Poetry Sisters Go Into the Woods

Tanita set our challenge this month, which was to write to the theme of susurrus or an image of thick woods, in whatever form we choose. For a minute I was completely freaked out by the thought that I had to use the word susurrus in my poem. Nope, not happening. I didn't even try. It's a fun word to say, and the kind that would make a line of iambic pentameter sing, but I just didn't have it in me to expend the time and energy to make it work. That means I decided to go with the woods.

The form I chose is the triolet. A triolet is an 8-line poem that uses only two rhymes throughout. The first line is repeated in the fourth and seventh lines, while the second line is repeated in the final (eighth) line. Because of this, only five different poetic lines are written.  The rhyme scheme for a triolet is ABaAabAB (where capital letters stand for repeated lines).

And guess what? As I wrote several different drafts, I actually found a way to incorporate susurrus (or a form of it), although I feel like this poem needs a glossary. Anyway, gauntlet thrown, challenge accepted, and completed! Here's my triolet.

Into the Woods
How baleful the thick night wood
marked only by slivers of light
the wolf to my red riding hood

How baleful the thick night wood
its susurrations misunderstood

As owls awake and take flight
how baleful the thick night wood
marked only by slivers of light

Poem ©Tricia Stohr-Hunt, 2020. All rights reserved.

You can read the pieces written by my Poetry Sisters at the links below. 

• Tanita Davis
• Rebecca Holmes
• Sara Lewis Holmes
• Kelly Ramsdell
• Laura Purdie Salas
• Liz Garton Scanlon
• Andi Sibley

If you’d like to write with us next month, the challenge is to write an etheree with the theme of foresight or summer or both. We'll be posting on the last Friday of the month (July 31).

I do hope you'll take some time to check out all the wonderful poetic things being shared and collected today by Karen Eastlund at Karen's Got a Blog. Happy poetry Friday friends!

Poetry Friday is Here!

Last year when the call went out for Poetry Friday hosts, I selected this date because I knew I would be knee deep in the classroom and anticipated this day would be at the end of my year in second grade. I never imagined it would end this way. And could you have imagined in January all that would occur in such a short span of time?

I wish I had the words to express how deeply saddened and angry I am about all that has happened and is still happening, not just since Memorial Day with the senseless killing of George Floyd, but for more days than I can count. My social studies methods class last night focused on the teaching of hard history and slavery. I'm not sure I did the topic justice in one 2 hour and  40 minute session, but  at least we began the conversation and talked about the importance of confronting our past and recognizing the impact it has on our present and future.

My writing has been dark and sad. It lacks hope, but I keep writing. My first poem in the summer poetry swap went to Ruth of There is no such thing as a God-forsaken town and was entitled In the Shadow of Violence and Oppression. It was a found poem inspired by current events and was created using lines adapted and modified from The Poisonwood Bible, the story of a missionary family who move from Georgia to the Belgian Congo in 1959. You can read it here if you are interested. I wrote several draft poems using language from this text, including the one below.

The poem I'm sharing today is a golden shovel that uses the lines "Do I dare/Disturb the universe?/In a minute there is time" from The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock" by T.S. Eliot.

It was one thing I was able to do 
hold a sign, hold a hand. I 
wanted to do more, but did not dare
too afraid to offend, too weak to disturb.
As lives turn inside-out and upside-down, the 
world turns uneasily, barreling through the universe.
Here in my city, in
this former confederate stronghold, a
glimmer of hope sparked for a minute
but it did not last, could not take root where there
are towering statutes to pain, to our ugly history. Is
this a battle we can win? I hope so. It's long past time.

Poem ©Tricia Stohr-Hunt, 2020. All rights reserved.

I do hope you'll take some time to check out all the wonderful poetic things being shared and collected today. I'm rounding things up old-school style, so please leave a comment and I'll add you to the post. 

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In  Tribute

Michelle Heidenrich Barnes of Today's Little Ditty shares a memorial to her dear friend Carrie Clickard.

Original Poetry

Laura Purdie Salas shares a poem on eve of her daughter's wedding entitled I Need You Need Me.

Robyn Hood Black of Life on the Deckle Edge is sharing a found poem collage entitled Keep in Balance.  

Janice Scully of Salt City Verse has some clerihews for us.

Linda Mitchell  of A Word Edgewise is sharing a found poem entitled This is What Listening Looks Like.

Sally  Murphy shares her poem Orange Cats in a lovely, narrated video form.

Charles Waters rounds up all the amazing poetry happenings in his world AND shares an original poem.

Michelle Kogan shares a poem for Father's Day entitled Father's Perseverance.

Carmela Martino of Teaching Authors shares Trying Something New, a syllable-square poem in the "In One Word" poetry form invented by April Halprin Wayland. 

Carol Varsalona of Beyond Literacy Link shares a photo collage poem in the form of a golden shovel entitled Grandma Love.

Linda Baie of TeacherDance shares a poem entitled All Sides Are Slippery.

Bridget Magee shares many wee things today, including an original poem, a book 'wee-view', and a tiny word wee-source.

Molly Hogan of Nix the comfort zone shares a poem entitled Tabernacle.

Amy of Book Buzz shares a poem inspired by a favorite decorative item in her house.

Irene Latham of Live Your Poem shares her latest ArtSpeak: RED poem entitled "And this is where we shall meet."

Fran Haley of Lit Bits and Pieces shares a loop poem inspired by Margaret Simon's “This Photo Wants to Be a Poem” prompt. 

Tim Kulp of Reflections Arc is sharing a poem in the form of a social media retelling of a myth.

Tim Gels of Yet There Is Method shares a poem entitled Feathers.

Elaine Magliaro of Wild Rose Reader shares A Poem For Three Baby Birds, written by her granddaughter.

Matt Forrest Esenwine shares his poem "Stumpfield Pond, 1975," which won the MacGregor Poetry Prize in 2019.  

Amy Ludwig VanDerwater of The Poem Farm shares a poem entitled "Here".

Carol of The Apples in My Orchard is sharing a number of pandemic haiku.

MSheehan of A Few Words is sharing a poem inspired by "The Love Song of J Alfred Prufrock" by T.S. Eliot.

Margaret Simon of Reflections on the Teche shares a found poem to celebrate Juneteenth.

Poems of Others

Karen  Eastlund is sharing a poem by Rainer Maria Rilke.

Jama  Rattigan of  Jama's Alphabet Soup is sharing the poem  The Night of Corona by Ann Barber.

Little Willow is sharing the poem Wood. Salt. Tin. by Jane Hirshfield.

Ruth of There is no such thing as a God-forsaken town shares a lovely bunch of poetry swap poems she received from Kat Apel, and some poetic words about statutes coming down. 

Catherine Flynn of Reading to the Core shares the poem “Worth” by Marilyn Nelson.

Karen Edmisten is sharing Ross Gay's poem entitled "A Small Needful Fact." 

Poetry  Books

Mary Lee Hahn of A Year of Reading shares an excerpt and thoughts about Woke: A Young Poet's Call to Justice.

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Happy poetry Friday all!