it out. Ubuntu means more than a desktop operating system!!! Unless you mean we’re operating together from our desktops in this poetry writing group. Hmmm. Maybe that is the right word.
Thanks, Angie.
Stacey! How fun was this to explore and explore and explore. This White Rabbit march-hares into holes willingly. These two lines – I am, we are, each others’/
Healing redemption song – are everything beautiful and empowering and lyrical. Today’s mantra. Let us be that for one another.
Word Gathering: A Sonnet Comprised/of Diverse Word Offerings/Found Dictionary
fine light rain falling
from clear skies during sunset
an evening serein
the seawater leaves
shallow depressions, lyrings
in tidal landflats
dreeping: a landscape
heavy with dew or rain,
the brontide distant
a quest to nourish
as the spirit goes (sarha)
unhemmed by time/place
i’ve want to bee/a bombologist ever/since hearing the word
what a wonderful/world of words offered to us/come and take your pick
I think your haiku could be put on a meditation video, so peaceful, calm and soothing. Lovely!
Jennifer, I love obscure words and the “feel” of them, so brought to life here in your verse.I feel I have wandered through time and have come back with ancient dust on my feet. My spirit, however still wanders, unhemmed…that stanza is my favorite. So captivating and compelling, the spirit of place you capture here.
Jennifer, this was a veritable buffet of beautiful (and new to me!) words that set a lovely mood. Thank you for the pleasure of reading this on this sunny, windy morning here in Central NY. 🙂
Jennifer, these bring peace to my sleepless night morning soul this morning. Lyrings. My grandson and I went on a fishing excursion Saturday and talked a lot of the way back about tidepools and how they are formed and what happens when fish get trapped in them, how the ground changes shape. I think this word was meant for me to hear today, to have a new part of the conversation with him. Thank you for picking these words to share with us.
Jennifer — I love the wordplay and fun that these truly wowza words evoke. I really loved “serein” and “dreeping” especially… ooh, and “bombologist”… all these made me smile. So sharp so early in the morning! Hugs, Susie
Truly a wonderful world of words in your poem. Clever! I am already thinking how fun this would be with students who are wanting to play around with new words.
My favorite lines:
But, I coud’ve easily chosen the whole poem. Thank you, friend, for this gift of beautiful words!
Jennifer,
This is a poem of healing and comfort, “a quest to nourish” in poetry and nature. It’s lovely and full of promise, both in nature and in lexicons.
I am soaking up all of these nature vocabulary words. The use of water in the first 3 haikus nourishes the earth and makes tangible that quest of nourishment in the last haiku.
Stacy Joy! It is 5:47 am and I am hugging you in my mind. My one little word for 2023 is WORD. When I took this word for 2023 I had no idea where we would go together. I thought for sure this would be a year I would bail out on the whole idea. But, WORD and I are having a good time. Your links to lists are new to me and I love both! A haiku sonnet is new to me too–but the concept of it is absolutely dreamy. I’m supposed to be in the shower getting ready for a flight–and here I am dawdling over poetry possibilities. Thank you, friend.
Yay!! Looking forward to your poem later when you have time. Have a good day!
An ethereal act
of such creativity
begs our attention
It’s the invention
of something entirely
new: for me – for you –
for us to consider,
this alignment of planets
in the night sky
signals something odd
but alluring, but even
planetary lights
follow some ancient path,
their orbits visible by night
Kevin
Kevin, that creativity is ethereal needs that nudge of a reminder – beautiful!
I don’t know if I can pick a favorite line here but I love the second stanza as a whole. I love the internal rhyme of new and you. And I want to hear the recording 😄
Kevin, this was lovely — and I loved that syzygy inspired your poem, but remained only a reference (it is truly my favorite word and predisposed me to love this, I’ll admit). A lovely, moody picture.
The alignment of stars for the perfect chemistry to occur, the new thing, the new hope and the new promise – – now that is truly celestial, a promise of the heavens.
Kevin,
Thank you for another gem! You have a recording to share (pretty please)? I read something a while back that’s hard to forget and your poem reminded me of it. I read that creativity is soaring while being tethered to the ground. I feel this in your poem, a smooth soaring and grounding at the same time.
Isn’t it astounding that every written piece is “…the invention / of something entirely / new: for me – for you –?” So many layers to this poem, Kevin.