Day 4, Inspiration
Process
Yep. That. That is the inspiration for today. Breath. Breathing. In. Out. And again. And again.
First, I ask that we begin with this because we can do this. We do, do this. We breathe. Who knew that it would be a privilege rather than a right, that this pandemic would overcome airways of our most vulnerable, of our historically marginalized because of systemic injustice. And so I ask that if you can, that you breathe. Notice and appreciate your breath. In. And. Out.
Now, I invite you to name what you breathe in. What do you want to, need to breathe in, to receive (yes, return to yesterday’s poem)? This may be abstract or concrete.
And then name what you breathe out. This may be something toxic in your body or life that you want to expel, or it may be something that you are giving to others, the world. Perhaps what you exhale is a wish or a gift.
Form
Nonet Duo. As for form, your poem can take whatever form you wish, but maybe you’d like to practice a nonet breathing in and a reverse nonet breathing out. A nonet is a nine-line poem. In the nonet form, each line contains specific, descending syllable counts. The first line contains nine syllables, the second line contains eight, and so on.
Diamante. Or maybe you’d like to try a diamante poem, invented in 1969 by Iris McClellan Tiedt. The antonym diamante poem is a rather accessible formula for students and a great way to illuminate relationships between concrete and abstract concepts and consider white space. What you breathe in and out need not be antonyms to use this form. In my diamante example below, I used some of the following guidelines –as you know, we don’t have to follow any rules here.
- Line one: Noun
- Line two: Two adjectives that describe the noun in line one
- Line three: Three verbs that end with “ing” and describe the noun’s actions or functions in line one
- Line four: Four nouns—the first two must relate to the noun in line one and the second two will relate to the noun in line seven
- Line five: Three verbs that end with “ing” and describe the noun in line seven
- Line six: Two adjectives that describe the noun in line seven
- Line seven: Noun that is opposite in meaning to line one (antonym diamante) or the same in meaning (synonym diamante) as the noun in line one
Sarah’s Poem
peace
nourish, heal
sowing, growing, blossoming
breathe in, breathe out
hovering, fluttering, soaring
tend, comfort
gratitude
Your Turn
Your Turn
Now, scroll to the comment section below to write your own poem. (This is a public space, so you may use only your first name or initials depending on your privacy preferences.) Not ready? That’s okay. Read the poems already posted for more inspiration. Ponder your own throughout the day. Return later. And, if the prompt does not work for you, that is fine. All writing is welcome. Just write something. Also, please be sure to respond to at least three writers. Oh, and a note about drafting: Since we are writing in short bursts, we all understand (and even welcome) the typos and partial poems that remind us we are human and that writing is always becoming. If you’d like to invite other teachers to write with us, tell them to subscribe.
Whoops! Meant to post this to Wednesday.
Nevermind 🙂
Judgment
pain, heartless
hurting, breaking, smothering
breath in, breath out,
freeing, humbling, magnifying
heavenly, abundant
Grace.
Dr. Donovan, I loved the idea of a poem that resembles breathing itself! I decided to try and take it a different direction and make the poem look sort of like the wave of a breath in and out. Here’s my (rough) attempt!
“Melody”
Bagpipes churning out
A melody that’s soft and sad
The music flies before it falls
And plummets to the earth
Then whistles back into
Cracked lips and
Fills my lungs once more
A gentle fog of peace and rest
A cloud of life’s rebirth
Ann, I quite like your poem and it’s replication of a bagpipe. The school where I taught 30 years has a dance group called The Lassies; they dress in “traditional” Scottish attire and perform a routine to bagpipe music at the opening assembly every school year. In your poem my favorite image is
Ann,
What a lovely breathing poem. I read it as a wave of breathing in and out. It has such lovely and peaceful rhythm. My favorites lines are:
Chi
Powerful, solitary
energizing, cultivating, fulfilling
vitality, soul, purpose peace
moving, circulating, animating
divine, tranquil
Qi
Tammi, I love that your poem feels like a meditation. Thank you for creating space to relax and reflect.
Tammi, I love the words you chose for this poem! They each invoke very specific emotions. This poem is somehow both soothing and motivating.
Again, the late night writing SUCKS. I sketched some thoughts out early this morning and then the day literally ate me WHOLE!
Here I am wishing my eyelids could hold themselves up and unable to push through a nonet. I gave in to my diamante only because it was an easy way out. I’m admitting it. I didn’t stretch myself, or push past the blocks, I need this work week to be done.
What I Loved and What I Now Despise
2019
easy, free
teaching, gathering, hugging
classrooms, concerts, COVID, CHAOS
distancing, secluding, masking
exhausted, sick
2020
© Stacey L. Joy
Stacey, your image of being eaten whole by this day, made me both smile and say a prayer for you. Peace to you, my friend. The title of your poem is perfect, and then you specifically homed in on the importance of what was different in 2019 and 2020, especially those -ing word lines. Your poem has really resonated with me today.
I especially noticed your use of all caps above. It might be another found poem within.
SUCKS WHOLE
COVID CHAOS
Stacey, I think you wrote the poem you needed to write, a poem that says exactly what all teachers think about this year compared to last year. You deserve grace and comfort, so I’m sending you a big virtual hug. ‘Preciate you.
I love your effectively descriptive alliteration—all true! I love the image of teaching, gathering, and hugging! This is my heart as a teacher. Stupid COVID. Well done.
Stacey, I enjoy your line of four nouns. It also is very creative how 1. they all start with C’s and 2. the first two describe the beginning word and the last two connect to your ending word. Very creative!
nonet
days begin with few expectations
a friend stops by for a visit
sunny morning lots of talk
then firecrackers go off
the media called
the election
Biden and
Harris
won
I’m still doing the happy dance! The best days are the ones that “begin with few expectations” !
Love this. I like the way the opening lines are like so many days, but the last few lines point to such a specific, poignant moment.
Jamie, you have captured a moment in history here. A moment of sweet relief and a big collective world-wide breath of fresh air and hope.
Jamie, I love your word choice for this poem. It is precise and is easy to follow your thought through the end! I also love how it subtly rhymes.
Breathing through restricted lungs. Virus?
Negative. Progesterone. Yes.
Heart opener: stretch, reach, breathe.
Not the usual squeeze.
Expansion, growth, rise:
New life within
begets new
calm and
breath.
Love these lines: “New life within/begets new/ calm and/ breath.” It is so true. The miracle of new life does bring peace and makes us stop and appreciate the important things in life.
Are you expecting?
Congrats!
Yes! Thank you 🙂
Congrats! Disappointment has turned hopeful—allowing one to take a breath of relief. Thanks for sharing!
Diamante to My Students, Nov. 17, 2020
Room #408
bright light
warming storming transforming
create relate great classmates
growing knowing unknowing
liberated animated
you
Allison, what a wonderful celebration of your students. The word choice throughout is positively glowing. Loved the line “liberated animated”. Your classroom sounds so bright and inviting!
Allison,
I love your rhyming diamante. Your students are so blessed. I can’t wait until they are liberated and animated again for you and them.
I’m certain of the reference if this is your classroom, but this sounds like a REAL learning environment: “warming, storming, transforming.” I rally appreciated the “liberated, “animated” students who are becoming educated! Thanks!
I took the poem I wrote yesterday and put it into the antonym diamante form:
Tension
Tight, full
Rising, filling, overflowing
Stress, anxiety, compassion, love
Receiving, lowering, releasing
Gentle, Compassionate
Touch
Katrina,
I love the form shift here moving toward compassion. I wonder what it was like revising — delete, add, move, shift. That was likely a meaningful process of making sense of it as opposites.
So thoughtful,
Sarah
Katrina,
This poem rings so true. It is amazing how something as simple as
“touch” can relieve release “tension”. We definitely need more of this in our world.
I love the idea of revisiting and transforming a poem into another form. I want to try this!
I appreciated “lowering.” There is submission in this word: letting go. Thank you.
I guess I took this way too literally. I was going to make it diamond shaped but couldn’t figure out how on my phone. Ha! Oh well…
A Balance
By Nancy White
Oxygen
Pure and clean
Life-giving, healing, resuscitating
Fuel-burner, blood-booster, invisible, gas
Carb-producing, climate-warming
Necessary, yet wasteful
CO2
Nancy,
My eyes drifted to “blood-booster” and then toward the end with Co2. It is so cool to see how this shape informs the meaning and also how the eyes move through the stanza. I confess, I am not sure how to do the centering and such with this comment formatting, but yours looks great left justified!
Sarah
Nancy,
I really like the comparison you draw here: carb-producing, climate-warming. It is a sobering thought — that which gives us life can also cause our death.
I have been writing gratiku’s most of the month, so slipping into another poem that requires syllable counting felt right. I really enjoyed the challenge of mirroring the first and second stanza and also staying true to the syllable length. This was fun and I hope you enjoy this take on the nonet duo!
A Nonet Duo on Anxiety and Grace
by Erica Johnson
I can feel the squeeze deep in my chest.
That pit dropping in my stomach,
a stone weighing down with my
stress and anxiety.
My thoughts race along,
scuttling spiders,
escape by
breathing
out.
In,
breathe in,
Gulp the air.
Let it fill up:
compassion and grace
and love warm my body
despite our distance I feel
you give a reassuring hand
and permission granted to find peace.
“permission granted to find peace” – I love this! Through the simple act of breathing deeply.
I had to google gratiku – what a great idea! Your second stanza is a breath of fresh air – relaxing and calm.
Erica,
I love how I am exhaling and then breathing in as I get to the final lines and I am full of peace. I am holding my breath to keep the “permission granted to find peace” in as long as I can.
Sarah
Erica — this line: “scuttling spiders, /escape by /breathing/ out” really captures the anxiety we all feel. Totally relate to this.
Sara, thank you for the prompt and process. I needed to breathe today. Also, I enjoyed learning about a new form: the nonet. When formatting the poem in a document, I was played with the space on the page…the first stanza was left justified, while the second one was aligned to the right hand margin. I wanted the poem to look like it was actually “dueling.”
Better Angels
My parents and Sunday School taught me
the Golden Rule; Aristotle
asserted the Golden Mean.
Buddha: the Middle Way
I believe in peace,
social justice,
the power
of words,
hope.
Yet, there is a side that yearns for Greek
tragedy, a reckoning, or
a violent catharsis.
What Shakespearean curse
will burn the other
cheek? Leave the earth
scorched? Payback.
Vengeance.
Doubt.
Betsy, wow, this is so powerful. I love the contrast between these two nonets. I especially liked “What Shakespearean curse
will burn the other
cheek? ”
The ending rocks! Thanks for sharing these two perspectives! Brilliant!
I, too, ask the question you posed:
and generally come to the conclusion that this really won’t make me feel all that better. Believe in peace, believe in love! Thank you for this.
Yes! I feel this back and forth tug within myself a lot recently.
Love the tension and contrasting stanzas. There’s this struggle inside us all, I think. I have to believe love conquers all. Favorite lines:
Betsy—you’ve visited the two sides of my being! The juxtaposition is perfect—the two impulses—charity and revenge—summarized.
Betsy,
The allusions here are stunning and, well, just so layered with meaning. I feel like allusions are even more important with shorter forms that depend on an economy of words. “Violent catharsis” is really staying with me.
Sarah
Truth. There is stark contrast. I like how this is grounded in what you were raised to believe.
Wow! Love the juxtaposition of “The Golden Rule” to Greek Tragedy ! It really does have the feel of a duel.
Betsy, Yes! I agree with everyone else — you’ve definitely crafted a very cool poem. The “form” is perfect for the “content” here. This is the constant battle, isn’t it? Kindness and mercy vs vengeance and retribution. Which angels win? (Depends on the day and/or the offense, lol. For me at least.) And I love the lines “Greek / tragedy, a reckoning, or / a violent catharsis.” (I guess, I know which side I’m leaning on today, lol.)
Frustration creeps in, though I mask it
With a perceptible grimace
Understanding should be sought
I know nothing about
So much. Remember
Good will goes so
Far. I will
Breathe in
Grace.
The
Black cloud
Fills my chest,
My head, my heart
Its toxicity
Roils and boils, threatening
To take over mind and body
Serving no purpose, no reason
Therefore, I will breathe out judgement.
Mo,
I love the contrast of what you are breathing in to what you are breathing out. I can certainly relate to those “roils and boils” inside and how it never feels good to keep that in. I also thought the line break between “I know nothing about/so much” was very well done! Thank you for sharing this poem.
Mo, I can really feel the frustration here. You capture so many emotions at once; I sense you trying for self-control, to grant grace, rather than to judge. The feelings of negativity radiate in the second half. Those feelings can draw us into a dark place. The “toxicity” roiling is especially keen. Brilliant poem!
Mo, I’m feeling’ it! Way to describe the inner tension we all feel. Love this:
Yes. This. I have reached judgement on some things, which cannot be forgiven…
Oh, Mo, that second stanza is smoke moving that “roils and boils” will stay within, will suffocate if we don’t breathe it out and this — wow, “Therefore” — a must needed declaration. I am now saying to myself, “Sarah, choose, right now, to breathe out judgment — now!”
Okay,
Sarah
I need to breathe feelings like this out. I like how you’ve written about your experience with details that feel like mine.
walking through the forest in autumn
winds shifting branches with a groan
craggy old trees standing stark
sad crunch of leaves dying
light and warmth waning
tired world is
whispering
take a
breath
keep
walking
look again
notice the worn
the broken branches
hear their groans as exhale
absorb how old trees stretch high
sun and shadows weave together
write into this imperfect wonder
Maureen,
This is truly beautiful. The way you personify nature speaking in
offers permission to pause, reflect, and heal. I love the last line, too. It’s cathartic in its purpose:
Amanda Potts, who sometimes writes in this group, posts pictures each day from her walks. All summer she shared flower images on FB and IG. Lately she’s shared dying flower, leaves, and other images revealing the beauty of a tired world. Your poem honors this fall beauty.
How lovely to take us through this walk in the woods. I love how as the poem got shorter, it matched the scenery around you also “waning” — it was prefect! And then when it starts to expand again you bring this hope to the poem. I really appreciated that twist.
I absolutely love the line ‘write into this imperfect wonder” — that aspect of nature is my favorite to capture as well
Thank you for sharing this poem!
Maureen—I needed this. In the last week, three close friends have lost—or are losing—family members. I need some solace.
Maureen,
I want to be the tree in your poem stretching high! I love this image of “sun and shadows” together — complementing toward — and this — “imperfect wonder”! Wow!
Sarah
From dust to life,
in a single breath,
on the inhale
from disquietude to lull—
mountain peak,
momentum pivot—
on the exhale
from full to finish,
from stone to flesh,
in a single lion’s breath.
I really like how these two line stanzas read like breaths – inhale, exhale. Love how you described inhale as “from disquietude to lull” – showing the soothing value of a good cleansing breath.
Savannah! That last line — so powerful: “in a single lion’s breath.”
Sarah,
I’m learning so much! I’ve never heard of a diamante poem, much less written one. But I’ll try…
Faith over Fear
faith
blind, beautiful
trusting, believing, almost-knowing
confidence, conviction, doubt, disbelief
isolating, thieving, paralyzing
unwelcome, rejected
fear
Hi Libby, I’m with you. This is a new form for me. I love how you shifted the two ends from faith to fear. Excellent contrast.
Beautiful contrast between these two, faith over fear. I like how you begin with faith – truly, visually, faith over fear!
This is new to me, too! Love all we are learning here. Your faith/fear contrast is so accurate. They really are polar opposites.
Libby,
First, that alliteration and contrast in “faith” and “fear” but all the way throughout – -such music in every line that moves me from faith toward fear but always holding on to the first line and the positioning of the word “faith” at the top. This is poetry — when we see where the words hold space on the page and know it is there for a reason.
Love it (and you),
Sarah
A Balance
By Nancy White
Oxygen
Pure and clean
Life-giving, healing, resuscitating
Fuel-burner, blood-booster, invisible, gas
Carb-producing, climate-warming
Necessary, waste
CO2
Nancy,
This is a wonderful distillation of “oxygen,” but “waste” turned my head for a moment as I thought about how something necessary for sustaining life also becomes waste. This is the yin and Yang of life.
The science of breath! Love how you poetically describe this! The juxtaposition of “necessary, waste” is important for us all to think about.
I wrote this poem for my parents, and since the prompt dealt with breath, and the title of this poem is “The breaths in-between” I thought I’d share. Thank you for this space.
The breaths in-between
Throw the car keys into a field of lace and silk.
Sing ragweed until the pollen overflows nostrils
and you sneeze out your vows.
There is no soup in the cabinet but a waterbed full of
their laughter.
Sometimes your first refrigerator breaks
into tiny yellow hearts and stars; and those yellow shapes
grow up and become sons and daughters.
One day you wake up
And everything is different
you never think of the melting ice cubes that you left on the counter when you were young.
Park on the driveway; so the spot in the yard in front of our home will finally grow back and the grass that has been here longer than we have can breathe and live without worrying about its children.
Madison, I am so intrigued by the imagery throughout your poem. I especially enjoyed: “Sometimes your first refrigerator breaks
into tiny yellow hearts and stars; and those yellow shapes
grow up and become sons and daughters.”
The waking up, the melting ice cubes, the spot in the yard feels so familiar to me. Your final words are particularly thought-provoking. Truly moving poem! I love the complexity!
Oh my word! I love this. I can sense the journey. I also understand how we don’t think about the “ice cubes” when we are young. Time passes so quickly. Hug your little one tightly. She’ll grow up before you know it. Beautiful!
Transformation
fear
invasive determined
consuming debilitating paralyzing
choke gasp inhale exhale
noticing focusing centering
slow steady
calm
Sharon,
I was so into this diamante moving from and through fear with such powerful concepts — gosh “paralyzing” was something — and then the way you took care of me/readers to move us toward calm “slow, steady.”
Thank you,
Sarah
Sharon, I totally agree with Sarah here. I really appreciated the “transformation” from one “state” to the other.
And I also really liked how you not only intensified the fear — first it’s “consuming” then “debilitating” and finally “paralyzing” — but you also intensified the remedy — first you notice then you focus and final you must center yourself. I liked that. Thanks for crafting this!
Ooh what a wonderful lesson in poetry today and a beautiful theme, Sarah! I have learned two new forms and also you pointed me to a new website to learn more about poetry. Thank you for that.
Breathing
Going in it hurts! That harsh cold breath
filled with chilling news and emotion.
Can’t I take in something else
less words of resentment?
Must hold my breath now
and wait for times
inhaling
clear air
in
in
the time
being now
for words of love.
Breaths warm with support
inflating me with hope.
Ready! Go facing the days
filled with faith, zeal and loving kindness.
Exhaled blessings for my broken world.
Can’t I take in something else
less words of resentment?
I have been asking that question a lot lately… and your last line is exquisite.
Susan,
The way “in” and “in” hover in the middle separated by a blank line feels like holding a breath, holding space for what is next. Stunning in experience and appearance. This prompt is really making me think about the aesthetic of the poem and the subject – -very much like a concrete poem but more alive!
So good,
Sarah
Sarah, what seemed like a simple challenge to write a familiar form forced me to think about history close to my childhood home in Missouri and how this place resonates w/ the year 2020 when so many struggle to breathe. During my Covid-19 ordeal I did not experience loss of breath, although my oxygen levels dipped. Still, practicing yoga forces me to think about the power in a single breath. I decided to abandon the form. Also, the place I’ve written about is still there.
Breathe: A Narrative in One Word
TAMPKO
Roofing
Snorted
Sputtered
Spewed
Gray
Billowing
Noxious
Breaths:
Tar-Infused
Exhaust
Toxic
Chemicals
We
Inhaled
Driving
Along
U.S. 71
Problem:
Choking
I
Can’t
Breathe
Smoke
Like
Rope
Around
My
Esophagus
Hold
Breath
Gasp
Choke
While
Waiting
To
Exhale
Pass
Breathe
Again
Repeat
Trip
After
Trip
Clean
Air
Act
Commanded
Solution:
Install
Scrubbers
Filters
Protections
People
Require
Oxygen
Breath
Nectar
Give
All
Air
Support
Life
Driving
Along
U.S. 71
No
One
Misses
TAMPKO’s
Ashen
Air
Spewing
Grim
Reaper
Toxins
Looking
Upward
They
See
Blue
Skies
Filled
With
Pristine
Air
Take
Deep
Breaths
In
Exhale
Release
Breathe
Again
—Glenda Funk
Glenda, this is really good! Very vivid — this speaks to the power of “the single word.” At first, I didn’t read your “intro.” When my page refreshed, I was, like, mhm, intriguing, and I dove right in and I was compelled to follow the narrative to the end. I really like this moment (among many others): “I / Can’t / Breathe / Smoke / Like / Rope / Around / My / Esophagus.” So powerful!
Glenda,
There as a sense of hyperventilating here that struck me — the pace was at once fast and slow depending on my eyes, but I found myself speaking the words, very staccato and started embodying this as quick breaths until I finally caught my breath with the slightly longer, two syllable words in the end. Again.
Stunning in so many ways,
Sarah
This breathing experience you express is so like waiting to cross our Tijuana San Diego border. One waits in the awful exhaust and pollution for over an hour and when finally crosses back into the USA gets to breath a little better.
Truly, one gets breathless as they read this! This ‘spurting’ of a single word, I think of trying to speak during a hard workout. How hard it is to breathe in so many locales, and what a crime this is! These words:
cleverly illustrate how what goes on in one town/place affects us all. The contrast of breathing in the horrid air while seeing the beautiful blue above – oh, how painful! Very thought-provoking poem.
Truly powerful poem, Glenda! The word choice is so keen; I feel myself choking as I read. I love how you formatted this poem as it exudes the idea of trying to breathe while trying to escape at the same time. Brilliant!
Wow…I’m impressed with the feeling your poem created in me as I read it. I was so glad to get to the end when I could take in air and get out of the feeling of choking. Pretty amazing how that all can happen with one word per line.
I like the single column of words; makes me think of a rope; I’m curious what TAMPKO is
TAMPKO is a roofing company. They manufacture roofing, and I think they manufacture other building materials, too.
Wow, what a great form you chose to tell this story. Thank God for the Clean Air Act and for a new administration that will add to it, rather than diminish it. Like Scott said, that section of “smoke like rope around my esophagus” is so gripping. I was so happy for the good ending, the blue skies and pristine air. Beautiful.
Breathe In.
Both sons’ hugs at day’s end envelop, soothe.
Summer sun, hot baths, soft lilacs, smiles.
Childhood rhymes and one, two, three.
A morning dove’s prayerful coos.
Honey bees gentle chores.
One small sip.
Breathe in.
Breathe.
Breathe Out.
Clenched jaws, tight shoulders, mind strains release.
Demanding time crunches, to-do lists, food prep.
Heart’s rapid thumping: one, two, three.
Traffic noise a constant backdrop.
Phone and email alerts.
Gulps and chugs.
Breathe out.
Breathe.
*The life-giving image of the floral lungs inspired duo nonet shape. These were meant to be paired side by side in the shape of lungs, but I am unable to do that with this coding.
http://www.ethicalela.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/Screenshot_20201117-084608_Photos.jpg
Jennifer, I love what you have done here with this form. But I want the breathe out to happen first, so I can then breathe in the love of your son and a mourning dove’s coos. Such great imagery.
Jennifer,
Wow. Just wow. The poem itself is simply marvelous with details that make a person breathe in and things that make a person breathe out. But, then to see the concrete form looking like lungs . . . brilliant!
Bravo!
Jennifer, this format works so beautifully to create the image of lungs. The first part of your poem is so delightful,. Your line, “Honey bees gentle chores” is gorgeous. The warmth of the sons’ hugs is such a strong opening, and the breathing out all the anxiety is an incredible contrast to the left side. I can relate to those “Gulps and chugs” as though it is difficult to slow and to breathe. Remarkable piece! Loved it!
Jennifer,
I love this for all the modalities — visually, linguistically, literally, figuratively, the abstract, the concrete. And I found myself breathing in all the good and then expelling the toxic with you — there was a sifting experience to this. And even now as I type this, the image or your poem is present – -it is expanding and contracting as I time, as my chest rises and falls.
Stunning experience,
Sarah
Jennifer,
This is brilliant. I found myself relaxing as I read the first poem and tightening my jaw w/ the second. I’m in awe of everything you’ve done here.
Jennifer, I loved your words, then scrolled down and saw your picture. I love what you’ve done with the form! Your images are so easy to see and easy to relate to.
This is gorgeous! Thank you for sharing the shape of lungs. What love and beauty you are breathing in…sons’ hugs are my favorite, I think! (Because I have three sons!) Oh, if breathing out could really eliminate all the things on your breathe out list, if only!!
The shape of this poem is wonderful. Before I saw the correct format I was thinking of today’s inspiration image. That love of your boys…such a treasure wrapped up in your words here.
I love the visual of the two stanzas side by side; the inhale and the exhale side by side; loose and tight; contrasts, opposing images; lovely
Thank you, Sarah, this has been a refreshing week. You are taking care of us. I love the connections between peace and gratitude in your poem–both are light and lively in your portrayal of them. The lines of nourish, heal and tend, comfort are partners of goodness!
Your tending and nourishing us is appreciated. I had a day of having to consciously breathe in and out quite a few times. My neck is still knotted as I write this and I’m looking forward to sleep, but I was able to let out the frustrations of my day in my poem. And that was good.
Brokenness and heartbreak, loss of job
Bickering teachers overwhelmed
Safety protocol mistakes
Covid deaths and counting
White House renegade
Friend triangles
Knotted neck
Breathe out
Breathe
Breathe in
Peace and hope
Healthy dinner
Thanksgiving (really)
Strolling along the shore
Cooperating with Truth
Foaming bubble bath to my neck
Leaning on the everlasting arms
I really like the images in this poem. Something that stood out to me was “Cooperating with Truth” and “Leaning on the everlasting arms” capitalizing ‘Truth’ signals its significance, and made me look twice. I relate to leaning on the everlasting arms, because I feel it is all I have to hold me up sometimes too. The stark contrast in mood of the two stanzas really intrigues me as well. Thanks for sharing.
I could feel your “knotted neck” and I also really related to your last line of “Leaning on the everlasting arms”. I hope you get some rest!
Oh, yes, Denise. I especially love your last line—I am singing it as I write…’leaning on the everlasting arms”. The end of a perfect poem.
If only….can this be true. Please? I’ll start with just the bubble bath.
Denise, I love the imagery you bring to light in your poem. These words describe emotions and feelings that most may feel around the holiday season, and adding on top of everything COVID! Thank you for the description and imagery of relaxation at the ned.
Breathe Out. Breathe In.
A vast expanse of darkness suspended
above, gaping wide, consuming
cavern. I fear its calling–
a wicked siren sent
to lure me to doom.
Ragged shud’ring
breath of fear
leaves my
bones.
Nearby hovers a gentle sunlit
promise–wings beat rapid tempo.
The moment flutters, robed in
blue, brilliant miracle
of joy. Breathe in the
peace, comfort, and
laughter. The
answer?
Love.
Andrea! These lines
Wow! The assonance with the “i” and the alliteration with the “s” and the image of the being luring. I can see it.
Sarah
Andrea,
I love your use of light and dark imagery. It’s almost biblical in its evocations of beckoning and promising.
I really enjoy the sound of this poem. “consuming cavern” “siren sent” “blue, brilliant” all draw my attention in as the reader. Also words like gaping, ragged, consumes, etc. all are really heavy words that make the reader feel something deep within. I really loved this piece. Thank you for sharing.
I breathe in early morning beauty
Bright diamonds glitter shamelessly
Flirting below rosy skies
Lemon yellow clouds cool
Below soft blue hues
Darkening now
I breathe out
Promise;
Hope
Barb Edler
November 16, 2020
Barb—i love your use of color and light in this—lemon yellow clouds and soft blue hues. A happy poem. I needed this.
Barb,
The colors here are everything. But also the adjectives for the colors — lemon yellow, soft blue. So comforting.
Sarah
Barb,
This is lovely. “Lemon yellow clouds” makes me want to taste the sky. Such a pretty poem.
I did the “control f” tonight to find your poem. We write at different times of day, and I usually respond to the poems of my fellow latecomers, knowing that fewer eyes will see their poems.
But I love your writing and sought you out!
I love how you used a sunrise-sunset frame.
The day’s flirtatious arrival in the morning was delightful! Our mornings DO flirt with us!
“Lemon yellow clouds cool below of blue hues” gave me powerful synesthesia of sight and taste.
I am an #IowaSky lover.
Your poem fed my heart and head.
Barb, I love the description and imagery of color you bring to your poem. I like the lines”Bright diamonds glitter shamelessly/ Flirting below rosy skies…”
Screensaver
There are some days
I can’t even get past
the screensaver
on my desktop.
This is not to say
the energy is lacking,
the will to live and
search for meaning
in this dumpster
fire world of ours
gone or missing.
This is not to say that
(although there are
those times, too).
This is to say that
there are days
I try everything —
Escape, Ctr+Alt+Delete,
maniacally clicking the
left button on my
mouse — and my
computer simply won’t
turn on, won’t open
up this burning
world to me, will
instead pause, force
me to breath and
contemplate the
serene image before
me, a swan floating
on a summer lake,
the sunrise just
peaking over the
tree tops in the
distance.
____________________
I had every intention of trying the Diamante or Nonet, but I couldn’t get the blasted computer to open! The screensaver just wouldn’t leave my screen. So, I began hurtling curses and all manner of abuse at it, banging on the keyboard and whatnot, as one does, you know, in times like these, when I suddenly stopped, took a breath, and thought…oh, ooohh, this is the poem….lol.
Scott, I am amazed your frustration turned into such an incredibly beautiful poem. Loved the lines “in this dumpster
fire world of ours
gone or missing.”
To end with the serenity of the swans. creates such a gorgeous sense of calm. From rage to quiet serenity. Beautiful!
Scott—Barb and I share the same favorite lines! This is, as always, wonderful and engaging and funny and on point and I love your poetry….
This Is our world these days! Argh! I love the ending. Just take a breath and watch the image on your desktop. Sometimes that’s all you can do!
Scott,
You are a joy, and I hope to meet you some day. I feel like your poems can be a book with an illustrator! Not that we need an illustrator with your sunrise “just/peaking over the/tree tops in the/distance.
Screensaver — 🙂
Sarah
Scott,
Love the litotes: “This is not to say,” but the image of
made me chuckle as it’s the same thought I have so often. If it’s an option, get a MAC. I’ve breathed much better since abandoning PCs.
PLEASE let me share this poem with my coworkers! We are all working from home. At least two mornings a week frantic text messages get sent out 15 minutes before school starts detailing a random tech issue. I know they would love seeing this poem. I really liked that I thought I knew where your poem was going, then you led me somewhere else. I love that you crafted a poem from a potential disaster!
Lol. Absolutely! I hope they enjoy it. 🙂
Yes! What a poem! I too have had that problem, so I am going to remember this as a new prelude into the burning world when my weak computer hesitates. I will stop and breathe. Bravo, Scott. I’m glad you found your poem in the swan and the sunrise.
This prompt was very inspiring. Thanks!
Space
open, endless
expanding, flowing, blooming
journey within, journey without
ticking, slipping, drifting
finite, sensitive
Time
Margaret, I love the word choice throughout this poem. I especially enjoyed “journey within, journey without”. Plus, time being “finite, sensitive” is so thought-provoking. Beautiful!
One of my students wrote this one on our class blog: https://kidblog.org/class/gt-allstars/posts/d2n7bnd8096ojspqi2owbwcou
Margaret,
I love the energy and movement in this poem visually but also in sound and activity. I can feel the tickle and drift as I read.
Sarah
Margaret,
You’ve expressed such truth in this short poem: space is expansive; time is not. Wonderful use of ing-words.
Margaret, I became an astronaut while reading your free, floating journey through space and time. Whee!
Beautiful….the feeling is just beautiful….space, expanding, no end.
Today would have been my father’s 99th birthday. We did not have a good relationship until very late in his life. In fact, my poem yesterday alluded to that as did a couple of the responses I posted. Today, as I breathe in and out, I reflect on the role that relationship played in who I am becoming today!
Becoming
Destiny
Probing, strobing
Doom, gloom, groom
Purpose
Pondering, wondering
Fate
Late, wait
Choice, voice
Purpose
Preparing, practicing
Destiny
Attitude, gratitude
Growing, flowing, glowing!
Anna, the play with the words here is wonderful. I loved”choice, voice” and the positive tone at the end is uplifting. Wishing you peace today! Hugs!
Ann’s,
The words you’ve chosen and the sparseness of this poem hold so much meaning. It’s as though the deficit in your relationship w/ your father is manifested in the poem’s structure as well as word choice. I also like that you did not rhyme this poem.
Glenda, it’s interesting that the internal rhyming did not distract you. 🙂 As is often the case with the prompts offered in the group, we write about ourselves! I had no idea until I’d written the poem that I probably was writing about that relationship that was so tense and tenuous for very long. I’m grateful that I retired in Michigan and was able to reconnect with him before he died. The thing is, I doubt he even knew how I’d been feeling for nearly 50 years! It was I taking the “poison”, holding on to the grudges and refusing to budge. I mentioned this weighty kind of living in a response yesterday.
Anna, the way that some of your words rhyme within the lines is creative. I also love that your poem finishes with both attitude and gratitude. We could all use an attitude of gratitude.
Diamante
Paper
White, smooth
Accepting, forgiving, inspiring
Thick, tactile, warm, alive
Moving, feeling, pulsating
Invisible, life-affirming
Breathing
Judi, I love how you personify paper in your poem. The ability our words can have on paper is remarkable. “Moving, feeling, pulsating” these words show such purpose, and truly are “life-affirming”. Your make this normal everyday object, a masterful message. Loved it!
Judi,
I love every word of this poem. Yes, paper is “accepting, forgiving, inspiring.” Your poem reads as though it’s giving me permission to be an imperfect writer. It feels personal to me, even though I know it’s not.
I really love that paper comes alive in this poem. As writers, we definitely feel that relationship with a piece of paper. Now that’s poetry! I loved how simple this poem was because it exudes elegance. Thanks for sharing.
Sarah, I appreciate your guidance in this form. I can feel peace and gratitude as I “breath in, breathe out.” I need all of these moments right now, not only for my benefit, but for my students as well. Thanks.
Hope
Open, optimistic
Inspiring, lifting, motivating
Relief, light, laughter, Countenance
Beaming, infecting, breathing
Bright, warm
Joy
Jolie, these pieces have me breathing along with them today. The bookend words of Hope and Joy are like a hug. I can feel them. Thank you.
Jolie, your poem offers a lovely explication of “hope,” one that invites us to breathe freely.
Jolie, just reading your poem made me breathe easier. Thanks for sharing such light, bright words that directed my attention to sunnier thoughts.
I try to breathe in peace and calm
Five in, five hold, five out. Again.
Again. Again. But the world
Impedes. Pandemic fear.
Safety imperative.
Withdraw yet again?
My soul rebels
Against It.
Logic.
Merde.
Breathe out
Thanksgiving?
Maybe next year.
A Small Problem, right?
Thanks given for two, I
Will breathe in distant love;
Zoom love back to them. A screen
Will have to suffice. I will try.
I can do this. Breathe in. Breathe out. Peace.
Gayle, this feels very much like when I tried to meditate during yoga. Breathing. Interruption. Breathing. Thoughts invade. The advice to acknowledge the thought and return to breath helped greatly. Your writing hits home today.
Oh Gayle, the screen will have to suffice is what we are all facing this holiday seasons. I was so saddened by my daughter’s call yesterday. She gets it, but it’s hard to tell her she can’t come. Not now. Maybe for Christmas…
Gayle,
I love the shape of your breathing in and out nonet duo. It has so many emotions and defining moments from these fraught days. We do need to breathe. My favorite line is the playful way you said “Zoom love back to them.” It has such a sweet double meaning beyond the screen time.
Well done today! Your last line is one for all of us…
Gayle,
I feel the sadness in your poem but also the gratitude. I know many are distraught that this year’s holiday meals will be less populated, but you and they can do it. I know because I’ve lived my entire adult life away from family and can count on my fingers the number of times I’ve spent the holidays w/ extended family. You’ll fine new blessings in the simple holiday. My favorite lines:
Sarah, I LOVE this! We introduced CALM Fridays to our students about five years ago as a means of taking breathers from hectic schedules. This is the perfect prompt for writing on those days. Thank you for this gift and for your beautiful words this morning!
Sarah, the diamante you share is a gift to us all. Beginning with peace, leaving with gratitude. It’s what I need. Thank you.
Oooooo. This challenge. I really had to think. I sat in bed thinking, breathing for a half hour then thought I knew where I was going with a poem until I started writing it. Then, it wrote itself.
More unexplained questions than answers–
my oxygen intake measures
what I seek to understand
Why are we falling sick?
How so many dead?
Who will listen–
who will dare
truth tell
1 now?
Now
truth tell
Who will dare?
Who will listen?
How so many dead?
Why are we falling sick?
What I seek to understand–
my oxygen intake measures
more unexplained questions than answers
“my oxygen intake measures
more unexplained questions than answers”
Wow … what a way to bring the poem to a close (sort of – not really an ending at all …. but a thought to walk around with)
Kevin
Linda, I admire your ability to create and in and out poem of the same lines read in a different way. Powerful. Thought-provoking always.
“More unexplained questions than answers.” The pandemic rages and like an ocean wave is knocking us down again. Your poem captures that helpless feeling we all have.
Linda,
Your poem expresses the questions playing on a loop in my mind. I echo Kevin’s comment in the last two lines:
Linda,
I see the shape of breath…..filled lung, expelled lung, filled lung……
breath. Visible breath!
Linda–I love the mirrored stanzas and the hour-glass shape the poem creates on the page. I feel the weight of your “unexplained questions.” Thank you for sharing your poem!
Sarah, I’m enjoying these calm and life-renewing prompts this week. And I love the picture of the flowery lungs. Your words peace and gratitude give a feeling of serenity and inner spirituality. Much needed feelings in these days. I chose the nonet.
Simple Life
A majestic mountain view of leaves
red, green, brown, orange, and yellow
camping at Vogel State Park
just you and me – and time
time to breathe fresh air
time to cherish
what we choose:
simple
life
I agree. The prompts this week have been especially thoughtful and life-renewing. That’s a good way to describe this week.
Love that majestic mountain view–the leaves and the simplicity. If only, I could step into this poem right now (with my coffee, of course)
Ah, the form from complex line to simple (but powerful) ending … nice
Kim,
This is a lovely picture of “simple life.” I really want to visit that park. I find myself longing for the quiet of nature w/ only the air to breath, myself, and my Ken.
Kim, I can relate to your appreciation of “time to cherish what we choose”. It is such a blessing to have time.
You created a beautiful visual image with your words, Kim. I want to be there now. (sigh!)
Kim–I have such fond, childhood memories of Vogel State Park! My family used to take our pop-up camper…even the weather down here in southern Georgia feels like the cool camp nights. I love the colors in your “majestic mountain view”: everything is a bland brown/green palette down here. Your poem whisks me away to the mountains, if only for a minute…thank you for the time away!
Awake,
when sleep
departs,
listening
to rhythms
of night,
the landscape
inscrutable
but for some
small melody
still yet lingering:
mere gossamer
and translucence
and then gone
I really like the small melody, still yet lingering. We listen for it, we poets. It’s just there…or there. Did you hear that?
I heard it
🙂
That lingering melody in the rhythms of night…..the noises that won’t leave and be about their way…..restlessness! You captured it perfectly here.
Kevin, your poem invites us to appreciate the smallest things, moments, and memories. The allusion to music does it for me. Thanks for the reminder.
Girl, you know how to build a prompt, inspiring and giving options.
Breath Trap
Years in yoga have taught me breathwork
I fail to practice it in life
The effort it takes escapes me
Toxic thoughts always creep in
Sludging my airways
Blocking the free
flow of air
and life
juice.
Deep
abyss
guilt and fear
have a stronghold
anxiety pit
full of monsters real and fake
trapping the salve in its goo
the life-giving serum can’t move
and reach the nerve endings on fire.
~Susan Ahlbrand
17 November 2020
Your last line — “reach the nerve endings on fire” — beautiful
Kevin
I so agree with you! The prompts this week have been fantastic. I love your real world words with the uplifting practice of yoga…that anxiety pit full of monsters, goo, life juice. This is real and yet above the fray as we end with the yoga having it’s desired effect.
“the life-giving serum” our breath, it’s all we need to cleanse, yet it remains elusive as we battle those inner thoughts…”nerve endings on fire.”
Susan, the tar of toxicity rings like Poe’s bells here in these lines:
guilt and fear
have a stronghold
anxiety pit
full of monsters real and fake
trapping the salve in its goo
the life-giving serum can’t move
Your word choices here give the perfect picture of the ill effects of non-breath! I also notice the shape of your poem….it is like an inhale, exhale, inhale……a good wave.
Susan,
It really is hard to take yoga’s lessons about breathing and apply them to life. Your poem captures the struggle well:
So true.