Today is Poetry Friday, and Mary Lee Hahn has the roundup with a GoGo’s song, Nancy Kuhl, Sandra Cisneros, secrets and more.
I have enjoyed taking part in The Stafford Challenge, writing a poem a day. A nice benefit of this challenge is I have been reading more poetry as well. This week it felt a little like August, as if I was in my own Mini Sealey Challenge. I’ve read William Stafford (reading a poem or two a day), Ada Limón, Margaret Gibson Simon, and Karah-Jo Procak, a young adult woman who pours her heart out in this, her first book.
Secret In holds of shame, this is true, an unshared secret binds a heart, shadowed and pinched in a place of cruel captivity.
Has reading more poetry helped my writing? I definitely get ideas; that’s good. I hope I will learn to write better poetry during this year-long experiment writing a daily poem, but I’m not counting on it. I’ll keep writing nonetheless, like Stafford said, “Lower your standards and keep writing.”
Look what I got from Australia! Thank you Kat Apel for this beauty. Look at that cactusy font she used, and I love the metaphors throughout. “Remember your soft centre / is sweet and refreshing, so… / Grow your heart!” is my favorite.
Kat also shared other poems about cactus and this, my favorite, about the arid land in her Queensland. It reads like it came from a blockbuster musical filmed out on the bush. I so love the form she used in this poem, which is an echo of “On Kiley’s Run” by Banjo Paterson. I’m sharing the first stanza below. Do read the rest of the poem here.
This Land
By Kathryn Apel
Horizons stretch forever ’cross
This sunburnt land.
The shimmer of a heatwave’s gloss
That melds with parched and tufted grass,
As hot winds blow and dust storms pass,
While brittle, yellow tumbleweed
Is swept along with careless heed
Across the land.
Thank you, Kat, for sending
your beauty across the world
landing in my heart
On Wednesday, I went to the virtual book launch that Patricia told us about in July. Earlier, on Poetry Friday she shared the poem, “The Big Box of Books”, she wrote during a Mindful Poetry Moment; it is one of two of Patricia’s poems included in the anthology. I had first learned about the Mindful Poetry group from Patricia last February on this post. In April I got busy with other poetry opportunities, and I didn’t participate in any of the activities. However, after spending some time with these mindful poets on Wednesday, I will definitely check out The Well for April 2024.
Patricia reading one of her poems at the Mindful Poetry Book Launch
My Sealey Challenge Update (with some photos of favorite poems)
August 4 – Where the Deer Are by Kate Barnes (a gift from Linda Baie)
I love this poem by Kate Barnes “In the Pasture”
August 5 – Gmorning, Gnight! Little Pep Talks for Me and You by Lin-Manuel Miranda
From Gmorning, Gnight! by Lin-Manuel Miranda
August 6 – Martin Rising: Requiem for a King by Andrea Davis Pinkney and (ill.) Brian Pinkney
From Martin Rising by Andrea David Pinkney
August 7 – I Offer My Heart as a Target by Johanny Vazquez Paz
From I Offer My Heart as a Target by Johanny Vazquez Paz
August 8 – Keep a Pocket in Your Poems, Classic Poems & Playful Parodies by J. Patrick Lewis
Keep a Pocket in Your Poems, Classic Poems & Playful Parodies by J. Patrick Lewis
August 9 – No Matter by Jana Prikryl – I had no favorites in this one. It was a tough read. I didn’t like it.
August 10 – The Year of Goodbyes by Debbie Levy
Books for next week and beyond
Peace to all those in Maui. How awful to be on an island with the devastating fires. Praying for all. Here is the organization President Obama shared if you want to help: Hawaii Community Foundation
It’s tough to see some of the images coming out of Hawai’i — a place that’s so special to so many of us. Michelle and I are thinking of everyone who has lost a loved one, or whose life has been turned upside down.
