These Poems

Welcome to Day 1 of the June Open Write. If you have written with us before, welcome back. If you are joining us for the first time, you are in the kind, capable hands of today’s host, so just read prompt below and then, when you are ready, write in the comment section below. We do ask that if you write that, in the spirit of reciprocity, you respond to three or more writers. To learn more about the Open Write, click here.

Our Host

Sarah Donovan lives in Stillwater, Oklahoma.  Sarah has been an educator for 24 years, most recently teaching future teachers at Oklahoma State. Her first novel in verse is Alone Together, and she has edited poetry collections: Teacher Poets Writing to Bridge the Distance and Rhyme & Rhythm: Poems for Student Athletes. Sarah also researches writing pedagogy and has published in various education journal and books about the transformative power of writing in community.

Inspiration 

W.H. Auden once wrote: “Poets who want to change the world tend to be unreadable.” In a conversation between Pearl London and June Jordan, Jordan had something to say about that quote. She called that “elitist” and said that “you have to be accessible to people on the first reading or first hearing on some level…and when they reread it something else can happen again.”

There was a fundamental shift in poetry in the US around the 60s with writing in the black arts communities. And then anti-Vietnam War movement — all kinds of poets who never wrote anything political were writing war poems to be read at rallies by thousands of people. And, yes, the women’s movement. Poetry had to be accessible to engage an audience.

If you go for a walk or drive today, I invite you to listen to June Jordan reading her poetry. The first poem she reads here is “These Poems,” which serves as our inspiration today:

“These Poems” by June Jordan

These poems
they are things that I do
in the dark
reaching for you
whoever you are
and
are you ready?

(read the rest of the poem here)

Process

Jordan’s poem is free verse with a few words on each line. So short. There are three stanzas that begin with “These” — poems, words, skeletal lines. Each word is a synonyms of sorts and yet holds different meaning. Then the final two stanzas show the purpose, the relationality between the poet and the reader with some intimacy and anonymity. Wow.

I imagine some of us write to move an audience. Others are writing to move ourselves. For me, it is somewhere in between. Knowing I have an audience, is what makes me write. That my words will land somewhere. That my poem will have a witness.

What are “these” poems you write? Where do you write them? What metaphor works for what you poems are (for Jordan, “they are stones in the water/running away: and “desperate arms)?

Another approach is to think of what are “these” poems you read. What do “these” poems do for your heart and mind? Maybe you have a favorite poet and want to gather the accessible lines that you carry with you.

Sarah’s Poem

These poems
they are things that I do
in the corner
stroking f & j
begging a seed
becomes something
to remind me
to live.

These fingers–
swelling at night,
aching in knuckles–
feel no pain
tapping letters
into a poem.

These ticks
they are hollow beats
of my heart wishing
to be heard.

I am alive
practicing living
with every letter.

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.