Sarah lives in Stillwater, Oklahoma with her partner Dan who likes to ask, “What did you write about today?” She was a teacher of readers and writers in junior high for 15 years before making her way into teacher education at Oklahoma State University. Sarah launched Ethical ELA in 2015 to share stories from her classroom, but it has since taken on new life and many more lives by becoming a space for teacher-friends to share their own classroom stories and poetry.
Congratulations!
We have shared this virtual space for 30 days — 30 days of words, phrases, images, and lines borrowed from lives lived and imagined.
Please tell us about your #verselove experience so that we can improve next year’s poetry celebration! Survey.
We have drawn from the mentorship of our daily hosts and the poets and poetry that inspired them: Glenda Funk, Kim Johnson, Stacey Joy, Jennifer Guyor-Jowett, Bryan Ripley-Crandall, Barb Edler, Denise Krebs, Emily Yamasaki, Wendy Everard, Brittany Saulnier, Erica Johnson, Anna J. Small Roseboro, Dave Wooley, Margaret Simon, Allison Berryhill, Susan Ahlbrand, Andy Schoenborn, Fran Haley, Stefani Boutelier, Katrina Morrison, Darius Phelps, Emily Cohn, Alexis Ennis, Susie Morice, Jessica Wiley, Donnetta Norris, Chea Parton, Amber Harrison, and Scott McCloskey.
And, I hope, we are all transformed in some positive ways because of this experience. My deepest gratitude to our hosts and to all our teacher-poets sharing this space for 30 days and allowing us to bear witness to one another’s lives.
P.S. Today, maybe tomorrow you may feel relief having reached May first. Indeed, some days it was hard to write or to be okay with not reading and responding to everyone (though you wanted to). And sometimes you did not know if your comment to yesterday’s poem was received–this is part of the limitations of this space as all spaces do. I hope you learned to give yourself grace. Still, relief, yes? But you may begin to feel something akin to grief. (I already do.) Welcome this. Cry if need be. (I already have.) And then come back to this space when you are ready to write again.
Staying Connected
There are a few ways you can stay connected and contribute to this community:
- Come back to write monthly with our Open Write; the next one begins June 17th with Jessica Wiley here. No need to sign up. Just come back to us here.
- Sign up to host a day of the Open Write between June 2023 and March 2024 here.
- Sign up to host a day of the 2024 Verselove here.
- Sign up to contribute a story of practice. In August, we will begin posting Friday stories from educators about your favorite memories, lessons, experiences as teachers that include some sample materials and resource for other teachers to adapt in the hopes of nurturing such meaningful moments in their classrooms.
- Sign up to host a book group by June 1st for our first Ethical Book Group in August.
Some Numbers of Verselove
As of 6:00am on 4/30/2023, here is a snapshot of the verse love that has flourished in our world because of you:
| Engagements | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| views | 11,079 | 24,279 | 26,982 | 34,516 | 29,995 |
| visitors | 3,214 | 3,727 | 3,868 | 5,076 | 5,114 |
| poems & responses | 1,576 | 5,982 | 6,403 | 9,953 | 9077 |
Inspiration
Today, I simply ask that you approach this final day any way you need to. What do you have left to say, to write, to explore? What will bring you joy? What will offer you closure to this thirty day experience?
Here are a few ideas:
- I wrote each poem in 10 minutes this month, trying to accept and be kind about my drafts. There are several that I’d like to return to and revise (as they felt quite messy and wild). Maybe there is a poem you wrote this month that you feel compelled to return to and rework. Take today to do that.
- Was there a prompt that you enjoyed or found especially intriguing that you’d like to respond to with another, different poem?
- Is there a poem you wrote from your point of view that you’d like to try from another POV. Maybe you wrote it in first person and would like to try third person. Maybe you’d like to try it from the perspective of an object or another person?
- Is there a form or topic that we did not explore that you want to uncover or introduce in your poem today: cento, ghazal, nonet, Fibonacci, bop, skinny, echo, pantoum, blitz, etheree, duplex, rondeau, monotetra, tritina, ovijello.
- Pick a day and select lines from several poems to make something new — a found poem. After your poem (or after each line) indicate the poets/poems you’ve borrowed as a thank you to the poets who inspired your verse. This is a cento or a patchwork poem.
- Choose a poem from a #verselove writer that you loved or found intriguing and try to answer their poem with a poem of your own.
- Have you come to understand yourself as a writer in a new way — is there a poem in that?
- Or maybe you’d just like to write a congratulation poem to yourself. Why not?
Our Month Together
- Rethinking Grammar Instruction: From Rule-Based Learning to Rhetorical Empowerment
- Six Ways of Poetry
- Lost Children
- Best & Worst
- Everyone Has a Story to Tell
- Writing the World 4 x 4
- A Fantasy Writers’ Retreat List Poem
- Let’s Community at NCTE ’24 in Boston
- Write the Poem
- Paint Chip
- Bop ‘Til You Drop
- Ode to Change
- Questionable Products
- For the Sake of Strangers
- Thought You Should Know
- Decade Music Mash Up
- Mirrors for Reflection
- New Year Intentions: Tiny Poems
- Gifts for Teachers from Teachers
- Taking Time to Tell the T.I.M.E.
- Postcards from Places I’ve Never Been
- Faring Monday Blues with a Lune
- Clunker Exchange
- Dadaist Poetry
- Ten Things I Wish I Knew in My First Year as Tenure-Track Faculty
- Dodoitsu
- The Important Thing
- X Marks the Spot
- They Paved Paradise
- Septercet
- Understanding Tenure: K-12 vs University
- The PhD Application Process
- Things K-12 Teachers Need to Know Before Starting a PhD Program
I loved April so much that I brought it into May! 🙂 Thanks, Sarah for hosting this space and inviting us to be the poets we are in it.
May have been late, but
I met my poetic goals
Now I celebrate
Cheap, congratulations to you! I love the double meaning of May to start our your poem. Late and celebrate make your poem fun to read.
Such a excellent experience, I learn so much from all of you. Thank you all. This is a poem wrote but never submitted.
Undefined
The place that defines me.
is nowhere to be!
I can say,
it’s not today,
No sandboxes just phones,
Text millions and feel alone.
Anxiety at an all-time high,
Nobody hears another poet’s cry.
Depression with lack of likes,
Where are the wheelies on teenage bikes?
TikTok raising our youth,
No imagination, with not truth.
Where is the good humor and honorable friends?
Our distorted texts converts our life to send.
People prove they are holy,
By posting religious emojis.
Eye contact and how are ya’ll?
Replaced by screens as we pass in the hall.
Email, Instagram, and Facebook,
Took away the language of human looks.
No more hitting rocks with sticks,
Let’s focus on millions of clicks.
Let’s all sit and be flat,
And laugh at reels on snapchat.
No smelling new pages,
Cyberbullying war wages.
Nervous we all are,
Let’s play on our phone in a moving car.
Instincts of mankind
Can only be found on Rewind.
Only in my mind,
Can I find a place for me defined.
-Boxer
Oh, Boxer, how sad. I hope there are more and more people who are interested in defining a renewed future, like you. I love “smelling new pages”
Boxer, it’s the saddest feeling I have everyday when I see my 5th graders staring at phones/laptops and have no idea what to do when they are stuck on a math problem. I am terrified for the future.
Your poem needs to be shared widely! The message needs to be on REPEAT! Thank you, Boxer, for expressing what I am sure many of us feel.
Thank you, thank you, thank you. I already look forward to next April!
Thank you for inviting me
to write even if
all of the words
cannot say exactly what
I intended them to say.
Thank you for inviting me
to write which reminded me
that I write to celebrate
the everyday magnificence that
traces glimmers through my life.
Thank you for inviting me
to write tunnels through the pain
so that I may discover
gratitude and growth when I surface
where the sun rays carve an edge.
Oh, Laura, I love the idea of being invited here. I feel that too with all the warm welcomes that people give. These lines are so wonderful:
How beautiful, Laura! Celebrating the “everyday magnificence that traces glimmers through my life” and writing “tunnels through the pain” to gratitude and growth – oh, yes, me too, and here in your poem the reward is real! Thank you for these uplifting lines that capture the VerseLove experience – and all poetry-writing – so well.
Laura,
Lovely phrase “write tunnels through the pain” toward discovery and then “sun rays carve an edge.” Oh, I am swimming in these lines and so grateful for you.
Sarah
Laura,
I adore this poem and I am grateful we are connected here. We all need an outlet (or many) and to be able to write here with everyone is a continuous safe and soft landing space.
Love!
Here you go.
Love this poem, Susie. I’m so impressed!
Absolutely stunning, Susie!
Gorgeous!
Omg! Exquisite!
This is poetry in colors, Susie! Love the iris! I am glad the book redeemed itself too. Thank you for being a huge support here!
Gorgeous painting, Susie. I honestly thought you found an iris and photographed it. Glad the book ended in a note of redemption. 🥰
Beautiful! Simply Beautiful!
Thank you, Sarah, for inspiring all of us in this unparalleled community. The poems this month have made me laugh out loud, tear up, remember when…, imagine, and walk in your shoes through your well chosen words. I’m moved by the honesty and vulnerability, the empathy and support in all the poems and responses.
Today, after finishing the novel I was grumbling about in last night’s poem (which redeemed itself in the last 75 pages), I opted to paint my irises today. I’m learning how to do watercolors.
Susie, I’m so glad you finished those last 75 pages! Redemption in the last 15% or so. That’s impressive that you stuck with it. Your iris “poem” is gorgeous. Thank you for sharing it.
writing – writer – poet
pen in hand scribbling words across the page
ideas become a poem
pause
28 poems written this month
April is the cruelest month
how could it also be National Poetry Month
an open book on one side
my computer before me
my pen continues scribbling
hard to say what motivated me to see the end this year
1st time since 2019
the inspiration, the process, the poems
guided my pen across the page
the community of hosts and writers guided my ideas and process
as I built from words
an idea, a story, bits of me to share with this community
the community influenced and encouraged
words became lines
lines became stanzas
before my fingers knew it
a poem was born
mil thanks to all of you
wish me words til we meet again in June
This is a lovely tribute to this amazing community, Jamie. Well done!
Jamie. I like imagining the forces that moved your pen across the page. Love the idea of building toward from “bits of me”.
Jamie, like Mo says, this is a lovely tribute to the community. It also speaks of your ability to stay throughout the month with your pen scribbling “an idea, a story, bits of [you] to share with this community. I usually wrote late, so I always enjoyed reading your poems before retiring for the day. Thank you for writing!
Jaime – I loved your poems this month. Thanks for guiding that pen! Susie
Wow, Jamie, is this “cruelest month” you managed so many poems! Congratulations and thank you for “an idea, a story, bits of me to share with this community” So precious.
Good Evening, Friends! The sun had set a couple hours ago, and I still wasn’t ready to say good-bye. Thank you, Sarah, for this space, for an opportunity to write, share, and be heard! Thank you to all the hosts, to those, who wrote every day, and to those, who stopped here occasionally.
Thirty Thanks
If it’s not too late,
I’d like to offer
My thirty thanks
To you, friends,
For
bringing poetry back into my life,
starting a day with a new prompt,
waiting for me till late night,
making this space friendly,
warmly welcoming newcomers,
inviting new ideas,
teaching life lessons,
guiding with your words,
pouring your hearts out,
spreading love,
reminding us of universal values,
helping overcome fear,
sending healing thoughts,
staying true to yourself,
lifting up each other,
making us smile, laugh, or chuckle,
being generous readers,
providing kind comments,
Thank you for
new poetry forms,
beautiful images,
inspiration,
imagination,
acceptance,
inclusion,
thoughtfulness,
caring,
resilience,
joy, and
hope
Thank you for being here!
Leilya,
Thank you! You have helped make this month joyous, my brilliant friend. How lucky am I to count you among those who bless my life. I’m in awe! I had so much fun the evening I shared “Go the Fok to Sleep” with you. That book is still hilarious after many years. And you are a code-switching master, a genius of myriad tongues. Thank you for teaching me many things, especially generosity and kindness. 🥰
Love, love, love! What a beautiful list you’ve created. I was nodding along as I read it.
I am thinking of Amber’s prompt about abstract and concrete. The series of words though abstract feel palpable, that we can actually hold on to imagination, acceptance, inclusion. Beautiful.
Leilya— Your list is exactly the list I’d like to copy… I appreciated getting to know you through your poems this month. Thank you. Susie
Oh, Leilya, you really did write a poem of thirty thanks. So many wonderful things to be thankful for–some of my favorite things in your poem, which I am also thankful for, were right in a row:
Beautiful!
I’m like you. My hubby and houseguests have all gone to bed, but I didn’t want to say goodbye yet.
Beautiful list of descriptors at the end, Leilya. I have enjoyed reading your poetry. Love the way you end with resilience, joy, and hope. Thank you.
I love you, Leilya, and your gratitude poem! I write gratitude lists each morning and some of your lines have been on my lists!
You’re truly a source of inspiration and joy!
Sarah and community- so many thanks for this time. I dipped in and will be so glad to go back and try more prompts, and just appreciate all the support, comments, honesty, and kindness I find here. Your prompt got me thinking about the term “sandbox” for tech and how it applies here.
Sandbox
come, let’s play for thirty days
how can we shape these words today?
let’s carve and mold and add some leaves
let’s make castles, moats, and seas
we can scratch it out or leave it rough
just showing up is enough
kind playmates inviting imagination
trading words and affirmation
thank you!
As a grandmother who has the joy of spending time in a sandbox with my 2 and 4 year old granddaughters, this is so very, very dear. How I love the idea of poetry-writing being my sandbox play! I adore –
This has been a wonderful month of writing with you and everyone!
Emily, just showing up is enough – – what a lovely way to frame the importance of presence over all else. And then all that tech adds to the poems – – we have certainly seen that this year, with the Canva slides and the video readings, which I have thoroughly enjoyed all month. What fun to live in the world of tech to be able to use all those neat tools!
Emily,
Im smiling and loving this metaphor. It’s lovely to have you in the poetry sandbox. My heart flutters reading these lines:
”we can scratch it out or leave it rough
just showing up is enough”
Isn’t being present half the challenge? Wonderful playful poem. 🤗
I love your sandbox metaphor. The place where we build words into poems. And just like building a sand castle we have others at our sides to help create.
I want to play with you in the sandbox, Emily, to “shape words.” Thank you for being here and “inviting imagination.”
Emily – You have never failed to make me smile. You are such a dear. Hug your sweet little fella for me. Love you, Susie
Emily, thank you for your poem and the perfect metaphor. This month really does feel like meeting friends at the sandbox, and I so appreciate having a community where “just showing up is enough.” (Thank you, Sarah!)
Oh, Emily, I love the idea of playing in the sandbox with all these poets. I’m picturing playing in the sand on one of your Maine islands, so it’s even that much better. I love “scratch it out or leave it rough” and the “kind playmates inviting imagination / trading words and affirmation” So beautiful and such a lovely metaphor for what we do here.
gratitude washes
over me, a spring rain to
to fill my sad heart
by Mo Daley
4-30-23
Thank you all for such a wonderful writing month!
Mo, thinking of gratitude as a spring rain that has the capacity to assuage sadness is a great comfort. Thank you.
Mo, mThis is a lovely metaphor that says so much in a few words. I share this sentiment. 🤗
I’m so grateful for this month of writing poetry together!
Mo, that’s how I feel, too. A spring rain brings joy to cool the heaviness. I grieve the end of April.
We share this gratitude today, Mo! I couldn’t bring myself writing all day. Never thought I’d be sad on the last day of April. Thank you for being here!
Mo- Sending you heartfelt hugs. I always love your presence in this community. Love, Susie
Mo, beautiful. “washes over me” is how I’m feeling now. And “a spring rain to / fill…” us up is a wonderful image. Thank you for this precious haiku to end my day.
Grateful for you, Mo!
💛
Sarah, many thanks to you for creating this challenge and this space, and for helping to foster this community. This is the first time I have written for #verselove, and I am so excited about what my future in writing may look like. I was beginning to doubt myself, but the support of this community has really helped restore my confidence not only for myself as a writer but as a teacher as well. Thank you!
I returned back to April 7 when death was the subject. I had a hard time thinking of what to write. So I attempted a pseudo-prose poem (the format from my notes does not copy well here) while pondering the subject. I was inspired by Mary Oliver’s poem shared that day, specifically the line “I was a bride married to amazement . . .”
Perhaps
As the years pass in blinks, squalling infants to questioning children, pages never read, never written, one question surprises me in quiet Depths of night: who will greet my spirit when my body fails me?
It won’t be St. Peter’s pearly gates for the same reasons there won’t be Lucifer’s brimstone, blood and ice. Stained-glass windows on Sunday and rituals of bread and wine always left me asking: isn’t there more?
Perhaps Charon will palm a coin to usher me across the dark Styx to meet with the brooding Hades, slowly stroking the head (one of) a drooling Cerberus. Or perhaps Persephone will hold out to me arils garnet-glowing,
Ready to tie my spirit to this dark cave. Perhaps I will manifest in the spinning room of the Fates, surrounded by rainbow-colored cords, gnarled hands hard at work, but soft smiles to remind me how
Everyone gets a lifetime. Perhaps the Morrigan, split into three, will greet me with balms for my bruises, and stories of kings and wars before me, how it will all turn out in the end. Or perhaps (my most likely, and wished
For ending), would be to come upon a small house with smoke rising from the chimney, its hearth and beams warm under star-studded night, and you will embrace me, whispering, “You are still my bride of amazement.”
Jordan. So apt to return to a poem prompt of endings, of death in this space of the last day of the month. This poem is so complex with allusions offering vivid imagery with layers of interpretation for me. The “balms for my bruises” gave me pause. I slowed and read more carefully, swimming in your craft. So glad you returned to Denise’s prompt and that you joined this space. See you in June.
What a beautiful, poignant exploration for our last day of this poetry month! I am captivated how you break the line
between two stanzas, a climactic pause, for that final wonder. Just gorgeous!
I think the line that resonates most with me is: who will greet my spirit when my body fails me? What a deep thought. Comforting and frightening all at once, I believe.
So many great lines here, Jordan! I had to stop and think over these:
”Ready to tie my spirit to this dark cave.”
”Everyone gets a lifetime.”
Jordan, I’m so glad you have been here this month, and that you felt encouraged not only as a writer, but even grown more confidence as a teacher. What a great community that did that for you.
Your poem is rich in imagery and I love the line you chose from Oliver’s poem. I like how you wrote “(my most likely, and wished / For ending)” across two stanzas and then in the last stanza, you describe that wished for ending. This is such a beautiful description of the warmth of that small house: “its hearth and beams warm under star-studded night”
Sarah and everyone here, I just want to say I love you all! I’m beyond grateful for this month of poetry together. The month of May will feel weird without you so I’ll be sure to come back to read posts I’ve missed and I’ll keep writing too! ♥️
I chose to break the rules one more time!
I Coulda Woulda Shoulda
I coulda said you were making progress
But I woulda been lying
You shouda done your work everyday
I coulda given you more time
But you woulda still skipped the assignment
I shoulda told the parents excuses are for suckas
I coulda stayed late at work last Friday
But I woulda had more back pain
Teachers shoulda been given a 40% raise
I coulda been a doctor with a fat check
But I woulda been scared of vomit
I shoulda been a poet full-time
ⓒStacey L. Joy, 4/30/23
Stacey, your poem is delightful and I chuckled all the way, especially those assignment and progress stanzas. Oh, to be a full time poet! Wouldn’t life be grand?!?! I love what you’ve done here. Shoulda, woulda, coulda! A fun new form to try.
Stacey, you coulda not written poems all month and our days woulda been less bright! I feel all of the frustration and reality in this. Cuz, yup, they woulda skipped the assignment anyways, lol.
Oh
My
Stacey
This is everything I shoulda said and shoulda been. This second guessing when our gut knows the truth.
Stacey,
Preach! I love this poem so much. Teachers are expected to do so much, to work miracles when some learners shoulda put forth more effort. I’ve been thinking about these issues all weekend. I’m taking on a long-term subbing job for a former colleague. And as if that’s not hard enough, there’s the aftermath of the fire and hybrid learning thrown into the mix. I’m gonna channel your poetry when I struggle, an inevitability after a few years in retirement lounge land. I’m my book you are a living poet, full of wisdom, and of course, joy. ‘Preciate you, my friend. 🥰
Stacey, it has been wonderful to write alongside you this month. My first Verselove was 2020 – and since then I have found May to be a time of grieving, this letting go of this community. I love that you ‘broke rules’ today, and made me chuckle out loud at
“I shoulda told the parents excuses are for suckas “
Yes, if only we were all full-time poets!
Stacey! LOL There is so much truth in this poem. I love your second stanza so much. “[E]xcuses are [,indeed,] for suckas”! Thank you for this!
Love, love, love, Stacey! From the first word to the last, it is joy. You “shoulda” think about being a full-time poet! Thank you for your beautiful poems every day!
Stacey…my dear Stacey… You indeed ARE a “poet full-time”… everything you do, every experience, every stumble, every nightmare, every flower walk, every teacher-packed moment is that poet percolating another poem that will bubble up when you’re ready to share another cuppa poems. And we are all the better because you share these gems with us in that strong Stacey voice. ¡Muchas gracias, mi amiga! ❤️🥰 Susie
“I Coulda Woulda Shoulda” what a title! I’m glad you broke the rules and wrote this today. I’m sure you needed to! Maybe your next career can be a full-time poet. So funny!
Stacey, your poem is so delightful. I love your honest, straightforward voice. It’s never too late to be the full-time poet.
Sarah, thank you for creating this space and this community. I felt supported and pushed/compelled to write each day and at the end of these 30 days, i feel so much fuller than when we began. I am awed daily by the talented, honest, brilliant teachers and wordsmiths that are part of this community. This is all very much appreciated, so, again, thank you!
30 Days
This space fosters friends and found family
A place to bare hearts, bear witness
To sharpen skills, purge pain, perform joy
It’s a daily sprint, a marathon month
An invite to conjure thoughts to think–
Time alone to create, calls to comment,
Gifted this short time in shared purpose.
Oh, and the form is a kwansaba, a celebration poem, modeled after the 7 days of Kwanzaa meant to reflect the 7 core principles, so 7 lines, 7 words, and each word is 7 letters or less. It was created by Eugene Redmond.
Dave, this poetic form is so beautifully balanced! With lines such as “a place to bare hearts, bear witness/to sharpen skills . . . ” you put the feelings of sharing this space and participating in this event into words so eloquently. I love the play with “bear/bare” in those lines, and the alliteration of “purge pain, perform.” Thank you for your poem!
Dave,
Wow — what a cool form! Holding onto this idea for the last day of my Creative Writing class this semester – loved all of your lovely, lyrical sounds and this beautiful poem! Thanks for it!
A beautiful celebration poem, a true gift. I love “A place to bare hearts, bear witness.” It has been wonderful to write alongside you this month.
Dave, I am loving learning some new forms today. A Kwansaba. I love the short forms, and this one is particularly fascinating to me. I like the act of performing joy – – and what that looks like. The community of shared purpose is the haven of a writer. I can’t wait to try this form. Thank you for sharing it.
Dave,
This form is new to me. I hope you’ll host and share the form as a prompt. I love the form and its cadence. Lots of wonderful alliteration throughout. Some faves: “fosters friends / found family,” “purge, pain, perform,” “marathon month.” Poetry helps April, that cruelest month, pass quickly. Thanks for your poetry this month.
Thanks for the writing this month, Dave! And thanks for the cool new — at least to me — form. “Time alone to create, calls to comment, / [g]ifted this short time in shared purpose.” I love that!
Thank you, Dave! I feel like we all gained “friends and found family” here during this “marathon month.” The seven-line Kwanzaa form works well with your message.
Dave,
I agree with your poem 100%! Thank you for sharing the form in your comment.
💜
Dave, wow. A cool new form. That is really fun. Using words of seven letters or less has really made it nice to read. The alliteration throughout is delightful too.
“Gifted this short time in shared purpose” – Amen!
Dave,
I have really enjoyed your poetry and your commenting! I appreciate the lines
so much.
Thanks for sharing a new form with us!
Sarah, thank you again and again for creating this beautiful community. It is amazing to think about all the creative applications started here that will filter out into the world beyond Verselove.
creative juices
dehydrated, as a
semi-moist raisin
figurative drought
sucked out or stuck inside; need
another year to ferment
Also, my goal this year was to write/post something all 30 days and I did it! This is the first Verselove I did partake in all 30 even amidst a crazy month…thank you!
Yeah!! Congrats, Stef! Thirty days is tough, isn’t it?! Especially in a “crazy month.” I feel “dehydrated” as well, lol…I usually feel this way after the five day open writes, and April is 10 times that feeling…ok, ok, the math doesn’t check out there, but…it’s still wonderfully creatively draining, lol.
Oh! I love the idea of creativity begun here, filtering out into the world in new ways. It has been so wonderful to write alongside you this month!
Stefani,
Im feeling every word of your poem and smiling. My brain is “a semi-dry raisin.” Can I just say that’s true of other parts of my body, too. Thank you for being here. You gave me one of my favorite comments, one that’s highly motivating. ‘Preciate you.
OOO, I love the raisin metaphor. Just coming out of reading Raisin in the Sun essays tonight. Creative juices to a semi-moist raisin. And just read a book review about an interesting new book about creativity. Always amazing that when we are. attentive we find so many connections. And finally the figurative drought – another year to ferment. Lovely ideas built with your words. Hope you find refreshment.
I hear you, Stef! Your word choices are so incredibly fitting. This is also my first 30-day non-stop writing. It is draining, but feels like a healthy workout. Thank you for poems and kind comments!
Stefani, congratulations making it all 30 days. I remember the poem you posted from your phone on a travel day! Hooray for you. “sucked out or stuck inside” is something I am taking away and thinking about tonight. Very interesting!
Thank you Sarah for this lovely space. This garden of friendship and kindness. Speaking of gardens,I seldom write in rhyme, but for some reason, Robert Louis Stevenson popped into my head and I couldn’t shake his garden of verses of rhythm and rhyme. I also couldn’t escape yesterday’s sparrow. Thank you again for this safe space.
May 1, 2023
In a yard still cluttered
with springtime debris
a lone sparrow perched
on a whispering tree.
Where are my friends,
my host, my flock
can it be that April
has already stopped?
Now, the feeder is empty of seed,
the birdbath dry as stone,
How, wondered the sparrow,
can I still sing, so bereft, so all alone?
Then hearing the sound
of the fox pup’s purr,
and seeing new flowers
awakened by rain,
the sparrow recalled,
with joy in her heart,
that April would come again.
Ann- this is so lovely, I feel I am walking through the yard with the springtime debris! You hit the meter and the spring vibe just right in this celebration of birds and poetry month- we will sing again next April (we’ll, and hopefully before, too). I especially enjoy the second to last stanza’s rhythm.
Ann, this is gorgeous! I want to see paintings alongside the words, a picture book of our beautiful, imaginative, playful space! I have loved writing alongside you this month. I know I will feel mourning tomorrow….
Lovely story you have built for your sparrow. I hope they will find seeds as I hope that you will find new ideas, prompts in your space. And the final stanza with the purring fox pup, new flowers, rain – all inspiration for the new day, month. And I hope that you find yours.
Ann, wow. This is beautiful. I love the R.S. Stevenson inspiration and the sweet garden rhyme. You will find inspiration in the garden.
This is a beautiful image:
Sarah, thirty thanks to you for providing grace and this space to share our thoughts and poems. Thirty thanks to those who thoughtfully respond to my posts. I deeply appreciate you all! Here’s my “found” nonet.
The Union of Heart and Poem
what you missed is a big house on fire
a place to rest, resist, join friends
forged by listening, digging
deep for the backbeat, lives
celebrating joy,
sharing viewpoints,
hands holding
hearts and
poems
Barb Edler
30 April 2023
Barb,
This is a fabulous nonet. You “found” the perfect description of this space: “a place to rest, resist, join friends.” It’s the listening I hope I show with my reading of others’ poems and which you do so very well. Love the alliteration in “digging deep / backbeat.” A poem needs rhythm, and yours sing w/ soul and musicality. Thank you for being here and holding my poem-hands and heart. 🥰
Barb, you have “hit the nail on the head.” All the wonderful things are listed that have been brought to me this month with our sharing, listening, digging deep, celebrating joy, and holding hearts. Thanks!
Barb, I love the Nonet form. And your way with words – I wasn’t laughing at the house on fire, but I had an image of someone lost on a dirt road driving right past it without noticing and found myself in stitches at first. Then I felt the precious feeling of kinship and love! Thank you for all you bring to the group! See you Tuesday for slicing I hope!
Barb, I loved the recap of our time together! Inventive and sweet! Until we meet again. 🙂
Love this nonet, Barb – “a place to rest, resist, join friends” – yes, indeed. I have loved writing alongside you, getting to know you more deeply. Tomorrow is going to feel strange indeed; I honestly think I’ll be grieving.
Barb, thank you for another gem! I am going to save this one, among the others, to share with my colleagues and students. I love you calling this place/space “a big house on fire,” with “hands holding hearts and poems.” Just beautiful and touching!
Barb – You have such a poetic finesse … your images all month just always reach down deep and pull hard. I loved finding you in this space. Thank you so much for being here. Love, Susie
Oh, I love those “hands holding hearts and poems.” Wow, your found poem is seamless and beautifully crafted, Barb. What fun it has been to write and read poetry with you this month.
Barb,
Your nonet expresses the very essence of our beautiful community here. I love it. 💙
This is an Eintou, from the West African word for pearl, suggesting “pearl of wisdom.” It is a uniquely African American poetic form I found–I had my students write them when I taught Their Eyes Were Watching God earlier this school year.
Thank you!
writing
poems each day
for the month of April
reminds me why I need to write
more often, more for me
as it renews
my soul
Thank you for introducing me to the Eintou’s pearl of wisdom. You have captured wisdom here in suggesting that the writing is “more for me” and “renews / my soul” The look of the Eintou is beautiful.
Gorgeous poem, Cara and thanks for sharing the Eintou form. Your ending says it all!
Yes. This. Truth.
Thank you too, for teaching me about Eintou. 🙂
Cara, I couldn’t agree more! This exercise is food for the soul!
Cool form, Cara! Beautiful words! Stealing this form for my Creative Writers! 🙂
This is lovely and I’m a fan of the short forms. Thank you! 2,4,6,8,6,4,2! There is such meaning when every single word is in the weight!
Cara- I feel the same way!! Thanks for putting this to words, this renewal. Perfect springy word for today!
Thanks for the new poetry form and for being my poetry partner!
I do not know “Eintou” – this is a precious pearl of wisdom, your poem. What a powerful middle line – “reminds me why I need to write.” It has been so fabulous to write alongside you and everyone else this month!
Cara,
Yes!! A sweet reminder for all! 😊
Sarah, Sunday is the sabbath for me and a day of reflecting on reasons to be thankful. I am grateful for this group of writers who share their thoughts and comment on mine. Much of what I’ve written has helped me understand myself better. And equally, much of what has been written has helped me understand and appreciate others in more depth. So, today, I will share an acrostic about FAITH.
Being FAITHful
Family and friends
Are important in my life.. Thankfully they
Inform, inspire and provide inspiration, but
They are only valuable if I accept their
Help…
And often enough, I try.
So please stand by.
Come back next month; please stay.
And you’ll see why
I write about FAITH today.
(I had to end with a rhyme since so many of our readers comment that I use it so often. :-))
I really like the alliteration you use in the first half of your poem – it ties all the “I” sounds together so nicely, and makes the words fall right off the tongue. Having “Help…” on its own line is also a nice touch – kind of highlights the importance of knowing when to ask for it and when to accept it. Lovely!
Anna, I like the reciprocal nature of meaningful relationships with family and friends that you have captured in your first stanza. And this line is a great invitation:
Thank you for this acrostic, Anna, and for your reflection on our month together. Isn’t it grand that we are coming to know one another for our poetry!
Beautiful message, Anna. I love your graphic and the emphasis on FAITH! You are the rhyme master! Embrace it. I wish I had your skill!
You are right on about FAITH, Anna! I like that you start out with the most important in life, family and friends. Thanks for being my creative friend.
Anna, I have really enjoyed your poems throughout the month and I love the theme of faith that animates this poem. Those last lines of the first stanza really speak to this community too, and the way the interactions serve to inform and inspire and how these conversations can be so helpful.
Anna- I love this message about accepting help, and having faith in those relationships. Just beautiful!! Always love the graphic flourish, too.
Anna, I love your rhyming acrostic. You are always so creative to blend forms and rhyme schemes – and you still manage to keep the deep meaning and sweet sentiments.
I adore how your poetry about “faith” includes this wisdom,
We are all connected, we need one another. This month of writing together has been so amazing because of this ‘helping’ of one another, I think. Thank you, Anna!
Sarah,
When I reflect on the things I am thankful for, this space often makes the list. Not only are prompts provided that allow me/force me to process things, but I get to read the most brilliant writers’ poetry. And we share affirmation and empathetic thoughts and love. I will most definitely wake up tomorrow with an empty feeling that there is no VerseLove prompt. I suspect I will keep circling back into these prompts and taking a different spin. The many options you provided us today allowed for the perfect ending for the month.
Thank you to all of you in this community. You make me a better person.
Burn for Me
Before I go,
prepare a space for me.
Fill it with all of my favorite books,
a soft, cuddly blanket,
a glass of red wine,
a mix tape of all my favorite music,
and a letter from each of you
telling me what my legacy is,
what you will carry of me
with you forever.
Burn that space for me in the sky.
When I go,
gather in love
and share stories and memories.
Dig through the pictures
and remember that I was there . . .
I was the one taking the picture.
Be together and recall the good times.
Remind one another that my one goal
was for the four of you to be close
even after we were gone.
Have a mass filled with my favorite hymns
followed by a meal of the things you liked
that I would make.
Drink wine and beer and vodka and Captain.
Tell more stories and listen to non-churchy songs.
Play a heated game of Trivial Pursuit.
Drink yourselves into a sudsy stupor
so sleep comes easily.
Cry and wonder how you will ever
make it without me.
Then, get up the next day
and show me how you will.
Honor me with your good works
and your love of family.
Make the things you liked that I made
and tell your kids.
Listen to my music
and tell your kids.
Keep me alive through your stories.
Make sure your kids know me.
Even if they didn’t.
Burn my spirit into them
so they, too, can carry me with them.
~Susan Ahlbrand
30 April 2023
Susan,
Thank you for this poem. For being here. I love that you selected the “House in the Sky” prompt to revisit and consider it from your perspective, what you’d like to be waiting for you. These scenes of music and drink and laughter are palpable — I am right there– but then there are other moments here about remember what is not visible like you taking the pictures and your wishes for the four to be together. And that last line “Burn my spirit into them”– I think this is what you do each day you love.
Sarah
Oh my lord! There are no words, Susan! You burned them into fine smoke and scattered them over all us and the Earth. Thank you!
Oh my gosh, Susan – this is a f$%king GORGEOUS poem. I felt every word, every emotion you have swirling on in your writing…
“Cry and wonder how you will ever
make it without me.
Then, get up the next day
and show me how you will.”
That brought tears to my eyes.
Me too, James! That is so beautiful, and I want it for my kids too.
I’m with James and Denise–I am literally wiping away tears as I type this. This is so beautiful and so how I would want to be celebrated and remembered.
And I am in tears. This is absolutely amazing…all the things we wish that we don’t say.
Susan, first of all, I agree with what you said here: “You make me a better person.” And your poem! Oh, my goodness. It is so beautiful and rich!
I love the “Before I go,” and then the “After I go,” (which actually surprised me). There is so many feelings I get from your poem. I just want to hug you and your sweet four.
Susan, I love all the action details throughout your poem. The repetition of “and tell your kids”. I love the sense that these poems in this place have a spirit and that this spirit will burn brightly into the future.
Susan, my gosh! I’m cheering this one, especially the non-churchy songs and the Captain…and crying, wondering how life will go on then showing how it will. You are a master of words and legacy today!
This is so so beautiful, Susan! Thank you for writing and sharing this gift of words today!
Susan, this idea of ‘burn my spirit into them’ – wow, that makes my eyes water. And the clarity, the insistence of:
“Then, get up the next day
and show me how you will.
Just beautiful. I have really enjoyed this month of writing alongside you, I have learned so much from you and everyone…I, too, believe this space makes me a better person. Thank you!
Holy cow, Susan – This is beautiful. I mean really beautiful! I’m actually all choked up here. I loved all your poems, but this one just knocks me out. I want to reach out and hold onto you. Love, Susie
Searingly beautiful, Susan. The emphasis on stories, so powerful. The allusions to Scripture (“honor me with your good works” for one) are so lovingly interwoven. It is a breathtaking poem and I am thankful for it…poetry is a way of burning our spirits into those we love so fiercely and so well, a way to remain with them…in fact, to always carry them as they carry us, after we go. Magnificent. I will carry this poem with me, now. <3
Susan,
This is a gorgeous poem. It beautifully articulates what we all hope will happen after we depart this earthly body: we’ll be remembered. These lines:
“Cry and wonder how you will ever
make it without me.
Then, get up the next day
and show me how you will.”
They articulate what we must do: go on. I noticed the touches of humor, too: “Drink yourselves into a sudsy stupor.”
On another note: Your poetry has improved so much since we began writing in this space. Kudos to you!
Sarah,
Thank you for another wonderful Verse love experience! I always come away from the month inspired!
This
space —
daily
oasis
of frequent salvation
a welcoming invitation &
sunbursts of hope and rejuvenation.
Oh, Tammy, how lover to end in “sunbursts of hope and rejuvenation”. I do hope people feel that even though I imagine people labored hours on the poems and responses this month!
Peace,
Sarah
Tammi,
Yes! The “daily oasis” is indeed what this is. I shall twitch a little for a week or so, sure that I am forgetting to do something that would give me “sunbursts of hope and rejuvenation.”
Oh, Tammi, so many beautiful phrases here and in such a sweet form. “daily / oasis” most definitely! “frequent salvation” — what a powerful way to say it. And the invitation and sunbursts…icing on the cake. You say so much in so few words.
Tami, I love the rhythm of your poem. I can hear the sunburst of joy through your words full of “hope and rejuvenation”. Fantastic!
Tammi, you’ve summed up our time together poetically with your metaphor and succinctness. Because of my faith, I think of salvation in terms of Christianity, but you don’t have to be a Christian to find the welcoming invitation here or the “sunbursts of hope and rejuvenation. Thanks to our host, Sarah J. Donovan!
“daily oasis” – absolutely true! Which is why I feel this sense of grief in May…this loss. It has been a fabulous month, writing alongside one another. Thank you!
Sarah, though we have never met, has pulled me into various writing opportunities (by invitation, of course) that I would have never sought out for myself (too scared to believer I could do it and do it well).
I have never considered myself a poet. Today, I know I am a poet.
Thank you Sarah.
You have created and cultivated a space that insecure, unsure, just-trying-it-to-see-if-I’m-good-at-it writers like me can thrive and flourish; blossoming into the realization that we belong here.
Thank you to all the hosts of #verselove and #openwrite. This has been an incredible experience.
Donnetta – your “Borrowed Lines” prompt was brilliant (I quite enjoyed playing around with another poet’s words) and your poem that followed was wonderful. I hope to see more and more of you in the days/months/years to come!
Donnetta,
I agree so much with what you said. You have written a thank you poem for Sarah right here:
I too am that “insecure, unsure” writer.
“Today, I know I am a poet.” Yes! Yes! Yes!
Donnetta – Indeed, you are a wonderful poet. Don’t ever think twice about that! Hugs, Susie
Sarah, thank you so much for putting this space together for us! What a day of celebration. Each year, I set the goal to do at least 5 days and then I can’t help myself to continue writing more. This made me think about balance as an element of art and time. I ask myself “what is missing from my life when I don’t take time to write.” Thank you again!
Balance
One of my favorite elements
of art is balance. Before you
finish a painting, ask “does
this landscape need lilies?”
“could the sky use clouds?”
“how can daylight
harmonize
with the
night?”
Rachelle, this poem speaks to me because I am a visual artist and understand balance and your questions very well. However, I am learning to be a poet and realize how much art of all kinds needs this beautiful balance. I like your poem’s form, as well.
Rachelle,
Finding that balance is so important! Love the way this line illuminates the need to strike balance — “how can daylight harmonize with the night?”
Rachelle,
Thank you for this nonet and for considering the ways writing nurtures you personally. In the art of this poem, the speaker considers harmony, which can be in what is present and what is absent. I like thinking about when the light and night need to be side by side in the art and when they might be in different poems.
Peace,
Sarah
Oh, I love this, Rachelle. Thank you!
Rachelle,
What a balance of the visual and the verbal you have here. We try to paint pictures with words in our poems and you have done just that.
Rachelle,
I am so glad you are asking these questions not just about paintings, but about life experiences, like “What is missing from my life when I don’t take time to write?” As a believer in goodness and Love and hope in a time that seems dark, I also appreciate the figurative meaning I am getting from the question “how can daylight / harmonize / with the / night?”
And thank you for your kind comment. It has been a joy getting to know you in this space, my old NW Iowa virtual buddy.
Rachelle, I love how you connected the message of balance through art. Loved your question “how can daylight harmonize with the night?” Beautiful!
I love this exploration of balance in art …and your wonder, “what is missing from my life when I don’t take time to write.” Just the inspiration I need for May!
Thank you to all that have shared with me this month. It will be hard to wait until June. I have learned so much!
I missed Amber’s prompt of “Come Join My Reality” and decided to pick that one up today.
Gratitude
On the wall are 12 drawings made by artist friends.
We have traded our thoughts and our artwork
through the lens
espressing the feelings of our hearts.
I share their love.
On the computer screen are names of 30 writers
who have given their poems and inspiration.
True fighters
seeding almost thirty of my poems,
some good, some bad
some grieving and sad.
Some descriptive, some with jokes,
poems about ordinary folks.
I share their love.
On my table are 50 notes from family,
a stack of cards
spring me from calamity,
giving comfort, hope,
and how to cope.
I share their love.
Surrounding me are 100 people
who have held me up
as high as a steeple.
No more are poems of sadness
only gladness.
I share their love.
Susan,
I’m so glad you found the love and support you needed to comfort you through your grieving. Art and poetry can certainly be therapeutic.
“No more poems of sadness/ only gladness.”
Susan, this is a lovely counting of what can and cannot be measured in a life. In each instance the number is wrapping around the speaker, bringing something for them to share. This repetition of “I share their love” is the very best form of gratitude.
Peace,
Sarah
Just beautiful. Susan. Thank you.
Susan, what a wonder you have created with that sweet refrain, “I share their love.” I like that the punctuation sets each apart as its own sentence and makes it even more absolute and sure. There are some wonderful phrases here like “as high as a steeple” and “spring me from calamity” and that use of “seeding” for the poetry prompts as they seed your poems. Beautiful! I’m so glad you kept coming back this month and that you felt the love.
Susan, I appreciate how you have opened your heart all month and have let us experience both your grief and your profound love. I am glad there are so many to help “hold you up, as high as a steeple.” I wish you peace.
Susan, as many of commented since we learned of your loss, we are thankful to be a place with space for your to share your thoughts and to welcome our condolences. That’s what friends and family are for. Not sure, see my poem for today. 🙂 You know my FAITH! I know yours and together, with those we’ve met here, we have the help we need.
Susan, I love how you share the types of poems you’ve written this month. I am so happy that you have felt held up by the Verse Love community. Awesome repetition of “I share their love”. Beautiful poem!
Glorious repetition of “I share their love.” Your poem shows how much we help one another when we share and connect, support each other. I have truly enjoyed this month of writing alongside you.
Sarah, wow, so many ideas! I think May is going to be a time for me to process some of these and other prompt-gifts we received in April, but for now…everything I thought to write seemed too trivial and sad, so I’m upping the trivia and leaving y’all with this:
There is a group of #Verselove poets
Whose gives-and-takes melts me, though it
sounds today
just like a cliché
But I still wanted you to know it.
Denise, your poems have always been special to me. Thank you for being part of this community and for encouraging me in the earliest days. I love that we found our connection of NW Iowa roots through this community. <3
Denise — “whose gives-and-takes melts me” — I agree!
Verselove poets are the best!
Denise,
You made me smile. I was actually thinking about my poems and the days I said things plainly or cliche when I could have expressed the thing with more complexity. Still, I stand by the poems that drew on the familiar as I find them to be quite welcoming and comforting. The “melts me” is very sweet, and I felt that many of times appreciating the tendering of hearts in a time so many hearts have been hardened.
So glad to have been with you this month!
Sarah
Lovely message, Denise. I know it’s so hard not to sound trite or like a cliche’. Loved your “gives and takes melts me”. It’s a blessing to have active responders.
A limerick! And it’s perfect! Denise, your creative perspective and offerings are always rich. Everything you write is a gift – today’s poem is just the sweet lightness we need. Thank you for always writing so beautifully from your beautiful heart; your poetry and comments mean much to me.
Denise,
I appreciate you. I honor your social justice heart and embrace the sad poems you write because they are genius and necessary, so write what you want. I thank you for your “gives” which have been exceptionally generous both here and in TWT. And honestly, sometimes a good cliche is perfect for the purpose. 🤗
A limerick!! Yesssss! I feel like I don’t see enough of these here and someone needs to give us a limerick prompt for an Open Write — cute and heartfelt, Denise, thank you!!
Denise, the simple are always the most powerful! This is a fine example of that. Thank you for your always steady presence – guiding, encouraging with positive vibes and sweet words!
Love this, Denise! “Whose gives-and-takes melts me” – melts is such an awesome word for how deeply you feel the experience. I have absolutely loved this month of writing alongside you – and I know I will feel real grief tomorrow morning.
Lol, Denise! Not cliché at all! That “melt[ing]” is a quite apt metaphor! Thank you for your poems this month and for your generous comments on mine!!
Thank you, Sarah! Each year, I post a little more than the year before. I love this site and appreciate the warm and welcoming space to be a writer among other writers. I chose the following for your options of inspiration:
Two days ago, I read Seana’s heart-stopping witness of and AM incident. Her words made me feel like I was the one witnessing and experiencing the thing.
I witnessed death today
the death of someone’s pain
turning into the birth of another’s.
Disruption of traffic
jammed into the schedules
of a day, so many schedules
there may not have been time
to process or even witness
a man plummet to his death
I still feel the shock
of reading your words
And I really want to know
Are you okay?
Shelley, oh, this is so beautiful. Thank you for caring for Seana today with this beauty. I hope she is doing okay and will continue to heal. I hope you read her poem yesterday–she’s starting the healing process.
These lines are so powerful:
Many thanks, Denise, for the link to “her poem yesterday” as I had not seen it.
Shelly, I’m so glad you asked! I thought about Seana several times yesterday, and wondered about how she was doing. There are moments that stick with us, and that one will never leave. I hope she is doing well, and I love that you used poetry to reach out to her this way.
Shelly,
Holy cow! I missed the prompt on the 28th and went back to Seana’s original post. Just heart-wrenching! Your poem reflects the beautiful of our community of writing community. Even though most of us have never met, we take care of each other through our empathy, through our words.
Shelly,
Thank you for circling back to Seana’s poem as I missed that one but now have the opportunity to revisit it. And then I am thinking how Seana will feel knowing her witnessing had stayed with you and is renewed in your own verse. Just very powerful, I think.
Those last lines are why we read and write — that our hearts and minds are moved– and you close it perfectly with the question “Are you okay?” The you, Seana, the you, you, the you, others in the scene. The collective you.
Sarah
Wow, I hadn’t read Seanna’s Friday poem or yesterday so I am glad you responded to this today. I went searching to read the previous poems and yours…what a beautiful (and heart-braking) cycle of poems.
Shelley, that poem and the thought of what Seana witnessed has been haunting me too. Denise linked her poem from yesterday and I imagine being able to put words to paper is a huge piece of the healing process. Your poem reminds me of the interconnectedness of us all and how we carry the experiences of others with us as we move around in the world. Your poem exudes empathy.
Shelly,
This is really lovely, and I agree — that poem really made me feel for not only the victim but all of those around him who witnessed this. Here’s hoping that they have an outlet like Seana did to share their feelings.
This is a treasure of a poem. I need to find Seana’s from earlier – my weekend of writing/commenting has been so abridged and frazzled due to a wedding…and I am not sure what you are referencing. But, one, that we use poetry to share pain, and two, that we use poetry to reach out to one another, “Are you okay?” – these are two extraordinary reasons for being a part of this writing community every April. Just beautiful. Thank you so much.
Hi Sarah and All! Thank you for another VerseLove experience. I started this in April 2020, which is the year I wrote every day. That was my goal that year. Anyway, since it’s my 4th year participating, I thought back to Denise’s 4×4 prompt last year on April 5th. So here you go, and see you again soon!
VerseLove World
We come back for
community –
a room where all
are accepting.
Inspiration.
We come back for
this island of
shared ideas.
A space that creates
futures of hope.
We come back for
optimism.
Innovation:
a house becomes
home, and that’s what
we come back for.
❤️📝
Indeed, this is our home, and the reason we come back again and again. Truth, Angie!
Angie,
Thank you for reminding us of the 4 X 4 poem and for your lovely description of this space. This and the TWT community are my writing homes. 🥰
YES–a community that feels like home. You’ve captured the reason I keep returning.
Angie, I love the thinking that went into your choice about form and why it was especially meaningful to commemorate this final day of your fourth year of VerseLove writing. What a lovely way to bring the imagery and the feelings of space together in these stanzas that celebrate community and the welcome feelings here – home, family. This reminds me so much of a book I used to read called Me on the Map, when we would begin a unit on mapping – I found nesting boxes that showed a room fit into a house, a house on a street, a street in a neighborhood, a neighborhood in a city, etc….all the way to the universe. And how we all belong in all of those places. I think you did an amazing job showing the reasons we return to this room, this home we call ours, where we can grow and bloom and thrive.
Oh, Angie, how gorgeous. I love those bolded words that show what it is “we come back for” concretely symbolizing community, inspiration, optimism and innovation. That repeated line is just perfectly crafted. It has been a joy to write with and read Angie this month!
Angie — love your last stanza “a house becomes home, and that’s what we come back for.”
That is the truth!
Angie,
How wonderful to revisit Denise’s 4X4 poem, which others may want to try before we come back together in June: https://www.ethicalela.com/4×4-poem/
The four stanzas and the consistent meter offer a lovely symmetry for closure this month, and ending on the abstract word “home” that has be nurtured by all is wonderful.
Sarah
This is indeed a home! Thank you for creating this 4×4 honoring this room, island, space, house . . . world!
room, island, space, house – absolutely gorgeous reasons to keep coming back! Love this 4×4!
A Bit of Advice
If you are planning to
change professions or
you’re retired and looking
for a side hustle and you
want to become a
hairdresser/baker/crossword
puzzle maker/college professor/
news anchor/archeologist/
librarian/florist/wedding photographer/
home renovator (who has a
penchant for picking up acoustic
guitars and singing occasionally)
Great, I support you, I’m all
for this career move,
but
but if someone dies
near you/at your place of employment/
in the shop next to yours/at your
dinner party/at someone else’s
dinner party/at the hotel you’re
staying at/at the conference you’re
attending/at the theater you just
happened to buy tickets for
If there is a mysterious death
anywhere in your vicinity or,
quite frankly, anywhere at all,
simply DO NOTHING
Yes, phone the police if that
is appropriate, make a statement
but do not,
I repeat
DO NOT insert yourself into
the criminal investigation
If you have a hankering to know
what happened and you love a
good mystery
I don’t care.
Read an Agatha Christie novel,
check out Miss Marple
or Poirot, if you want more
modern fare, try Anthony
Horowitz, he has some
crackling good detective
stories that are both trippy
and fun
I’m just saying
I’m trying to help you out here
trying to save you some grief
and quite possibly some jail time
If I’ve learned anything from
binge watching these Hallmark
Mystery Series, I’ve learned that
they take some liberties with
the criminal justice system
there is zero thought to chain
of command or keeping the
integrity of the crime scenes
intact, they tend to discuss
important procedural plot
points in front of suspects
and criminals and random
coffee shop customers
What I’m saying is that I
think real police work is
not like these shows
Christ, haven’t these
writers seen Hill Street
Blues? Or NYPD Blue?
Or any of the gazillion
CSI or Law & Order
spin-offs?
If you just need to move
and get away from it all,
I understand that, too
might I suggest a beautiful
little spot, a very picturesque
charming English county
with a number of quiet
little villages called Midsomer?
_________________________________________________
Thank you, Sarah and this Ethical ELA community for this month of verse (and the previous months, too, if I’m being honest and all encompassing)! I decided to choose “denial” for this prompt today, lol, and craft a poem that had been circling over my head for the past few days – I finally wrestled it to the page and pinned it into submission – why did this metaphor become so violent and sports like? – anyway, I’ll feel the loss of April and all of you and all of this [gestures broadly] tomorrow, that’s right, there’s time enough tomorrow to grieve…
Scott,
This gave me whiplash, metaphorically speaking, after reading over a dozen poems devoted to honoring the VerseLove community. That’s in keeping w/ your theme, I suppose. I’d ask why you’re binging Hallmark shows, but I’m afraid you’d give a stream-of-consciousness response, and I’d end up recalling my mother’s love of Hallmark, which is why I never tune into that channel. I do love the lists and the classic cop show references. Anywho, it’s been real, sort of, but not always. Keep doing you. I’ll be here w/ the occasional random response.
🙂 Thanks, Glenda. I can’t stop being me, I guess. Lol. What’s that wonderful quote from Oscar Wilde — “Be yourself; everyone else is already taken.” — truer words were never…yada, yada, yada…to keep this succinct and “on point” I will simply say that Hallmark shows are a kind of brain candy — a gooey, sticky, completely ridiculous — brain candy that we can have on “in the background” while I “do” school work that doesn’t require my full and undivided attention. I learned that the hard way, by the way. I once graded a stack of essays, and the next day, my students read over the comments and were like, what does “it’s always the butler!” or “never walk down a dark alleyway alone!” have to do with the metaphorical underpinnings of William Stafford’s “Traveling through the Dark”? Ok, so that didn’t really happen. It was “Me Up at Does” by e.e. cummings and not William Stafford. Ok, even that was untrue. I’ll stop now with the simple explanation that those Hallmark shows are, effectively, one of our many Third Things, like poetry and theatre and literature and….you get the idea.
I’m laughing and I’m crying. What a perfect poem for the final day of #VerseLove. You had me from the beginning… and then I worried about you for a little while. Then I found relief in the serial realities/nonrealities that I recognized in your allusions. Thanks for sharing the sheer joy of crafting engaging poetry!
Scott, what a great way to get us thinking, like really thinking – and wondering, and laughing. I kept going back to changing careers. I want to press flowers professionally AND water the fennel for black swallowtails to come munch and spin cocoons, then emerge and take flight, and stay far away from inserting myself into the town murders, except where there is a cemetery crawl being planned to learn about the ghostly appearances of former residents including one, a reporter, who went down on the Titanic while his wife rowed away in a lifeboat. My gosh. I’m swimming in thought AND laughing AND crying now that I wonder what to do with myself tomorrow.
Scott,
I love that you went in the direction of denial or better year a “see ya” rather than a “so long” because there will be more poetry and community in June. We also want this last day to be whatever you need it to be, and why not a Hallmark mystery critique with the apt advice to study NYPD Blue (geesh). Love that “real police work”! This comes up all the time when we watch Chicago PD, and my husband is reminded of his father’s real police work.
And thank you for a wonderful month of poeming!
Peace,
Sarah
Scott,
Haha! As a crime drama fan, you had me at Hallmark!
Can’t say I’m a fan of Candace Cameron Bure.
But I will admit to wanting to be Jessica Fletcher and move to Cabot Cove: My ideal career trajectory!!
Someday, Scott…someday…
Scott, I love that you wrote a denial poem–“that’s right, there’s time enough tomorrow to grieve.” I appreciated your critique of the Hallmark Mystery Series and your explanation to Glenda about “doing” school work during their background noise. Perfect topic for denying the inevitable. Thank you for the wit and fun and always ridiculously clever poems that spill out of you. And that you choose to share them in this space, we are grateful.
As Scarlet said, “After all, tomorrow is another day!” I appreciated your references to crime novels and shows. They’re definitely my favorite.
Brilliant, Scott! Just brilliant and heart felt! Thank you!
Scott, I adore the fun you have in your writing! This is a delight to close out our month together…it has been wonderful to write alongside you, and I am bummed to see the month end.
Scott – Right down to the final day of the month, here you are making me laugh and ramble right down the page with your remarkable analysis/pondering poem. Your voice… that candid, sharp witted querying … it just is THE best. I have yet to reel off from your poems and not said to myself, “Damn, that guy is good! Damn good! Hilarious! Sharp as all get-out!” Now, go submit your poems for publication. Let me know where to buy a copy! Hugs, Susie
Sarah – I’m so glad to be a part of this community. I was invited here by my colleague, friend, and kindred spirit, Jessica Sherburn. I had been in a writing drought for a long, long time – but that all changed when I joined #VerseLove. It was wonderful to write almost every day – I felt inspired again to create. I hope to keep that momentum going. I was nervous to share my drafts – but the love and support in this community is something I had not anticipated. More and more I began to shed my fears and embrace being and exposed and vulnerable. This collection of wordsmiths made that transition possible. Thank you, Sarah. Thank you, Jessica. Thank you to this wonderful community. I feel whole again.
Form my last #VerseLove poem this month, a piece I’ve been kicking around in my mind for a while now.
Right or Left, It’s Only a Party
The last day I lived on Francisco
I was sorting my socks. Throwing away
the old ones – the ones that had grown
threadbare and dingy.
I was sorting socks while
feeling the bitterness of shame,
regret. I remember thinking what a waste
the last five years had been.
I had let it fall apart, those five years.
Somehow I had neglected you, us,
all for my career, my education, with
the words I’m sorry caught in my throat.
And you were right about so many
things. I never had the smarts enough
to know that my smarts weren’t good enough.
My mind didn’t amount to much, you always reminded me.
And you knew that I was just lucky to
have you. Not that I really ever had you.
Nick had you. Chris had you. Samantha.
Not me. I was the lucky one.
Then I remember remembering the raid
and all the drugs CPD confiscated from our
(your) house. Just me and my cat and a cop
and a gun while you got hauled off in cuffs.
I felt those words caught in my throat
again, and that twist of guilt in my gut.
I should have realized the UPS guy was
delivering meth. My fault, as you’d tell it.
That and how I just never gave you a chance to
thrive. I was the bookworm, always
overshadowing your charm and charisma. I
should have made more room for you.
I toss the last sock to the side, worn and
yellowed. Maybe if I had made more room
for you, you wouldn’t have been a pusher.
That’s how you sold it. At least I had the
wherewithal to scrape up bail.
I’m sorry for that, too.
Wow, James…you delivered the poem of all poems this Sunday morning. Phew.
This is a poem I’ll teach and discuss in many classes. With each reading, I’m falling heavier within its depths. Congratulations on getting these words to page.
That last line…. Wow.
Wow, James, a powerful, contemplative poem. The detail of the socks, sorting socks, such a normal, mundane part of life, brings this poem to life, down to earth amidst the pretty crazy other events. Thank you for sharing this with us. And I’m glad you have come here and written this April and that it has been motivating for you! Hope to continue to see you here.
James,
Holy shit! What a spectacular poem. I read your intro and copied these lines: “More and more I began to shed my fears and embrace being and exposed and vulnerable” and thought about how five years into this space I’m still not there. Then you began “sorting socks,” which I literally did this morning, but I soon realized the metaphorical implications of socks. I don’t k ow how to thank you for this honest, vulnerable poem when I am so guarded in what I share. I’ve read the poem several times, and what strikes me most is the self-blame for the actions of another. I do that, too. Maybe it’s human nature. I don’t feel deserving of this poem which touches me in ways I’ll probably never share. All I can say is thank you.
James, I’ve read and reread and continue to find and discover. I’m back to the title, which leads me so many ways and makes me think so many things. But your brutal honesty and vulnerability makes this poem impactful and powerful. The mundane task of sock sorting (a tedious household chore of pairing, tossing) and all that it stands for against the subsequent story is just, phew! A. Lot. And I’m so sorry you feel sorry. Especially when someone did a real doozy on you in making you believe that it was all your fault. That image of you, your cat, the cop, and a gun feels so, so empty (thank God for your cat). And how the heck does a bookworm overshadow charm and charisma? The length of projection blaming people go to to avoid their own decisions – just, holy moly. This is one holy moly of a poem today. So glad you are with us.
James,
I am moved by this speaker’s reflection in the process of “sorting my socks” through the “I toss the last sock to the side”. This slowed scene of candor, confession, acceptance, but also something more that seems to be wanting, perhaps a second or more poem. If you are the speaker, I am grateful for allowing me to witness this time in your life, this fragment of all the parts that make you whole. A gift to sit alongside the sock/life sorting with you.
Peace,
Sarah
Oof. James, this was amazing. Revelatory both of your experience and your talent, it carried me from stanza to stanza. It was just beautiful. <3
James, wow, your poem is so vivid. I can see those dingy socks being sorted, and the pain of being quasi involved with something ugly like meth-dealing. I’d feel sorry too if I was the one posting bail. It’s so hard to forgive drug abuse, and meth-addiction is especially difficult to kick. Everyone suffers! There’s never a winner.
James, I’m not sure I can express how this poem made me feel…the honesty, the courage — the juxtaposition of pairing ordinary socks with the profound depth of the tragic end of your relationship. I hope getting it down in this beautiful poem releases you from any residual guilt or shame. We are, all of us, doing our best. Thank you for sharing these deep thoughts,
James, wow, what a powerful story you have told here. The yellowed, threadbare and dingy socks beginning and ending the poem are fitting holders for the poem inside.
There are so many statements that haunt me and make me sad for the speaker and the lies that were told him, perhaps none more than:
Like Sarah mentioned, if you are the speaker of this poem, thank you for the honesty and clarity and vulnerability with which you share. It is an amazing poem-poem, as Bryan and Ruth Stone call them.
James, this narrative poem has so much to process. Your line about “overshadowing…” and making room for others some how draws me to Miguel Ruiz’ Four Agreements. Thank you for sharing this here today.
This is quite a story, James! The socks being tossed tells me you are moving on to new things but have some regrets. You have made quite a confession. The last stanza tells it all.
James,
You have been a wonderful addition to this space. From the thought-provoking and honest poems you created and shared to the in-depth and empathetic comments you added, your contribution to VerseLove has been huge.
This poem . . . I know I tend to always write about my own experiences, so I tend to assume everyone else’s poems are first person from their own lives. But, Sarah reminded us when she used the key term “speaker” that this may not have happened to you. So . . . if it did, I am so sorry. Don’t let that person change you. If it’s imaginative, you have created such a great poem for people to read who have been victimized as the speaker was.
Starting in the mundane task of sorting socks really roots the rest of the poem in reality.
Thank you, James, for sharing your talents–and heart–with us.
Oh my, this is an intense and heartbreaking story. I am screaming on your/the narrator’s behalf with these lines,
I am awed by the openness of your writing – and reminded that this is what I love so much about this month of writing poetry together. Thank you so much!
Holy Moses – James, this is such a whammer of a poem… I started out just thinking about socks and then the lava just poured out of that mountain. What a reflection on a brutal reality. I feel those words “caught in my throat”!! Doggone, this is loaded… the loss, regret, guilt, and that “twist”… Whoof. There is so much here… the last lines had me walking in your shoes and feeling betrayal. “That’s how you sold it.” That’s a power line, right there. I’m glad you shared your poetry this month…and especially today. Susie
Sarah,
Much gratitude to you for this space. It’s no exaggeration to say I’d not be writing much poetry w/out this community. Special gratitude to Barb, Maureen, Denise, and Kim for reading, commenting, and encouraging my VerseLove, even when my poems were turds. To all who commented and supported me this month, thank you. I hope I did the same for you. I wanted to acknowledge late-comers who often receive little notice for their VerseLove. I see you. Most days I returned to read and comment on some of your poems.
Night-Blooming Poetry
Some days a poem sits
alone on the fringe of this
space like a cipher
in the snow, the last
one picked in poetry dodge-
ball. Unread verses
posted late, scrollnored.
I notice these dangling poems—
unmodified lines—
content on the fringe
away from popular scribes
who’ve no return time.
Late verses bud like rare
night-blooming cereus.
—Glenda Funk
April 30, 2023
*Night-blooming cereus blooms one night a year.
**Cipher in the Snow is an ancient film I first saw in and education class back in the ‘70s.
“the last
one picked in poetry dodge-
ball”
Glenda, this line stood out most to me as a great image, being the sport-loving person I am. Thanks for your references! Love your title. Until next time!
Agreed, Angie! This is a gorgeous line (and so perfect).
You stole my favorite line!!
Glenda, there are times in this group that I feel a little Twilight Zone-ish. Reading your poem today is one of those times. After having a dose of success with Leafy Jean and Leon Russell, the succulent plants I needed to show me if my thumb glowed with any green, I jumped off the high dive yesterday and bought……..you won’t believe it…….for ten dollars, from a former interim pastor and his wife……on the Zebulon, GA Saturday Market on the Town Square……a Night-Blooming Cereus! I went and got it a new pot, fresh potting soil. Her name will be……Glenda Funk. Like you, I have tried my best to get back to the night bloomers as best I could, most days unsuccessfully because I rise earlier and set earlier than the sun on the East Coast, so West Coast was often a challenge for the late reading. And night blooming is the perfect analogy for the way beauty emerges on the fringes of our awareness. Oh, this thrills my soul as I think of the ways thought patterns and learning intersects in life, across time zones, across continents. Thank you for your always-inspiring poems and comments. And I am still writing that poem on gun violence, too. Love you, friend!
You are such a generous reader, Glenda! I read not only poems but the comments too to see if I missed something important or subtle in a poem, so I know your comments. I also witness how you “notice these dangling poems— / unmodified lines,” and I am grateful from all of us. Besides the line, everyone emphasized, I love the final: “Late verses bud like rare / night-blooming cereus.” Thank you for all you’ve done for this community and me personally!
Glenda, what a way to acknowledge the poems that lie on the fringe, the scrollnored, the last ones picked in poetry dodgeball. And I adore “late verses bud like rare night-blooming cereus” (whose blossoms are exquisitely beautiful btw, I just looked, a bit like you and your poem!).
Glenda,
Thank you for this surfacing of the the “late verses”:
posted late, scrollnored.
I notice these dangling poems—
unmodified lines—
I am thinking of Jennifer’s prompt of ungrammatical in the way you crafted “scrollnored”. I think of the phrase “posted late” as having multiple meanings — late in the day but not late for this space. And you pull that thread through in the “night-blooming” as the evening is when many first find the time for the poem and often feel the budding verse only after others have gone to rest. Such beautiful imagery, Glenda.
Sarah
Glenda,
Loved:
“the last
one picked in poetry dodge-
ball. “
and
“scrollnored.” (you go, Shakespeare, coining phrases!!)
and
“Late verses bud like rare
night-blooming cereus.”
Lovely, creative topic and imagery! Until we meet again. 🙂
Glenda, thank you for seeing the late-night poems…a time or two, it was my own, when the day tried its best to squelch the creativity clean out of me (I wouldn’t let it win). This “cipher in the snow” connection is beautiful, masterful imagery, as is the cereus. Thank you for being an extraordinary encourager and champion, in poems and in comments. They’ve all given me strength, more than you know. That you thought of poems as nestlings and recalled my finches send my poet-soul soaring. I am grateful for you and your keen “seeing” <3
Glenda, your poem is so beautifully developed through keen details. Your opening lines pulled me completely into your poem. I can feel the emotions of being unnoticed, etc. The ending of your poem blooms, too, as the “late verses bud like rare/night-blooming cereus”. I appreciate your generous comments to my poems that are most definitely usually turds. Your selflessness in responding to writers is definitely noticeable. As always, I can find nuggets of truth in your work to ponder, and new knowledge, too, such as learning about Cipher in the Snow and the night-blooming cereus. Thank you, Glenda. Thank you! Hugs!
Oh, Glenda, Thank you for your thoughtful comments and making connections with so many of us this month (and during Open Write.) As a sometimes late writer, I know this is such a kind gesture. I love the images you create here. “Poetry dodgeball” and “scrollnored” are perfect. Thank you for drawing attention to these poems. Your poem makes me want to be a better commenter. (Denise Hill also does a good job of noticing “these dangling poems” when she’s with us.)
Your footnotes are always appreciated. I remember Cipher in the Snow. Funny that you described it as “ancient.”
Love this poem, Glenda, especially the last 2 lines. I first heard about the cereus from the novel in verse – Out of the Dust. I’ve always wanted to include it in a poem. I haven’t yet, but you have inspired me. Thank you!
Gayle,
This is perfect! If I had one suggestion for this space, and I know it’s not possible, is that we could all somehow be prompted to go back to the latebloomers and be alerted to comments that came in after we likely moved on to the next day. You acknowledge those so well. You are always so clever and I love the word “scrollnored.”
You are so dear to write this treasure about the late night submissions…I, too, have thought and worried about them, but a ‘fat lot of good’ my mental machinations have done, lol … your poem invites them in. I had every intention of going back and checking out all that I have missed due to whatever kept me so busy on any given day. Thank you for this word, “scrollnored.” Love that! Glenda, it has been amazing to write alongside you for two plus months now – how will we handle May, lol? I know I will be in mourning.
Glenda – You captured some of the same sensations that I had when getting to the website this month. Here I am at 11:30 pm and I’m reading poem after poem. I adore the image of “night-blooming “… the cereus… you are such a wonderful poet… you share images that are fascinating and rich. And all month I could count on your voice… that fist in the air … the edge that calls it out splays it open. Hugs and love, my friend! Susie
Sarah, how to thank you for this glorious month of writing poetry together? This amazing month ends for me in the midst of a dear friend’s wedding celebration, a weekend filled with joy. So I close with a whirlwind, dash of a poem – please know, my heart is so full from this month together. Big thanks to every single host and inspiration!!
This Month Together
how am I to
close out
this month of writing
in this fog
having wandered
into here
April 30th
from jubilant celebration
ears echoing bass
soles of feet sparking
warm happy tiredness
throughout
two dear ones
the wedding of their dreams
loving commitment
how am I to
close out
this month of writing
in this fog
laughter
joy
hopes
memories
connection
should I make
an Irish exit
just ghost y’all?
slipping away now
into my normal day-to-day
know this:
I loved being here
with you
every single day
ears echoing words
tips of fingers tingling
warm happy tiredness
throughout
isn’t it poetic
I danced my way
into April 30th
with you
Love this wording, Maureen
That’s what the month has been for me, too.
Yes to these lines for me too, Maureen! Beautifully said:
Maureen,
Im so glad you are here and thankful for having you to share 61 days of writing with. It’s a lot! Love the repetition in
“how am I to
close out
this month of writing”
I chuckled at the “Irish exit” line. It is fitting that you’re dancing your way into May! ❤️🤗
“I loved being here with you” TOO, Maureen!! So many beautiful lines in this poem. Absolutely loved how you blended two joyous events in your life <3
It IS poetic, Maureen. And beautiful!
Maureen, I love the Irish Exit. I’m laughing because one of my favorite Billy Collins poems is about an Irish spider, and anything that reminds me of that brings a smile to my face. I see Riverdance here, the joy of feet, the quick movement in lines and realigned formations across a stage, off a stage. And then a re-entry, feet tapping to the beat of life with hummingbird-quick fluttery taps. That’s VerseLove as I think of this exit. We’ll exit the stage and catch our breath, then return with renewed feet ready to dance again. Thank you for all you’ve shared with us this month – your poems, your many uplifting comments, your life.
Maureen!
How did you know I was an Irish exit-er:
should I make
an Irish exit
just ghost y’all?
Really, this poem is so fun and a perfect closing to the month with “ears echoing words/tips of fingers tingling”!
Beautiful.
Sarah
The warm happy tiredness – yes, and so worth it! Your words always dance, Maureen – and invite us to do so. Congrats to the newlyweds and thank you for not ghosting us with an Irish exit (although it’s a priceless poetic zinger!).
Maureen,
Congrats on the nuptials of your friends!
My favorite colorful line from your lovely, dreamy poem:
“should I make
an Irish exit
just ghost y’all?”
Maureen, your delightful lines create a lovely sort of chaos: “in this fog” “slipping away now” “ears echoing words” “tips of finger tingling”. So many words to create the “dancing” thrill of writing with others who will share their joy, hope, and memories. I’m so glad you are able to enjoy today at a wedding. That is a poetic end for Verse Love. Gorgeous poem, and I’m glad you didn’t do that Irish ghost exit! Cheers to your poetry!
I love this poem, Maureen and share so many of your thoughts. My favorite lines: know this: I loved being here with you every single day….just beautiful. Perfect!
Maureen,
It’s been an absolute joy to share this space with you. And I love how you weave together this space with the wedding you attended. I love the reference to the Irish exit and I really love these lines as it captures the aftermath of a wedding celebration so well:
“I loved being here / with you / every single day” Same! 🙂 Thanks for this Maureen and thank you for this month of poetry!
Maureen, what a lovely poem. I like the question you ask at the beginning. And then your answer at the end–“I danced my way / into April 30th / with you” Beautiful. It was a delight reading your poems this month. Thank you for commenting so well on so many of our poems. 🙂
Maureen – You are just a delight. I love how this poem just dances down the page… it has a lilt… perfect. I really looked forward to your poems every day. Thank you! Susie
Sarah, Once again #VerseLove has offered a location to procrastinate other responsibilities with a crew of writers who live to find poetic therapy. I seldom block out windows of time to be selfish, but in April, I do….and it’s because of all of you. April showers participants with language, so we may bloom better in May. Thank you, thank you, thank you. The daily healing has been remarkable once again. It’s a return to the writing workshops I’ve cherished throughout my career.
Now, What?
~b.r.crandall
(chicken butt)
time to scribble faucet-smut
from the waffled morning gut –
Call this frog a nutmegger Mr. Poet-i-cut…
The feedback given, such etiquette,
bringing a word-hermit from his illegitimate edit-rut.
(The kindness offered has been compassionate, affectionate,
needed by an ultimate language slut, harlot nut)
30 days of #verselove is the ultimate –
Joy, the only description, a caveat so accurate –
an immediate for the rabbit and, of course, its opposite…
pulled from a magician’s hat as an insubordinate
that ends a month so quick, quite unfortunate.
An impact left, not indefinite —it’s infinite…
As we poets skyrocket, the penultimate…
considerate, kind, always passionate.
Now, what?
chicken butt…
a final poem before
next April.
Hahaha, thanks for the laughs Bryan!!! “Now, what? Chicken butt”- I’ll definitely have that stuck in my head for some days. 😁
Bryan, I love the quirky chicken butt poem this morning. One of my favorite things to do on the farm is watch the chickens run – strutting around, fluffing their tail feathers, pecking the ground in their very chicken ways. They’re most entertaining, these chickens and their chicken butts. Such a great way to close the curtain on this year’s Verse Love ~ plucking a feather that will float on a breeze until we meet again. I see a wiggle, a waggle, a wave and I hear a chuckle ~ a cackle. Chicken cheers to you!
I found myself pronouncing every line with the same sound, no matter the spelling! Chicken butt!!!
Bryan,
This poem has me grinning from ear to ear, from the moment I read “chicken butt” until the final line. Some favorite words: “faucet-smut”, “waffled morning gut,” “Mr. Poet-i-cut,” “word-hermit,” “edit-rut.” Love it all. I realize my comments sometimes cross the etiquette threshold, but when the aged bard channels his inner middle school inner child, I’m filled w/ joy. Thanks for being here, for entertaining, for mentoring. Keep the fun poems coming!
Bryan, this is a master class on end “rhyme.” And as always, you bring the humor, self-deprecating and otherwise. You are the most chicken butt-est of all (unless of course you prefer harlot nut)! And I’m doing a little head scratching myself as I consider what now for May. Always a hoot to read you.
Bryan,
So great to be with you this month. I so enjoyed reading your poems and learning more about you. This one has a fun rhythm filled with words that are, indeed, a joy to shout!
This line is so great: “bringing a word-hermit from his illegitimate edit-rut”. Love to see your words making their way into this digital/real world of educators.
Peace,
Sarah
Bryan, your lively wordplay never ceases to make me smile – and your words are so true about the kindness and compassion offered in response each day, thirty-one “joys” in a row. Thank you for being a bright and real part of it.
-not sure why I said thirty-one; wishful thinking? But really, as you said… the joy-impact is infinite.
Haha!
“(The kindness offered has been compassionate, affectionate,
needed by an ultimate language slut, harlot nut)”
Loved this romp, Bryan, thanks for it this afternoon. 🙂
Bryan,
I love your wise, quirky view of life! While your poem is great and cracks me up, it’s this line from your intro that hits me in the feels:
Bryan, this, as usual, is so good! All day I’ve been returning to this poem and saying parts out loud. The sounds of your third stanza are just so rhythmic! Thank for the music you’ve generously provided for us all month long!
Hahaha! Love a poem with ‘chicken butt’ so much! Needed that chuckle. Also, this line,
“bringing a word-hermit from his illegitimate edit-rut.” That is absolutely fantastic. This has been an amazing month of writing alongside one another – and yes, JOY is the best description!
Oh, my, Bryan, this final poem of #Verselove is so fun to read! So many delightful images and words to have dance on our tongues…Well played!
Sarah, thank you for providing this space each month for writers who crave togetherness each month as we come together to celebrate our words and thoughts ~to share the joy of writing. You help meet a deep need in each of us. I adore the prompt today, and I ran for my journal from 2019 when I saw the topic. I thought back to the first year I participated in VerseLove and looked for that first prompt that changed the trajectory of my life from grief over my mother’s death to connection with others whose pain shone through their heart holes, too, who showed me how to use the sunspots to write and heal. To every writer here in this space, thank you for all of the inspiration you bring. This morning, my grandson writes along with me as I revise my first-ever VerseLove poem, Blackberry Winter. I’ll share his writing in a photo.
Blackberry Winter, Revisited
It’s a Blackberry Winter I wrote in 2019
beginning a poem about all the good things
later this morning, my first grandson
will make elderberry jam toast
plus cheese omelettes
on the Lodge cast iron griddle
wearing my apron
(he doesn’t know about the apron yet)
but first: raindrops on rooftop, fresh coffee,
wi-fi (stronger than coffee, finally), computer charged,
comfy chair, whisper-soft pajamas,
thoughts ready to materialize
three schnoodles tussling on grandson’s
sleepover mattress as we write together
in the living room
words forming on pages: his pen, my keyboard
to the first #VerseLove prompt of 2019 from Sarah:
….the good things in our lives….
there are those who bring
more warmth than raindrops and coffee,
more comfort than chairs and pajamas,
more joy than words ~
ancestors whose cast iron presence
and apron strings linger in kitchens
hugging us tight about the middle
and those we ancestor ~ grandchildren
who write right next to us
about all the good things in our lives
on this elderberry toast and cheese omelette morning.
– Kim Haynes Johnson, April 2, 2019 and 4/30/2023
Kim, everything I love about your writing is right here, today, in this poem – the thoughtfulness and kindness, the imagery (raindrops on rooftops), the sensory details (whisper-soft pajamas), and the complexity that you simplify as you share snippets of your life. I absolutely love the line, “and those we ancestor- grandchildren” and that use of ancestor as a verb. It’s been a joy to be writing alongside you this month. Now, I need to find myself some elderberry toast and cheese omelettes as you’ve invited us to do.
Your grandson’s writing: “And best of all I am loved.” Oh, my heart! I didn’t think it would get better than “the baby brother, the 4 year old baby sister, and the 7 year old baby sister” but it did. Let him know what a great big brother he is and what a tremendous writer he is!
Kim,
Ive thought about the five years I’ve participated in this writing challenge and all that has changed and all that remains the same. I needed this reminder:
“there are those who bring
more warmth than raindrops and coffee,
more comfort than chairs and pajamas,
more joy than words ~”
You are one of those people who bring the warmth; you are one who keeps me returning despite moments of sadness and frustration. Soon I’ll get to write alongside my grandson and will remember Sarah’s prompt and your reminder of the good things. ‘Preciate you. ❤️ you.
I can smell that elderberry toast! I love you grandson’s writing and his last line – best of all I am loved. I hope you both enjoy every minute of this day and beyond. Thank you!
Take me there to all that comfort!!! Thank you for sharing all of this, especially your first ever poem written for VerseLove!! Kim, thank you also for all the detailed comments you give to everyone. This year especially I have been wowed with how meaningful your responses are. You are a lovely soul ❤️
“And those we ancestor ~ grandchildren
who write right next to us”
I cannot wait to write next to my 14 month old granddaughter— what a wonderful morning. What a wonderful telling…
Kim, I am so grateful to know you, to rea your poems. This revisited poem is absolutely beautiful with images and your careful personal touch throughout. I love the same lines Glenda already mentioned about those who bring us warmth and joy. Seeing your grandson writing next to you is precious. His final “I am loved” is priceless. Thank you for sharing! Thank you for being kind, generous, and gifting us with your wisdom!
Kim,
When I read the words here, I remembered your poem right away.
This stanza:
ancestors whose cast iron presence
and apron strings linger in kitchens
hugging us tight about the middle
And then “those we ancestor,” which made me think about Jennifer’s ungrammatical prompt. I think this second way of thinking about it is so nurturing and conscious of the impact we have on the next generation. I am rereading the “iron presences” the the “strings linger” and the “tight about the middle” in two tones depending on which ancestor image I conjure.
Fantastic that your grandson is already conscious of how he will ancestor!
Hugs,
Sarah
So many lines to love here, Kim. I cling to this like it’s a diamond I mined myself:
there are those who bring
more warmth than raindrops and coffee,
more comfort than chairs and pajamas,
more joy than words ~
ancestors whose cast iron presence
and apron strings linger in kitchens
hugging us tight about the middle
and those we ancestor ~ grandchildren
who write right next to us
about all the good things in our lives…
-I read it both as fellow writer-poets and ancestors who bring more warmth, comfort, joy. That imagery of the apron so takes me back to my grandmother in the kitchen; I love it as a metaphor for legacy (your grandson, unaware, about to out it on: perfect!). And oh, how right he is about people everywhere complaining and whining when they need to be happy about what is good in life… most of all I celebrate this generational wordlove! I seek to live it and give it, myself. Thank you for being such a good thing in my life!
Kim,
I read your grandson’s poem first…and cried happy tears, lol…
He has the makings of a future VerseLover. 🙂
I loved his strong, confident voice and even handwriting – bold, firm. Great poetry and great advice for all of us!
What a blessing to have your grandson writing with you, Kim, and I loved your poem revision!
Kim, what a joy to experience such a lovely morning with elderberry toast and cheese omelettes and especially writing with your grandson. This is such a celebration of familial love, and I adore how you emphasize this line….the good things in our lives...” Thank you for sharing this window into what a beautiful morning you had.
Oh, Kim. Just lovely. And bringing your grandson into this process just warms my heart so much.
Kim, I love everything about this, but perhaps what I REALLY love the most is the gift that you are passing on to your grandson of writing and celebrating life and I imagine that is a gift for everyone as he moves forward and spreads that joy and empathy that you pass on to him as you write about elderberry toast and cheese omelette mornings.
It is so precious to see your grandson’s writing, this photo is so dear. Kim, I just love that you end this month writing a poem alongside your grandson – and that it is about “the good things in our lives.” VerseLove with you and this whole wonderful community is most definitely one of my life’s very good things! I will miss you in May…
Kim, like Jennifer said, this poem is so KIM! I love everything about it, and your grandson’s beautiful poem of gratitude, and now he’s older and sleeping over for more wonderful memory-making. These lines have me soaring this evening. I love the idea of our ancestors and “those we ancestor” Beautiful!
Kim – This is just sweet… downright delicious. Good grandma. I’ve surely loved having you here every morning this month. Thank you. Susie
Friends–I missed writing some days this month, to my regret. Sometimes writer’s block is a tall building I was unable to leap over. But every day was one in which I read and loved the poems you all offered up. Thank you for your poetry.
WhereElse?
WhereElse
can a poet go to share
their thoughts and fears,
to bare their souls to strangers
who become not-strangers over time?
WhereElse
can we take the risks
we cannot take while face-to-face
without losing face?
WhereElse
can we find so many different
views of the difficult world we live in
gathered together in one beautiful room
filled with so many thoughts?
WhereElse
can we go to empty
our hearts and our minds
and–just maybe, if we are lucky–
find peace and answers to refill the
empty space in our souls?
WhereElse?
Only VerseLove…
Gayle Sands
4/30/23
Gayle, I am grateful for gathering in that beautiful room, for the emptying of souls, the sharing and baring, the risk taking, the peace and answers, and for you and all of your words and thoughts and filling and refilling. WhoElse? WhereElse? Hugs, friend!
Everything about this is so good, Gayle! Especially:
“WhereElse
can we take the risks
we cannot take while face-to-face
without losing face?”
I have shared things here that I would never, for many different reasons, and for that I am grateful. Thank you!
Gayle, every single stanza here is my favorite. Sometimes our buildings are taller than we are, and I love that you acknowledge that and give the nod to self-care, the cheering of writing when it meets our needs and finds us where we are. That’s a gold nugget to celebrate!
Gayle,
Your words are gorgeous and honest. I apologize for missing many of your poems this month. I’ve always appreciated your words and your camaraderie. I love the repetition of “Where else.” I long to feel what you do, but I am not a very trusting person so often keep private thoughts private. That is, I don’t disclose much. Again, I love your poem and appreciate you.
Gayle – I love this “where else” questioning and I especially treasure the line about finding peace and answers to refill the empty space in our souls. This is such a place of growth and you have been a vital part of it – despite writer’s block! Thank you for every offering, in poem and in comments.
Gayle,
Thank you for this tribute to the writers here. When I first began this in my own classroom of junior high students in 2017? I was so worried about the baring souls to strangers and the potential harm that one mean comment or misunderstood phrase might have on a writer, especially when we have new writers who have not experienced “without losing face.” Your words here are a comfort for me to persist and give me hope of what is possible “find peace and answers to refill the/empty space in our souls”. I know this has been the case for me. Thank you for nurturing the possiblity!
Sarah
Gayle, your poem shares so much truth about this place. I agree this is a place that we can go to find peace and answers to refill the empty spaces in our souls. Powerful poem!
Gayle,
What a wonderful tribute to this space. I think you captured in words what we all feel. I loved this stanza especially:
Gayle, this is so beautiful. WhereElse? I love how you merged those two words, paralleling VerseLove. Oh, tomorrow is going to be sad, I am already feeling a bit of grief. It has been wonderful to write alongside you! It is as if, we have been “gathered together in one beautiful room.”
Gayle, thank you for your poetry, for your humor and wit, and for being a “not-stranger” in this “beautiful room” of “VerseLove”! 🙂
Gayle, I’m so glad you were here for today and wrote this beautiful gem that speaks for me too. The idea of this space as a room is captivating me right now:
WhereElse, indeed! “Only Verselove…” I like the implications of that ellipsis too.
Gayle -I too had a few gaps in the month of poems, but each day I was here had me happy to find your poems. Always honest and always resonated with me. Thank you. Hugs, Susie
Sarah, What a gift this month was for me. I didn’t write to every prompt and my commenting was limited to early morning (which is the only time I have to write). I felt bad that my prompt happened on a day with life was especially full. I was presenting at the Fay B Kaigler Book Festival in Hattiesburg, Mississippi. (Highly recommend, by the way) So I went back to my day Free Writing and collected lines for a found poem. Thanks everyone!
Writing is Freeing
Creativity offers you its energy. (Chia Parton)
I think too much. (Saba T.)
How can I possibly share myself with the world? (Donnetta Norris)
Feeling the words (Stefani B)
today was spectacular (Charlene Doland)
when
looking for your glasses(Jamie Langley)
would have been enough. (Laura Langley)
Today is the day to celebrate (Leilya)
a boxer in a ring I created. (Ashley)
I have coordinated the Kidlit Progressive Poem this month. Check the whole poem out here. https://moreart4all.wordpress.com/2023/04/30/2023-progressive-poem-finale/
Margaret, being able to think about these lines in a new way and discover some lines I missed is delightful. Thank you for gathering them into a new poem for us. “Feeling the words” and “today was spectacular” especially capture our month together, especially when it feels as if somedays “looking for your glasses/would have been enough.” So good to read your words today and all days!
Great idea, Margaret! I’m navigating through all the sites you’ve shared. I’ve learned so much from you. This morning, you pointed me to Michelle Kogan’s beautiful art and poetry. Michelle Kogan Illustration, Painting, & Writing | Artist, Illustrator, & Writer of Nature, Critters, Children’s Illustration, & the Human Condition Many thanks!
Margaret, I love how you used the lines through the month and also you twisted the notion of boxing at the end almost to the imagery of victory punches of sheer celebration over all that is good in the ring of life. It’s fabulous! And you had a lot going on that day that you were hosting. You made the right choice in priorities and distributed the reins of carrying us that day to those who are always so eager to come alongside and help. You allowed us to see the beauty of collaboration.
These found lines work so well together!! Excellent poem, and thank you for sharing the progressive poem – that’s so cool!!
Margaret,
I know those whose lines you reference in your poem are filled w/ gratitude. Your poem is a mirror by which you honor them. Your intro line, “my commenting was limited to early morning (which is the only time I have to write).” echoes a comment you made to me a few years ago in the TWT community. I don’t think it was during the March challenge; it was on a Tuesday. You told me you didn’t have time to reciprocate commenting. That has stuck with me through the years. It has impacted my approach to commenting, which I see as a way to listen, which, in turn, is necessary to communication.
Writing IS freeing, Margaret – this is a marvelous collection of lines, expertly arranged. Love the circular connection, with the end ‘celebrating a boxer in a ring I created’ tying back to the beginning, creativity offering its energy. I am always amazed by all that you accomplish, in so many ways, as a writer-poet. Your influence is great; I am but one deeply grateful beneficiary!
Margaret, I loved learning about this blog–thanks so much for introducing us to it!
And I loved this found poem; there were absolutely days that I created because of VerseLove, days when “looking for [my] glasses/would have been tough.” Thanks for inspiring us!
Thank you, Margaret, for the found poem and what I am also coming to understand as cento or a patchwork poem. Looks like you enjoyed revisiting the day’s writing after your fantastic bookfest experience. I love revisiting the lines with you. The “looking for your glasses/would have been enough” from Jamie and Laura is such a lovely symbiosis of mother and daughter’s words!
Peace,
Sarah
Oh this is terrific! Love how you borrowed lines from others for a found poem, just beautiful. This is our community, a nice summation of the joy that VerseLove brings.
Margaret, that was a good idea for a poem. It was always a delight to have you here when you could be here.
I like these lines today:
I love when we write on those days when looking for one thing would be enough, but we carry on and that is something to celebrate.
Writer-Poet-Teacher friends, what a wonder this month has been. Opening each day with the inspiration to create is truly a blessing as are the interactions and responses everyone so thoughtfully gives. Thank you for sharing this space and your words with all of us. And Sarah, you are a muse.
Growing Poets
You offered a seed to us each day,
a tiny speck of possibility
lying there upon the page,
your own poem (and that of others)
already in full bloom
I pushed the seed into the page,
nestling it deep
within the rich earth
of thoughts and ideas
I watered the words
and waited
I watched them grow,
sprinkled with responses,
each drop nourishing
I read the poems you planted
each day,
the words awakening, opening,
each one
a blossom to be picked
I felt such encouragement and uplifting from comments. I love this line “sprinkled with responses,
each drop nourishing “
With all the nourishing, I don’t want it to end. Sigh!
Love the seeds you’ve planted,
Will miss the daily inspiration.
Oh I love this – poems you planted, words awakening – a blossom to be picked. Luscious! Thank you!
Jennifer, I love the way you describe Sarah as a muse. She sure is! The metaphor of poems, writing, words blooming and being nourished as tender flora is precious here, the way we care as gardeners, celebrating the many colors and varieties of all that we grow.
Jennifer,
Love the ambiguity in the title. In this space others help poets grow, and we grow our poetry roots through sustained practice. And I love a garden metaphor. Gorgeous image:
“I pushed the seed into the page.”
I needed those seeds, the daily inspiration and am grateful to all who offered them.
Just a lovely poem to end VerseLove 2023! Such nourishment and growth here – thank you for all your poems and comments this year, Jennifer! I appreciate you. Read you soon!
“I pushed the seed into the page”…a beautiful line for a beautiful act of faith.
A perfect analogy for the VerseLove garden, Jennifer (I believe it was Scott who said we are all toads in this garden…in the best poetic way, of course). I am always amazed at the way seeds take root and grow so fantastically in your mind…your poems are dazzling and riotous bouquets, in themselves. I’ve so enjoyed them – thank you for every word!
Jennifer,
What a beautiful and perfect metaphor for this month! Yes, indeed, did we grow together!
Jennifer,
Thank you for all your poems this month and thoughtful responses each morning. It is so nice to see the morning crew in action as I always wake up in a panic wondering if the poem posted on time.
That you are centering your reading here is precious “poems you planted” and “a blossom to be picked.” Perfect.
Sarah
Jennifer, your “growing” metaphor is gorgeous. I love the “watered words” and “a seed to us each day”. Yes, this is a place to feel awakened and blossoming! Gorgeous poem!
This is glorious,
I love me some nature metaphors, lol – VerseLove has been so very, very special.
Oh, Jennifer, what a beautiful metaphor for what happens here each day. The motivation of the full blooms and then we get to plant our own and see the magic of so many others doing the same is definitely one of my favorite things about being here.
Jennifer – I enjoyed the seeding of poems here. You have been a very gifted writer in this space. I loved counting on your poems each time I scrambled to the webpage. Your images never failed to give me pause… I loved them and was always struck by the ease with which those images settled into your poems…seamless and just right. Hugs and love, Susie
Verselove ~ A Powerful virtual space
Verselove ~ The intimacy of a warm and cozy place
Verselove ~ Each morning I sat, I wrote
Verselove ~Hoping to start on a positive note
Verselove ~I felt invited
Verselove ~ My love requited
Verselove ~ This poem ends
Verselove ~ With the making of new friends
Yes, Jennifer! Somehow this vast virtual space transforms into the warm and cozy. I’m so glad you feel invited to write here (I do too). It is good to be among friends, especially ones who are poets. Thank you, friend!
Oh – a rhyming thank you! made me smile. Thank YOU!
You captured the magic of this space.
Jennifer, what a great way to close the month of VerseLove with a welcome mat for the future – yes, the month ends, but we return again and again, and new friends become old friends. Sweet!
Jennifer,
Love these rhyming couplets, this explication of community. Thank you for being here and for your generous and kind words on my poems. 🤗
“This poem ends / with the making of new friends” – YES! You virtual friends, maybe in another way someday, are so important. Thanks Jennifer!
Jennifer, love the repetition and the rhyme (“invited” with “requited” was inspired!). I agree with every word!
Jennifer,
The anaphora in this poem is lovely with the tilde (?) to show the movement from one day to the next. Thank you for sharing the moments of writing and how the virtual space was able to nurture “warm and cozy” across the digital and device. It was a joy to be with you this month!
Peace,
Sarah
You nailed it, Jennifer! Somehow this virtual space becomes “the intimacy of a warm and cozy space.” It’s magic!
Beautiful rhymes! I especially love ‘I felt invited/My love requited’ It has been wonderful to write alongside you and everyone this month!
Jennifer, what a lovely verse and rhyming too. “I felt invited” has to be my favorite. Gorgeous!
It’s been a minute since I wrote a ghazal, and one spoke to my heart on this rainy morning. Thanks to everyone for sustaining our VerseLove this month; I’ll miss this so. <3
Vibing
A thread connects our hearts in this room
Friendship buds and starts in this room.
Stealing time from our lives, from our kids, husbands, wives,
partners and parents – we practice our arts in this room.
Explorers intrepid, viewpoints accepted
Lifemaps navigated, star charts in this room.
All-way stops, yields, detours – understanding ensured
Reassured, we restart with this room.
Lingering words, spirits stirred
Hearts touched and heard, we depart from this room.
This is wonderful. I love the repetition in this room – with this room – from this room. This room for us is so important. Thank you for your poems and your responses, Wendy.
Wendy, you’ve shown us that you can take a virtual space and make it into a room, one that fosters and stirs. Like Joanne noted, I loved your many uses of “in/with/from this room.” It feels as if we are adding the touches that make it a home (the refluffing of pillows, the layering of blankets and books and knick-knacks) as we find our place with one another.
I love a good ghazal. (They are so hard to write!) “Hearts touched and heard” is such truth. Thanks for this poem.
Wendy, I love the nod to viewpoints accepted in this room. The lingering words and spirits stirred keeps us drawn to each other, to the craft of writing and being inspired by others ~ thinking of things from different perspectives. Even considering forms we use to write poems, like the perfect fit of your ghazal today. Love this!
Wendy,
Brilliant poem. Love the repetition of “this room,” and thinking about time stolen from spouses, et al. reminds me of the neglected chores and all the times I told my husband to wait while I finish writing or commenting on a poem. Some of the poets here have become very good friends beyond this room, so I love most these words:
“A thread connects our hearts in this room
Friendship buds and starts in this room.”
This feels like a benediction. A beautiful benediction to carry home with me…
Ah, Wendy – we did steal this time from family, etc. to “practice our arts in this room.” Our hearts ARE connected with golden threads, with “lingering words, spirits stirred.” This is a beautifully-crafted ghazal. I’ve so loved reading your poems this month – Screamin’ Chainsaw Chick remains one of my favorites. Seriously! Thank you for all your words <3
Haha! Thank YOU, Fran for your beautiful poems! Can’t wait to write together again soon! <3
Wendy,
What a great second stanza as it is very true on this end as I tried to steal time in the margins of the day sometimes resorting to reading and responding in the bathroom so that it didn’t look like I was on my phone “again”!
And this stanza is a perfect metaphor for why we did, do it:
Explorers intrepid, viewpoints accepted
Lifemaps navigated, star charts in this room.
We are star charting with our poems, aren’t we. Incredible things are happening that our love ones, by now, know makes us happy, but may not understand this very important journey we are mapping!
Peace,
Sarah
Wendy,
This is so beautiful. We certain “steal time from our lives” but my people know that it’s life-giving time. Even my students will ask, “What kind of poem did you write today?” because they know of the value of “this room.”
For as much as I cuss virtual spaces, I sure thank God for this one.
Just beautiful – “Lingering words, spirits stirred ” It has been such an amazing month of writing together!
Wendy, this is great! “Lingering words, spirits stirred / [h]earts touched and heard.” Thank you for your poems this month (and for reading and commenting on mine, too!)
A ghazal is a challenge that I’ve tried a couple of times, but you make it look easy. My favorite stanza, Wendy, is the second one. I love how you mention first “our lives” and then so many others that we’re stealing time from. I also love: “we practice our arts in this room”
The idea of this space as a room reminds me of the Bible verse in Genesis 26:22:
“Isaac moved from there and dug another well. No one came to argue about this well. So Isaac named it Rehoboth. He said, ‘Now the Lord has found a place for us. We will grow and be successful in this place.'”
Rehoboth means a wide place where there is room. When there is enough welcome and hospitality, there is room for all. Your poem and this place illustrate that idea of ROOM for me.
Dear Sarah and VerseLove Poets,
On month went by so fast! I want to thank Sarah Donovan for this forum. It is so necessary to pause, make poetry out of one’s life, and share it. And I also want to thank all the VerseLove poets. I enjoyed reading and responding to your work, and I thank you for reading and responding to mine. Sometimes, I feel as if I am all alone in this world, and then when I connect with a community of poets, I am reminded that I most certainly am not alone. Thank you for your honesty and imagination. My poem today is in gratitude to all of you!
Gratitude
For the poets
When the rain sets in –
Water collects in murky puddles
As hopeful petals float
Pink on the surface.
And just below the surface,
Something is bubbling
Something is slowly building
Pressure of a hundred sacrifices,
Regrets, sorrows, torments,
And unspeakable pain.
As it rises silently,
Escaping the solemn darkness,
It transforms itself suddenly
Without any warning
Into unfathomable joy –
Effervescent gratitude
For freely bearing witness
To both tragedies and triumps
And all Earth’s wonderment.
For the poets
When the rain sets in.
Joanne, I loved this! Loved the framing of the poem with the phrase “For the poets/When the rain sets in” and you create such a beautiful scene, image here. This line rang:
“Pressure of a hundred sacrifices,”
,,,and felt so true. Lovely language and sentiments — thanks for being here, I appreciate you!
Joanne, I love when a poem is bookended, the words stacked and shelved between, waiting to be selected, read, and returned for someone else to read. Your poem celebrates what we do here, in both the tragedies and triumphs. Wonderment, indeed.
Yes! Yes! When the rain sets in, there is always poetry. And Verselove offers us the space to be ourselves and bear our hearts.
Joanne, the line that stays with me is effervescent gratitude. The continuous bubbling up of thanks and gratefulness. Yes, that captures the expression perfectly of the feeling I have when I read these poems and swim in the joy!
Joanne,
Gorgeous poem. I love the framing lines, the sorrow and joy that you’ve captured so eloquently w/ your words, the bubbling, and contrasting imagery. You have accomplished something unfathomable to me: 61 days of poetry writing. Amazing. Love these final lines most:
“Effervescent gratitude
For freely bearing witness
To both tragedies and triumps
And all Earth’s wonderment.
For the poets
When the rain sets in.”
Thank you for your words and for being here.
Thanks, Glenda! I realized that last night! I amazed myself too! Last year, I wrote a poem a day in April and never thought I could do it. This year, I wrote every day in March and April. I think I just have a incredible hunger to connect with poem-people.
Today I’m staying in my pajamas, reading, sipping tea, and having a poet’s rest. I am so sorry about the fire, and I’m heartened that you all are healing and rebuilding.
Keep us posted.
Joanne,
What a glorious poem of “effervescent gratitude” There is so much to love about this. First I loved “As hopeful petals float” and then you see the importance of all that under the surface work “a hundred sacrifices, / regrets, sorrows, torments / and unspeakable pain” that rises and transforms. Oh, so beautiful. Thank you! And, like Glenda said, congratulations on a new poem every day in March and April! Enjoy your well-earned poet’s rest and/or your May poems.
Thank you. Denise!
Such a celebratory poem, Joanne – gratitude for poetry bubbling beneath the surface through all the tragedies and triumphs and especially all Earth’s wonderment. It is victorious, this poem between those gilded bookend-couplets! The lens of gratitude transforms everything…please know how grateful I am for you and your wordcraft.
And I, you – Fran. And I, you.
Joanne,
These line are so beautiful:
When the rain sets in –
Water collects in murky puddles
As hopeful petals float
I couldn’t ask for a better wish in the life of a poet — or anyone — that petals surface, and with that the pain rises “Escaping the solemn darkness”!
Sarah
“It transforms itself suddenly
Without any warning
Into unfathomable joy –”
Writing together this month has led me to such a wealth of joy. Poetry is so cathartic, especially in this community.
Morning Poets! I set my alarm and still couldn’t beat some early morning scribes here! Lol. I just wanted to thank everyone for reading and writing some poems and comments yesterday. I’ll provide comments for those I “missed” yesterday, so if you didn’t receive one from me yet (or even if you post something there today — because, you know, life and whatnot “got in the way” of you posting yesterday, no worries! — just check back later today…right now, though, I’m crawling back into bed…! lol.
Dear Sarah: There are hardly words to thank you for the beautiful, transformative experience of VerseLove. From the creative energy to the healing power of community, it is a never-ending gift. Thank you for this space. Thank you for you love of poetry and spreading it far and wide like a blanket on the grass, where we might come partake together. In turn we shake out the blanket in the breeze and let it settle over us like a welcome comfort; we huddle under it together, sheltered. That is VerseLove – but not my poem for today! I borrowed lines from your intro today to write a pantoum.
Thank you for everything.
Bearing Witness
(for my VerseLove poem-writing community
with love and gratitude, April 2023)
We showed up
bearing witness to one another’s lives.
You touched my scars
in a beautiful experience
bearing witness to one another’s lives.
We are transformed
in a beautiful experience
pulled from abyss to burned-house sky.
We are transformed,
borrowing (life) lines
pulled from abyss to burned-house sky:
I saw your stars.
Borrowing (life) lines,
you touched my scars.
I saw your stars.
We showed up.
Lovely, and important: “We showed up”
Kevin
Oh, I don’t know how we did it, but we wrote similar poems this morning. I wrote mine yesterday. in fact, as I looked out at the rain thinking about all the wonderful poems I’ve read this poem. We are on the same wavelength, and I am so grateful to have found YOU!
Fran, this was so beautiful! Full of golden imagery. Loved writing with you once again this month — thanks for being here, for “showing up”! <3
Fran, you sure did show up, in beautiful ways, wondrous words, every day. Somehow, you do that so naturally. Thank you for sharing of yourself, in your poems and responses to others. I love this line today: “pulled from abyss to burned-house sky.” All of the bearing witness as writers created stars sits within those words. Just lovely.
“I saw your stars!” I love how you crafted this like a potter at their wheel, turning it round and round and then enjoying the beauty of creation.
I love this line, Fran
In Applegate’s Home of the Brave, there’s a poem called scars that pairs well with Emmanuel Jal’s song of the same name. I have found writing about scars is a fantastic way to get stories and words to page (100% successful with adolescent writers). Yes, our scars have been touched this month in a good way. Thank you.
Fran, so much to love here, and a pantoum is such a fitting form to choose for this day. The transformation through writing, through showing up, seeing stars and scars in others and knowing that they are a mirror of our own lives ~ that is the power of a writing community to inspire, to save, to transform, to empower, to breathe life, to illuminate, to carry on. You, we – do all of those things and so much more in this space we share.
Fran,
Beautiful poem. I’ve grown to love the pantoum and yours is a superb example of the form and tribute to this month of writing. I especially love these lines:
“bearing witness to one another’s lives.
We are transformed”
Writing does transform us. I thought about poems as nestlings this morning and had images of your bird wreathe in my head. Thank you for being here. 🤗
“I saw your stars/we showed up”. That says it all.
Fran, what a beauty. This is a tribute to #Verselove and Sarah and that warm comfort of the poetry spread out on the grass far and wide (which really was another poem). “I saw your stars” “borrowing life lines” and “We showed up” are my favorites.
Fran,
Thank you for your pantoum. The repetition in this form is perfect for this 30 days of revisiting the space and one another in poems. “Borrowing (life) lines” is brilliant and beautiful, and the scars are given such power here to do good, to heal, to hold but no longer harm in the seeing: “I saw your scars.”
Peace,
Sarah
As always Fran, so beautiful and so apt. “We showed up” is such a direct way of honoring the fact that we prioritize this space. And boy do we ever “touch[ed] one another’s scars.”
Absolutely beautiful pantoum! I agree – we are transformed by this beautiful month of writing alongside one another. This is glorious –
Sarah and All, I am very grateful for this space to find ideas and to write. This year has been extra full for me and a tad bit extra difficult at school. Instead of committing to drafting a poem each day, posting, and commenting I allowed myself space to read the prompt and then go right to my journal. It’s been wonderful. I do have some new poems and new writing to work with. I have new ideas to share with students. I will be signing up for a time to share a prompt in the future. Thank you for giving me space to grow and encouragement along the way.
Linda – Thank you for your wonderful poems. I used your poem “Spring Cleaning” with your line – “in his loopy messy hand”. as inspiration for a poem I wrote on 4/26. I am grateful to have gotten to know you through poetry.
<3 <3 Have a wonderful rest of your year, Linda! 🙂
Linda, I hope your extra full year weighs a little less as we near the end. Thank you for being here each day and for sharing your words with us. Hugs.
Linda, my heart is full knowing that VerseLove meets us where we are and brings us what we need. I’ve enjoyed writing with you this month, reading your poems, and getting to know another writing buddy in a deeper way. Cheers to you!
Linda,
Ive thought about taking the same path in the coming months. I hope the end of the year goes well and that you find time to rest and nurture your soul.
Linda, I also look forward to the day when you’ll be able to devote the whole month to poetry. You are a balancer of many important tasks, and we love when you are able to share your poems here and/or on your blog.
Thank you, all, for the creative and inviting prompt and the way each day gets framed as an entry point.
Kevin
On this morning,
I pay attention
to the rain –
the way
these words
fall to Earth
and return
once again.
In a moment
of pause
and repose,
we remember
the way, when
poems connect
us even as time
comes to a close
Kevin, thank you for your daily poems. Every morning, when I open my eyes and check #Verselove, your poems is already here. I love all the words in today’s poem, but the ending is especially relevant and touching:
“poems connect
us even as time
comes to a close”
Stay well, Leilya!
Thanks so much, Leilya, and you, as well.
Kevin
Oh my gosh, Kevin – my poem and your poem connect in such a wonderful way this morning. Thank you for all your poems – I’ve enjoyed reading them.
Poems, connecting — always a nice resonant thing!
Kevin
Aw, waterworks from me on a rainy day. Pathetic fallacy? Nope: last day of VerseLove. Thanks for this beautiful final poem, Kevin! 🙂
Thank you, Wendy.
Beautiful as always, Kevin. Poems do connect us; the lines linger long after the rain…which helps the new seeds grow. Thank you for this.
Indeed!
🙂
Kevin
Kevin, it is raining here as well (both from the sky and from the end of our writing month). You capture the hopefulness and life we’ve found here together. It’s a gift to find your words each morning. I love “the way these words fall to Earth.” Thank you for writing and sharing with us!
Rain was coming down hard when I started those lines this morning …
Kevin
Poems connect us…I wish we could sustain this longer, but I am sighing relief. There are other poems waiting to be written. Thanks, Kevin, for showing up in your own refreshing way every day.
Margaret, I know poems are part of your writing life and teaching life and more. Thanks for taking to connect again.
Kevin
Kevin, it’s raining here, too. As I listened to the pelting drops on the roof this morning, I wrote with my grandson and never thought of the words as drops, as a rain cycle, as you have so creatively shown here – – words written, words returned to the cloud, words rewritten, words yet to be written. Your lines
and return
once again
remind me of the cycle of rain, of writing, of generations. My own poem today is a recycling of words from the first VerseLove I ever wrote. Thank you for all you bring to help us see miracles of words from other perspectives like the water cycle. You rock like that, you know.
Kevin,
Gorgeous metaphor:
“I pay attention
to the rain –
the way
these words
fall to Earth”
At their best words nourish us, but I also think about the inversion, the way the absence of words can feel like thirst in a dry desert. I always enjoy both the musicality of and ethereal language of your poems.
“the way
these words
fall to Earth”
What a wonderful gathering of thoughts.
Kevin,
Your poetry is as melodious and healing as this entire community together here. These lines soothe me from the inside:
I imagine the Earth’s open arms as we wrote this month. Such a gorgeous visual!
We are still connected, regardless of the day/month/prompt. YES! Bravo!
What a lovely metaphor for this place “these words fall to Earth” and return as poems. “I pay attention to the rain” is a wonderful thing to be reminded to do. Thank you, Kevin, for sharing your lyrical verses with us sooooo very early every morning this month.
Kevin,
The rain as “words/fall to Earth” is a perfect image for poetry here. Thank you for the space to reflect and remember “poems connect”! See you in June!
Sarah
I’m also so impressed how, when I open up VerseLove, in the wee hours of the morning, you have already hammered out a poem. Has there ever been a day when your wasn’t the first posted? And it’s always so wonderful. I have to mull on it for half the morning and then I say so much more then is needed and yours is succinct and gorgeous!
Beautiful! We are all still connected, yes, even as our month of writing together draws to a close. Thank you!
Kevin – I came to count on your early poems all month… because you brought music with your poems, they always felt like double headers. Bonus! Your turn of phrase and music allusions/rhythmics came to be what started my days just right. Thank you! Susie