Verselove 2022 Begins

Verse Embarks Rhythm, Sings Existentially, Liberates Outwardly, & Voices Endlessly (#V.E.R.S.E.L.O.V.E) with Bryan Ripley Crandall

Welcome to Day 1 of Verselove. We are so happy you are here, however you choose to be present. If you know what to do, carry on; if you are not sure, begin by reading the inspiration and mentor poem, then scroll to the comment section to post your poem. Please respond to at least three other poets in celebration of words, phrases, ideas, and craft that speak to you. All educators – authors, librarians, teachers, teacher educators, coaches, consultants, preservice, retired–are welcome. It’s free. No commitment is needed. Please invite a teacher-friend to join you one or more days because poetry heals. Click here for more information on the Verselove. Click here for the PD tracker if you’d like PD credits.

Bryan Ripley Crandall lives in Stratford, Connecticut, where he directs the Connecticut Writing Project and is an Associate Professor of English Education at Fairfield University. There, he brings his love of verse to award-winning Young Adult Literacy Labs and teacher institutes. He gained his teaching legs at the J. Graham Brown School in Louisville, Kentucky, a K-12 public school with a mission for diversity, inclusivity, and equity, and is co-host of the National Writing Project’s The Write Time.

Inspiration

I had a teacher who once said, “No. Yuck. Absolutely Not. Acrostic poems are awful. There’s no point to them.” I, of course, went gremlin, scampy, and rogue. More importantly, I had fun at her expense and wrote about her using her name (always a fool, even beyond the 1st of April). Døde fisk flyder i strømmen – dead fish float with the stream (I stole this from the back of  a kid’s leather jacket while teaching in Denmark). 

Being an imp can be good. We need playfulness and rebellion in our lives. I say  fool around with language, use thesaurus.com and Google search “Verbs beginning with…” as you write.  Find rhythm, rhyme, imagery, and flow, and resist the “nopes,” “never,” & negativity of others. Open a new page. Rebel.

Process

For years, I’ve gifted students with acrostic poems as a way to “capture” who we were as a class  (as I do with teachers, now, e.g, Flooded with Imagination, 2021 – an Acrostic Salute to Teacher Leaders). 

Akros – the end. Stichos – a line. Greek and Latin poets (& playwrights) inked alphabet letters onto leaves and trickled them to the ground in a game of thinking…whatever order they  fell, compositional wit was a necessity. But go beyond B-R-Y-A-N – ‘Banana Rabbit Yodeling Aardvark Nerd’. Use  a name, a phrase, or a thought, and gift your words to the world.

Directions: Sing eminently. Voice endlessly. Think of your  person, place, or phrase. Lay the letters onto the page as if fallen leaves. Game-on. Write as if you are ‘gifting’ to another, and use each letter to craft an original poem. 

Bryan’s Poem

Thank You, Sarah Donovan 

by Bryan Ripley Crandall (aka Frog)

 

T here’s music within the  process, the way one finds a song in 

h ow each letter meanders and maps into words, dripping an idea

a cross the page with desire to dance

n ear shores of the Aegean Sea, such sedated urgency, for 

k nowing (unknowingly) that March has marched on. 

 

Y ou, always with a baton in front of the  symphony, building community, an

o rchestration for April  showers (come what may) 

u nderwritten with assurance: all things sprout eventually. These

 

S tories. These narratives. Perhaps some confessions. The

a rrival of poetic possibility set above the net, perfectly, with

r hyme  &  rhythm for you to spike. Ubuntu. Human togetherness. We,  an

a nthology composed collaboratively, choosing to believe in 

h ope (most lovingly).

 

D ay one. A first. The sun rises

o bediently and you welcome a pen for tilling blank pages with

n ourishment: 30-days of writerly seeds planted &

o rdained, strategically, for growth and renewal…

v erse to restore ourselves, asynchronously,

a crostically, and purposely with

n eccessity for equity, diversity, and inclusivity. This,  a  bloom for you.

Your Turn

Perhaps it’s a friend, a phrase, a writer you love to read. Maybe it’s your own name, a pet’s, or even the street or neighborhood where you are right now. Let the chosen letters  be leaves that fall to the page. Write  your way into the first day of April and liberate yourself outwardly. Welcome new growth.

Now, scroll to the comment section below to write your own poem. (This is a public space, so you may use only your first name or initials depending on your privacy preferences.) Not ready? That’s okay. Read the poems already posted for more inspiration. Ponder your own throughout the day. Return later. And, if the prompt does not work for you, that is fine. All writing is welcome. Just write something. . Oh, and a note about drafting: Since we are writing in short bursts, we all understand (and even welcome) the typos and partial poems that remind us we are human and that writing is always becoming.

Respond to 3

Respond to 3 teachers today. Writing educator Peter Elbow said, “To improve your writing you don’t need advice about what changes to make; you don’t need theories of what is good and bad writing. You need movies of people’s minds while they read your words” (Writing Without Teachers, 1973, p. 77). Please offer a mirror to our writers by sharing what you noticed, what moved you, and what you learned. Responding to one another is a way of saying “I see you” and “thank you for writing” and “I carry your words.” Responses create a much needed space of reciprocity in a teacher’s life. Here are a few sentence stems that may be helpful for you and your students.