July Open Write 2022

Saturday, 16 July 2022 – Realities and Possibilities with Jennifer Guyor-Jowett

The Bobcat

I see a bobcat
moving across the yard,
Tawny and whiskered.
It strolls in front of me.
At first I thought it was my neighbor’s dog.
Then when I realized it was a big cat,
I began fumbling
for the camera button on my phone.
It stops for a second and looks at me,
(A quick pose, maybe?)
I’m still mishandling the camera,
as it gives up and saunters on.
I stumble across the yard,
Finally getting the video going.
I capture 35 seconds of
the Joshua Trees,
the bushes,
the sand,
the sky,
the fence,
and, finally,
still waiting for me,
the bobcat.

Did I really see that bobcat?

 

Sunday, 17 July 2022 – Antonymic Translation with Jennifer Guyor-Jowett

All Debt Must Go
After Robert Frost “Nothing Gold Can Stay

Emptiness’s last red is debt,
Its easiest fade to free.
Its late root’s shriveled;
And commonly so for years.
Before root rises to root
So squalor rises to bliss,
So dusk goes up to night.
Everything debt must go.

Monday, July 18, 2022 – Celebrating Summer with Jennifer Guyor-Jowett

Summer is Corn
(After Seals and Crofts)

See the corn cobs grillin’ on the Weber
In the evening on a Monday night
Yellow butter sizzlin’ through the foil
Lets me know everything’s all right

Summer grillin’ makes me feel fine
Waftin’ through the heat and late sunshine
Summer grillin’ makes me feel fine
Waftin’ through the heat and late sunshine

Summertime and the corn is supreme

Tuesday, 19 July 2022 – Modern Haiku with Mo Daley 

my daughter said he smiled today
those very first smiles–
my favorite thing in the whole world–
now I’m left crying so far away

Wednesday, 20 July 2022 – Gogyoshi with Mo Daley

I Have No Ideas
Five lines I get to poem anything,
But my ideas are all second-string–
the ransom of a king? a tire swing? how to sing?
that bee sting? my made-up trip to Beijing?
Maybe next time the well will spring.