Imagine the Possibilities

Happy Poetry Friday!

Thanks to Mary Lee Hahn, I was inspired to read the work of Kate Baer. Kate’s poems have been described as those you would share with you mother, your sister, your friends. This week I read her poem “Some Nights” in What Kind of Woman. It begins like this:

Some nights she walks out to the
driveway where the lilacs bloom and
lies down on the warm pavement even
though the neighbors will see and wonder
what kind of woman does such things….

When I’m stuck and can’t get started writing, I often borrow a structure, a phrase, or a word from an author I admire. In this case, I borrowed Kate’s phrase (which also happens to be her title) “some nights.” Lately we’ve had an array of wildlife, mostly deer, visit our backyard at night, so it didn’t take long for that phrase to get me started:

Some Nights…

the deer wander

through the brush

          over the fence

               into the backyard.

They are still,

alert to danger

with bright eyes reflections

of the moon.

After a while, they venture closer

     munch morning glories

          hostas

               my favorite red geraniums.

They leave a calling card

as if the pruned plants aren’t enough.

Some nights I’m lucky enough to catch them.

I watch and wonder

about the space we share,

the give and take of nature’s bounty.
Draft, 2023RoseCappelli

Matt has the roundup today at Radio, Rhythm & Rhyme where he is celebrating the publication of his newest picture book poem The Thing to Remember about Stargazing, illustrated by Sonia Maria Luce Possentini and published by Tilbury House. Be sure to stop by for lots of poetry goodness.

Happy Poetry Friday!

A couple of weeks ago I stopped at a small independent bookstore in search of a journal I was giving as a gift. Of course, I was also checking out the books, and quickly found myself in the poetry section where a slim volume caught my eye:

I was not familiar with the poet, Marie Ponsot, but I loved the image. Marie Ponsot put her career on hold to raise seven children as a single mother. During that time, she continued to write. She stashed away notebooks filled with her words, and once said ” There is always time to write one line of poetry.” Much of Marie Ponsot’s poetry did not emerge until her later years of life (she died in 2019 at the age of 98), but she published seven volumes, won many awards, and served as a chancellor of the Academy of American Poets.

There are several poems in Easy that explore clouds. I couldn’t find these works online, but here is an excerpt from “This Bridge, Like Poetry, Is Vertigo”:

Describing the wind that drives it, cloud
rides between earth and space. Cloud
shields earth from sun-scorch. Cloud
bursts to cure earth’s thirst. Cloud
– airy, wet, photogenic –
is a bridge or go-between;
it does as it is done by.
It condenses. It evaporates.
It draws seas up, rains down.
I do love the drift of clouds.
Cloud-love is irresistible,
untypical, uninfinite.

I decided, after reading Marie Ponsot’s cloud poems, to spend some time focusing on clouds myself. Here are a few short poems that emerged:

Clouds

i

tracks from dancing stars
criss-cross the sky in white wisps
of cotton-gauze

ii

   white is white
unless it’s a cloud-filled sky
sown with shadows—
colors waiting to
break out
break through
break into
a rainbow

iii

clouds plump
ready to perform
when air is muggy
damp
cold

take a whiff –
smells like snow

iv

as if signaled by a higher power
storm clouds part
letting in the light
the calm
of day’s end
Draft, 2023RoseCappelli

Carol has the roundup today at Beyond Literacy Link where she bids farewell to summer and extends an invitation to add to her Summer’s End padlet. Be sure check out her blog for lots of poetry goodness.

I’m happy to be hosting Poetry Friday today! Thanks for reading and be sure to check out the links at the end of this post.

Last week for my poetry group, the Nevermores, Patricia posed the challenge to write a reverso poem. My thoughts immediately went to Marilyn Singer who invented the form and whose poems are so clever and witty.

How could I possibly do that? I like trying new poetry forms, but a reverso just seemed so hard. Patricia gave us a link to some tips from Marilyn here, I scoured the internet for more ideas, and finally decided I was ready to give it a go. I knew I wanted to write a poem that not only made sense reading from top to bottom or bottom to top, but also offered different points of view. I love fall, but since not everyone agrees with me that fall is the best season, I decided to use that as my subject. I began by writing down the pros and cons of fall, then looked for commonalities. For example, I enjoy the cooler weather after the heat and humidity of summer, but others may view cooler weather as a sign that winter is on its way. I started small with just a few lines, then expanded. I found that punctuation and short sentences (sometimes one word) were key in helping to establish varying points of view. I don’t think I nailed the emotion completely, but here’s my first attempt (after much revision) at a reverso:

Please leave your link below!

Happy Poetry Friday!

This was indeed a week of pleasant surprises in the mail. I was excited to receive my preorder of The Museum on the Moon: The Curious Objects on the Lunar Surface by Irene Latham with illustrations by Myriam Wares. As a fellow poet and moon-lover, Irene’s book hits all the right spots.

In the opening triolet, “Welcome, Earthlings!” Irene invites us to explore and learn that “…the Moon is more than an empty, gray cocoon.” Irene uses several other poetry forms including a Golden Shovel with the striking line “We come in peace for all mankind,” an acrostic, a ghazal, an epitaph, and more. Each poem is accompanied by a short nonfiction sidebar, with additional information in the back, making it a must-have for teachers, parents, and poetry lovers of all ages.

Throughout the book we are treated to Irene’s gift of finding the exact right word:

Human tracks tattoo
Moon’s rutted face—
from “Forever Footprints”

Now time-tattered,
sun-battered
from “Old Glory”

If you haven’t already done so, please put this book on your TBR list. Like the moondust Irene describes, it is a “…glow that ignites.”

This week I also received my copies of What Is Hope? This anthology is the latest from Sylvia Vardell and Janet Wong, and I am proud to have a poem included along with several other Poetry Friday friends. The profits From What Is Hope? go to the IBBY Children in Crisis Fund. This fund provides help and support to children around the world whose lives have been disrupted by war, civil disorder, or natural disaster. Thank you, Janet and Sylvia, for all you do as champions of literacy.

Amy Ludwig VanDerwater has the roundup today at The Poem Farm. Be sure to stop by for some helpful writing tips and lots more poetry goodness.

Happy Poetry Friday!

This was the first year I participated in the Sealey Challenge to read a book of poetry every day in August, and I’m proud to say I was successful. I chose old friends to reread that sparked memories from my teaching days and ideas for my own work.

Yesterday I revisited A Chill in the Air: Nature Poems for Fall and Winter by John Frank with illustrations by Mike Reed. I’ve always been fascinated by the way one season melts into the next. In fact, I have an entire picture book manuscript devoted to seasonal change that I hope one day will be a book. I especially love the transition from summer to fall – warm days and cool nights, baseball’s last hurrah in the midst of football frenzy, nature’s changing color palette. John Frank’s small poems got me thinking about the transition we’re heading into now and sparked this pantoum:

Transition

Summer doesn’t slip away
In the deep and dark of night.
Roses offer one last bloom
Won’t give up without a fight.

In the deep and dark of night
Spiders spin a lacy web.
Won’t give up without a fight
Linger long with morning dew.

Spiders spin a lacy web,
Mice romp through garden’s harvest.
Linger long with morning dew
Not content to rest yet.

Mice romp through garden’s harvest
Roses offer one last bloom
Not content to rest…yet
Summer slips away.
Draft, 2023RoseCappelli

In addition to A Chill in the Air, I rounded out the Sealey Challenge with:

Friends and Anemones: Ocean Poems for Children by The Writers’ Loft Authors and Illustrators.
I Never Said I Wasn’t Difficult by Sara Holbrook.
This Poem is a Nest by Irene Latham. Illustrated by Joanna Wright.
Hailstones and Halibut Bones by Mary O’Neill. Illustrated by John Waller.
Long Night Moon by Cynthia Rylant. Illustrated by Marc Siegel.
Book Speak! Poems About Books by Laura Purdie Salas with illustrations by Josee Bisaillon.

Ramona has the round up today at Pleasures From the Page. Please stop by.