We developed such a wonderful community around poetry during April’s National Poetry Month celebration, that we have decided to keep the #verselove going. On the third Tuesday of every month, Ethical ELA will celebrate all that writing poems can do for our hearts and minds so that we can stay connected through the joy of writing together (and some poems at the end of the month might be just the nourishment we need to wrap up a month with grace). If you’d like to receive a monthly reminder, sign up here.
Below is this month’s poem inspiration. Write today, tomorrow, or any day this week. Subscribe to the post so that you an get notices as people post poems and comments. Feel free follow the inspiration, take it in a new direction, or poem in any way you need or wish.
Inspiration
With summer vacation up-and-coming, today you may write a poem about the excitement you may have for the promise of summer. You may want to make it silly, thinking about the play that awaits, or you may write in a more serious tone, imagining what fissure it will fill or wound it will heal.
Poem Ideas
Need an idea for your summer poem?
- Search images for a picture, and describe the scene. What are the people in the photo thinking? Are they happy, sad, excited?
- Describe your favorite summer activity.
- Write about some of your favorite childhood (or grown-up) summer memories.
- If you’re reading a book that takes place in the summer, try using your book as inspiration.
- How you prepare to do one of your summer hobbies? Take us through the ritual from an insider’s perspective: food, clothing, routine, superstitions, gathering equipment, setting up comfort, putting on your gear, tuning your bicycle.
Form Suggestion (but, of course, poem as you wish)
Now try writing this in TANKA form, a Japanese verse (similar to the Haiku) with five lines and 31 syllables: 5-7-5-7-7.
- Think of one or two images from your topic and describe them in concrete terms – taste, touch, texture, color, sound. Write that in two lines.
- For the third line, state the importance of that moment: all your joy, an escape, pride, comfort, freedom, peace, anxiety, safety, pain. This is a pivot line.
- For the fourth and fifth line, reflect on what the speaker feels and thinks in this moment: wondering, pondering, asking, hoping, worrying, wishing.
- To test the pivot line, you can flip the first two and the last two lines. It should make sense either way, but you, as the poet, can decide which sequence more resonates.
Sarah’s Tanka
Take my hand. Let’s climb
the sand dune of rejection,
pushing hurt with toes
kicking up woes. Chin up. Take
the blows with grace, smiles ‘pon face.
Reverse Tanka:
Kicking up woes. Chin up. Take
the blows with grace, smiles `pon face.
Pushing hurt with toes,
take my hand. Let’s climb
the sand dunes of rejection.
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SUMMER TANKA
Nature’s symphony
Sips coffee in the backyard.
The first C slides up,
Each octave tells its story.
The tonic strummed in glory.
REVERSE TANKA
Each octave tells its story.
The tonic strummed in glory.
The first C slides up,
Nature’s symphony
Sips coffee in the backyard.
Alex, you’ve really created a sense of calm and peacefulness for me with this poem. I can’t wait for summer break!
Alex, this is cool. I really like these music details…a C slide…octave. It really give the ease of summer, smooth movement. Favorite line: “tonic strummed in glory.” Aah, seems to wash over me. Thanks, Susie
I picture a porch swing – someone listening so intently to the sounds of each trilling voice in the symphony and appreciating the differences of each voice and story. For me, this poem speaks to the love of diversity and the need for ALL voices to enrich the symphony.
Coming late to the party, but very much interested in this monthly opportunity. Thanks!
SUMMER TANKA
Whizzz and whirrr and zzzinnng,
Iridescent lightning flash,
A hummer hovers
Just long enough for me to
Glimpse my life in that moment.
REVERSE TANKA
Just long enough for me to
Glimpse my life in that moment,
A hummer hovers.
Whizzz and whirr and zzzinnng,
Iridescent lightning flash.
Iridescent lighting flash is a perfect image for a hummingbird! Just lovely.
I had to read Jackie’s poem a few times because my mind went to Hummer — the massive truck– and not the delicate yet powerful hummingbird. Love how our expectations inform our reading!
Jackie! Love the illumination of summer in this flash of a poem. I feel all the possibilities of present and future in the “glimpse.”
Sarah — “…our expectations inform our reading.” Do they ever!!! That two-second-long visit of the hummingbird at our living room window reminded me that life, birth to death, is just an instant in the total scheme of things. You read it as possibilities of present and future – a staggering difference. Not to mention Hummer versus hummer. Wow, what splendid examples of reader expectations, or generational points of view, or of how carefully or carelessly we communicate. Thank you for helping me think about all these things!
Hey, Jackie — Sorry I was so slow to respond to this. Summer is zzzinnng-ing like the lightning! I think its interesting how the reverse tanka really does open a different sensation, putting the focus immediately on you and how the summer sensory images halt you for that moment. I think I like the second one better, but I actually like both. We’ve had so much lightning that it reminded me to pay attention. And hummers, well, I love me some hummers. 🙂 Cool! Thanks, Sooze
A beautiful reminder of how quickly the moments of life pass and how we catch glimpses of this time perspective – like a lightning flash – in the simplest moments that spark reflection. I love that you used a hummingbird for imagery and some onomatopoeia and alliteration and metaphor all so creatively in this poem.
AT SEVEN (tanka)
Shed the shoes, school socks;
cool feet in summer grasses;
free to run the woods,
flash firefly rings on fingers;
Milky Way nights — giddy glee.
AT ELEVEN (no tanka, danke)
Perched on the bluff
o’er rural route two,
beggar’s lice matted on my cuffs,
I teased with the voices inside my head,
poking queries:
what lay beyond the farthest rise
of the gravel road
and lonely fields of corn and wheat
and dust and heat,
where and who
would I be,
would I look back
in cold rebuff
of where once I dreamed
of being somewhere,
someone
else?
by Susie Morice
Wow! The moods are so different. I had to reread the second poem because it wasn’t what I was expecting. Kudos for the beggar’s lice image! Powerful.
Susie! The time shift is so poignant and appropriate. Four years is a big difference in perspective from “flash firefly wings” to “lonely fields of corn and wheat.” In the first, nature is a companion, and in the second, it is substance . I love the lines: “would I look back/in cold rebuff/of where once I dreamed/of being somewhere.”
Profoundly moving – at seven, just loving the moments, not looking behind or ahead. At eleven, beginning to question things beyond the moment. Love your time shift and perspective shift.
Thanks, Kim & Sarah & Mo — That time shift was a big deal to me as a kid… I was so in love with the freedom of the farm when I was little, and then, boom, I began to want so much more than the social isolation that was part of farm life for me. We moved to St. Louis the day after I finished 6th grade… I was so full of anticipation at that shift…so ready for a world beyond the farm. I thought to try a tanka for the 11th year, but it was a time so chocked full of complexity that I had to carry on with more words. I love how these prompts seem to push me beyond the moment when I first read them. I’m sure glad we are doing this through the year! Susie
Thanks for adding your invite to facebook. I love prompts like these for morning writing sessions. They wake me up!
flip flop tanka
happy flip flops slap
under a new summer sun
two feet free from shoes
flip to the pool or ice cream?
love sunny places to go
Linda,
I love the sounds within your poem that resonate way beyond. “Flip flop slap.” Beyond, I hear the ice cream truck and laughter of children in the pool — or perhaps your summer dream is adults only!
Sarah
Love the flip flop slap repeating p sounds and the free from shoes fr sound and the ice cream just seals the deal!
This one is meant to be read aloud, Linda! Well done!
Linda — that sensation of slapping on your feet comes across loud and clear … indeed, very auditory (“flip flops slap … two feet free … ” ) This is fun, as I wrote about happy feet as well! Summer and happy feet fit together so well! Thanks for joining in on the monthly poem effort! Susie
Strasbourg Cathedral
Cool inside pink sandstone walls
The city gathers
Light floods in offering grace
Longing for memories
Reverse Tanka
Longing for memories
Light floods in offering grace
The city gathers
Cool inside pink sandstone walls
Strasbourg Cathedral
Mo,
That first line brings me right into the place — cool, pink, sandstone. I am with you and want to be there. The combination of light and grace fits so well with Cathedral, and the longing rests there nicely!
So good to see your verse once again, Mo.
Sarah
Your mention of light flooding in offering grace is rich with imagery – like the hand of God comforting one of his children. I love this!
Hi, Mo — I like this one in both directions. Cool tanka work! I particularly like the sense of the city gathering amidst the grace of light. Thanks, Susie
“Summer Storm”
Off in the distance,
Lightning crackles and sizzles.
Adrenaline rush –
Mama Bird swiftly flies home,
Hunkers down with her babies.
In reverse
“Summer Storm”
Mama Bird swiftly flies home,
Hunkers down with her babies.
Adrenaline rush –
Off in the distance,
Lightning crackles and sizzles.
Rich with imagery – – I can see the bird swiftly flying home and protectively hunkering down across her nested babies. Onomatopoeia with the lightning crackling and sizzling adds to the sensory effects, and feeling the adrenaline rush from the mama bird’s perspective helps us sense the urgency that she feels. Love a summer storm!
Love the sounds in this tanka: sizzles, crackles. I have a vision of the nest as a protective structure and the Mima bird comforting and protecting her babies. I miss those summer storms but know the threats they pose, too. I can see the lightening in the distance lighting up the sky.
Allison, your onomatopoeia is great! Which do you prefer, the original or the reverse? I like your original tanka a little bit more. ?
Allison,
When you capitalize Mama Bird, I feel how this can be literal and figurative. — all the birds out there protecting the babies just hatched in this early spring, and all the humans comforting kids afraid of “crackles and sizzles.”
You have brought me back to childhood memories with this one– we’d hunker down in the basement with candles as kids to wait out tornadoes in the burbs of Chicago.
Peace,
Sarah
“Road Biking Freedom”
Road biking freedom:
Gentle breeze whispers through spokes.
Summer rays kiss cheeks.
Asphalt road greets pumping feet.
Mountains rise to meet blue sky.
After writing this I read it backwards and think I prefer it in reverse.
Mountains rise to meet blue sky.
Asphalt road greets pumping feet.
Summer rays kiss cheeks.
Gentle breeze whispers through spokes—
Road biking freedom.
Mountains rise to meet blue sky . . . Perfect! (I also agree – reverse is better.)
Glenda,
What wonderful movement in this poem. Every line has some kind of contact. I feel the rising and falling of mountains and sky in line 1, the rising and falling of feet on pedals in line 2, the contact of sun rays on cheeks, the contact of breeze and spokes spinning, and the contact of bike wheels on the road in lines 3, 4, and 5. It makes me feel like I’m going somewhere…….and I’m so ready to go! Fun movement in this one! I, too, prefer it in reverse because it works kind of like a mystery until the end.
I’m a fan of your reverse tanka, too. I can feel those summer rays about to kiss my cheeks!
Oh, the kiss. I so long for the summer rays to kiss my cheeks! Such vivid imagery, Glenda. I am too afraid to ride bicycles, but I would be happy to see your first ride of retirement!
Hi, Glenda — I agree with your choice… the reverse tanka lets us work up to the sense of freedom in that last line. As a biker myself, I LOVED the sensory details of the asphalt and pumping feet and breeze that “kisses cheeks” and still “whispers through spokes” (I can hear that whisper). Biking has wonderful freedom. I am a Katy Trail veteran, a RAGBRAI (Iowa veteran), and I love the Raccoon River Trail near Des Moines. Since I retired, biking is a big part of my life. This summer I’m heading to Santa Fe to ride on the Old Santa Fe Trail for a stretch north of town. I’ll be thinking of your reverse tanka when I ride! Thanks, Susie
Sarah, I haven’t heard of a reverse Tanks, but I like it. I also love the breezy long O sounds in your poem and the image of sand dunes pushed by toes.
—Glenda
estuary sanctuary
escape from the world and breathe
salt air, warm sun, gentle breeze
peaceful tidal creeks
from Goulds Inlet to East Beach
summer kayaking
Kim,
I so love the images here. The line “peaceful tidal creeks” has such a rhythmic feeling on my tongue with the soft “u” and “l” consonant sound repeating. I Googled your summer kayaking spot!
Sarah
It’s a favorite place – that’s neat that you Googled it!
In your poem, I enjoy the rhyming pairs and trio that you used – – hand, sand; face, grace; toes, woes, blows. The emotion in this one is real – – rejection. It’s a lot like hitting a sand dune, as things just stop cold there until we get out of the pit.
Kim, this estuary sounds heavenly. I’ve only kayaked in the ocean once, but the imagery in your poem—salt air, warm sun, gentle breeze—make me long for the coast.
—Glenda
Escape from the world and breathe. This gives me hope that summer will come! 🙂
Your opening line is just lovely!
Hi, Kim — Oh boy, this tanka makes me want to do this! I haven’t kayaked in a long time… you took me right back to the experience. “Salt air, warm sun, gentle breeze” really lets me “escape.” Cool! Susie