Tag: The Stafford Challenge

Poetry Friday – The Stafford Challenge and NCTE Pics

Denise Krebs13 Comments

It’s Poetry Friday, and Carol at The Apples in My Orchard is hosting today with a weathery holiday poem to share and news about caring for her father. 

Did you hear about The Stafford Challenge this year? It’s a group dedicated to writing a poem a day for one year. We started on January 17, 2024 (That would have been William Stafford’s 100th birthday.) William Stafford had a daily poetry-writing practice for years. This Stafford Challenge will be drawing to a close soon, but Brian Rohr–poet, storyteller, creativity coach, and all-around good guy–will lead us again in 2025. There are monthly poet guests and encouraging spaces to share poetry, if you wish to. Or like me, you can do it quietly. The next cohort of The Stafford Challenge is open for joining now. If this sounds like something you’d like, do read more about it here and consider being a part.

I’ve been writing mostly bad poems, but I’ve managed to keep up with the challenge. This month I began writing little poems based on the word prompt of the day for the #365PictureToday challenge. Here is one:

Pause

Breathe and rest in hope
You are part of regenesis
Justice is coming

On another note, I had so much fun at NCTE in Boston, where I met friends from Poetry Friday, Ethical ELA, and Slice of Life. I also had fun volunteering to help NCTE run smoothly.

Mary Lee Hahn was busy at the conference, and I loved seeing her each chance I ran into her.
I was definitely fan-girling here with Laura Purdie Salas and Irene Latham and others at the poetry gathering that Matt Esenwine organized.
Marcie with her sweet suffragist tee-shirt in honor of her beautiful book One Step Forward.

Slice of Life – Paying Attention this Year

Denise Krebs9 Comments
23 January 2024 TwoWritingTeachers.org

I’ve missed this community the last few weeks, and I am glad you are here faithfully each week. This year my special word of the year is cherish. (I wrote about it here and here.) I want to pay attention to the joys and sorrows and slices of life that I so often miss. Maybe that’s why it’s hard for me to write these Slice of Life posts on Tuesdays.

Anyway, I have joined The Stafford Challenge this year. Kim Stafford, poet and son of William Stafford, suggested a daily writing practice where you include the date, a diary (boring prose of the day), an aphorism, and a poem. Every single day. He said when people suggest his father was a genius and they couldn’t do what he did. (Write a poem every day for decades–he wrote over 20,000 poems from during WWII until his death.) Kim said he responds that maybe his father had a genius process that all of us can use. Look at all the healing with poetry that could happen if more people would take up this genius process. Anyway, that’s what I am trying in 2024.

Here’s today’s writing page. A mess, but that’s what they tend to look like for me.

Today’s poem…

The first thing I noticed about you is that
most of your words and actions show how
important and smart you seem to think you are…yet
part of me sees myself in you. I have a fear
of giving myself too. Being vulnerable in my/
(your need) is not easy for me (and you.) It’s been our
life. My fear
is masquerading as pride. You didn’t know just
ahead of you was something you needed help holding–a fear
of your son’s health–he was sick, living in his car, with guns–
you worried. Where is his dog? He’s
not well, you knew, but his next message was garbled. He’s
behind on his prescriptions. We let go.
You cried and we held each other and prayed.

A golden shovel from a David Brooks’ quote “The most important part of your life is ahead of you, not behind you.”

Poetry Friday – Cherish

Denise Krebs23 Comments

Today is Poetry Friday. Robyn has a delightful post about my favorite beverage, TEA.

Cherish is my word of the year. I just spent a week with my daughter and grandson at our home, cherishing every moment because they seem all too few.

Milo and I were playing a game in the picture above. Every time he slapped my Cherish rock, I would say “Bwue.” When he tapped my husband’s Explore rock, I would say, “Gumbo.” He composed little rhythms, like “Bwue, bwue, bwue, gumbo, bwue, gumbo, bwue, gumbo, bwue, bwue, bwue…” It was a favorite game of the week.

We had fun climbing rocks in Joshua Tree National Park.

And wearing hats and a million other things, as he had fun with everything he came across. I was exhausted when they left, but I was satisfied that I truly cherished each moment I had with him.

Ethical ELA’s Open Write begins tomorrow. Check out the prompts Saturday through Wednesday this week!

Friday is the third day of The Stafford Challenge. It was founded by Brian Rohr, storyteller and poet. We will write a poem a day, inspired by William Stafford, who had a daily poem-writing practice for decades. (One of Stafford’s famous poems is “Traveling through the Dark.”) The Challenge started on Wednesday, January 17, the anniversary of Stafford’s birth. Last evening in a Zoom meeting, his son, Kim Stafford, inspired us to have a daily writing challenge that includes four things: the date, a diary (boring prose of the day), an aphorism, and a poem. I’m going to give it a try this year focusing on my local environment. Here’s Thursday’s poem.

Lovely desert holds life, like this
little hedgehog cactus that counts its
blessings, holding onto hope in the
whispering cleft of boulders. Ready
to grow, even when soil is sparse.
Life calls to life,
that it won’t be stopped. Like the cactus
You are beauty and promise, and you
won’t be sorry if you
give it your all in living fully. Drink
up your fill of grace this fine day.

A Golden Shovel poem from Jeannette Encinias’ “Begin Again” that was sent in her email today. “Lovely little blessings. Whispering to life that you won’t give up.” 

Writing this poem also reminded me of the poem Kat Apel wrote for me a couple summers ago. Read “How to Be a Cactus” here.