Writing Centos With My Poetry Sisters

The challenge this month, set by Sara, was to write a cento. Here are the directions we received.

I pick a line of poetry from a poet outside our culture (whatever that means!).  Then to diversify, we each build our centos by choosing a different word from that line. That way, we will have varied poems, but each poem will be unified by its own unique word. 

Say I choose this from the poet Agha Shahid Ali:
     I see Argentina and Paraguay
     under a curfew of glass, their colors
     breaking, like oil. The night in Uruguay 

Then each of us could pick a word from it:  "Argentina" or "Paraguay" (hard!) or "curfew" or "glass" or "colors" or "breaking" or even "see" or "under"  and collage a poem from there. Every subsequent line has to be taken from a different poem and has to have your chosen word somewhere in it, long or short.  Feel free to use as many poems and cultures as you like.  

This has been my favorite challenge so far this year. I collected more than 12 pages of poetry lines containing the word under. I cut the lines apart and moved them around, a lot like magnetic poetry. Here's the first poem I wrote. You can find the source of the lines (and title) below the poem.

words under pressure bleed original sense¹

I. 
answer, if you hear the words under the words²
under the edge of february³
under the holsteins’ steaming noses⁴
days below days like a river running under the stars⁵

remember the sky that you were born under⁶
under eclipse and the day blotted out⁷
under a curfew of glass⁸
crying under the alder⁹

II.
without trousers and without underpants¹⁰
a stranger is peeing ecstatic under the moon¹¹
under the terrible burden of destiny laughing as a young man laughs¹²

under awnings, under stars¹³
have sex under the giant philodendron¹⁴
and in the ooze under¹⁵
no gods remember it, no understanding¹⁶

III. 
I want to be whole again, so I begin living truthfully under¹⁷
every night, under the millions of stars¹⁸
heart expanding under the ice¹⁹

1. words under pressure bleed original sense by George Quasha
2. The Words Under the Words by Naomi Shihab Nye
3. Under the Edge of February by Jayne Cortez
4. A Family History by Julia Spicher Kasdorf
5. The Forgotten Madmen of Ménilmontant by Frank Stanford
6. Remember by Joy Harjo
7. The Tower by W. B. Yeats
8. I See Chile in My Rearview Mirror by Agha Shahid Ali
9. What the Horses See at Night by Robin Robertson
10. Lives of the Dead: An Epic: Chapter One by Hanoch Levin, translated by Ata Hadari
11. Under a Full Moon at Midnight by Merrill Leffler
12. Chicago by Carl Sandburg
13. The Shooting of John Dillinger Outside the Biograph Theater, July 22, 1934 by David Wagoner
14. Dispatches from Devereux Slough by Mark Jarman
15. Canto XIV by Ezra Pound
16. Twilights, V by Conrad Aiken
17. Living Truthfully Under Imaginary Circumstances by Elizabeth A.I. Powell
18. Ruins Under the Stars by Galway Kinnell
19. Phases by Michael Redhill

I had so much fun writing the first poem that I decided to try a second. I like this one even better than the first. And yes, my dreams are this weird.

Where Dreams Take Me After Reading at Bedtime

our little apartment under the freeway overpass¹
under chenille bedspreads²
watching the garden winter under the moon³

under the hooves of a horse⁴
trampled underfoot⁵
tossed, knotted and torn under⁶

by the sea under the yellow and sagging moon⁷
a beaked ship under sail⁸
under the arching heavens⁹

circling a railway underpass¹⁰
where badgers undermine the tarred road¹¹
on the underside of the world¹²

under the gas lamps luring the farm boys¹³
to have sex under the giant philodendron¹⁴
in worn underpants and plastic sandals¹⁵

playing in the dirt under a porch¹⁶
crawling under the stairs¹⁷
under the brown fog of a winter noon¹⁸

under the triumphal arch¹⁹
the hard sidewalk under my shoes²⁰
a heap of ruins trodden underfoot²¹

in your “office” under the lean-to²²
under the racket of this day’s distractions²³
reading the Greeks under a blanket of blue²⁴

screaming under the stairways²⁵
under Grand Central’s tattered vault²⁶
under a curfew of glass²⁷

wherever the human heart beats with terrible throes under its ribs²⁸
under the bedroom floor²⁹

1. At the Grave of My Guardian Angel: St. Louis Cemetery, New Orleans by Larry Levis
2. Falling by James Dickey
3. Phases by Michael Redhill
4. The Forgotten Madmen of Ménilmontant by Frank Stanford
5. Your Shakespeare by Marvin Bell
6. Enter the Void by Juan Felipe Herrera
7. Out of the Cradle Endlessly Rocking by Walt Whitman
8. The Swan by John Gould Fletcher
9. When Lilacs Last in the Dooryard Bloom’d by Walt Whitman
10. How to Draw a Perfect Circle by Terrance Hayes
11. Over the Dead Flatness of the Fens by William Logan
12.  [I pinch myself hard on the inner arm] by Susan Hampton
13. Chicago by Carl Sandburg
14. Dispatches from Devereux Slough by Mark Jarman
15. Painted Eyes by Henri Cole
16. The Great Migration by Minnie Bruce Pratt
17. The Shark’s Parlor by James Dickey
18. The Waste Land by T. S. Eliot
19. The Cafe Underground by John Malcolm Brinnin
20. CXIV by Sonnet L’Abeé 
21. 1851: A Message to Denmark Hill by Richard Howard
22. Vertumnal by Stephen Yenser
23. Morning Voices by Ed Falco
24. Reading the Greeks Under a Blanket of Blue by William Coleman
25. Howl, Parts I & II by Allen Ginsberg
26. Broadway by Mark Doty
27. I See Chile in My Rearview Mirror by Agha Shahid Ali 
28. Song of Myself (1892 version) by Walt Whitman
29. The Shark’s Parlor by James Dickey

Poems ©Tricia Stohr-Hunt, 2018. All rights reserved.

You can read the pieces written by my poetry sisters at the links below. Life has called some sisters away this month, but they'll be back.

• Tanita Davis
• Liz Garton Scanlon
• Sara Lewis Holmes
• Laura Purdie Salas

I do hope you'll take some time to check out all the wonderful poetic things being shared and collected today by Carol Varsalona at Beyond Literacy Link. Happy poetry Friday friends!

#pb10for10 - Encouraging the Skill of Observation

I've spent the last two weeks cleaning my office and weeding my bookshelves. That means I've put my hands on every book and have had some time to think about my offering for the Picture Book 10for10 event.

In February for the Nonfiction 10for10 event, I shared a list of books to inspire future scientists. I'm still thinking about science as I prepare for the upcoming semester and am already selecting the books I will use in those early weeks. This time around I'm focusing on the books I share to teach and encourage the skill of observation.

Sam & Dave Dig a Hole,

written by Mac Barnett and illustrated by Jon Klassen

Seven Blind Mice,

written and illustrated by Ed Young

I Feel a Foot!

written by Maranke Rinck and illustrated by Martijn Van Der Linden

Who Done It?,

written and illustrated by Olivier Tallec

(Definitely check out the companions to this title: Who What Where? and Who Was That?)

Where's the Pair?: a spotting book,

written and illustrated by Britta Tekentrup

(Tekentrup has SO MANY amazing books in this same format. Don't miss The Odd One Out, One Is Not a Pair, Where Did They Go?, and Where's the Baby?)

Unlikely Pairs,

written by Bob Raczka

They All Say a Cat,

written and illustrated by Brendan Wenzel

On the Way to the Beach,

written and illustrated by Henry Cole

(Also check out I Took a Walk.)

Can You See What I See? Picture Puzzles to Search and Solve,

written and photographed by Walter Wick

(Wick photographed the I Spy books and eventually developed this series of his own, which contains numerous titles.)

I Spy: A Book of Picture Riddles,

with riddles by Jean Marzollo and photographs by Walter Wick

(As you know, there are also many books in this series.)

Looking Closely Inside the Garden,

written and photographed by Frank Serafini

(This is part of a series that also includes books for pond, shore, rainforest, forest, and desert.)

I know this is 11 books, and I suppose I cheated a bit by mentioning other related books, but it's so hard to stop at just 10! You can read the lists others have put together at Picture Book 10 for 10.

Writing Sestinas with the Poetry Sisters

This month the challenge we undertook was to write a sestina. It's been 3 years, so it seemed like time. Yeah, not so much!

A sestina is composed of 33 lines in five stanzas of six lines each, with a envoi of three lines for the final stanza. The form is created by the repetition of the six end-words of the first stanza. The final tercet is called the envoi and contains all of the end-words. Here is what the form looks like.

Stanza 1: ABCDEF

Stanza 2: FAEBDC

Stanza 3: FDABE

Stanza 4: ECBFAD

Stanza 5: DEACFB

Stanza 6: BDFECA

Envoi: BE / DC / FA

Each of us offered up two words to create a list of words to choose from. Those words were: face, down, mirror, ground, prism, prison, block, bend, wishes, beam, string, and blade.

I found the word pool hard to work with. The six words I chose were face, mirror, blade, down, prison, and wishes. After several false starts, I decided telling a story might help me make this form work. Here's what I came up with.

Madwoman in the Attic
She cannot see her own face
but remembers its reflection in the mirror
too dangerous, they say, shards too like a blade
he believes he can keep her down
locked inside this third floor prison
she won’t be honoring his wishes

She longs for freedom and she wishes
to confront him face-to-face
he’s the one deserving prison
yet he smiles at himself in the mirror
one day his world will tumble down
he’ll feel it as the sharpest blade

She’d like to wander in the grass, relish every blade
run to the well that’s made for wishes
toss a coin and follow it down
imagine the shock upon his face
her’s will be his mirror
guilt soon will be his prison

but the attic’s not her prison
it’s her mind that is the blade
she’s chopped up in the mirror
sharp edges, blurry lines, and wishes
all wrapped inside a fractured face
she’s keeping up appearances, but it will all come crashing down

Her nursemaid says, “Calm down.
Thornfield is not your prison.”
But the lie shows on her face
Grace has cut her like a blade
no one answers to her wishes
so untruth is what she’ll mirror

“Who’s the fairest, magic mirror?”
she asks while sitting down
she has nothing left but wishes
so she plots escape from prison
she stabbed one with a blade
burned another, marred his face

Amidst the flames she mirrors his pain while breaking from this prison.
She jumps and tumbles down, pain slicing deeper than a blade.
It’s insanity that wishes, one last look upon his face.

Poem ©Tricia Stohr-Hunt, 2018. All rights reserved.

I started a second poem, but after the third stanza I didn't know where to go with it. Instead of a story, I thought perhaps disconnected stanzas mights be easier to write. The six words I chose were ground, beam, face, down, string, and bend. Here's the rough draft I have so far. I hope to return to this one, perhaps as a tritina or some other form.

In the News (2018)
Young boys trapped underground
no light, no single beam
such fears they had to face
through water they dove down
the path to freedom marked by a string
they didn't break but had to bend

Staunch politicians will not bend
standing firm on 2nd amendment ground
we cannot pluck their heart strings
Undecideds walk the beam
"Can't let constituents down!"
but it's survivors (children) they must face

You can see acceptance on their faces
to Mother Nature they must bend
seems the world is falling down
cracking roads and shaking ground
lava burns houses to their beams
life holding to a string

Draft ©Tricia Stohr-Hunt, 2018. All rights reserved.

You can read the pieces written by my poetry sisters at the links below. Life has called some sisters away this month, but they'll be back.

• Tanita Davis
• Sara Lewis Holmes
• Laura Purdie Salas

I do hope you'll take some time to check out all the wonderful poetic things being shared and collected today by Mary Lee at A Year of Reading. Happy poetry Friday friends!

Poetry Friday is Here!

Welcome! I'm happy you are here to celebrate all things poetry today.

The first Friday of the month is always one of my favorite days because I get to share writing that I've engaged in with my poetry sisters. This month the challenge Kelly presented us was to write in the style of Aphra Behn, "one of the most influential dramatists of the late seventeenth century, was also a celebrated poet and novelist." (Or so says the Poetry Foundation. I had not heard of her until this challenge.) You can learn more about her at the Poetry Foundation site.

I ditched my original poem because it sucked. Since I spent all day yesterday at Busch Gardens, I decided that's what I needed to write about instead. I'll admit that I find iambic tetrameter hard. It seems incomplete, so some of my lines are actually 9 syllables long. Here's my offering for this month's challenge, along with a video of my favorite ride from the day.

Roller Coasters After Fifty
I can’t contain the scream that falls
or squelch the laugh from deep within
from high to low my world a spin,
"Again!" the roller coaster calls.
Hard and fast my heart pounds out a beat
surely you can hear it thumping
holding to the bar feels like a cheat
loud and bumpy, cars are jumping.
Fifty-something's not too old to ride.
Live a little on the wild side.

Poem ©Tricia Stohr-Hunt, 2018. All rights reserved.

You can read the pieces written written by my poetry sisters at the links below.

• Legacy by Tanita Davis
• Let Flowers Fall by Liz Garton Scanlon
• Poor She-Spye by Kelly Fineman
• The Sixth by Sara Lewis Holmes
• Things I Will Miss When We Move by Laura Purdie Salas

I'm thrilled to hosting this shindig today. I'm rounding this up old-school style, so leave a link and I'll get you listed. Happy poetry Friday friends!

*****
Original Poetry
Kay McGriff is offering up a poem entitled Sunflowers.

At Random Noodling, Diane Mayr is sharing an ekphrastic poem entitled Iconography.

Over at A Word Edgewise, Mitchell Linda has a series of haiku that tell the story of a Flamingo named Bob.

Over at Nix the Comfort Zone, Molly is sharing some light-hearted verse.

Catherine Flynn of Reading to the Core is sharing a poem that begins with the line "All is in flux."

JoAnn Early Macken is sharing a bevy of haiku.

Heidi Mordhosrt of my juicy little universe is sharing a metaphor poem and thoughts about using metaphor dice to generate ideas.

Over at Wild Rose Reader, Elaine Magliaro is sharing some poems on beetles.

Amy Ludwig VanDerwater is sharing a poem on Monarchs, some lovely photos, and writing advice.

Matt Forrest Esenwine of Radio, Rhythm & Rhyme shares a poem entitled Standing at the Door, Mid-Summer.

Carol Varsalona of Beyond Literacy Link is sharing a gardening poem inspired by a Twitter chat.

Irene Latham of Live Your Poem shares some thoughts about The Lost Words by Robert Macfarlane and Jackie Morris. That book inspired an original poem, Skunk, written in the form used in the book.

Mandy of Enjoy and Embrace Writing shares a poem entitled Inside and Out.

Over at Mainely Write, Donna is sharing some acrostics and other poems on the theme of looking back/looking forward.

Poetry of Others
Mary Lee Hahn of A Year of Reading is sharing a haiku by Issa.

Over at Bildungsroman, Little Willow is sharing A Song on the End of the World by Czeslaw Milosz.

Tara Smith is swinging open the doors on a new blog, a new phase in life, a new adventure, and sharing Mary Oliver's poem Going to Walden.

Ruth from There is no such thing as a God-forsaken town is sharing thoughts of home and a bit of poetry by Wislawa Szymborska.

Over at Carol's Corner, Carol is sharing a trio of Naomi Shihab Nye poems.

Ramona of Pleasures From the Page is sharing the poem Moments of Summer by Racael Hadas.

Poetry Swap Goodies
Linda B. of Teacher Dance is sharing her latest poetry swap surprise.

Tabatha Yeatts is sharing her poetry swap swag, origami with poems!

Michelle Kogan a poem about the Plein Air event she's participating in, as well as sharing some poetry swap goodness.

Over at Wondering and Wandering, Christie is sharing her poetry sway swag.

Other Poetic Tidbits
Over at Kurious Kitty's Kurio Kabinet, Diane Mayr is sharing some spider poetry.

Kimberly Hutmacher continues the Bayou Song blog tour.


That's a wrap! Happy poetry Friday all. 

Poetry Friday - Writing Limericks with My Sisters

Tanita issued our challenge this month, which was to write limericks (3!) on the topic of bees and birds.

As usual, I wrote these at the last minute. I enjoy writing limericks because it's really the only time I allow myself to be silly when writing poetry. I suppose I should take this as encouragement to be silly a bit more often in my writing.

Here's what I ended up with.

There once was a bird in a tree
Who looked down unkindly on me
     He rose into the sky
     And shat in my eye
Then returned to his branch filled with glee


There once was a bee in my room
Drawn by the sweet scent of perfume
     He buzzed through the night
     Kept me up ’till dawn’s light
Then in anger my shoe spelled his doom


In a fruit basket near a ripe plum
Flew a bee round and round with a hum
     I swatted and swore
     But he knew the score
And repaid me by stinging my bum

Poems ©Tricia Stohr-Hunt, 2018. All rights reserved.

You can read the pieces written written by my poetry sisters at the links below. 

• Tanita Davis
• Kelly Fineman
• Sara Lewis Holmes
• Laura Purdie Salas
• Liz Garton Scanlon

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

Poetry Friday - Toasting with My Poetry Sisters

Sara issued our challenge this month, which was to "write a pithy (or extended) toast to someone or something that could be recited on some occasion. You may use a form or not, as you see fit, but the toast must begin and end with the same two words."

Sigh ... I've never written a toast in my life, so I found this a bit daunting. Heck, I find most of our challenges daunting! The hardest bit for me was finding an appropriate topic. I fiddled for a long time, trying to find something I actually wanted to celebrate. Here's what I ended up with.

A Toast To My Sisters

A toast to my sisters
who see with keen eyes
the smallest details
from the ground to the sky

A toast to my sisters
who wrestle with words
and wrangle with meter
that begs to be heard

A toast to my sisters
who write it all down
then revise and rework
every verb, every noun

A toast to my sisters
who follow their hearts
give voice to the voiceless
emotion to art

To my poetry sisters
though we're miles apart
I raise up a glass to
offer my heart
and a toast.

Poem ©Tricia Stohr-Hunt, 2018. All rights reserved.

You can read the pieces written written by my poetry sisters at the links below. 

• Tanita Davis
• Kelly Fineman
• Sara Lewis Holmes
• Laura Purdie Salas
• Liz Garton Scanlon

I do hope you'll take some time to check out all the wonderful poetic things being shared and collected today by Brenda Davis Harsham at Friendly Fairy Tales. Happy poetry Friday friends.

NPM 4-30: End of April

On this last day of April, it's fitting that I share this poem by Phillis Levin.

End of April

Under a cherry tree
I found a robin’s egg,
broken, but not shattered.

I had been thinking of you,
and was kneeling in the grass
among fallen blossoms

when I saw it: a blue scrap,
a delicate toy, as light
as confetti

It didn’t seem real,
but nature will do such things
from time to time.

I looked inside:
it was glistening, hollow,
a perfect shell

except for the missing crown,
which made it possible
to look inside.

What had been there
is gone now
and lives in my heart

where, periodically,
it opens up its wings,
tearing me apart.


I've enjoyed exploring different poets and poems this month. Thanks for following along. And remember, just because National Poetry Month is ending, doesn't mean the daily reading of poetry has to end.