Tag: Poetry Friday

National Poetry Month 2023

Denise Krebs2 Comments

Here are some of the projects I’m involved in during this year’s National Poetry Month. I’m posting for two reasons:

  1. to help me keep track of my poetry month commitments, and
  2. to invite you to join in for any National Poetry Month events.
Ethical ELA #Verselove

Free Minds – Read and respond to poetry of poets who are incarcerated

Work on Milo’s first year book
The #kidlit Progressive Poem in progress here on my blog
Digging for Poems with Laura Salas and my posts on Google Drive

This Photo Wants to Be a Poem on Wednesdays with Margaret Simon
Classic Found Poem with Jone MacCulloch  My poem here
2-Day Poem Contest, beginning on April 22-23. My poem here
#ClimatePoemProject on my blog and all the prompts with Laura Shovan
Poetry Fridays hosted by:

April 7 Margaret at Reflections on the Teche
April 14 Jone at Jone Rush MacCulloch
April 21 Karen at Karen Edmisten*
April 28 Ruth at There is no such thing as a God-forsaken town

Poetry Friday – A Street Poem in Yucca Valley

Denise Krebs21 Comments

This week’s Poetry Friday roundup can be found at Rose Cappelli’s blog Imagine the Possibilities. She has shared some lovely springtime poetry. Thank you for hosting, Rose.

Last week, Susan Thomsen, at Chicken Spaghetti, wrote a post called, “Street Guide,” a  guide for writing her famous street poetry. She explains, “Street poems are what I call the found-language poems I’ve put together from lines I’ve overheard. They come from not only the street but also restaurants, museums, theaters, subways, etc.” I have seen Susan’s poems  and wondered about the process. This week I finally took time to explore and took myself on a date to listen. With my notebook (the one Jone MacCulloch gave me for a Poetry Friday poem exchange) and a favorite pen in hand, I went to town. (I wrote more about where I went and the process here in a Slice of Life this week.)

Here is my poem composed entirely of things I heard in Yucca Valley, California, on March 20, 2023:

I – At the café
It’ll be out in a bit.
Do you want water?
Yeah, you got it.
♫ You can call me Queen Bee
It was interesting
♫ I shake it off, And the fakers gonna fake, fake, fake
The next day
♫ Lightning strikes every time she moved
No, I’m not
Hi.
Sugar is over there.
We’ll see.
As C. used to say
Sourdough
I’m trying to keep up
♫ I just can’t refuse it, like the way you do this
Can I have another…oh, never mind.
♫ I heard that you’ve settled down
Hey, how are you?
Awesome, man.
And someone sat on it? Oh, my god.
Yeah, I had some.

II – At the thrift shop
Yeah, they’re kind of hard to find.
They go fast
Ok, I do have my glasses.
Yo, dog
I have something for you
Thank you.
You’re welcome, you’re so welcome.
It came from my heart.
Can you get me some more?
It has to be the right stuff
I don’t know if you like it,
but I like it.
I think we should get it.
It’s beautiful.
I think you two are in cahoots.
Is that in your way?
I put it over there.

III – At the library
Oh, we don’t take checks.
You can pay for it at the kiosk.
Is it #6? I said, is it #6?
Everyone else’s computer is still working.
It says #6 is offline, but #7 is on.
You have the keys
No, you do
You can take those out to the van
Look at this
Is that a spaceship?
Are you kidding?
Yes, I am. Yes, I am kidding.
Can you tell me how long you will be?
I can’t log on to #14.
Does it think I am still logged into #6?
I need to do some work.
N, did you put paper in the book drop?

IV – At Aldi
Do you have a quarter?
I do, but thanks for asking.
So, I’ll get salami,
and what’s the other one?
Pep? pep? Pepperoni!
Gelato. Gelato, fun.
Oh, I thought those apples were on sale.
I’m sorry.
Don’t worry about me.
I’m in no hurry,
the curse of being retired.

Lyrics footnotes (the music was the main thing I could hear at the café, thus so many lyrics made it into my street poem)

1 “Royals” by Lorde
2 “Shake it Off” by Taylor Swift
3 “This is What You Came For” by Calvin Harris
4 “Don’t Stop the Music” by Rhianna
5 “Someone Like You” by Adele

 

Poetry Friday – ACT now

Denise Krebs17 Comments

Heidi is hosting the Poetry Friday roundup today here at her blog, “my juicy little universe.” Be sure to read her amazing collection of odes to the month of March across the centuries. And a happy birthday to Heidi tomorrow!

I’ve had thoughts of my mortality this week. (No particular reason, except I’ll be 65 this year!) Today I woke up thinking about my one word for 2023–ACT–and wrote this acrostic (with my new Sharpie markers).

A reason to thrive
Cherished time
Ticks on

Last year, my word was PURPOSE. I felt I spent the whole year with vague wonderings like, “Could this be my retirement purpose?” Then in 2023, I thought I just need to ACT on the needs around me. I won’t be here forever.

Last week in the Slice of Life challenge I wrote a golden shovel poem based on a quote from Irene Latham’s Poetry Friday post last week. Read Irene’s post here; it’s beautiful, and she is a good example of someone who acts–making opportunities for living well and doing good. The quote I used is “What if our only purpose really is to be present?”

What can I say except this day is precious and
if it must be my last, I will live it contentedly.
Our world will go on without me, and finally
only LOVE will prevail. But if I get another day, on
purpose I will live it–
really live it. Even if it
is just sitting inside, staying warm,
to read and write, I can still
be here, in this place, fully alive, opening this sweet
present.
~Denise Krebs, after Irene Latham

Poetry Friday – For Milo and Jane

Denise Krebs10 Comments

Thank you Tanita S. Davis at {fiction, instead of lies} for hosting the Poetry Friday community today. Read her post about the seed of hope a garden can bring even during these tough times, her developing process of writing poetry and their changes, and a poetry challenge for the end of March.

I tried a haiku in Spanish today, written about my dear baby’s baby, who has been visiting us this week, but will be leaving Friday:

Ay, mi nieto
precioso, hoy no quiero
decirte adiós

Oh, my precious
grandson, Today I don’t want
to tell you goodbye

~Denise Krebs

I read a poem this week by Kate Rushin: “Meditations on Generations.” The first stanza reminded me of my sweet grandson (as well as so many other babies and toddlers I have loved over my lifetime).

However, Kate Rushin’s poem goes on, after this stanza, to describe something so deplorable that I can’t quit thinking of Jane. I find myself grieving for her and “all of the girls and women who were bought, sold, lost, forced, coerced, confused, misnamed…” Because of Rushin’s matter-of-fact language, piercing questions, and rich details, I will keep thinking about Jane long after today. What a world we live in, what a history we have! We must not neglect to talk about it and teach it to the next generation. Read the rest of “Meditations on Generations” poem here.

Poetry Friday – Without Poetry

Denise Krebs15 Comments

Molly at Nix the Comfort Zone is rounding up the Poetry Friday posts this week. Enjoy her lovely poem about winter trees. Thank you, Molly.

It’s been five months to the day since my blog has been around here. Time flies, and I’ve missed you all and, I’ve missed poetry in my life. So here’s to poetry, and I hope I’m back.

This week I read, for the first time, Audre Lorde’s essay, “Poetry is Not a Luxury.” It is a good antiracist piece to read for Black History Month, and beyond. You can find the short piece here in PDF form. Here are some quotes that spoke to me today.

For women, then, poetry is not a luxury. It is a vital necessity of our existence. It forms the quality of the light within which we predicate our hopes and dreams toward survival and change, first made into language, then into idea, then into more tangible action. Poetry is the way we help give name to the nameless so it can be thought. The farthest external horizons of our hopes and fears are cobbled by our poems, carved from the rock experiences of our daily lives.

Right now, I could name at least ten ideas I would have once found intolerable or incomprehensible and frightening, except as they came after dreams and poems.

Poetry is not only dream or vision, it is the skeleton architecture of our lives.

The white fathers told us, I think therefore I am; and the black mothers in each of us–the poet–whispers in our dreams, I feel therefore I can be free.

Our poems formulate the implications of ourselves, what we feel within and dare make real (or bring action into accordance with), our fears, our hopes, our most cherished terrors.

~by Andre Lorde from “Sister Outsider: essays and speeches” page 36. Published by Crossing Press, 1985.

On Being Without Poetry

My poetry was paralyzed
So news events hit oversized
Royal family code vaporized
November’s red wave unrealized
Classified docs getting analyzed
House decorum animalized
Severe earthquake terrorized
Twitter execs scrutinized
UFO blastings authorized
Inane inquisitions formalized
Truth and impartiality despised
Reasonable reckoning pulverized
Justice and morality compromised

Too much news without poetry
Thoughts emphasized
Feelings minimized

But now the poetic truth
Realized
Crystallized

News is more bearable
After
Dreams
And poems

~By Denise Krebs
12 February 2023

Even though most poetry has been absent, I did enjoy a tiny taste over the past few months. If you haven’t already, you might want to follow these sweet tastes of poetry shared at poetryisnotaluxury:

 

View this profile on Instagram

 

@poetryisnotaluxury • Instagram photos and videos

You can follow another account to learn more about Audre Lorde and how, even in death, she continues to bring people together in community. The Audre Lorde Project

 

View this profile on Instagram

 

Audre Lorde Project (@audrelordeproject) • Instagram photos and videos

 

Poetry Friday, Verselove, Week 1

Denise Krebs9 Comments

Today is Poetry Friday and the roundup is being hosted by Janice Scully at Salt City Verse. She has a book review and author interview with David Elliott of At the Pond.

I just remembered about the 2-Day, 10 Words, 1 Poem contest that is coming up soon. The deadline to register is next Friday, 15 April. Last year I wrote a poem using the ten words, but I wrote it in July, after the contest. I’ve signed up for this year’s contest. How about you?

Today I am sharing the first week of Ethical ELA poems I wrote. The links go to the prompt, which are great for classroom or personal use.

Day 7 – (Song) Structures Speak with Chris Goering (my poem)

I’m the supple stick in the mud
That bends and bobs but doesn’t break.
I’m the thorn between two buds
Attempting to keep them awake

I’m the shovel that carried the sand
To plant bright hope rather than hate
I’m the peace promise made by hand
which was hard to keep and came too late

Day 6 – Cherita with Mo Daley (my poem)

My sister came from Arizona to Seattle yesterday.

She can’t stay until the baby shower on Saturday,
so she took us out for dinner. Tears were shed

over the deaths of her husband and eldest son during
Covid. But she laughed y hablaba español with our camerero
and loved us, fully present, full of life and hope.

Day 5 – 4×4 Poems with Denise Krebs

On Day 5, I was busy reading and commenting on poems (and also flying up to Seattle for my daughter’s baby shower on Saturday). Here are some 4×4 poems I have written over the past few months.

Our Baby Boy

Day star dawning
Sunshine beaming
Precious brilliance
Of toasty warmth

Rise in the east
Day star dawning
Warming the earth
With joy and hope

Rising round womb
Growing bundle
Day star dawning
The world awaits

Grandson coming
Family grows
Into sunshine
Day star dawning

Who is Denise?

Denise Reed Krebs
Friend, mother, wife
Teacher, learner
Christian and me

Wasn’t always
Denise Reed Krebs
First Denise Reed
Then married Keith

I added his
Last name to mine
Denise Reed Krebs
Together now

So many years
One united
Keith Lewis Krebs
Denise Reed Krebs

Voting Questions

Ask the questions:
Is voting a
right? Or is it
only for those

we agree with?
Ask the questions:
MAGA members?
Progressives? All?

Do citizens
all get to vote?
Ask the questions:
Or just those who

preserve ballot
box “purity”?
Jim Crow reborn?
Ask the questions.

Ukrainians

Ukrainians
Resilient, proud
fighting for peace
freedom is sweet

Blooms for Russians?
Ukrainians
send Molotov
cocktails instead

Brave president
Averts world war
Ukrainians
battle alone

Chaos and dying
as world watches
on Instagram
Ukrainians

Day 4 – Burrows and Seeds with Jennifer Guyor-Jowett (my poem)

What was lost is now found
Or a hope God’s not bound

In amaryllis and holey toast
Father, Son and Holy Ghost

Each reflects the image of God
So, is patriarchy a fraud?

Mother, Daughter, Holy Hen
Women in God’s image, not just men

Invisible, yet present
I wait for Your good Advent

Day 3 – Collaboration Poem with Gae Polisner and Lori Landau (my poem)

the doves were active today, the
way they flitted, leaving their twin seeds unattended.
forgiveness lives in the hearts of parents and
arrives each spring because eggs
with cracks too early won’t hatch, but
the fissures of a future bright with
promise mean the fledglings are coming, legacy
of new life, a gift of
hope

Day 2 – Core Memories with Emily Yamasaki 

“Things I Have Memorized”

the recipe for the best chocolate chip cookies
the place my head fits on your chest
the way the hummingbirds whip the air as they drink
the sound of the mourning doves in the evening
the smell of the books in the old library in Hollydale
the “indeed you were a finalist” in my rejection letter
the love and mercy and grace God pours out
the scent of plumerias on a hot humid evening
the long limbs of the Joshua trees pointing to hope

Day 1 – Verselove Begins with Bryan Ripley Crandall (my poem)

For sitting and staring
I really can’t think of anything
Remotely as mesmerizing,
Enjoyable, and relaxing as these
Lingering moments around the fire.
It was what kept me this evening.
Good night, welcoming #Verselove.
Here even though it’s late.
Thank you, friends.

Poetry Friday – three poems

Denise Krebs8 Comments

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.

 

 

March #SOL22 Day 18 and Poetry Friday – A Perverse Amusement Park

Denise Krebs8 Comments
Day 18 of March #SOL22
Today’s Poetry Friday

Keith prayed for us yesterday morning before we started painting–he prayed for a good and safe day, that we would be productive and live in the fruit of the Spirit (love, joy, peace, patience, etc.)

He came back from Home Depot saying, “Are you ready for some fun? I got a 3M Hand-Masker, so you can tape up the windows, and I’ll spray.”

After we both tried the tape dispenser a few times, I threw it down and said, “This is a piece of garbage. How much did you pay for this stupid contraption? Why are you being so patient with it. It’s obviously broken or defective. It deserves no patience. Some things in life call for the fruit of the flesh–like a fit of anger over this worthless piece of s*%^!”

Painting a house
is a perverse amusement park,
which is to say there is occasional fun–
like waving around a squirt gun with paint in it
and eating Snickers bars my husband brought home–
but I fear the evil lurking around
all the bone-headed mistakes,
overspray, wasted paint,
and harsh words.
I fear I will never be able to exit.
Yesterday I cried,
fell off a step stool,
cursed my husband,
prayed for mercy,
and lay on the cold tile floor.
Not necessarily in that order.
And we aren’t even
finished with the priming.
There is no departure,
no way to get out.
Every morning, we get up
for another rollicking day
at the amusement park from hell.

On another note, my husband has been trying to help us keep perspective and awareness of our privilege in having a house to paint. While we were having trouble figuring out the sprayer, he said, “I was just thinking about all the people in Ukraine who don’t even have a house left to go to.”

Those are just a few snippets of yesterday’s painting. Today we took the day off–not a drop of paint involved–we went into Palm Springs for lunch and shopping.

Taylor Mali, creator of metaphor dice, is hosting a contest. He’ll also be collecting poems for an anthology containing poems that have been written using his metaphor dice by adults and students. Have you written a metaphor dice poem before? The one above is my second try. The deadline for submission is April 30. Click to see the simple submission guidelines.

Poetry Friday is hosted today by Ruth Hersey at There is No Such Thing as a God-forsaken Town with a sweet bird-watching moment captured in a haibun. Today is Day 18 of the March #SOL22 challenge.