The Perfect Getaway

This is the Open Write, a place for educators to nurture their writing lives and to advocate for writing poetry in community. We are here every month. We’ll be here today, tomorrow and Monday. This month Leilya Pitre has a series on “Summer Escapes & Small Adventures.” Next month, the Open Write is July 18-20.

Our Host

Leilya Pitre lives in Ponchatoula, LA, a small town celebrated for its strawberries. She teaches and coordinates the English Education Program at Southeastern Louisiana University. Preparing future English teachers, she hopes they become caring, competent, and effective educators. She is an editor and contributing author of Where Stars Meet People: Teaching and Writing Poetry in Conversation. Her other books are devoted to teaching young adult literature in high school. Leilya loves people, cultures, and their rich traditions. She reads, writes, listens to music, visits her children and grandchildren, and enjoys traveling with her husband.

Inspiration

Summer invites us to slow down, wander a little, and imagine places we want to go. Sometimes, a getaway is a plane ticket across the ocean. Sometimes, it’s a porch swing, a favorite chair, a hidden café, or a quiet morning with nowhere to rush. This June, I am dreaming of Italy with its morning espresso, warm stone streets, late sunsets, and long conversations over pasta and wine. Maybe, even a whispered “Andiamo” before boarding another train. We are leaving right after the Open Writes, and I am getting so excited. Where would you go if you could leave tomorrow?

Process

Write a poem about your perfect getaway or escape. It may be real or imagined, near or far away, luxurious or wonderfully simple. It may be a place from memory, hope, or longing.

You might want to describe what you see, hear, smell, and taste. You may write as a postcard, travel journal, or free verse poem. You could also focus on one small detail that makes the place unforgettable. 

As always, you may ignore the prompt completely and write about anything you would like to share with us.

Leilya’s Poem

Somewhere in Florence

I want mornings
with tiny cups of strong coffee,
windows open to warm air,
and church bells chiming softly
into the streets below.

I want evenings
that arrive with surprise,
gold light resting on old buildings,
my husband beside me,
both of us walking nowhere important.

Let there be gelato,
late dinners in small piazzas,
and someone calling ciao bella
to no one and everyone at once.

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.