Just this, from 6 am on 11/6:
Be, my friends. Be well if you can, be strong, be sanctuary if possible; be yourself.
Just this, from 6 am on 11/6:
Be, my friends. Be well if you can, be strong, be sanctuary if possible; be yourself.
And then, the next evening, scrolling, scrolling as we do, I came across Yo-Yo Ma sitting on the edge of his sofa, playing the same tune on his cello. The caption was "A #songofcomfort for anyone who needs it." Interesting, right? I mean, it's kind of a jig tune, full of uplift to my ear, not cradling, and yet it IS comforting to think of simplicity as the freedom and of coming DOWN as the comfort, right? I have more thoughts on this song and how my perception of it has changed over the years, but for now: thanks, Shakers. Thanks, Aaron Copland. Thanks, Yo-Yo Ma. Thanks, Disembodied Whistler.
The reason I'm thinking these simple thoughts is that our Inklings Challenge for November--yes! it is November!--is a simple one from Linda Mitchell:
Use this poem by Joy Harjo as a mentor text in any way that makes your heart happy.
It seems to me the height of simplicity, this poem. Not too long. No fancy words. Some rhymed lines, but nothing too obvious or spectacular; rhythms irregular but pleasing, repetition present but light. And the moment, the emotion--simple but deeply abiding. I decided I wanted to recreate all this in the voice of a kid. I think she's around 9. I tried to stay close to the structure of Joy's* poem.
#manifestblue
#manifestgreen
#manifestpeace
#standonthesideoflove
and I'll see you on the other side...
Mary Lee Hahn @ A(nother) Year of Reading
Catherine Flynn @ Reading to the Core
Molly Hogan @ Nix the Comfort Zone
Linda Mitchell @ A Word Edgewise
Margaret Simon @ Reflections on the Teche
*Yes, in my mind, I call all poets, even the great ones, by their first names. Or their first and last names. I call Kamala Kamala and Joe Joe. I hardly ever name you-know-who but in my mind I call him Donnie and try to remember that he was little once too. It excuses nothing but it's good human empathy training. I will admit that in the last week I've been calling that other guy Eff Bezos.
Poetry Peeps! You’re invited to our challenge for the month of October! Here’s the scoop: We’re building! Our prompt comes from p. 139 of The Practice of Poetry: Writing Exercises from Poets Who Teach, edited by Robin Behn and Chase Twichell, and we’re writing a poem in which we literally build and/or take apart something – large or small. Our focus will be on constructing or deconstructing, taking into account technical terms, instructions, and perhaps even material sources. A great mentor poem would be something like this, or this. Are you in? Good! You have a month to craft your creation and share it on October 25th in a post and/or on social media with the tag #PoetryPals.It turns out I wrote an adjacent poem this week, without knowing what the challenge was. See what you think, and I'll try to make some rounds late Saturday to see what everyone has posted...I'm one of those people who likes factory tours and floor plans and detailed cooking and art TikToks.
So raise your glass/mug/cup/fist and let us celebrate longevity, tradition and novelty, and the feeling of still having something to say!
(Y'all will let me know if ever that's not true, right?)
Bloggiversary Poem, Twice as Old
All threads and trains,no rules, restraints;No due dates, deadlines, or demands.I get to choose. It's in my hands:voice, vocabulary,venom or valentine--Each and every muse is mine.Dive in deep or reach out wide;noisy soapbox, soft aside;Sampling the past or hewing the new,I talk to myself, I write to you.Revels, relations,revelations live hereYear after year after year.
draft HM 2016; redraft 2024
And now for the climate portion of our program: you may recall my deep dive in April 2022 into ALL WE CAN SAVE, a collection of essays and poetry edited by Ayana Elizabeth Johnson and Katharine K. Wilkinson. Dr. Ayana has a new book out that I'm just starting to dip into, but all you need to know right now (okay, all *I* needed to know) is that this book comes with an Anti-Apocalypse Mixtape playlist. People, we are going to be Dancing for the Planet together (but that's a project for another post).
Check this out:
From Margret, via Laura Shovan, invented by new-to-me author Shari Green--A Pythagorean Poem!
Here's the math background: Pythagoras's theorem is a2 + b2 = c2.Mary Lee Hahn @ A(nother) Year of Reading
Catherine Flynn @ Reading to the Core
Molly Hogan @ Nix the Comfort Zone
Linda Mitchell @ A Word Edgewise
Margaret Simon @ Reflections on the Teche
What applies to every one of us is the hour of advocacy action we'll take as part of Sunday's service: a nonpartisan Get Out the Vote effort. Why does it matter? Because we can support those affected "first and worst" by climate change to raise their voices through their votes.
Wanna hear something surprising? Loads of people who identify as environmentalists don't vote regularly! (I don't know; are they out kayaking on Election Day?) The Environmental Voter Project aims to change that.
I've spent this week kicking off a new round of WHISPERshout Writing Workshop afterschool classes. Our theme is TINY ENORMOUS. Drawing from the really wonderful materials and tools of The Private Eye Project, we are examining nature objects using jeweler's loupes with 5x magnification, thinking metaphorically, and writing poetry from our observations and imaginations.
Here are some photos from the first classes and a collaborative poem about the subject of our first loupe-study and drawing:
Fingerprint | The WHISPERshout Writers
My fingertipbumps and twirlslike the feathersof a birdlike waves on thewaterIt arches like arainbow, opens like acaveit swoops and spiralsstripes on a zebraMy fingerprint swirlslike soft-serve ice cream
Now let's see/hear/examine what you've been up to! Add your links below, and thanks for being here.
You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!
Click here to enterNot too much has changed since May, although an awful lot is different this year, both personally and professionally. I've dropped in over the summer because the Inklings monthly challenge has continued apace, and it's easy for me to rise to that kind of prompt. (Turns out it's much harder to rise to my own intentions, which have none of the force of someone else's expectation! A treatise on this subject sometime soon...)
And once again this week we've been offered a Good One--this time simply and straightforwardly by Mary Lee:
Use Next Time, by Joyce Sutphen, as a mentor poem for your own Next Time poem.
I enjoyed doing the thing where I put the mentor poem in one column on the left and write my poem in the column on the right. Do you ever do it that way?
Join me next week when the new school year will be in full swing for lots of you all, while I'm trying all over again to be a member of the Working Retired (which is nothing at all like the Walking Dead, nuh-uh).
Until then, let's thank Buffy Silverman for hosting us today, and let's be sure to visit the other Inklings to see what they'll be like Next Time.
Mary Lee Hahn @ A(nother) Year of Reading
Catherine Flynn @ Reading to the Core
Molly Hogan @ Nix the Comfort Zone
Linda Mitchell @ A Word Edgewise
Margaret Simon @ Reflections on the Teche
"The first week of August hangs at the very top of summer, the top of the live-long year, like the highest seat of a Ferris wheel when it pauses in its turning. The weeks that come before are only a climb from balmy spring, and those that follow a drop to the chill of autumn, but the first week of August is motionless, and hot. It is curiously silent, too, with blank white dawns and glaring noons, and sunsets smeared with too much color. Often at night there is lightning, but it quivers all alone. There is no thunder, no relieving rain. These are strange and breathless days, the dog days, when people are led to do things they are sure to be sorry for after."
I'm dropping in again during this, my Summer of Submission, to participate in the Inklings monthly challenge, which piggybacks on my "wish you were here" postcard poem challenge from July. Catherine wrote to us from the Library of Congress website:
Ada Limón’s project as Poet Laureate is “You Are Here.” “This project is for everyone, and I hope people of all ages—poets and nonpoets—will feel moved to write their own response to the “You Are Here” prompt. It’s simple: What would you write in response to the landscape around you? You can share your response if you choose using the hashtag #youareherepoetry. Here is a link to the website: https://www.loc.gov/programs/poetry-and-literature/poet-laureate/poet-laureate-projects/you-are-here/Very very cool, with the National Parks connection! I copped out a little but I'm pleased with my effort, which surprised me.
Mary Lee Hahn @ A(nother) Year of Reading
Catherine Flynn @ Reading to the Core
Molly Hogan @ Nix the Comfort Zone
Linda Mitchell @ A Word Edgewise
Margaret Simon @ Reflections on the Teche
We interrupt this hiatus to participate in the First Friday Inklings Challenge, a short and sweet one set by me during this time of travel and tasks, rest and recharge:
Write a short postcard poem with choice details of your vacation/holiday/ getaway/escape location and activities. Conclude with "Wish you were here" or some variation! Inspiration: https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poetrymagazine/poems/159256/from-postcards
From "Postcards" by Bert Meyers
And who knew this existed?
https://cascadiapoeticslab.org/poetrypostcards/
https://cascadiapoeticslab.org/how-to-write-a-postcard-poem/
Mine's a little home-sweet-home message:
Thanks to Jan at BookSeedStudio (who is bringing us WATERMELON SUGAR--so special to me) for hosting us this holiday weekend. Let's see where else we're receiving postcards from...
Mary Lee Hahn @ A(nother) Year of Reading
Catherine Flynn @ Reading to the Core
Molly Hogan @ Nix the Comfort Zone
Linda Mitchell @ A Word Edgewise
Margaret Simon @ Reflections on the Teche
You can find this week's piece and subscribe yourself here. (The photo depicts people using the Local and online "climate cafés" popping up that....facilitate open, frank discussions about the climate crisis and the emotions that living in this particular moment brings up, reports Katharine. They also help like-minded people connect, collaborate, and build community so we know we’re not alone.)
Batteries made of sand?! by Katharine Hayhoe
Sand batteries, extreme Asian heat wave, and Climate Cafés
Read on SubstackAs poets, we can practice holding delicate moments, human and inhumane nuances, and consider the possible beauty in all of it. - Kay Ulanday Barrett