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Friday, July 31, 2020

Poetry Sisters and Friends Write Etherees

This month's assignment was to write an etheree with the theme of foresight or summer or both! An etheree is a poem of ten lines in which each line contains one more syllable than the last. Beginning with one syllable and ending with ten, this unrhymed form is named for its creator, 20th century American poet Etheree Taylor Armstrong.

I haven't been able to get the events that have unfolded since Memorial Day out of my mind, so my poem is really about current events.

A Pair of Etherees for Our Summer of Protest

blind
we were
unaware
so unprepared
for 2020
we rang in the new year
with exaltation, high hopes
but life spiraled out of control
we masked up, marched for George and black lives
determined to meet tomorrow with hope

hope
for change
for justice
for peace, we stand
united by loss
by incredulity
and unfathomable love
John Lewis led, so we follow
in his mighty footsteps we step out
to make good and necessary trouble

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

You can read the pieces written by my Poetry Sisters at the links below. As usual, life has gotten in the way for some folks, but they'll be back for other challenges. 
If you’d like to write with us next month, the theme is hindsight and the challenge is to pick one of your old poems to revise and/or write a new poem in conversation with it. You may use any form you like. We will be posting on the last Friday of the month (August 28) and would love to have you join us.

I do hope you'll take some time to check out all the wonderful poetic things being shared and collected today by Catherine Flynn at Reading to the Core. Happy poetry Friday friends!
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10 comments:

  1. Liz Garton Scanlon7/31/2020 8:35 AM

    I love that these two poems together form a kind of marching chant, Tricia. And that last line is everything...

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  2. laurasalas7/31/2020 9:41 AM

    Oh, Tricia. I think this is some of your best work.You think it's over at the first hope. But then the next one expands that...and don't we all need expanded hope. Lovely.

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  3. tanita✿davis7/31/2020 2:12 PM

    Good and necessary trouble, indeed. Thank you for making a promise of a loss.

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  4. Bridget Magee7/31/2020 3:09 PM

    I'm glad you shared your pair of etherees. Both reflect the times we're in but keep us moving toward the "necessary trouble".

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  5. Tabatha7/31/2020 3:14 PM

    "Unfathomable love" -- ♥️ Love that never stops moving us forward. Very nice, Tricia!

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  6. Molly Hogan7/31/2020 4:56 PM

    These paired etherees are wonderful.

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  7. Carol Varsalona7/31/2020 9:07 PM

    Tricia, what wonderful insight into 2020:
    so unprepared
    for 2020
    followed by the recurrent theme of hope.
    We shall follow in Lewis' footsteps and your poetic feelings "to make good and necessary trouble".
    I added a former blog post of yours on the etheree format to my PF blog. It was helpful when creating my etheree (first time trying this format out).

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  8. Linda Mitchell7/31/2020 10:51 PM

    Goodness...we had no idea. Your etherees ring too true for me.

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  9. Catherine Flynn8/02/2020 1:44 PM

    I am in awe of these etherees, Tricia. Continuing to be "determined to meet tomorrow with hope" is only possible with "unfathomable love." Thank you for reminding me of this.

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  10. Michelle Kogan8/05/2020 1:54 AM

    It's difficult to keep the times out of one's thoughts and writing… Thanks for your two powerful and hope-filled poems, and for keeping John Lewis' voice front and center!

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