a poem cannot save a life
cannot Luke Cage your skin
fend off a dark alley attack
cannot make you less woman
or less poor
or less Black
and
thus
treated equally
Thursday was the wedding day, a perfectly warm-not-hot afternoon and evening. Today’s Poetry Friday round up is being gathered over at Radio, Rhythm & Rhyme by Matt Forrest Esenwine. He is celebrating the one-year anniversary of Friends & Anemones: Ocean Poems for Children, a beautiful anthology. Thank you, Matt, for hosting.
This week I’ve been struck by all the small images, memories, and moments that inspire poetry for me and others. In “Supple Cord,” Naomi Shihab Nye remembered and shared this sweet childhood ritual linking her with her brother.
Supple Cord
My brother, in his small white bed,
held one end.
I tugged the other
to signal I was still awake. continued
Margaret Simon is hosting the Poetry Friday Roundup today. I have been inspired to write beside Margaret many times over the past year. Inspired here by “Zen Tree” and here by “Peep Eye”, and so many times at Ethical ELA, like here and here for two. I will be going back to her “Today’s Poem” again for inspiration, the poem that “gazes beyond the trees imagining…”
Margaret‘s “This Photo Wants to Be a Poem” has been a fun challenge and further inspiration for me lately. On Wednesdays, Margaret posts a photo, and others write a small collection of poems about one image–each always unique, with rich imagery that goes deep into the photo. Each person interprets and sees something beautiful. This week the image was of a bird’s nest in the garden at Margaret’s school. I was impressed with her student, Kaia, who wrote a letter to the superintendent to get improvements made in the garden for next year. Thank you, Margaret, for encouraging Kaia’s voice! I don’t think there is much more important work teachers do than making space for children to recognize, develop, and use their voice. (Of course, I do acknowledge that teaching history, civics, reading and critical thinking skills to know how to use that voice is vital, as well.) Here’s the poem I wrote copy-pasted here. It wasn’t about the bird nest photo, but about Kaia and Ms. Simon who assessed the garden after a long dormant Covid season.
Kaia’s voice
A voice can be
a power displayer
a truth conveyer
a path lighter
a garden inviter
a hardship remover
a world improver
Your voice can be
In addition, I wrote a sestina this week inspired by Liz’s post last Friday. Afterwards, I was searching for different poetry form generators. This one is the best I found for the sestina; it’s by Rena Mosteirin, which comes compete with the code. Here are two more good poetry form generators for Pantoum and Villanelle.
Speaking of generators: I ran across this interesting Poem Generator, so I gave it a try. It’s like writing a Mad Lib poem. The first time I wrote silly things with answers that came to me as soon as I saw the prompt, as they suggested. The second time I tried it with words that made me think of peace. I actually thought the second one sounded like a bit poetic.
Rorschach Poem
creep home
know Houlihan’s to try sunny late afternoon
ceiling fan getting dark
an owl is deep wide
I would go home if I am without gasoline
somebody a cowboy
stalking you.
Peace in Knowing
whisper home
live for wide sky to sip sweet dawn
heavens shining
a dove is slow and deep
Bring peace if I need a hand
somebody helper
reaching you.
Here is an invitation for you to write poetry with the Ethical ELA community. On June 13 there will be an introductory meeting for anyone who wants to learn more, and an open mic/writing hour afterwards. Click on the images below for more information. June’s Ethical ELA Open Write will be June 19-23 this month.
