Happy Poetry Friday. Thank you to Amy at The Poem Farm for hosting today. Stop by and read about her Pick-a-Proverb project for April. You can also read a lot of other poetry delights by others.
This past week was Ethical ELA’s Quick Write. Here are the last three days of the five-day March Quick Write, including one ekphrastic dodoitsu, inspired by the Poetry Sisters.
With each swing of the
hammer, I have more respect
for carpenters and
painters and builders.
I would much rather stop and
look up at that sky.
The prompt for the poem above was called “Look Up” by Chiara Hemsley.
The photo below came from Twitter. When I saw this image on Twitter, posted by Kevin Rothrock, a journalist in Russia, I thought of the mosaic of this young person’s life and all the choices that have brought them to this place in life. According to Rothrock and commenters, the translation on the back of the coat says, “This is my grandfather’s coat. During WWII, he starved as a child in occupied territory. Why do the gruesome themes of [those] long-ago stories echo in my time? I feel pain and I’m scared. I don’t want war!”
Grandchild of promise hopes for
a future of peace and gets
remnants of terror, for we
cannot remember.
The prompt for the above was for a Mosaic Poem offered by Wendy Everard.
Grandma
Generations linger and then go
The years with you flew, Grandma
My mom was young, just 43
When my sister was due. Grandma?
Yes, she was a grandma many times
Over. 25 years later, still a new Grandma
Now her grandchildren are grown
My sister siblings too: grandmas
It’s Denise’s turn soon to join the club
Precious baby, I love you, Grandma
The poem above is an attempt at a Ghazal poem, prompt by Wendy Everard.
During April we will start a month of writing poems at Ethical ELA called #verselove. You are welcome; sign up here.
You offer so much goodness today, Denise. Thank you. I am haunted by the words on that coat and like the speaker in your poem, choose to look at the sky. Your repetition of “Grandma” is lovely, and the ending with a signature a delight. So many congratulations!! xo
ps – For some reason your link appears broken at The Poem Farm, and I was unable to edit it. You might want to try?
Thank you, Amy, for your kind words and for reading my post.
Also, thanks for trying to fix the link. I’ve talked to Edublogs and InLinkz about it and they can’t / won’t fix it. But there is an easy fix most people don’t know about. When you get the message that my blog has refused to connect, you can just click the X in the upper right corner and there is the post, right behind it. Weird, huh?
Oh, Denise. Your Russia/Ukraine poem brought tears streaming down my face. How do we not learn. Congratulations on your good news, and thanks for sharing all these.
I was just going to tell you about that broken link, too, Denise, but see that you’ve managed. I enjoy each poem in a different way. The dodoitsu manages that sly humor wonderfully while the middle poem again touches me like all those images of the war in Ukraine. I saw one post that showed people who had died with a sign that said “don’t turn away!” And your Grandma poem, for me an announcement. Congratulations! Loving times coming!
A very moving post, Denise. Looking forward to your National Poetry Month verselove!
What a wide range of skills you show this week, Denise. That middle one is heartbreaking. Thanks for the #verselove tip!
A wonderful collection of poems. I am struck by the person in the coat and the poem you wrote. “remnants of terror/ for we cannot remember” gut punch!
Once again you give us an array of wonderful poems. The one about the young person wearing their grandfather’s coat gave me chills as I read it. It’s a perfect companion to that photo and the story behind it. Thank you for sharing all of these with us this week.