The Miss Rumphius Effect

Friday, May 28, 2021

Poetry Sisters Write Ekphrastic Poems

This month's Poetry Sisters challenge was to write a poem in response to an image. We had a few to choose from, but I decided to write to a photo Sara shared of Spider Dress and Serpent. This dress was designed by Isamu Noguchi in 1946 for Martha Graham dance productions. It was worn by Graham for the performance Cave of the Heart, in which she portrayed Medea who, after being abandoned for another woman by her husband Jason, killed his wife and their children.

Photo taken by Sara Lewis Holmes at the Smithsonian American Art Museum.

When we met on Zoom almost two weeks ago, I was still thinking about the 4×4 form that I'd seen in an earlier Poetry Friday post. Denise Krebs at Dare to Care invented this form. Here are the rules.

4 syllables in each line
4 lines in each stanza
4 stanzas
4 times repeating a refrain line–line 1 in the first stanza, line 2 in the second stanza, line 3 in the third stanza, and line 4 in the fourth stanza.
Bonus: 4 syllables in the title
No restrictions on subject, rhyme, or meter.

This felt like a good form to constrain my writing. Given the dress, a restrictive form seemed like the way to go. I wrote several different poems, but this one is my favorite.

Corsetted Heart

inside a cage

I'm tightly bound

can barely move

no breath, no sound

my heart is locked

inside a cage

the pain it feels

time can't assuage

these wounds don't heal

when locked away

inside a cage

a taut ballet

all tender souls

will disengage

when living life

inside a cage

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

Would you like to try the next challenge? Next month we are writing zentangle poems. If you are unfamiliar with this form, check out this post by Kat Apel. Share your poem on June in a post and/or on social media with the tag #PoetryPals. We look forward to reading your poems!

I do hope you'll take some time to check out all the wonderful poetic things being shared and collected today by Michelle Kogan. Happy poetry Friday friends!

Friday, May 21, 2021

Poetry Friday - Celebrating Mary Lee

When I started my blog late in 2006, I quickly found my way to kidlit blogs, Poetry Friday and an amazing community. A Year of Reading, so beautifully written by Mary Lee and Franki, became one of my regular reads. It has evolved over the years, much like this blog has, though Mary Lee and Franki have been more consistent than I.

I'm grateful for all Mary Lee has taught me over the years about teaching, about poetry, about life. As a teacher educator, I find retirements bittersweet. I know how hard it is to find good teachers, especially those who serve for many years with a passion that is unabated. I also know how hard teaching is and how well-deserved a rest is when it is time to go.

I spent a week trying on different poetic forms and trying to find the words for a fitting tribute. In the end, I went with fishing, because this isn't an end, but a beginning. The poem I wrote is a lai. The Lai is a French syllabic verse form consisting of one or more stanza of nine lines with two rhymes, though the rhyme can vary from stanza to stanza. Here are features of the form.

9 lines.
Rhyme scheme is a-a-b-a-a-b-a-a-b.
Lines ending with rhyme a are five syllables in length.
Lines ending with rhyme b are two syllables in length.

Mary Lee, I wish you many happy hours in a stream, up to your waders in quiet, and sun, and peace.

Fly Fishing

perfect and apart

river steals my heart

each swish

of line, each cast start

a rhythm to chart

a wish

that this quiet art

hook set will impart

a fish

I do hope you'll take some time to check out the posts honoring Mary Lee today, as well as all the other wonderful poetic things being shared and collected today Christie Wyman at Wondering and Wandering. Happy poetry Friday friends.

Friday, April 30, 2021

NPM 2021 - Poetry Friday, Found Poem 30, and Writing With My Poetry Sisters

Welcome Poetry Friday friends! This year for National Poetry Month I wrote and shared found poems, most of which were science- or nature-themed. Even though my poetry sisters and I are sharing the results of this month's challenge today, I couldn't let the month pass without completing one final poem in this series.

Today's found poem comes from Seashells: More Than a Home, written by Melissa Stewart and illustrated by Sarah S. Brannen. Unlike other found poems I have written this month, this one uses words and phrases in an order that is different from the way they appear in the text.

Seashells

at home in the sea

mollusks

live a secret life

some float and dive

dodge and dart

skim and glide

through the water

some spend time

on the ocean floor

scrape and grind

sand and mud

tunnel into the seabed

in time, a curious afterlife

as treasures

in all shapes,

sizes and colors

wash up on beaches

all over the Earth

You can find links to all the found poems I've written this month on the NPM 2021 page. I also shared these poems as images on my Instagram, which is a good place to go if you want to see them all in one place.

*****

This month's Poetry Sisters challenge was to write a poem in the style of Linda Hogan's "Innocence." I spent a lot of time thinking about (stressing over) this one and was feeling really lost. We had an opportunity to exchange ideas before we met on Sunday, and our subsequent conversation about form and topic really helped me think about how to proceed. Since I have volcanoes on the brain, I decided to use a variation of Hogan's first line and begin with "There is nothing more __." The word I chose was constructive. The poem didn't go where I expected, but they rarely do. This one is untitled.

There is nothing more constructive

than an active volcano

eerily silent for centuries then

suddenly roaring to life

with a mighty rumble

belching ash, cinder, and smoke

into the sky

while fissures in the earth

ooze lava in a scorching

blanket of molten rock

Beneath the surface, Vulcan

hammers away at the smithy

forging weapons of war

Earth tremors have me wondering

who has wronged whom,

and why

We do not learn from our missteps

conflict is inevitable, as unavoidable

as an island newly formed

from a volcano awoken

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

Would you like to try the next challenge? Next month we are writing ekphrastic poems. Share your poem on May 28th in a post and/or on social media with the tag #PoetryPals. We look forward to reading your poems!

I do hope you'll take some time to check out all the wonderful poetic things being shared and collected today by Matt Forrest Esenwine. Happy poetry Friday friends!

Thursday, April 29, 2021

NPM 2021 - Found Poem 29

Today's found poem comes from Out of School and Into Nature: The Anna Comstock Story, written by Suzanne Slade and illustrated by Jessica Lanan.

Wild About Nature

hold it close

feel it squish

run barefoot

climb tall trees

just sit--watch

discover secrets to

marvelous mysteries

caterpillars changing into butterflies

water freezing into snowflakes

trees turning rain and sunlight into sweet sap

explore

fall in love

with nature

keep passion

for the environment

alive

I hope you'll come back tomorrow and see what new poem I've found. Until then, you may want to read previous poems in this series. I'm also sharing these found poems as images on my Instagram in case you want to see them all in one place.

April 1 - Flotsam

April 2 - A Warm Wind

April 3 - Zentangle Poem

April 4 - Soap Bubbles

April 5 - Following Butterflies

April 6 - Mount St. Helens

April 7 - Beautiful Buildings

April 8 - Muir in California

April 9 - Night on the Reef

April 10 - The Greatest Story Ever Told

April 11 - Archaeologists Look for Clues

April 12 - Slow Thoughts
April 13 - Snowflake Bentley

April 14 - Walter Rothschild and His Museum

April 15 - Ben Franklin, Inventor

April 16 - One Well

April 17 - Phytoplankton

April 18 - Beneath My Feet

April 19 - Being Caribou

April 20 - Studying Adélie Penguins

April 21 - Fossils

April 22 - On the Brink

April 23 - Surtsey

April 24 - Up From the Dirt

April 25 - Black Holes

April 26 - Meant to be Noticed

April 27 - Untitled Poem About Snow

April 28 - The Sky's the Limit

Wednesday, April 28, 2021

NPM 2021 - Found Poem 28

Today's found poem comes from The Sky's the Limit: Stories of Discovery by Women and Girls, written by Catherine Thimmesh and illustrated by Melissa Sweet.

The Sky's the Limit

women

endowed with curiosity

seek, explore, question

to dig up, to find out

despite scant recognition

in history books

century after century

day after day

women are discoverers

unbound

unhindered

limitless

women--past and present--

define the world

April 1 - Flotsam

April 2 - A Warm Wind

April 3 - Zentangle Poem

April 4 - Soap Bubbles

April 5 - Following Butterflies

April 6 - Mount St. Helens

April 7 - Beautiful Buildings

April 8 - Muir in California

April 9 - Night on the Reef

April 10 - The Greatest Story Ever Told

April 11 - Archaeologists Look for Clues

April 12 - Slow Thoughts
April 13 - Snowflake Bentley

April 14 - Walter Rothschild and His Museum

April 15 - Ben Franklin, Inventor

April 16 - One Well

April 17 - Phytoplankton

April 18 - Beneath My Feet

April 19 - Being Caribou

April 20 - Studying Adélie Penguins

April 21 - Fossils

April 22 - On the Brink

April 23 - Surtsey

April 24 - Up From the Dirt

April 25 - Black Holes

April 26 - Meant to be Noticed

April 27 - Untitled Poem About Snow

Tuesday, April 27, 2021

NPM 2021 - Found Poem 27

Today's found poem comes from The Secret Life of a Snowflake: An Up-Close Look at the Art & Science of Snowflakes, by Kenneth Libbrecht. Unlike other found poems I have written this month, this one uses words and phrases in an order that is sometimes different from the way they appear in the text.

snowflakes fall

look close!

tiny ice flowers

float gently down

reflecting light

wonderful shapes, each different

tumble through the clouds

winter's secret beauty

falling art and science

April 1 - Flotsam

April 2 - A Warm Wind

April 3 - Zentangle Poem

April 4 - Soap Bubbles

April 5 - Following Butterflies

April 6 - Mount St. Helens

April 7 - Beautiful Buildings

April 8 - Muir in California

April 9 - Night on the Reef

April 10 - The Greatest Story Ever Told

April 11 - Archaeologists Look for Clues

April 12 - Slow Thoughts
April 13 - Snowflake Bentley

April 14 - Walter Rothschild and His Museum

April 15 - Ben Franklin, Inventor

April 16 - One Well

April 17 - Phytoplankton

April 18 - Beneath My Feet

April 19 - Being Caribou

April 20 - Studying Adélie Penguins

April 21 - Fossils

April 22 - On the Brink

April 23 - Surtsey

April 24 - Up From the Dirt

April 25 - Black Holes

April 26 - Meant to be Noticed

Monday, April 26, 2021

NPM 2021 - Found Poem 26

Today's found poem comes from the New York Times article Some Male Birds Fly Under False Colors to Attract Mates, Study Suggests, written by Emily Anthes. Unlike other found poems I have written this month, this one uses words and phrases in an order that is sometimes different from the way they appear in the text.