A Peek at Poetry in my Classroom

"Ms. Johnson, does this make sense?"

"What?"

"Can windchimes frolic?"

I look up from the paper I am reading, wondering if I heard her correctly.  I start to tell her no, but then remember.  My other classes may be working on research papers and arguments, but Creative Writing is working on poetry.  I smile.

"The windchimes frolicked," I say, testing the sound, "Well, technically it doesn't make sense for windchimes to frolic, but the nice thing about poetry is you can play with language and meaning.  What are you trying to say?"

"Well, I wanted to have them dancing, but I liked how frolicked sounded."

"Then use frolic.  I like how it sounds too."

She beams at me and returns to her poem.  I pull my notebook over and jot down the phrase.  I want to save it for later.

Never Go to Naples (SOLSC 27/31)

 

A poem for my final day in Italy that might go down as one of THE worst days ever.  I don’t have time or the emotional capacity for details so don’t ask right now.

Graffiti all around

and no gelato to be found.

Suddenly my mother hits the ground, 

blood on the pavement abounds!

Swelling up, knot like a small mound.

The ambulance is inbound, 

Italian and English, mixing sounds,

This is a nightmare most profound.

I am now grateful we are tomorrow home bound.

Green Thumb (SOLSC 6/31)

This was a piece I originally wrote in June of 2022 for a Garden Party themed writing challenge (though Teach Write as usual).  I have not posted it to my blog before and wanted to do so now.  Especially since today is my dad's birthday and this seemed like a great way to honor and celebrate him!  The style of writing is called a "haibun" which is a form of poetry that combines prose and haiku.

Happy 62nd Birthday Dad!

A Hoard of Hats (SOLSC 5/31)

 

While I may not have actively used this blog until this very Slice of Life challenge, I have still been actively blogging and writing.  My blogging has mainly been through a more professional capacity as I have taken ownership of the Teach Write, LLC.  As for my writing I would say the majority of it is dedicated to writing lesson plans or content for Teach Write.  So, again, professional.

I do find the time to pen the occasional poem and share it on platforms like Ethical ELA or Teach Write's monthly challenge padlet.  Not to mention the time I spend in my notebook and my sentence a day journal. But, even with that, more of my writing is professional, not personal, and I am hoping between this challenge and the coming poetry month to change that.

I write all of that to say: here is a poem. I wrote this poem last month for the Teach Write monthly challenge, but I am sharing it now on my public blog.  

It is also a slice since it tackles a moment last month when I was thinking of all of the hats I own -- though I couldn't tell you why.  It's not a huge collection or even all that special, not like my Pawpaw's hat collection.  He had a whole room full of just hats.  

I hadn't thought of that collection in over a decade.  It was one of those collections where he probably started with a small amount and then, over time, people just started buying him hats as souvenirs on their trips or as gifts for his birthday.  I remember that most of them either had funny sayings or destinations printed on the front.  I know at one point when we went to Disney World we brought him back a Goofy hat.  

By the time of his passing there were rows upon rows of hats hanging from the walls of that room.  I am not sure where most of them went -- to various family members I imagine.  This was the poem I wrote as I recalled those hats:

Secret Connoisseur of Stickers

I love when I can have a piece of writing serve more than one purpose.  

This past month I have been spending much of my writing energy -- at least the writing energy that isn't dedicated to noveling -- on poetry.  After all, it IS national poetry month.  Most of my poetry writing has been inspired by the daily prompts over at Ethical ELA.  Today's prompt (using the idea of "secret connoisseurs") not only captures a slice of one of my favorite classroom habits, but also just one of my favorite things in general: stickers.

#NPM | Playing with Poetry This Month part 2

I didn't make it to last week's poetry Friday, but I assure you that I have been working on a number of poems the past few days.  Some of them never made it out of my notebook or past a bit of brainstorming (Do they really count as poems then?). The others wound up posted on any given day's ethicalELA challenge.  I've made an effort to start collecting them all in one Google Doc that I may share at the end of the month.  However, for now, I will post one of my favorites that I wrote this past Sunday.

The prompt, share with us courtesy of Scott McCloskey, was "Day Poem."  He invited us to consider the various holidays/celebrations throughout the year -- things like "National Pet Day" or "National Eight Track Tape Day" -- and then to compose a poem celebrating it, perhaps even composing an ode. 

I absolutely love observing obscure holidays and even making up my own.  I was more than happy and ready to play this game.  Almost immediately I knew what I wanted to write about: the days I have spent so far taking my notebook outside.  Thus "Take Your Notebook Outside Day" was born...though I haven't picked an official date to throw on the calendar yet.

#NPM | Playing with Poetry This Month

As we leave one month of challenges we enter another. I stated in my last post, the SOLSC challenge has ended and we have now entered April which is National Poetry Month and also considered by many to be National Poetry Writing Month (NaPoWriMo). 

Last year during this time, I was still on my old blog with Word Press. I didn't post a poem every day, but I did make an effort to write one every day. I enjoy the lower stakes of that, as some poems just need to take seed in my notebook before I return to them. 

#SOL21 | 31 | A Series Of Titles Becomes A Slice Itself

I saw many slicers reflecting and writing about the end of the SOLSC for this year.  I didn't necessarily want to write a traditional top 10 list, so instead I gave myself the extra challenge of composing a poetic piece using words from every title of my slices for this month.  

That's right.  

What follows are 30 lines of poetry, each linking one of my slices from this month.  I did not plan this ahead of time, so some lines were definitely more of a challenge, but I think this is a fitting end to a month of SOL writing as we move into what many consider to be a month of poetry writing.  

I've really stretched myself as a writer these past 31 days and I am so excited that I get to own the honor of being a slicer for the full 31 days!  This has been a thrill for me and I'm so glad I got to share this journey with all of you.  Thank you.

#SOL21 | 17 | Sideways into Writing

Today's slice was the culmination of a few challenges.  And so I want to preface this by mentioning those challenges that led to the creation of the piece I'm about to share.

First, it was yesterday's #10min10days challenge with Tammy B.  The prompt was to write for 10 minutes starting with the phrase "Right now..." and then look back at what you wrote and look for sparks.  My writing happened outside on my patio and focused on the usual sights and sounds with the occasional intrusive thought.  And then, source unseen, I picked up on the smell of cigarette smoke.  

As soon as I smelled it I was reminded of my Grandma Sug and I wrote about how I hadn't actually sliced about her before.  By now I've written plenty of slices about both of my mom's parents, but not my dad's and definitely not my Grandma Sug.  That was interesting to me, but at the time I just let it sit in my notebook.

And then today I visited EthicalELA's final Open Write invitation for the month I saw that the prompt was Backwards Poetry.  Katrina Morison provided examples there, but then also suggested when trying this form of poetry to "...take on change. Deal with something that is or needs to be turned around. Then, the form will truly reflect the content of the poem."  The aspect of "change" really struck me and after having written about my Grandma Sug yesterday. I decided to not only write a poem about her, but also dedicate this slice to her as well.

It was after I had written the poem that I realized it could also serve as a slice -- but I didn't want to just post the poem without some context and backstory.  Which brings us here and now to today's SOL post.  That's three challenges woven together for one blog post.  Pretty impressive I would say.

#SOL21 | 13 | Inside the Box

March 13 - 17 is Open Write over at Ethical ELA and so today's slice was inspired by the prompt there: "Weddings at Recess."  After reading the prompt and the example, I was immediately taken back to the summers I spent in the care of my grandma.  The grandkids -- usually me, my sister, and my cousin -- would take over an entire room off of the living room.  

It was appropriately called "The Play Room" because it was where we were allowed to play, spread out our toys, and do all the things kids love to do when given free reign of a place.  This was where all the toys were kept, as well as the children's books, dress-up materials, and whatever else our young hearts could desire.  Funny enough, it's not the toys I remember well, it was the cardboard boxes our grandma would bring home.  So this slice is about that.

A Collection of Poems: Ethical ELA February 2021

Every month I try to participate in Dr. Sarah Donovan's Open Write hosted on EthicalELA.  Despite getting wonderful feedback for this writing, I never thought to collect it in one place until now.  Since this blog will be dedicated towards my writing -- especially of the poetry and narrative nonfiction variety -- I thought it best to start things off with my poetry from this month's Open Write.  

While I did not post every day, I have collected for you the two poems I did share, as well as links to the original invitation so that there is some context for what I have written here.

Sonnets (Don't Run Away)

The Ace’s Valentine Sonnet
I always hated that English has one word for love.
How do I capture the differences?
A love that varies in scope, scale, and even texture:
From the tiny, hard seed tucked away to the hearty, warm bowl of soup.

I always hated that Valentine’s was for couples.
What happened to passing cards through card board slits?
My love expressed on chalky hearts and candied puns.
From your best friend or from your mom, spilled out and sorted later.

But this is what it means to be Ace on Valentine’s Day.
A quest to reclaim a holiday for all expressions of love —
A love not limited by sexual attraction and romantic entanglements,
From red and white to purple and black.

I am not your normal Valentine, but I am still valid.
I will not deny my asexuality any longer.

Let's Meet Somewhere (Diction)

When Asked Where to Meet Next 
Let’s meet somewhere
below the gentle shade of giant
tomato stalks and zucchini vines
the dirt cool on our backs as the sun bursts overhead.

Let’s meet somewhere
along the crooked cliffs of the creek
chalk lines drawn before a storm
on the precipice of childhood.

Let’s meet somewhere
among the black-green weeds
of twilight farms giving way
to fireflies or stars we captured in glass.

Let’s meet somewhere
that slips between our toes
filling cracks unnoticed and unseen
a heart warmed like two hands around your favorite mug

Let’s meet somewhere
between the playground woods we explored
and the backyard wilderness we dismissed
that time between early snow days and midsummer nights.

Let’s meet somewhere
under your next dream or perhaps
behind the gap in my memory
as long as it’s sometime before soon.

 Alternate Names (a List)

Alternate Names for a Writer
1. that peach pit anchored between your heart and gut
2. a pen twirled restlessly between chewed nails
3. scratch, scratch, scratch to find the words, words, words
4. a pillow behind the back, easy now
5. the spider pulling threads at the center — to create and catch
6. eyes bright reflecting flickering candles
7. cracked fingers, cracked spine, release