Tag Archives: writing

May Gray: NPM22 Day 10

Today’s poetry prompt is to write a definito, a definition poem, as described by Margaret over at #verselove at Ethical ELA. As is usual for me, I was inspired by a walk on the beach today…a walk in the deep gray of a thick marine layer that has blotted the sun. Here’s my definito (which likely is breaking all the rules of a definito).

May Gray
A weather term in frequent use
in Southern CA
characterized by
pervasive
persistent
thick
moist
gray
marine layer
tightly wrapping the sun in its cloak
keeping light rays at bay
May Gray can be sneaky
whispering its way into the day
in swatches of clouds
graying a brilliant blue sky
often settling only on the west side
of the freeway
Sometimes May Gray is protective
pushing forecasted heat waves back
into inland valleys
keeping the coastline cool
under its gray covers
May Gray is moody
dampening Spring Fever
cooling anticipation
of beach days
It might even be the reason
for the prevailing fashion:
short shorts and tank tops
paired with Ugg boots and puffer jackets
Just when you hope that summer is near
you remember that
May Gray is followed by its close cousin
June Gloom
and when it arrives in April…
Argghhh!
Go away, May Gray
@kd0602

Heron Blue: NPM22 Day 9

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Heron Blue
Misty tendrils
the softest breath
caresses my arms, musses my hair
exhaling as I inhale familiar saltiness
Not eggshell blue of soft pastels
or jay blue of bright flashes
today is heron blue
almost gray
dark
but not quite
after the sun fades
but before night arrives
In the distance
curved neck, sharp beak
unmistakeable silhouette
I hurry but not too fast
Your silence matches mine
while wave songs play in the distance
You stretch, becoming a roller coaster
of twists and turns
searching, scanning
hunting
patient
In a slow motion
stretch of wings
you lift
effortlessly launched
shape shifting into flight
I watch and wonder
energized by the power of stillness
and the reverence of blue
from sky to sea
to feathers
heron blue
@kd0602

Somehow Dixie over at Ethical ELA conjured this heron into my path today…the day she offered bird as our #verselove poetry prompt. Thanks Dixie–readers here know I love my egrets…and their cousin, the great blue heron is a welcome sighting any day!

Each Footstep: NPM22 Day 8

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Participating in #verselove over at Ethical ELA feels like a daily workout, faced with innovative approaches to poetry that I might not otherwise attempt. And today is no different. Today Scott has challenged us to show something without telling. So here goes…

Each Footstep
Don’t let them fool you
It’s all about the shoes
pulled on over two pairs of socks
a smooth, thin inner layer
and soft cushy outer layer
crissed and crossed
hooked and tightened
tied in a double knotted bow
These boots are made for walking
And they log miles
on dirt
over rocks
through snow
into squelching mud
across crunching gravel
beside trickling streams
Heading nowhere and everywhere
filling my ears
with birdsong
and windy symphonics
the scritch of lizard toes
echoing thump, thump of woodpeckers
the chasing race of squirrels
My faithful friend
gives me a lens
to see anew
snapping scenic vistas
noticing nature’s intricate and unexpected artwork
heightening awareness and concern
for Earth’s fragile beauty
Each footstep connects me
to my breath
to the planet
to these booted feet
These feet were made for walking
@kd0602

(Showing hiking without telling that I hike…with my camera!)

Turn the Wind to Power: NPM22 Day 7

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On day 7 of National Poetry Month, I have faced the most difficult challenge ever! As you know from Day 3, I don’t identify as a music person and today’s challenge was to use a song structure to write new lyrics. Chris over at Ethical ELA was generous, offering his song as structure and giving writers an out–if it doesn’t work for you, do something else. But…the point is to try…right?!?

So after a day spent in 100 degree temperatures learning about and photographing power generating windmills, I just had to figure out how to say something with a song structure. Since music is definitely a challenge for me, I asked my husband what song he might think of related to our exploration today. And he offered up the old classic, They Call the Wind Mariah from the movie Paint Your Wagon.

I listened and hummed…and tried my own (amateur-ish) attempt at song writing. This will definitely not be up for any Grammys, but I hope you get a bit of a glimpse of what a windmill farm is all about.

Turn the Wind to Power
Way out here the land is spare
spaces openly devoured
Nature gifts the wind, the sun, the land
emptiness once stretch for hours
Against cerulean cloudless skies
these faceless giants tower
Farmed energy these crops of wind
give city folks their power
Spin it, oh spin it
tall mills of wind, they spin it
They twist and turn and spin again
and turn the wind to power
@kd0602

Joshua Tree: NPM22 Day 6

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Today’s poem was inspired by the desert beauty of Joshua Tree National Park and the poetry prompt from Mo over at Ethical ELA as part of April’s #verselove. Today’s poetry comes in the form of a cherita–as Mo describes it: a 6 line story in 3 stanzas. First stanza is a single line, second stanza has 2 lines, and the third stanza has three lines. WordPress sometimes fights with me over formatting–so hopefully this will bear out as intended!

San Gorgonio Mountain view from Joshua Tree National Park

Joshua Tree
In this land life is hearty: thin and sharp
When water–life’s blood–arrives
natives drink their fill, not sure when the next sip will arrive
Living in this harsh world, extremes equal balance
hot and cold hold hands / wet and dry play tag
beauty is in the eye of the beholder and everywhere if you know where to look
@kd0602

San Jacinto: NPM22 Day 5

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Today’s prompt for #verselove on Ethical ELA is to craft a 4×4 poem: 4 lines, 4 syllables per line, 4 stanzas, and a repeating refrain that moves from line 1 to 4 through the poem. As I hiked San Jacinto today, I found myself thinking about words and ideas that might fit this new-to-me poetic structure. Here’s my draft:

San Jacinto
On San Jacinto
desert dry surrounds
mountains touch the sky
beckoning welcome
Alpine gondola
on San Jacinto
lifts to altitude
snowy spring hiking
Slushy slidy snow
melting in cool pools
on San Jacinto
desert far below
Descent to Palm Springs
desert wonderland
after day’s hiking
on San Jacinto
@kd0602

Collage Myself: NPM22 Day 4

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Once again I took my poetry inspiration from #verselove at Ethical ELA where I found seeds left by Jennifer. I found myself thinking about photography and exploration and identity and the ways that words are intertwined with all of those.

Collage Myself
Collage myself upon canvas
places in pixels
lighted and enlightening
dots on a map
pinned in my synapses
clipped and pieced
negative space/positive space
aligned
developing images
to
collage myself
upon canvas
@kd0602

I’m Not a Music Person: NPM22 Day 3

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On this third day of National Poetry Month, #verselove via Ethical ELA focused on the idea of collaborative inspiration. I love the way that Gae and Lori inspired each other by “poeming” each other and then using the poem as a starting point for their own writing. I definitely felt poemed this morning as I read through the poems already scattered by the participants in this month-long poetry fest. It’s interesting to me that I’m not sure exactly what triggered my own piece…and idea, a word, a comment left by someone on one of the poems…

I’m Not a Music Person
I’m not a music person says the one
who keeps the radio set on talk
Until…
the first strains of Fur Elise transport her back to childhood
and the roommate–the stocky second (or third) hand upright
where her hands learned to make music
Until…
rifs from Take the A Train and other classic jazz
set her toes to tapping and fingers snapping
and she remembers listening to them move from noise to music
and that unexpected Christmas morning duet,
a gift from the heart
Until…she bursts into song (off key of course)
when The Sound of Music comes on TV
and her sons are dumbfounded that she knows
all the words
Until…
grandbabies come and she croons to them
the lullabies from her childhood and their fathers’ childhoods
tunes traced through neuronal pathways
I’m not a music person
until the music comes on
until the music plays
I might be a music person
@kd0602

Things I Know by Heart: NPM22 Day 2

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Imagine my surprise this morning when the post by Ethical ELA was hosted by friend and colleague Emily Yamasaki! I was immediately drawn into both the mentor poem, things I have memorized by Maria Giesbrecht and Emily’s poem, Things I Know. I dove deeply into the cool pool of poems that emerged from Emily’s provocation, reading and feeling, admiring and analyzing as I began to think about my own writing for this second day of National Poetry Month.

Things I Know by Heart
The sleek curve of the egret’s neck
in the tidepool at low tide
The smells of love that fill our home
emanating from the kitchen
The silence of his last breath
matching the empty space in our family
My daily commute, etched in the recesses of my mind,
requiring no conscious thought
My childhood phone number
but not my passwords–they continue to elude me
The sweetness of little boys
now into the second generation
Fear of fire, seared into my memory
brought back by ashes that rain down like snowflakes
Fog’s gray blanket
an indicator that spring has arrived
Each of the traffic spots on the 5 between our house and theirs
no matter how long it takes, every trip is worth it
Sunset’s fiery sky painting
celebrating endings and promising new beginnings
@kd0602

Chasing a Snail: NPM22 Day 1

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It’s April! And it’s the first day of National Poetry Month. I don’t profess to be a great poet–but I am able to share my love of words and poetry with my students–especially when I do the things I ask them to do.

So even though this is not a teaching day for me and even though Spring Break begins tomorrow and I won’t see my students until April 11th, I will write a poem each day. I know that I will be better able to coach and guide them if I am doing the poetry writing I want them to try.

I plan to use Eve Merriam’s Peeling an Orange with them when we get back to school after Spring Break, so why not experiment with it as a mentor text today? One of the techniques I notice in this poem is her use of the contrasting words carelessly and meticulously. So, since photos tend to inspire my writing, I took a peek through my camera roll and spotted this one of a snail from a neighborhood walk earlier this week. And here is the poem it inspired:

Chasing a Snail

Hurrying

all feet and shadow

risking the horrifying crunch

or moving in slowly

my phone a wall

as the telescoping antennae

stretch and reach

each centimeter forward

marked with a telltale spot

of drying slime

like invisible ink

in a race against

time and dryness