poetry swap – Dare to Care

Today’s Poetry Friday host is Susan at Chicken Spaghetti. She’s shared a poem by David Moody, who passed away in 2022. It’s “Lunch with Laura,” a clever poem full of literary allusions. (I’m going to believe that he really had lunch with Laura Joffe Numeroff and shared this poem with her. I made that up, but I like it.)

The summer poetry swap is finished, and I had such joy getting to know my partners through the swap. Thank you to Tabatha, Buffy, Marcie, Janice, Mary Lee, and Carol V. for the thoughtful, special poems and gifts. I wrote the double golden shovel below with two quotes in a book Carol sent me: There is Always Hope. (Yes, there is!)

Hope

behind even
the thickest of the
veil that hides truth in the darkest
of captured night,
each person led by hope will
night-and-day make woe end
there in the land of joy. And
is there any doubt that the
A-level shining sun–
smiling, always smiling–will
dawn and freely rise?

“Behind the veil of each night, there is a smiling dawn.” ~Khalil Gibran
“Even the darkest night will end and the sun will rise.” ~Victor Hugo in Les Misérables

With the Poetry Sisters, I wrote an ekphrastic poem today. Thanks for inviting us to join you, Sisters.

i
A Dying Joshua

dry
dying
skeletal
remains of this
Joshua tree are
not surrendering yet,
stretches, pulls up through dead wood
living crown blossom lifts upward
toward heaven, the life of the tree
persists with hope for another season

………………………………~March 2023

ii
A Serving Joshua

Another season it held onto life,
then crumbled to continue its path
becoming one with the planet–
dust and dross, returning home
for a while to shelter
the desert creatures
at peace, at rest
habitat
for their
breath

………………………………~August 2024

Margaret Simon shared about one of these Ethical ELA published books on her blog recently. I’m sharing three of them here today. Margaret and I and many others have contributed to one or more of these three books. The books are available for free as a download this Monday, September 2. If you’d like a paper copy, you can order now at Barnes and Noble or Amazon. Read here for praise of these books, along with links where you can get each one.

Today is Poetry Friday. Thanks to Linda Baie at TeacherDance for hosting us today. She writes about school starting and a playful poem called “Resistance” about resisting growing up. Sweet.

First up, The Poetry Marathon is coming. 24 poems in 24 hours! Want to try? Learn more about it here and apply by August 28. (Don’t let that word “apply” worry you; if you apply, you will be signed up.)

Next, recently I received two wonderful poetry swap packages in the mail that I wanted to share with you (and with the poets’ permission).

First, Sarah Grace Tuttle and I swapped poetry. These sweet gifts came in the mail.

This beautiful bookmark I’ve used every day since it arrived.

These are all cards made from photos Sarah has taken on her world travels of what she calls “Unexpected Art” — The shoe display is one of my favorites.

This poem made me stop and appreciate the flowers–in real life or as painted on murals. It is a lovely reminder to s l o w d o w n.

A Nestling for Sarah

Red Blooms on Breeze
Smell the Slow Down

More on Nestling found poems: This Poem is a Nest by Irene Latham / Learn more about nestlings on Irene’s handout.)

Next, I swapped poems with Linda Mitchell; she sent this beautiful handcrafted junk journal.

I received this precious junk journal from Linda.

What is a junk journal, you might ask? She explains in her poem:

Some of the ephemera she included:

Another sweet poem about what a prompt can be:

Thanks to the prompts at the Open Write at Ethical ELA this week, there are five more of my poems that wouldn’t have otherwise been birthed. In the process of writing and research, I learned about myself, my style, Emily Dickinson, nineteenth century history, and Renoir’s “Luncheon of the Boating Party.” All thanks to prompts that educators shared on the site. Thank you, Linda, for this poem that reminds us of the power of prompts.

Linda told me to use it and “don’t be precious with it.” So, I’m going to do just that and think of her when I hold its sweetness and add my own touches to her artwork.

A Nestling for Linda after “…Junk Journal”
find fun
pages into pages
you make new treasures

Finally, here are Sealey Challenge books I read this week, along with a found nestling poem from each of my favorite passages.

August 18 – They Call Me Güero, A Border Kid’s Poems by David Bowles

My nestling from a portion of “Ms. Wong & the Rabbit” in They Call Me Güero

Language has night birds
viewing world poetry
floating in the sky

August 19 – I’m the Big One Now! Poems about Growing Up by Marilyn Singer

My Big One Now! Nestling

big-sprays castle
doesn’t show how far
you imagine
that wide world

August 20 – It’s Not Magic Poems by Jon Sands (Selected and Foreword by Richard Blanco)

My nestling (based on words found in all five stanzas of “Decoded” by Jon Sands)

August 21 – Underneath My Bed List Poems by Brian P. Cleary

My Nestling of Hopes after Brian P. Cleary

Box electric
X-ray-sized breath
Fluorescent cheese that does world peace

August 22 – The World Began with Yes Poems by Erica Jong

My Nestling after “From the Danish Poet” by Erica Jong
Fascinating
still writing
Poet herself
still love
not death-breath
for-edge see clearly
undo-doom
walk
exuberant
question
fill-you
with desire

August 23 – Nervous System Poems by Rosalie Moffett

This was a difficult (and touching) read. Rosalie Moffett’s mother was a scientist and fell at the beach while studying snails. She had a traumatic brain injury, and Moffett’s relationship with her sick mother is the backdrop of this book of poems. One quote on page 42 shows the complicated nature of their connection after her accident: “The mother I know is the mother who hit her head or who suffers from something that’ll come for me.” The following is a passage from one of my favorite pages: