March 2026 is Women’s History Month. When women choose to get involved in the process of community building, they typically join forces with men and collaborate in various ways. They organize events, educate people, start community projects, or just change the room’s atmosphere with their kindness and wisdom.
This month at Open Write, we will honor community building women–in our family, in our literature, and in the news, by crafting poems to express our thoughts and creativity about our chosen woman. Today, we will focus on a woman in the news.
Our Host
Anna J. Small Roseboro, a wife and mother, is a distinguished educator, mentor, and author with a career spanning more than five decades. She holds a Master of Arts in Curriculum Design, and a Bachelor’s in Speech Communications. As a National Board-Certified Teacher and National Writing Project Fellow, Anna has helped shape the lives of students and educators alike through her roles in schools, universities, and professional organizations in the five states where she has lived and worked. Anna has written extensively to support teachers and students. Her publications include our Ethical ELA team publication Assessing Students with Poetry Writing Across Content Areas (2026); Empowering Learners: Teaching Different Genres and Texts to Diverse Student Bodies (2023); and Planning and Purpose: A Handbook for New College Classroom Teachers (2021).
Inspiration
During Women’s History Month, we often focus on women of the past. Let’s not do it this time. Consider contemporary women who are not members of our family or in the texts we’ve taught. Who has been in the news this past calendar year – local, state, national, or international news, that you think our readers should know about. This may be a complimentary or critical portrayal of this person.
Process
Let’s write a nonet today. That’s a nine poem that uses one more or less word or syllable per line, starting with one word, or nine words and using one more or one less word per line. 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9, or 9,8,7,6,5,4,3,2,1. Some writers like the 1,2,3,4,5,4,3,2,1. pattern. Your choice. Just help us see what you see, what you hear, and sense what you feel when you consider the role of this woman’s action on the local, state, national, or international scene.
Since your chosen contemporary woman may be an unfamiliar person, include what you can for us to get to know the woman just from the carefully chosen words you use in your nonet about a woman who has been in the news this past year. Feel free to use contemporary jargon, slang, language, or text talk. Yes, in the closing line I doubled up with homonyms and homophones, acronyms and and homographs. What will you do in this tight poetic style?
Anna’s Poem of Acknowledgment
Kamala
You ran
But didn’t win
Didn’t win the election
But gained much citizen affection
Jumping on the blue ticket late
Getting messages out right at the gate
Your honest spreading of the word was heard
But not enough folks had the chutz·pah to vote
For person of note. We’re clumped in DIE herd.
(Did you get it? Diehards! Herds seeking diversity, inclusion, and equity.)
Your Turn
Now, scroll to the comment section below to write your own poem. (This is a public space, so you may choose to 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. 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. Also, please be sure to respond to at least three writers.
Anna, thank you for hosting this month. I appreciate the variations you provide for nonets and play with words at the end of your poem.
dolores
spanish for
sorrows, living in
silos, silence, never too
late to harvest truths, plow
power of an oppressor
trauma-lined, lived
experiences, strong
huerta
Anna, I love learning new ways of writing, and I am fascinated to learn about the nonet form that uses the number of words versus syllables. I have never written one and can’t wait to try it out. Kamala Harris is a perfect choice for today’s woman in the news – such a classy lady, so smart. I am still in the month of Cento writing, and today’s poem uses lines from The Tradition by Jericho Brown, one with our theme word woman. Thank you for hosting us for this month of Open Write prompts!
Two Words
A poem is a gesture toward home
or the woman for whom it was a gift.
None of our fights ended where they began.
Long ago, we used two words.
Lines taken from, in this order: Duplex; After Avery R. Young; Duplex: Cento; The Legend of Big and Fine.
Woah. Those first two lines are so beautiful together. The combination of, “gesture toward home/ or…” grab my attention and pull me right in. The last two lines feel like experiences I’ve had…so it feels like a poem I know well but am also delighted to discover.
Kim, you make me want to practice writing cento poems. Each day, your poem is a gem. The first two lines fit together seamlessly. But then the final line makes a comeback to a poem, which might be a gesture or a woman. Fascinating!
Virginia’s Executive
Abigail
my governor
intelligence officer
responding to the moment
our moment of civic crisis
by making kitchen-table issues priority.
We go to work now, with her
making sure that all those at our tables
have a say, participate, in our stressed-out democracy
Linda, there is something soulfully appealing about kitchen-table issues being a priority, where everyone has a voice and every person at the table can express their thoughts and have a vote. A family approach to politics would be a welcome change.
You countered the global politics
of loud presidential tantrums –
Mette, maybe its your voice
that can lead us forward
towards a resistance
through persistence –
like phantoms,
lost but
not
Mette Frederiksen is the prime minister of Denmark
amen. resistance through persistence might just need to be my next protest sign!
Anyone stable and unhinged who can lead effectively with a soft voice and be an inspiration and example gets my vote. Tantrums and bullying are not the way. Thank you for sharing Mette with us.
Kevin, first, thank you for introducing the Prime Minister of Denmark, and second, thank you for a masterful nonet. The word choices are so effective. I like the idea of moving forward “toward a resistance / through persistence.”