Category: 2022

26-29 DFABW – Equality, Freedom, Mindfulness, Netiquette

Denise Krebs1 Comment

Oh, my, it’s been four days of Dictionary for a Better World words, and I have not even opened the book until today. I’ve been busy helping lead an online workshop in the mornings and working on my house in the afternoons. Today we painted two walls, and that was all. I had a little extra time to come here.

There is primer so far on this patched wall–but the window is in!

Equality and Equity – I enjoyed reading this article today. Both important words.

Freedom – I have the freedom to just read Irene’s anecdote and poem today. Sweet!

Mindfulness – a tanka

coyote crosses
sleek, lean, bushy tail, busy
looking for breakfast
What will it be today, friend?
I’ll wait while I stare at you.

Regarding Netiquette, on the Internet, I try to have good manners and be “civil to all” as Benjamin Franklin said in a quote today on page 67 in DFABW.  This list of Netiquette rules my students and I created a whopping 11 years ago seem quaint now.

During each day in the months of August and September, I am responding to a different word from Dictionary for a Better World: Poems, Quotes, and Anecdotes from A to Z by Irene Latham and Charles Waters, illustrated by Mehrdokht Amini.  Friday’s word was Equality, Saturday’s was Freedom, Sunday’s was Mindfulness, and today’s word is Netiquette. A small group of people wanting to make the world a better place are reading and responding together. Join us! Visit Common Threads: Patchwork Prose and Verse by Kim Haynes Johnson for more information. Here is the word list I’ll be following for August and September.

25 DFABW – Forgiveness

Denise Krebs1 Comment

I went to a state university
in the 1970s 
It was tuition-free,
Just $100 a semester
student fees are all I paid,
which included access to
a health center

Now we are talking about
forgiveness today
student loan forgiveness

complex
explosive
uncertain
inequitable
volatile
unfair
reckless
yes
probably

but also
game-changing
opening opportunities
families and future
to give families
breathing room

now let’s work
to fix the system
more affordable options
stop predatory lending
outrageous tuition costs

Forgiveness
Yes, please

Found poem from “Biden student loan action ignites  instant political battles” August 25, 20222 (The Washington Post)

During each day in the months of August and September, I am responding to a different word from Dictionary for a Better World: Poems, Quotes, and Anecdotes from A to Z by Irene Latham and Charles Waters, illustrated by Mehrdokht Amini.  Today’s word is Forgiveness. A small group of people wanting to make the world a better place are reading and responding together. Join us! Visit Common Threads: Patchwork Prose and Verse by Kim Haynes Johnson for more information. Here is the word list I’ll be following for August and September.

Tuesday & Wednesday 23 & 24 August – Open Write

Denise Krebs1 Comment
23 August 2022 TwoWritingTeachers.org

Today’s poetry prompt came from Ann Burg at Ethical ELA. It’s called “Poems of Perspective,” and you can read all the details here. Here is my poem of perspective based on our remodeling activities:

Hang on to Me

You call me your favorite tool.
I don’t believe it–
you can’t keep track of me.
I have no legs, so I’m not going
anywhere you didn’t put me.
Most important tool, you say?
Yeah, right! You say, but
I find myself in
every nook and cranny,
every crook and nanny,
places you’re not likely to find me.
Never where you need me.
How about getting some
bigger pockets?

Sincerely,
Your tape measure

Of course, here I am by the coffee
Down here, right where you left me
Oh, yes, you left me on top of the ladder too
Here, on what used to be your desk

Here’s an update on this week’s projects. The electrician has been here, and the wires in the window are not hanging down any longer.

 

Our window to the kitchen is coming along!

Wednesday’s poetry prompt was by Scott McCloskey called “Today Years Old.”

The hour is late and
I haven’t learned much in a
month of Sundays, but
today I may have learned that
you can hammer one nail
53 times before it goes in.

Monday, 22 August 2022 – Transforming Art into Words

Denise Krebs

Transforming Art into Words was the prompt today by Margaret Simon. She challenged us to use space as we created our poems today, in the form of Dean Rader, “Did You Walk to Oklahoma” written “After Edgar Heap of Birds, “Ocmulgee” (2005).” I enjoyed the process of trying spaces and turn words over. I will come back to this idea and spend more time on it next time.

 

Sunday, 21 August 2022 Open Write – This Photo Wants to be a Poem

Denise Krebs

Margaret Simon has created the prompt on Ethical ELA today. She posts a regular feature on her blog called “This Photo Wants to Be a Poem.” and today we all wrote about this photo on Ethical ELA.

Her regular feature is open to anyone who would like to participate. Check out Reflections on the Teche each Wednesday.

Here is Margaret’s post on Ethical ELA. 

Photo by Margaret Simon

fuzzy, glowing seed pods
readying for the next generation
held by a green nest of elders

Saturday, 20 August 2022, Open Write – Leucocholy

Denise Krebs

Today’s prompt by Gayle Sands is a wordplay poem. She gave links to Merriam-Webster where there were lots of uncommon words to choose from. Then we went to WordHippo and looked for antonyms, synonyms, rhyming words, and more. Read more about her prompt here at Ethical ELA’s “Wordplay for August.”

Leucocholy – “a state of feeling that accompanies preoccupation with trivial and insipid diversions.”

Doom scrolling, gaming, searching,
YouTubing, following on social media
Time spent dabbling in drivel,
Nonsense, insignificance, trivial
Pursuits and amusements.
Distractions, beguilement,
Frivolity, levity, jejune whoopee
Busyness with characterless
Banality, the bland, ho-hum ordinariness
Of tired and vapid diversions.
Oh, the mind-numbing, eye-blurring,
Wasteful feeling of leucocholy.

19 DFABW – Acceptance

Denise Krebs2 Comments

Today’s word is acceptance, and the poetry form that Irene Latham used is the persona. I am have a good week accepting the mess that our remodeling project is making in our home. The dust is everywhere, as are the piles, but glimpses in my imagination of a window coming through this wall are giving me hope!

Here is my persona poem today.

Remodeling
I am a word with dust–
a tortoise inching slowly through the desert
Some avoid me,
Others don’t need me.
Yet, I am always available,
slow and steady,
saving resources,
creating new space,
bit by bit championing the chaos.
Come on in and see what I’ve done with the place.

During each day in the months of August and September, I am responding to a different word from Dictionary for a Better World: Poems, Quotes, and Anecdotes from A to Z by Irene Latham and Charles Waters, illustrated by Mehrdokht Amini.  Today’s word is Acceptance. A small group of people wanting to make the world a better place are reading and responding together. Join us! Visit Common Threads: Patchwork Prose and Verse by Kim Haynes Johnson for more information. Here is the word list I’ll be following for August and September.

Poetry Friday – Bridge the Difference

Denise Krebs7 Comments

This week in the Sealy Challenge, I read just one book: Bridge the Distance: Teacher-Poets Writing to Bridge the Distance (An Oral History of COVID-19 in Poems).  You can read the PDF version free here or purchase a copy at cost, thanks to Oklahoma State University. Published in 2021, Bridge the Distance is a collection of poems by 38 teacher-poets who wrote during the COVID-19 lockdown in spring 2020. Margaret Simon and Linda Mitchell, and I each have poems in the book. We wrote them at Ethical ELA, hosted by Sarah Donovan.

Reading the poems all at a time this week, I was struck with the memories of the lockdown that were stirred by this interesting history of thought from just 2.5 years ago.  I rejoiced that this oral history project will be available for future generations. Not all of the poems are about COVID, but certainly in a good portion of them the teachers obviously have on their minds the pandemic and teaching through the lockdown.  I gathered some of the lines that resonated with me and created this cento poem today. (The lines and the poets are listed below in the order they appear.)

In the Safe Spaces

In the safe spaces of your hands
Die, right or wrong, longing for an end to this
It was the first day of school
a child’s fingers hold her face before a screen
A school with no pulse or heartbeat
I need an elixir, a potion
Love thy neighbor is spelled w-e-a-r   a   m-a-s-k
knotted, left your song unsung
Now a squinting shadow
with the whirring blur of white noise fan
where I am sheltered in place
Say we watch the world end from our couch
the good, the bad, and the wildly fanciful and unexpected
sunset serenade

Teacher Poets
“Free Writing” by Stacey Joy
“Incorporating ‘We Real Cool’ by Gwendolyn Brooks” by Donnetta Norris
“Indelible Moments” by Denise Hill
“The Duplex of Virtual Teaching” by Margaret Simon
“Abandoned” by Emily Yamasaki
“Cocktail Hour” by Susie Morice
“2020 Duplex” by Linda Mitchell
“I am COVID” by Susie Morice
“After viewing ‘YOUNG BOYS HARASSING THE FIRST AFRICAN AMERICAN FAMILY TO MOVE INTO THE ALL-WHITE NEIGHBORHOOD'”
“Almost Asleep” by Kimberly Johnson
Strangerfriends” by Susan Ahlbrand
“Borrowed Lines” by Betsy Jones
“Dear Lauryl” by Lauryl Bennington
“Barnyard Concert at Dusk” by Kimberly Johnson

Coincidentally, over at Ethical ELA, we are beginning our monthly Open Write this weekend. You are welcome to join us for this special group that Susan Ahlbrand called “Strangerfriends” about whom she writes:

I am awed by the vulnerability others show
the raw sharing of abuse
the honest telling of fears
the open storytelling
the beautiful describing

with strangerfriends

I’ve often been skeptical of stories
of people finding “friends” online…

Not anymore

~From “Strangerfriends” by Susan Ahlbrand

Today is Poetry Friday. Dave at Leap of Dave is hosting. Head on over there to discover castles in the forest and poems today.