Thank you so much for joining us for poetry. We are in week two of Verselove, 30 days of reading, writing, and communing with poetry. In our first week together, we made 2683 poems and poetic responses on this site together with 1598 teacher-educators (and countless more in classrooms across the country). How wonderful. We are in our fifth year and know that you might need a little encouragement in this week two, so Stacey Joy offers us a few tips. Please share a highlight from week one here.
Our Host
Mo Daley is a mostly retired middle school reading specialist living in the suburbs of Chicago. She enjoys reading, writing, birdwatching, hiking, and traveling. Mo keeps busy with literacy outreach programs locally and globally. But more than anything, Mo enjoys spending time with her family.
The Inspiration
Last summer, I participated in The Poetry Foundation’s Summer Poetry Teachers Institute in Miami. It was a wonderfully collaborative experience. One amazing benefit was learning about O, Miami and their efforts to get poetry into the community. They have done an incredible amount of small and large-scale projects throughout Miami. One that I adored was the Zip Ode.
The Process
Think of this poem as an ode to your zip code. All you have to do is write the numbers of your zip code down the left side of your page. That’s how many words will be in each line. If you have a 0 in your like I do, think of it as a wild card. You can leave it blank, insert a punctuation mark, add an emoji or a symbol, use any number of words (1-9), or surprise the reader in some way. To insert an emoji in Word, press the Windows logo and the colon. This will bring up the emoji menu.
In the classroom, you may want to offer options, such as using a previous zip code, a grandmother’s zip code, or even the zip code of a place students might wish to visit.
Mo’s Poem
Zip Ode
6 A sleepy bedroom community just a
0 🚂
4 ride away from Chicago,
5 real star of the show,
2 so close!
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.
Thank you for this prompt, Mo. I’m so late to this, but I promised myself I wouldn’t miss out on any of the prompts this month.
3 Five years of
1 teaching
9 and I still don’t know what kind of teacher
5 I am or should be.
2 Oh geez.
I’m catching up. My poetry goal(s) for April was/were to read a new poem each day, share a poem each day (with my students), and write “toward” poetry each day. I skipped yesterday /hard Monday/ but I’m here to get back on the horse.
Mo, thank you for your patience. I’m ready to throw my words into the void:
5 How did I land here?
0 Teaching, 1984: salary $13,500
0 Why are you still here?
2 Blue eyes
2 Blue eyes
Stillwater
7 My second town away from home town.
4 A place of life
0 🎓
7 where college kids come and go often
4 to learn and laugh.
Shelby, I love how Stillwater is your second kind of home. Your graduation cap emoji fots perfectly here!
1 Once a home from home
2 Now home and refuge;
9 Solace in the High Peaks
4 amongst shimmering Lakes
6 and Placid dreams
Thanks for such a fun prompt! First time I’ve experienced a zip code poem.
Home as refuge- now that sounds great. Your calm peaceful words match perfectly with Lake Placid, Rhiannon.
Thank you all so much for writing today. I LOVED reading your inspiring and creative poems. I so loved how many eclipse poems came out today. Thank you!
Okay–turned my Zip poem into an eclipse poem using my school zip code today since it was today’s home base.
Zip Poem: Teaching Under the Influence of a Partial Eclipse
9-Solar science eclipsing school day, igniting first grade wonder
2-Planetary alignment
0-☀️
0-🌙
7-Young astronomers’ energy fueling totality-free sky learning
Also wrote a post about our eclipse-full day: https://thinkingthroughmylens.com/2024/04/08/eclipsing-the-day-away-npm24-day-8/
Kim, how could you not write about the eclipse? I’m so glad your little ones had you to inspire them today!
What an amazing event to share with your students. A formative moment for all, I’m sure!
Mo, I don’t think I’ve ever written about a zip code so thank you for giving me a chance to think outside the box.
Lost
19 sixty eight
m0ved in, family
0f
f0ur
w8 until 2010 to lose it all
©Stacey L. Joy, April 8, 2024
Stacey, I love the way you played around with the numbers and words. Elegantly simple, sparely powerful.
Stacey, your poem reminds me of a text I might get. I love your creativity today. But that last line, holy cow!
Wow. This packs a punch- both in its form (which I LOVE) and its narrative.
6 Sister city in Germany, Schaumburg-Lippe,
0 Northern part
1 Germany.
9 President Eisenhower, “People to People,” learning about other cultures.
4 Village of Schaumburg, home.
Mo, this was a fun prompt. I’ve done similar with my phone number; I liked the added challenge of writing about my home town.
Jennifer, isn’t it amazing how much we can “learn” about others with what seems to be such a simple prompt. I can see this one being used early in the school year … particularly when many students live in the same ZIP CODE!
Jennifer, I love your poem. My husband spent much of his childhood in Schaumburg and my son went on a People to People trip. Thanks for the walk down memory lane!
A condominium is perfect for us two now.
Just south of downtown.
Mapleridge
Riverside
My old stomping grounds.
Ah, Katrina, you’re at that point in your life when many of us both down-size and move nearer to “home”, family or dear vacation spots. The first two, you may recall from my poem yesterday, are the reasons we moved FROM SoCal.
My husband and I often talk about getting a condo in the city. I’m so glad to hear it’s perfect for you.
This is fun! Thank you for the prompt.
9- Seaside village on the Monterey Bay where I raised
5- two sons and one daughter.
0- 🌊
1- Home.
0- ❤️
Love it! The emojis feel just right, especially sandwiching the word home.
Yes, the emojis are great, Emily. I adore Monterey Bay and am a little jealous of you if I’m being honest 😃
9 nature with the best sunsets ever
1 community
9 neighbors that help one another
0 😉
2 safe sleep
Sounds like a great place to live!
Susan,
I want to be there at 91902 right now!!!
Safe sleep and great neighbors. What more could you ask for? Sounds great!
I love the way you describe home.
7 Mansfield, TX! Where is that? Oh, about
6 30 minutes south of Dallas. Do
0
6 you know where the Cowboys play?
3 We’re near there.
I do know, Donnetta! My son has been dying to go to a game since he was little. We finally went a few years ago. Thanks for the geography lesson 😃
Love the question and direction to your zip code!
I love how you asked the question “Do you know where the cowboys play?” So fun!
Donnetta, It’s always interesting to me to read the people, places, or groups poets mention or allude to in their poems. It’s revealing to think what they think I know in order to understand what’s important to them. The COWBOYS!!!! Oh my! 🙂
Donnetta,
I love this because I only know that the Cowboys have something to do with Dallas. LOL!
Joining the others in the path of totality to write a zip code poem to commemorate it! I love seeing the different takes an ways we are using our zip codes to record this event!
Totality at Home by Erica J
7 – the same cheers and whoops of matrimony
2 – solar eclipse
0 – 🌑
7 – couples below kiss mirroring the heavens above
6 – more fun than New Year’s Eve
You wrote a beautiful poem. I see some words from David Hassler. I hope you love this one as I do.
Cheers and whoops of matrimony! Kisses mirroring the heavens! What a lovely poem you wrote today, Erica.
Ooh I love the imagery of the sun and moon kissing like the couples below! You caught the celebratory vibes of this afternoon!!
Erica,
this is so fun. Clever set up of the sun and moon as a kissing couple. Lovely.
Thanks for sharing.
Love, love, love. Couples below kiss mirroring the heavens above–such a great line!
I Decided to add some Spanish at the end because English wasn’t fitting the way I wanted. Here’s to my first one, luckily short.
At Saint Francis Hospital
0
6 Triplets birthplace, basked in heavenly glow?
1 But
0
5 A Non-religious existence, buscando más
Oh, the advantages of being multilingual! That’s another option we could offer students. I love it.
Yes, those last two words add a little invitation for inquiry and adventure… which I’m certain triplets provide! Cool!!
MLimric,
Wow, I’ve never seen a zip code start with zero. Thanks for expanding my mind!
The question is begging for another poem!
This is a pretty interesting prompt, I really racked my brain coming up with something creative to write about. I also challenged myself by making it so that the numbers in the Zipcode were a part of my poem.
4 Reasons to love life:
9 Amazing years spent writing my ideas and my novel.
5 Entertaining days of the week
2 Best Friends
5 Family members that I love
I like your approach, Andrew. I wish had thought to do that. I’m so curious about the 5 entertaining days of the week. What’s going on the other 2?!?
The 5 days that I was referring to are Monday to Friday, and the time that I am working at school is what meant by entertaining.
Love this poem, Andrew. You paint a lovely picture in my head.
Love the double layer of challenge and the gratitude within- you are indeed, lucky!!
Andrew, such a brilliant strategy! I was perplexed with my approach this morning and decided to leave it alone until after work. I see you and I had similar thinking on how to use the numbers differently.
What a beautiful way to spend 9 years!
I decided to write about the home of my heart. It is where my memories, marriage, and family are rooted. Whenever we traveled to see family, I would look for the steeple of the church from the highway; it was how I knew I home.
0 living relatives remain where
6 families began in marriage and baptism
1 under
0 ⛪
9 the steeple that beckoned me home to Rosedale Street
This is the sweetest poem, Heather. I love the phrase “home of my heart” in your introduction. And such a wonderful image of the church steeple beckoning you home.
“the steeple that beckoned me home to Rosedale Street” was simply beautiful – the simplicity of your words and yet they convey such meaning . . . . . you are truly blessed with a talent.
I love the line “the steeple that beckoned me home”. That feels so grounding.
Heather,
This reads almost like a fairy tale. Beautiful last line.
Kasey, your first lines has such power for all of our place-based poems today–we all have different experiences and locations are memory-makers. Thank you for sharing today.
I feel the freedom and joy of your zipcode – marvelous!
I’ve been absent for a week, but I was busy spring breaking! What an easy zip code I have. You may have to zoom in to see the emojis well. Wanted to convey the idea that one would have to think about what is here.
4 Not really much here
0 🤔
0 🤨
5 Not even a single stoplight
0 .
This is so stark – three zeroes in your zipcode! That is wild. Love that it is such a small town, “Not even a single stoplight.” Great verse!
Ha, love the simplicity of the poem that ties into the context. Thank you for sharing today.
Wow. Who would have thought this prompt would suit your location so well! Love the emojis.
Welcome back from Spring Break. I love the use of emojis.
I absolutely loved the striped bare to the bones words, and yet they paint such a picture!
This is so clever because of all the zeros! Not even a stoplight. Sounds like somewhere I want to live after the traffic I just drove through!
Cheri,
love the playfulness of the emojis and the punctuation. Clever.
Cheryl, this is perfect! Glad you are back from spring break and joining in the fun here! You did such a great job with the zeros and emojis and that last 0 period. Hilarious, really! But what an easy zip code to remember!
Your poem makes your zip code sound idyllic. I would love to experience “hide and seek in the cedars.” What joy you brought to us today!
Kasey, you have captured a sweet part of life. That line about the two barefoot boys is priceless. The other 8 line too, gives so many details of the fun you all have, that “not everyone will get to experience”
I love how you appreciate where you are with “Not everyone will get to experience this.” Where you live seems like a child’s dream come true, Kasey.
Kasey,
I can see those campfires and feel the joy and laughter through your words.
“the cows need baths!” — made me smile.
Mo — I love this prompt. I see so many possibilities for use in the classroom to build connections. Cleveland, Ohio was in the path of totality today, so the zip code prompt was perfect!
Once in a Lifetime
4 The path of totality
4 with neighbors and strangers
1 black
1 out
6 planetary alignment, moon shadow, silence eclipses
Tammi, it’s so wonderful how the eclipse has been tied into today’s prompt. I love your one word lines drawing attention to the main event.
What a magical work with the zip code and your word choices, Tammi! The final line is grand as an event itself!
This is gorgeous! Moon shadow silence eclipses is my favorite line. So powerful and evocative.
Wow, Tammi, what an exciting day! I love that neighbors and strangers enjoyed it together.
I love how you used the lines with one word in them – simple, but powerful statements. What a special day!
Tammi,
Love the photo. Your poem is a tribute to nature’s wonder, the eclipse.
So many people are envious of your zip code today. I love how you were with “neighbors and strangers.”
So cool to see & experience the eclipse through other zip codes. Wonderful how you emphasized community – “with neighbors and strangers.”
Tammi, loved this and the picture you included!
Awesome, so glad you wrote about this and got the total eclipse.
Beautiful picture and poem about the eclipse. I love the phrases at the end.
I’m glad you were able to experience totality, too, Tammi. It was so incredible. Being with neighbors and strangers made it all that more special.
I love how you used your back to back ones to emphasize the solar eclipse! Great choice.
Tammi, this was definitely once in a lifetime, and you capture it beautifully in words.
Tammi, your poem reminds me of how it takes something bigger than all of us to bring all of us together. Also, I wonder if “totality” will be our word for 2024.
Retrop
7 A tiny community, not even a school.
3 Rows of trees
6 separate houses like blocks in town.
2 Cows roam
7 the yellow pastures as farmers fix fences.
Well, Kayla, you sure have communicated how small your commission! Your poem made me smile. I love the idea of the two roaming cows.
Kayla,
Also loved the visualize of two roaming cows. I went to college in a very small town and which only had one stop light. I get small town feel.
I’m reading Little House in the Big Woods to my kids right now, and this poem feels similar to that setting! I’m glad places like that still exist!
I love the visual your last two lines create. So peaceful.
Your zipode paints a peaceful picture. Love the use of color in the pastures.
Kayla,
Great job conveying a sense of place and scale. I love the perspective and relativity of
Stillwater
7 Non-carbonated or no current visible here.
4 This stream of college
0 ⽣
7 flows in football & frats and RV lots
5 stills in holidays ‘n’ hot summers
Sarah, very clever connection to water in your poem. The stream of college life is vivid as well as the sudden still times. Love it!
Very clever, Sarah. I’m so enjoying how everyone has interpreted this prompt today.
Sarah,
Love the way you’ve captured the ebb and flow of a college town and how the absence of students slows everything down — “stills in holidays ‘n’ hot summers”
Sarah, I like how you use water to as a metaphor for your college town and that you used a kanji symbol for life in the zero line -clever!
Love the riff on water and want to investigate what your symbol on 0 means. Non-carbonated made me chuckle!
Clever! Love the use of the kanji!
The title is very important in this thoughtful and deep poem about your town, Sarah. I love how you did college life. (I had to look up that symbol!) The references to water flowing and being still is perfect.
This was lots of fun! We’re driving home from seeing the eclipse right now on my campus, and we – my husband, son, and student – are cowriting this together as we talk about what a cool experience we just shared – lovely!
A Phenomenon
1 Oswego
3 sun temporarily disappears
1 totality
2 moon shines
6 all love within us community combines
So glad you were able to see it! Total clouds here in Rochester- but the 4 minutes of total darkness was really cool.
So cool, Sarah! We didn’t see the “totality” in Louisiana, but I am glad you did. I like the rhyming of the final two lines.
We are stuck in traffic on our way home now. The totality was so amazing, wasn’t it? I love the collaborative nature of your poem! ❤️ 🌖
Wasn’t is sooo cool! Your poem makes a great keepsake marking the experience.
A collaborative zip code poem– perfectly in the spirit of the codes that mark neighbors and community. How wonderful that you could witness it together and be in the shine of the moon in love. What a great phrase “community combines.”
Sarah
Sarah, I love the story behind this collaborative poem! And I’m with Susan, what a cool “keepsake” for this event!
Sarah —
My daughter and I watched the eclipse today, too! What an amazing experience. Loved your last line “all love within us community combines” as we felt that within our community too.
Love the picture that you painted, Sarah!
Sarah,
Beautiful. Love that it’s a community-written poem about a community experience with a beautiful last line about the power of community to amplify love.
I love the hopefulness of your final line. There is hope in “community.”
Mo, this was such a neat idea for a poem! Wonder how many eclipse poems you’ll get? Here’s one:
1 Totality:
3 Denied by Moon
0 …
6 But – gathered on deck – found in
1 Family.
I like your attitude, Wendy. We are currently stuck in traffic in central Indiana. It was so worth it, though. I’m glad you have your family around to celebrate with nonetheless.
Wendy, wonderful! We’re driving back fromseeing the eclipse now, and despite the clouds, what a memory to be made with the family!
There were…just a few ))) We welcome them all today, Wendy! Love your “Denied by Moon” “But … found in Family” ❤️🌒
This is great! The experience was individual to each person who witnessed it, but I love how you captured the fact that the important part was the gathering with family.
Wendy,
The 6 of the “gathered on deck” anchors this poem right in the the shift from zero to family. Perfect.
Sarah
Wendy, love the focus of your poem and how you end it. I also lived your line Denied by moon!
Wendy,
I wrote an eclipse poem, too! Love your last lines:
“but– gathered on deck –found in/ family” What an amazing moment to share with family!
This eclipse was extraordinary! So is your poem. Love knowing the family gathered to see it.
Thank, Mo! This is a new idea for me! My first and last number is 0, so I have to think creatively about that.
0 traffic hum in the blank, black night
7 types of birds at my feeder.
9 ways to put the garden in garden state.
2 crows cawing
0 urban sprawl – just green harmony.
Two zeros! I admire your creativity in working with the prompt, which I think is important to share with our students. I always like to share my struggles as a writer with them. I love the birds and your garden juxtaposed with the urban sprawl.
Interesting description to show your place. Loved green harmony and blank black night!
Joanne,
I love the picture that you painted for us with only your zip code. You did an amazing job at showing us your beautiful home town.
Joanne,
I love the way you sandwiched your poem between the 0. It really emphasized the ruralness of your town.
Joanne,
Bravo on nature sounds and sights upstaging traffic and urban sprawl. You e written an Edenic poem.
The “0 urban sprawl-just green harmony” is transporting me home to views of a field rather than suburbia. What a lovely gift.
Mo, thanks so much for hosting today. I loved your poem’s emoji. Must be nice to live so close to Chicago.
Small Town’s Faded Glory
Mississippi river flows, blues fest
Rockn’ roll
Eagles glide, geode finds, towboats guide
Sac and Fox
tribes died
Best little town by a dam site, nicknamed Little
Chicago, where famous people enjoyed the opera house
Dying now
Drugs, poverty, broken homes
Barb Edler
8 April 2024
Barb,
I see you used the additional postal digits for the second verse. Smart thinking. Wish I’d thought of that. I didn’t know Keokuk was known as “little Chicago.” That is cool. There’s an “Old Man River” echo I hear in your poem, and I can’t help but think about all Twain’s adventures on the river when I read about it. I think you should put your Mississippi River poems into a collection, There’s such rich history in this one, as well as sadness. For me this poem is anthropology. And its simple gorgeous art.
Barb, the first couple of lines in both stanzas are so lovely, but then you hit us hard with current reality. You are not the only one who wrote about mixed feelings in your poem today. I appreciate all you do for your community. Thanks for the rawness of this poem today.
Barb, I am stuck on this line
tribes died
I have such a strong feeling for the Native American tribes who were pushed aside by barbarians who took over their homes and lands. Thank you for calling that to the forefront today in part of the glory that faded – – I truly feel for them, and your words bring awareness and sorrow.
I love all the rhymes in your first stanza – glide, find, guide, died. Your town may yet come back to life, despite the pain of the past ❤️
Brilliant to add both parts of the zipcode, and open up lots more poetic possibilities. Your first stanza shares such joy – “Eagles glide, geode finds, towboats guide;” sad to hear how it is “Dying now.” Very sad contrast – stark.
Barb,
Beautiful and tragic. Such poignant contrast between the beginning and ending of each stanza. Powerful and thought-provoking meditation about the path from past to present.
Thank you for sharing.
Barb, you shared so many positive vibes about Keokuk. I like all the long i words in the first stanza. The last two lines in each stanza hurt.
Simply fun prompt, Mo! Thanks! I decided to focus on the eclipse…
Silver Spring, Maryland
2:04pm the moon begins its crawl across the sun
0 clouds in the sky here in Silver Spring, Maryland
9ty (well, honestly, 89) percent obscurity expected at 3:20pm
0 traffic congestion at this less than perfect eclipse location
1der
Maureen,
Clever to use numbers as phones for words such as *wonder* and *ninety* and to juxtapose time with that first zip digit. BTW, you have more eclipse than we have. As I write, I think I missed it.
Maureen, I can just feel the eclipse starting here. I love the way you used the numbers to begin your poem especially “1der”. Very clever piece and such a wonderful way to acknowledge today’s eclipse of the sun.
You’ve created a perfect timeline along with the weather forecast and traffic conditions note, Maureen. I love it! “9ty” and “1der” are awesome! ))
I love this perspective, Maureen. We are just leaving Indiana after viewing the eclipse with our son and daughter-in-law. We had such a great time together.
Maureen–9ty and 1der are my favorite words!
Maureen, I love how you found a way to include your city’s name in the poem. I also love the inclusion of the time to paint us an accurate picture of your town right now! Awesome job.
Love the last line. It wounds like a wonderful eclipse experience.
😍 Great idea to use the numbers as part of the lines, and I think I like it better that you had to use the parenthetical because it adds voice to the poem. That last line is stellar.
Maureen, loved your clever, clever use of the numbers here!
Clever! Oh, my, Wonder is perfect. I love this little view into the eclipse by you. Thanks!
Maureen, I like how language and numbers and time coalesce in your poem just as the sun and moon fell in sync today.
Mo, this is so fun! Thank you for sharing what you have taken part in at the writing workshop. I adore the way your emoji works into your poem. That has added joy to my day in an unexpected way.
I also thank you for sharing the O, Miami resource. They posted some zip odes a couple days ago on their social media, so I sort of played with the format a bit…not sure if my picture is showing up, so I’ll post my poem written in this comment, too.
Don’t ask me why I moved here,
but th’storybook town gave
me feeder roots —
stomping grounds worth staying.
Living the Grand Life!
Amber Harrison
Zip Ode 74344
I can think of no better reason to live somewhere, “gave?
me feeder roots” – which I interpret as ‘nourishes me.’
Yes!!! It ended up nourishing me…and helping me grow after trial.
Amber, I love your positivity and the clever way you used the numbers within your graphic. Great final line!
I must say that the last line is my city’s motto and worked out perfectly…the motto is proudly plastered on the welcome signs into the city. We are a city on Grand Lake of the Cherokees in Oklahoma, way up in the northeast in Green Country. It turns out it is pretty grand here.
Those feeder roots speak volumes in your poem today, Amber. Your town sounds amazing.
Oh, the pull of a place to put out some feeder roots and see the blooms! This is magnetic! I feel the pull, too, just thinking about the charm.
I love this prompt, Mo! I also love the Chicago area and love your ode! My students would love this, especially choosing an emoji for our first 0. There’s so much energy around who gets to call our Maine island home.
0 🦞
4 we’re all “from away”
8 our lobster hauling, winter squalling, muddy trail island
6 lobster roll July 4th fantasy summer playground
2 Wabanaki land
Emily,
Your poem makes me want to visit your island! It sounds wonderful. I especially like “ our lobster hauling, winter squalling, muddy trail island.”
I graduated high school in southern Maine; I know how few folks can call the state home…love your ‘4 we’re all “from away”.
Emily,
Every time you write about your lobster paradise I want to rush over. Love the emoji and the onomatopoeic sounds in “squalling” and “hauling.”
Looks like you need to prepare for a slew of visitors, Emily. We were in Maine in the fall for a family wedding and loved it so much. It was so wonderful being able to explore with our family. And this lobster rolls- oh my!
Emily, I love how the emoji you chose goes with a symbol of your town. I have also never heard of these things from Chicago. So cool!
Emily, loved this picture of Maine!
the Cove
There are no zip codes,
only dirt roads,
with flattened toads.
Pecan trees and rusty clocks,
squared up farms circling city blocks,
outlined with stacked up rocks.
People come and some leave,
Kinfolk guard yards with cut-off sleeves,
Zip codes to dem are just make-believe.
The Grey squirrel doesn’t give a zip,
Uncle Jack points at steel on his hip.
And Grandma gives it– the finger flip,
.
Ain’t nobody ever caring bout dat round here,
Cornbread conversations to be clear,
you live over dare, we live over here!
By way of the crow,
if we decide to go,
Never forget our raising though.
We red and relate to wild,
Every stump, taught to the child,
Hot sauce policies, not mild.
Axle bars are the corners,
Beware of the dog signs are warners,
with Porch sitting elder– scorners
No code around here,
Zip it, thats clear,
you over there and we over here!
Boxer, what a fun way to create your poem based on today’s prompt. I love your use of rhyme and the attitudes you share about this rural life area. Loved grandma’s reaction and “Zip it, thats clear”.
So evocative of “Southern” life, Boxer. Your word play is top tier here, as well. I love cornbread conversations and hot sauce policies. So well done.
Such a zip of a poem! You successfully used the rhyme and I love the attitude here of we who are defiantly different from those over there. Grandma’s finger flip made me laugh.
Hello Mo, Thanks for another NEW IDEA. I particularly like fresh ways of approaching poetic expression about personal issues that students may have experienced, observed, or read about. And to take into consideration grading time, I lean towards writing prompts that inspire DEEP thinking but result in SHORT writings. This one works for me.
4 once upon a time
9 tense, trying out prime words to make mine rhyme
5 an idea flashed in me
0 a poem can have zero rhyme
8 it’s evocative words that make writing a poem.
Yes, I agree, there can be deep thinking in this short prompt – five lines, five numbers, room for lots of creativity. Love your last line especially, “it’s evocative words that make writing a poem”
Yes ma’am! I think it’s so important that we show students so many facets of poetry. Thanks for that reminder.
Your last line says it all!
The accompanying meme is so fitting! It is difficult at times to feel like a poet without using a specific form or rhyme scheme, but being allowed to do whatever feels right—that is the beauty of poetry.
The Zip Code Poem could be interpreted through the lens of the eclipse and where you live 😉
I really admire all the creative approaches to the prompt today!
Thanks, Mo! I enjoyed reflecting on possible places to write about today.
nana and papa’s house
and where I met my wife, beginning adult life
too conservative
but a serene thread connecting friends and family
part of me
49283
I know that zip code, especially line 3. Go Cougars?
Haha, yes 🙂 if you teach math, you likely had my grandpa as your abstract algebra teacher.
Wonderful details to show your connection with your grandparents. I loved your two last lines. “Part of me” is the perfect final note to your poem.
I love your description of that serene thread that still connects you to your past. I appreciate that you acknowledge that you are different from the place you grew up, but still honor it.
“A serene thread”–great line!
4 In the front room
9 I sit on my cool, brown, cracked leather couch,
3 draw in air,
4 let it out again,
1 slowly
I really like the focus of the moment and place. The need to breathe in and slowly out is provocative and perhaps shows a need to feel centered or to decompress. Powerful!
This seems like such a profound, important moment that you’ve captured. I really like the way you brought us right into the front room with you.
I love how as the poem winds down in the last three lines, the number of words collapses to just one as well. I think this structure adds emphasis to the moment you write about!
Thank you, Mo, for this prompt today! It was nice to imagine home as it used to be!
7: I’m from the deep red dirt where,
3: Oak trees reign.
7: Where the wind pleads with each branch,
6: Clinging to her most fond memories
8: That lay fossilized in the deep red dirt.
Reagan, where oak trees reign is such a powerful image. The repetition of the deep red dirt really lets us know about where you are from. Thank you!
Love “Clinging to her most fond memories,” Reagan
I love the imagery here! Your strong descriptions put me right into your setting.
” fond memories that lay fossilized in the deep dark dirt”- this line stood out to me. Isn’t that what memories do- fossilize inside our minds and souls.
Mo–thanks for a prompt I would never have thought of. I loved your stand in for the zero! A train ride away from the real deal–so close, yet so far. I grew up in a rural area about an hour south of Buffalo NY. My poem took an unexpected dark turn. Sometimes that happens…
Never Enough
1 One tiny blue house, one migrained mother doing her best
4 Four people, five cramped rooms
7 Seven miles out of town, too far from friends
2 Two incompatible sisters
8 Eight days a month when my father was home from the road
GJ Sands
4-8-24
Gayle, for me those unexpected turns define the beauty of poetry. Sometimes I’ll think about a prompt all day, but when I sit down to write, something entirely different comes out. Your poem is honest and raw, and I really like that about it.
Gayle,
Your poem is perfect. Not all places are idyllic. Not all childhoods are fairytale years. Folks need to remember this, especially as we approach that horrible May holiday,
Gayle, I so appreciate your title because it immediately establishes the town. The tight home quarters adds to the sense of despair you create through the third and fourth lines. When you end with the detail of your father being gone so much, I felt another punch gut. Powerful and poignant poem.
This is darkly beautiful and really resonates with me, possibly because I’m from a small town myself that just feels isolating. Your title says so much.
This is a new form of poetry for me. I like the use of zip code for determining place.
Rochester, NY
1 Coast
4 of great Lake Ontario
6 Frederick Douglass, Susan B. Anthony residents
1 Changemakers
0 !
Change makers, indeed! Maybe there’s something in that Lake Ontario water!
Upstate NY Joy to the Rochester poet!
I agree! I noticed how some of the zip code poems that had high number counts per line had awesome imagery. I was jealous of some zip codes.
Cathy,
Your poem is the chef’s kiss. The exclamation mark is the garnish on top. Love how you celebrate to icons.
Thank you. It was so easy to use the ! with a 0 as my last digit.
Ooh I love the juxtaposition of peace and change! Very cool snippet learning about your place!
What a great way to present Rochester! I didn’t realize these two changemakers were from there. Beautiful and that ! is perfect.
They weren’t born here but lived here for a big portion of their lives while advocating for change.
For the sake of argument, let’s say (although a bit hesitant to
triangulate my exact coordinates)
I’ll give you significant clues (in homonyms or rhymes and whatnot to
nix the digits) thereby fulfilling the prompt while keeping my anonymity,
too.
_________________________________________________
Thanks for allowing me to play a bit with today’s prompt, Mo! (I enjoyed the challenge although I’m gonna have to draw the line at the “use your social security number, mother’s maiden name, and first family pet” poetry prompt…..the sad reality, though, lol, is that I’d prolly “do” that prompt, too!)
Only you, Scott. Only you! So funny and clever.
Wonderful way to play, Scott (triangulating your exact coordinates now). This is brilliant!
Clever. It took a minute, but I got it.
Scott,
I see some premises in this poem for which you e not provided a warrant. 🤔
Oh, funny! Wow, I did manage to figure out approximately where in the world you are! Thanks for the fun and the puzzle. (You read my zip code life story, and now I’m remembering those identity tests you have to take sometimes to show what places are familiar. I gave away all my secrets!)
Wonderfully clever!
Thank you, Mo, for such a fun prompt today. You made us all happy on this Eclipse Monday. I love your poem and the image of a train instead of a zero. I am using an image for “0” in my poem too.
It’s A Strawberry Festival Week in Ponchatoula
Seven days a week you will spot
🍓🍓🍓
Four times a day
Five minutes after leaving house
In four places here
P.s.: It’s storming outside, and I have hard time posting.
I am so excited for all the things I am learning about our poets today! I’m hungry right now and your strawberries make me want to come see you. Lovely.
Great use of strawberries, Leilya!
Leilya,
My mouth is watering thinking about those strawberries. We’re still enmeshed in snow season. 😭
Leilya, what a fun festival this must be. It appears to be raining strawberries from here.
Yum! This sounds delicious every which way, Leilya. There’s nothing like biting into fresh picked strawberries, warm from the sun. It cannot be matched. Your poem brought me the joy of that memory today.
The correction didn’t save. I wanted the final line to read: “(In) four places at least.” Oh, well ))
Oh, the strawberry festival days! I would love to be there picking, and I love how you used the strawberry icon. Sweet!
Lovely reminder of your sweet strawberry festival. Nice touch how you used the number words for the zip code. I’m hungry for the strawberries now!
Oh, what a cool prompt! I haven’t been in this city long, and I’m a bit on the outskirts, but I ran with it.
Suffolk, VA
2 Peanut fields
3 Clash with developers.
4 Main St. holds old
3 Southern charm, but
7 Fire froze modern progress. A possible phoenix?
(Eventually.)
What a great last line, Jordan. You’ve done a terrific job of showing us the contrasts you’ve observed. I sure hope that Phoenix rises again.
Anything with a phoenix rising from ashes is captivating to me. I can see the fields and yearn for their win against developers. We need our peanuts.
Jordan, your final line got me. I hope this is a temporary setback, and you will see great progress in the future. Love “Southern charm” ))
Oh, Jordan, you tell an intriguing tale of this sweet town. I hope the phoenix comes! “Fire froze” is such a great phrase.
Oh, my goodness, Mo, I love the way you magically used train in your poem. And I love “real star of the show / so close” You may have the best of both worlds. And thank you for teaching me about using the emojis on Word. I may have to become obnoxious with them now that I know a new trick.
What a unique opportunity this was. I found such nostalgia as I wrote the zip codes I’ve lived in throughout my life. I did a Zip Ode Memoir because I couldn’t decide. I also counted syllables instead of words (unless I made mistakes because I’m in kind of a hurry this morning! On my way out.)
90723
Suburban Los Angeles is home
🏡
I never thought I would move
and have
another
90706
I was twenty-two when I moved in
with a friend. Today we live
in wonder across miles
49423
I married you
and for the first time I live in snow
well, in a house
an old
frigid one
51041
Iowa farming!
no
🚜
not us, but my
class
49418
One baby and
another on the way our first home
with a yard and
swing
and cuddles, lullabies, and play
85306
girls started school in the desert
Saguaros and heat
home for us
🏊🏼♀️
they hoped to never move
51041
Fourteen years later
back
¯\_( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)_/¯
Iowa
home
Bahrain didn’t have zip codes, but
One interesting thing is we could get
X delivered to church, school, or hospital with just BOX
1 and Manama, Kingdom of Bahrain
92284
Our retirement home is small and good
two of us
fit just
so, except we can make room for
much company
A zip code memoir! I can’t express how much I love this idea, Denise. I’m amazed at how much we can learn about each other when we are forced to use just a few words or syllables. Your last stanza is just the sweetest ❤️
Denise, I love the journey you take the reader on! The stanza on Bahrain is so interesting! I love the bittersweet line of “they hoped to never move.” I can definitely personally connect with this, and raising my two girls in a world where nothing is permanent.
Denise your Zip Code Memoir is priceless. So many memories if different places. I love your 49418 snippet about growing family with “cuddles, lullabies, and play.”
It’s interesting that there is no zip code in Bahrain. I thought it was a universal postal system thing. I wonder how many BOXES the have.
Denise,
I loved how you made this a memoir. You gave a glimpse into your life in places. I have only lived in three zip codes and they all began with 19 – which shows how close I stayed to home. You lived in so vastly different places – so many stories!
Denise, the myriad zip codes show a flurry of activity and movement, and I love the face in 51041 on the 0. I’m so glad you are now in the retirement home that sleeps 2 but can expand to make room for family.
What a fascinating narrative you’ve created through the zip code format. I loved the part about Bahrain, and your last line is perfectly delivered!
Denise, I have marveled at old address books, the ones where the addresses are crossed out and new ones written above, next to, below, as people move. Your poem reminds me of that as you’ve moved across the world to so many fascinating places. I love the sentiment of 90706!
Love this look at the path of your life through the many zip codes you have resided in. A creative way to show the passage of time and the different parts of your life.
Denise, you’ve shared part of your life through these post codes. Like Bahrain, Ghana has no post codes, we used post boxes with a post office box number.
I love this Zip Code Memoir, Denise! Thank you for taking us along on this trip!
Denise,
What a unique and clever journey you’ve taken us on. You know how I love the desert. *Send Joshua trees* and now I learn you lived among saguaro, too. What an adventurous life you’ve had!
Love the zip code memoir. I wondered, too, about doing one for a place I lived in Costa Rica, which like Bahrain, doesn’t have zip codes. We used things like “house on the hill 100 meters from the soccer field.” I like how you still made it work without a zip code.
This is an amazing way to share a memoir. I may have to toy with my own!! What a variety of life experiences you have had, Denise!!
Thank you for this fun prompt! It brought me through lots of memories from my little city – celebrating at our summer fest, sandbagging against flooding, concerts & festivals & funerals. I’ve told my husband before that this is the first place I’ve lived that actually feels like a community. Pretty neat!!
Springville, Utah
Nestled in the shadow of snowcapped peaks lies
a community that feels
like one. We come together to
celebrate life, prevent disaster, mourn loss,
create Art City.
I think I’m going to regret this prompt, as now there are so many places I want to visit. I mean, Art City! How can I not want to go there? You’ve made it sound like such a beautiful place, Rachel.
Rachel, I am attracted to your community from the first line. “Nestled in the shadow of snowcapped peaks” sounds so beautiful. What you do as a community is vital.Long live your Art City!
Rachel, the ring of community is a welcome one. And art! So fun!
Rachel, what a lovely city. It sounds beautiful and the fact that the people “come together to…” is admirable and does make a great place to live. Beautiful! I can see this would be a great poem to send to your local paper, with the zip code ode mentioned.
I was surprised by how this stumped me today. What a great prompt!
70563
Bayou side promises possible peace as river
hmmms
Listen to the hawk call.
A train passes with loud screech.
We walk together.
I’m surprised that this stumped you, because in my eyes you are so linked to the bayou. I adore how you incorporated the hmmm sound. The juxtaposition of the Hawk call and train screech is so poetic and your ending really brings it all together for me. Thank you!
Margaret, the stumping is not evident in the poem! It’s lovely – – the peaceful river, the call of the hawk, the noise of the train in the silence, and the walking on, together. Idyllicly peaceful.
Margaret, your poem reminds me many places in Louisiana. I, too, wake up to two trains daily around 4 a.m. I love our little bayous, trails, and parks. Walking together is a bliss.
This is gorgeous, Margaret. Love the’peace as a river’ …found myself humming. That ending line is such a compliment to your community.
Margaret, beautiful poem of bayou love and peace. Like Mo said, I love the last line. Perfect conclusion.
East Grand Rapids, MI
(4) Woods, lakes – childhood’s haven
(9) Biking through leafy streets, the laughter with your friends
(5) The season honest and calm
(0) 🙂
(6) East Grand Rapids, full of love
This is so sweet, Rachel. I adore the idea of the season being honest and calm in a childhood haven.
So much loving and fond memories in such a short verse, Rachel! Like Mo, I am learning about all wonderful places I want to visit now.
Rachel, we are not so far from one another (I used to teach at IHM). You’ve brought out all the things I love about EGR!
Oh, Rachel, I love “honest and calm” here. It does sound beautifully peaceful.
Rachel, I love your third line: “The season honest and calm.” We definitely do get distinct seasons in Michigan! (On my side of the state, the weather’s a bit fickle at times, though, lol.)
I want Mo’ of these. Phew. Nothing like waking up to a numerical challenge…something new…and adventure…a poetic game. Love this zip code challenge and utilized three (& a song) that have made me, me. There’s something haunting about the “0” in coding our zips. Thanks, Mo….it will be hard to find more excitement in this day. I got it! I got it! I got your number on the wall!
For the Class of 1990 at the Apocalypse
b.r.crandall
1 Childhood
3 on Amalfi Drive,
0
4 Wiffleball & Ten Speeds.
1 Northstars –
0
6 glimmering in this middle-aged wrinkle
6 of time, shifting constellations, shooting away
1 eclipsed —-
4 bovine tipping no more.
0
6 We’re folding in yesterday’s laundry list
8 of memories, worry, mistakes, histories, & mismatched socks –
2 Dryer sheets
4 clinging to life’s underwear.
8 Nobody prepared us for the long nose hairs
6 cascading (like wisteria) from our nostrils.
7 I have to hold railings on stairs.
5 Weren’t we just on bleachers?
3 Flipping those tassels,
0
9 cheering two, four, six, eight, ten, eighteen with pride?
Bryan, what a great approach. I feel like I just learned about your entire life while reading a few stanzas. Your last stanza is brilliantly funny. Who can I turn to? 🤣
clinging to life’s underwear. That’s where I am today. I love that line!
Bryan, you made my day again–I smiled beginning with “I got your number on the wall” 🙂 I knew the eclipse will show up inevitably today, and you delivered!
My favorite stanza is your zip 06824 with the “clinging to life’s underwear” apotheosis.
Thank you!
You have me laughing with this one as I can so relate to the shifting from being young with wiffleballs and ten speeds to wanting to hold on to railings. Loved “Weren’t we just on bleachers?” and the cheering at the end adds such a joyous note. Adore this poem!
Bryan, how did I miss writing about that number! And you must let me know, is it truly possible to tip a cow? I have to admit I’ve never tried though there were several on our road when I was growing up. Anyway, that last stanza is a hoot.
Bryan, poetry with you is so clever, funny, and truthful. What a lovely trip through three zip codes and a phone number song. Some lines “dryer sheets / clinging to life’s underwear” and “Nobody prepared us for the long nose hairs…” (and so much more that we weren’t prepared for) So funny! And I agree, those 0’s in the zip codes are haunting.
4 Four very sleepy friends
8 wishing for the end of the crazy day
9 Hoping that the peace of the night brings rest
1 Goodnight
0 —–
Katherine, I can relate to being one of the sleepy friends waiting for the day to end. I love how you chose to end your poem. It gives me a sense of peace.
Katie, I like thinking of the imagery of peace that night brings, especially thinking about the darkness of the eclipse today. Thank you for sharing.
Oh, that zip code is perfect for this sleepy time poem. Here’s hoping for a peaceful night for you tonight too, Katherine.
I really enjoyed your poem, I can relate to being tired, slogging through the day, waiting to get home and sleep. I also liked that you decided to just have nothing on the last line because of the 0, even if its unintentional, I thought that it could imply that you are sleeping after saying goodnight.
Mo,
Thanks for hosting and giving us such an approachable form. I like how you incorporate the train emoji in your word play. I’d love to live somewhere where I could take the train.
I wrote three about my home and one about my spiritual home, where my parents, grandparents and so on back are from.
condos, cranes—both types, Willie’s concert venue
the new Central library with the Escher stairs
where the Colorado River meets Shoal Creek
downtown
the sharpest train curve in America
where the train crosses the damned up Colorodo
The bridge graffiti telling us to breathe
home
April eighth, the big day is here
our college friends have come in from Houston
living in the totality, ready with glasses
🌑
cloudy
Oh
the St. John Valley
where I walked up the hill with Grandma
and in woods alone
Oh how I miss you
Such lovely homages to your favorite places, Sharon. I love “cranes- both types.” And your approach to the bridge graffiti telling us to breathe is so unique. I’m reading your poem as we are heading south and east for a better eclipse view, so your last poem really made me smile.
Adding one more from where I grew up, imagining my Mom’s perspective on moving there.
grids of suburban streets named for trees
but where are the trees?
far from family, mountains, valleys and trees
in plain ole Plano
Sharon, I have been enjoying getting to know these places in Texas and this sweet valley where you walked with your Grandma. That stanza about the eclipse in your town is perfect. Sorry for the clouds. Was it dark? Did the temperature change? Did your glasses let you see anything? Great poems.
Denise,
We had some nice views of the first half of the eclipse as the clouds shifted. It was cool to see the clouds passing in front of it. We had some nice long looks right before the totality. We couldn’t see the totality because of the clouds or any of the second half. The totality was still a unique experience. The temperature drop was significant, probably 10 degrees. And it did indeed get dark and the clouds did look really cool then. Too bad about the clouds at the totality, but still a special time with old friends.
Thank you, Sharon, for letting me know. I’m glad you got to experience it in all its forms!
Good morning Mo and everyone participating in #Verselove24. I’ve been off the grid and this is my first poem this month, so happy to be here and thank you Sarah for another year.
9 thirty + years, memories, sun, births
2 goodbye
8 food, salt water, sharks, friends, traffic
0 ✋🏻
4 mich-ornia?
4 two thousand miles
9 peace, snow, fresh water, four seasons, calm
3 adventure
0 ✋🏻
1 space
I really love your poems, they both tend to flow in their own ways! 🙂
Hi Stefani. I love your portmanteau mich-ornia. I also love the whole journey your poem takes us on. So good to see you here today.
Stefani, I also left the tropical life for the more peaceful place with space. I like how you use the 0 in both poems with the hand stop. And that Michigan California blend in 4 makes me chuckle.
Stefani, hope your off grid journeys were awesome! Michigan’s adjectives sound so much more soothing (love our fresh water) but California just invites one to hang for awhile. You’ve had two great states to live in.
Stefani, so fun! I love seeing you transition from California to Michigan. Califigan? It seems Michigan is being very good to you, as your poem makes me feel all the good of that place with adventure and peace. Beautiful! Welcome back! I’ve been thinking of you this past week because when I open the webpage, your image is right in my sight, and I missed you. Glad you are back on the grid.
Such a clever idea, Mo. It reminded me of all we went through when we sold our “big home” and moved into a townhouse in this Zip Code…
1 – Decision
8 – The nest empties. We will sell our home.
9 – Month of unexpected stress strained our marriage and family.
7 – Seven month before our home was sold.
6 – Twenty years later–a good decision!
Rita, a clever way to compose a zip ode! Your words bring reassurance as we are considering selling our own house we built in 2008 and building a much smaller place on the back side of the farm, farther away from every human noise. Your good decision brings me peace that this can in fact be a very good move while there is any strength in our arms to lift boxes.
At first, I thought this was going down a different rode, but then it ended up happy! Glad you’re at ease with the decision 🙂
Rita, I love the line, “the nest empties.” Using the passive voice makes it seem like something that happened to you, not necessarily what you wanted. So relatable for so many “older” parents.
So much story and emotion in these lines, Rita! I am so glad of the happy ending.
Rita, so glad to hear it was ultimately a good decision, even though it was difficult during the transition.
Thou I haven’t sold a home before, my friends who have sounded and felt emotions very similar to what you had in your poem. I especially like the last sentence, and I am happy that the stress and worry you felt during the process was worth it later.
Sandwich, MA
0 h what a beautiful place to live
2 Historic, peaceful
5 Larger town than one thinks
6 Hydrangea Festival in July is gorgeous
3 Walkable downtown area
I’d love to visit the Hydrangea Festival. This should be on a tourist flyer.
A Hydrangea Festival sounds delightful. Sounds like Sandwich is another place I have to visit!
I am commenting at lunchtime, so sandwich is strong on my mind – – and too, Sandwich now, with its hydrangea festival – a walkable downtown to see such beauty! I’m learning about new places I want to visit today.
Your location sounds wonderful- historic, peaceful, walkable and of course that Hydrangea Festival. Hydrangeas are my favorite flower.
Heidi, I’m loving seeing so many beautiful places today! I can only imagine a whole festival given over to the stately hydrangea. It does seem, a beautiful place to live. I like what you did with that 0 there.
I titled my zip code poem “Monday.”
I sigh and fight
the inertia of my chair. Getting started, the hardest
part of any chore.
Waiting won’t
ease the ennui.
Your poem’s cadence ebbs and flows so nicely!
“The inertia of my chair” is something I’ve been feeling a lot lately, as I have one foot in a boot. I’m definitely thinking more before I start any chores as it’s so exhausting. You’re poem makes me feel seen today.
Mondays can be rough, and “Waiting won’t / ease the ennui” is your wisdom talking. Nicely done!
Haha! Love this Monday poem!
“I sigh and fight
the inertia of my chair…”
And I see that you actually did get your zip code in there! I have the same zip code in one of my stanzas today. 🙂
Your poem really spoke to me. I had some problems with procrastination in the past so I really resonated with the last 2 lines. Amazing job!
Mo,
How fun and accessible this prompt is.
Total Eclipse of this Part (of our country)
4 after months of hype
7 a total eclipse is swathing through America
5 first time here since 1869
4 watching this cosmic dance
6 likely amazing and humbling all viewers
~Susan Ahlbrand
8 April 2024
Susan,
You’re in the path of totality? We thought about heading off to my brother’s to watch. Enjoy this phenomenon. You’ll get more poems from it.
Ooh, exciting! I’m wishing I was in your part of the country today! Enjoy the “cosmic dance”!
Nice! I like how you used today’s eclipse. We are doing some activities at school – should be fun!
some of my family and I are heading out soon to get a closer view, as we are in Monticello right now. I hope it’s everything it’s cracked up to be! Love the cosmic dance.
How fun of a time for you. I hope you enjoy.
I like your phrase “cosmic dance” because it brings joy to the surface.
Susan, I really enjoyed reading your poem. I appreciated the detail about the eclipse being present since 1869, that’s a long dang time. Your final line adds the perfect final note!
How exciting, Susan! We saw a partial here (with glasses) near Raleigh, NC. I’ve been watching reactions on the news, people witnessing totality. Many were awed to tears. I hope you had a great view.
Oh, Susan, I hope you got to be amazed and humbled with a good clear sky. I know some folks had clouds. “swathing through America” well said
Zip Odes
By: Judi Opager
This prompt was so much fun! It allowed my mind to go down all these different rabbit holes! Thank you. I had to do two.
5 How I loved this place
5 1930’s vibe and hissing radiator
1 Safe
0 💖
5 Watching silent snow falling – beautiful
9 Small beach community where generations have passed down homes
0 🐬
2 Some pretentious
7 Poets, artists, and lots of helicopter moms
7 in cute tennis outfits driving big SUV’s
Judi, what perfect contrasts in your two poems! That hissing radiator is a powerful image. I can clearly picture your current area, too. Nicely done.
ha! I enjoyed this. It sounds a little similar to the EGR area – full of history and those tennis moms, haha
Judi, I love the shift between 5 and 9. From one place to another, one era to another, one generation to another.
I love that you juxtaposed these two places in your poem right next to each other. So different, but both America. So interesting!
Mo,
This prompt is a great way to start the week. I began writing about where I live now but felt a pull towards the home of my first 30 years. A bittersweet poem for sure.
Zip Ode
1 Philly
9 my childhood home where so many great memories live
1 but
5 now gun violence abounds
2 it’s sad
Rita,
We have so many guns in this country and so many clueless pols who want to dump more in places, but did you know Philadelphia’s rate of gun deaths is down 34% this year compared to 2023? And look what Abbott Elementary is doing for the city’s reputation.
Glenda,
Thanks for the positive spin. I am hopeful the new mayor will make significant changes.
A sad commentary on the state of our world unfortunately! Hold on to the memories!
I’m from Philly, too, so this poem resonated deeply with me, Rita. Have a good week!
I appreciate the honesty in your poem, Rita. I also think it’s great how you acknowledged the tug of your home city. Well done.
Violence is so much a part of my city of origin, too, that it has become taken over by the state.
RIta,
I can so relate to watching home become something much less than what it was. Landing on “it’s sad” is simply perfect.
Rita, it’s been years since I’ve been to Philly and I too have great memories from there, and then. I’m saddened to hear that gun violence is taking its toll there. I hope you are able to still create and keep some great memories despite the crime that’s creeping in too quickly.
I felt that turn of emotions in only 5 words. It is sad that gun violence is overtaking our lives and your city. May there be a future where your poem could turn back to positivity.
Ouch, that hurts. Where are you living now, Rita? The childhood memories are still there; and I like what Glenda said about Philly. I hope there is hope!
Mo,
This is a fun prompt. Thanks for hosting. My zip code is 83202, but it almost always pops up as Pocatello and not Chubbuck, so I wrote my poem about Pocatello, which until 2017 had the country’s ugliest city flag and made national news for it. My Canva uses the new flag. Pocatello also has a city ordinance passed in 1947 after a harsh winter. That ordinance is the subject of my ode.
😊 😃 😀 [Zip Ode]
Failure to smile violates a city ordinance. Grin—
the universal language—
in America’s
😊 😃 😀
smile capital.
Glenda Funk
4-8-24
Another fascinating zip code story! I really didn’t expect to learn so much from zip code poems so early this morning. I wonder, do you just grin and bear it? (Sorry, Glenda. I couldn’t resist that.)
Glenda, I’m so glad Mo brought this prompt. I remember mailing a book once and the postmistress couldn’t see that the city matched the zip code. I told her to go with what she had, and now I know the story. An ugly flag winner too? Sheesh! I’m learning so much this morning.
Glenda, tell me how in the world can a smile capital have the ugliest flag? LOL This zip code poetry is even more fun than I thought.
Leilya,
Heres the old flag that was voted the ugliest city flag in the country. 🤣 The flag in my Canva is the new one. I love it. Pocatello is an old railroad town, which the bottom blue line symbolizes.
Glenda, first of all your title is hysterical. I love your use of emojis within the poem, too. The first line is such a wonderful invite to read more, like what? Your humor with Grin at the end of that one is extra special. I absolutely adore your Canva rendition of this poem. Stunning colors and the yellow really let’s the words smile, too! Very clever poem!
Glenda, Zip Ode is just the most clever title! That must have been one harsh winter. And you have me darn curious about that ugly flag.
This is a delight, Glenda! The flag is gorgeous and your poem made me smile. What an interesting bit of history re: the flags – yikes!!
Oh, my that is priceless! I love the backstory. I looked up the old Pocatello flag, and you are right! This is my favorite zip ode of all! And the new flag is great.
4 Don’t really live there
4 No mail service here
2 they deliver
3 what my town
1 won’t
Tamara,
WOW! I didn’t know there are towns w/out mail delivery.
This is fascinating for us to consider. I love how this prompt can push us to think about others whose zip code can show us differences. I thought your zip code might be from an exotic locale, but after looking it up, I’m only left with more questions.
Tamara, fascinating! I like each clipped line, and the almost annoyed-sounding delivery of your poem!
Mo, zip codes have been at the center of my world as my family gets ready for a big move this year. My youngest son has soldiered through, but this weekend our house went on the market and the reality of the move became more palpable for him. Transitions are tough. But I’m hoping that there are brighter days ahead for him.
0 🌒
6 Leaving the only home
6 he’s known; darkness
1 shades
4 bright tomorrows
Aww how old is he? I can definitely relate and hope for brighter tomorrows for him 🤗
Dave, I looked at the zero today and thought of the eclipse. Darkness only for a moment…..and then the light returns. What a poem for today, and hugs for your son.
Dave,
The emoji sets the tone for what follows. I know how hard moving can be, even when it’s across town. Wishing your family a good move and your son the best from the move.
I love how you’ve woven your family’s situation alongside the eclipse. Both changes are represented so well. The darkness, shades, and brightness speak volumes. Best of luck to you and your family with the move.
I like the contrast between the last two lines. Thanks for sharing.
“darkness shades bright tomorrows”
I love the way these words land in the poem; a lovely juxtaposition of light and dark, happiness and sorrow.
Moving is hard…no matter how old you are!
You capture the sentiments of when a child leaves home. I especially love the last line because as a parent, that’s the hope we hold in our heart.
How clever to work in the eclipse! You do so in such a beautiful way . . . tying in darkness and shade and brightness. So great!
Phew. This is foreshadow-ish.
Dave! I like how your emoji works for your poem and this day…almost as a title or a way to put a date on your thoughts and life events. Clever!
I also appreciate how you stuck with syllables instead of words. That is word power!
Oh, Dave, I understand. My oldest child was so resistant to moving when growing up, and each time the first few months were tough for her. Hope your son is resilient and will make new friends quickly.
Dave, all the best for your son. I hope it all works out to be a great move, things he can’t see yet. My daughters moved when they were going into 7th and 10th grades. It was a tough transition, but transition they did, of course. He will too.
Mo, a fun way to begin the week and consider conservation of word! I love comparing your locale to being just a short train ride away from the “real star of the show”
I write today about my current hometown that shines one day of the year
0 Quiet
1 peaceful
7 common for three hundred sixty four days
4 until an April Monday
8 as runners descend and TV crews line streets
I’m loving how people are using the zero in their poems. Quiet works nice here.
Christine, this is fabulous. I love the contrast between those 364 days of real life and the 1 day of the Marathon. I can only imagine, with the help of your poem, how insane it must get there. Thank you!
Christine,
I’m seeing riddles in these odes and see hints your home must be the site of a marathon. Love the tone shift from quiet to noise.
What a great Monday to write about! I’m excited to watch online next week.
I knew exactly where you were
What a great Show, Don’t Tell opportunity for kids’ writing
I love the quiet vs busy progression
Christine, it interesting how one day can change the picture 180 degrees. Thank you for writing!
Wow, I never knew about the start of the Boston Marathon happening in a quiet peaceful place. Perfect poem! So much to think about.
Thanks for a fun challenge! (I’ve been writing alongside on lots of these, but had to pop in and share today.)
FLAT PLACES I’VE LIVED — TWO ZIP ODES
8 Folks drive through on the way to elsewhere.
0 Nothingness
8 is all they see in endless flat. But
0 naught
7 can bestow peace: wide horizons, big skies.
4 A different flat landscape —
3 this one humid,
2 lushly green.
1 Metropolis
4 gobbling up surrounding cornfields.
This feels so familiar from what you were saying about the rain lately. I love how you decided to praise both of your places. I may give that a try.
“Nothingness” for the zero works so well!
Mary Lee, I’m so glad you shared today. I live it a flat place, too, so I can totally relate to nothingness, endless flat, and metropolises gobbling up cornfields. Thanks for making me feel at home 😃
I can see each landscape so clearly, Mary Lee. I love your use of ‘naught’ – perfect!
Mary Lee, so glad you posted these here today. I think you created a new poetry form today–The Columbus with a count of 43214. Such a great zip code. I appreciated your use of the 0’s in the first one too. You sense the barren endless, wide open spaces.
Mo, I love that poetry is so accessible for everyone, everywhere, all of us with a zip code! You make this Monday morning back to work after spring break and a travel wedding weekend a breath of air I needed! Thank you for investing in us as writers today. I love your train emoji and often long for the railroad sounds of my childhood.
3 royal fortress meadow
0 =
2 Kimberly‘s meaning
9 green pastures, rolling hillsides, fields full of countryside charms
2 rural Georgia
Kim, I want to land in those pastures and hillsides, which remind me of my own childhood home surrounded by farm fields and wooded land along the river. This is a breath of air for a Monday morning! I’m back to school today too (and with an eclipse coming at dismissal, no less!).
I can visualize your place and those countryside charms. Love it!
Hi Kim. I hope you had a great weekend! I love how you’ve worked your name’s meaning into the poem. I also think I’m developing a long list of places to visit based on these enticing poems! The green pastures, rolling hillsides, and fields full of countryside charm are calling me!
Kim,
The = is fantastic in your poem, making it an appositive and/or definition. Of course, you and the rural Georgia are intertwined, connected to place. Love that.
You paint a picture of serenity, Kim. I want to visit. Have a good week!
Rural Georgia is absolutely gorgeous. I like how your fourth line really captures that and the fifth line confirms. I would imagine it is not what people typically expect or think of upon hearing “Georgia”…but it’s so beautiful and rolling and green and charming!
Kim, it seems that I live close by, minus rolling hillsides but plus swamp lands )))
Kim, I really enjoyed your first line. It sounds so magical and “royal” practically rhymes with “rural” which nicely parallels the opening and closing lines. You had me at “countryside charms”. Sounds idyllic!
“Royal fortress meadow” is THE PERFECT name for you, o Kimberly! Of course, of course, of COURSE we are one with the green pastures and fields and rural charms! Zebulon to Zebulon, heart to heart, nature to nature… this is lovely, Kim, and you know I celebrate the wonders of country life alongside you.
Kim, I can see your love in this poem for all things Georgia. That 9 line sounds full of beauty and charm.
Mo, what a fun way to have students share a bit about who they are/where they come from. I’m looking forward to adding this to our identity writing. How lucky you are to live in a sleepy bedroom community so near to all the goings-on of Chicago!
48079
For those who once lived along these shores and
ate from our great lakes
oh, the fish swam in abundance,
sevenfold then, amidst the shi-
niness of these blue waters
Jennifer, the breaking of the word in the fourth line reminds me of the parting of the waters and the parting of the fish population from sevenfold to less. I like how that worked so well in the effect of achieving fish swimming off to another line. I have always wanted to visit the Great Lakes, but I have not been there.
I love how you and Keith used the numbers in your lines and of course, so clever with the word break and use of the different “for”
So clever, Jennifer! I don’t know how you can work such lovely word and number magic so early in the morning! Your poem is such a lovely nod to the past and the people who lived here before we did.
Jennifer,
Your ode is lovely, but it makes me sad to think about how much damage from overfishing has been done to our waterways. Such desecration to once idyllic, sacred places. There’s a dream-like quality to your poem that gives hope the fish will “swim in abundance” again.
Love the description of your land where “the fish swam in abundance,” Jennifer! Breaking shi-niness is so creative.
So very clever, Jennifer, these beginning words representing numbers! “Niness” is a brilliant move – as brilliant as those shiny blue waters once sevenfold fuller of fish…I feel more than wistful longing. I have a sense of loss for those “who once lived along these shores” in this beautiful place.
Oh, look at you using those number words for your zip ode! Beautiful! Lovely little reminder of past, and “shi- / niness” is a masterpiece! (Btw, did you see Scott’s poem today. He did something similar.)
I. decided to try to use the numbers as part of the poem. So, for my zip code poem, read the number for each line as part of the full poem. Enjoy!
1 day
3 pence in water
2 delay the
0 ;
7 fold pieces of my broken chords tendinea
Excellent. I think I will try another one using numbers in the lines.
What a terrific interpretation of the prompt, Keith. I especially appreciate what you’ve done with the 0;
Keith,
This is a clever approach, but oh the last line and the “broken chords of tendons.” Poor heart strings and life’s pain.
Keith, I’ve read this several times and each time I figure out more. It has more meaning than I’m getting–either metaphorical or literally broken. I am fascinated with it. Thank you for sharing.
Mo, this is fun – really makes one think about the attributes of one’s dwelling place. Those words, “dwelling place,” happen to be the translation of Zebulon, my present home town. Thank you for this creative spark today!
2 Dwelling place
7 where the past is never far away.
5 Bygone rustic charm still lives
9 in green pastures, fields, forests, and old tobacco barns
7 rimming the largest research park in America.
How lovely…dwelling place is a heartfelt name for home. I love it. “rimming and bygone” are words that give richness to your poem.
Well, once again, I did not read your poem before I wrote mine…….we are on the same wavelength, and as I have been thinking about the meaning of my name (Kimberly=Royal Fortress Meadow), I have had meadows and pastures and fields and rural lands on my mind. I love that you call it a Dwelling place in the first line. My husband refers to the old house as “the old home place.” The chimney is still there, caved into the earth, but that’s all that is left. As you say in line 2, the past is never far away. There is a rustic charm. and I used that word too. Our brains are working from Zebulon to Zebulon today.
I instantly noticed how in tune your poems were!
It’s amazing how these zip odes can unlock the flavor of a place!
Fran, your word choices evoke a place filled with the “rustic charm” of pastures and barns, causing the last line to be that much more startling, reminding us of what progress brings and takes away, still, a place I’d love to dwell.
I remember when we visited NC we saw so many old barns. You have captured well the atmosphere of your rustic charm.
Fran, you’ve made Zebulon sound like such a magical place with your delightful word choice. I was surprised by your last line, which seemed to bring me back to reality. Love this!
Fran,
You nailed both the southern obsession w/ the past and the forward looking ways of Research Triangle Park. I spent two weeks there studying and working on an educator’s toolbox w/ The National Humanity’s Center in 2005 and grew to love the area in those two weeks
Fran, what an awesome name for a dwelling place of a home town. This is beautiful. We see the old and rustic and the modern and contributing side by side.
Thanks. This is a nice short way to get at a place through zip code design.
Kevin
01053
Oh
Leeds
Oh
You river mill community –
I adore you
Well that’s quite an appropriate use for the zeros in this zip ode! So clever 🙂 a perfect expression of your love for this place.
Perfect use of Oh, Kevin – you’ve made Leeds perfectly compelling in so few words.
Ha! Oh and OH are perfect. This needs to be one city/village/lown stationery.
YES to your two zeroes! I went another direction with mine…
I love your Ohs too! Great way to use a zero with a word to hold far more than zero in its meaning. A rich fullness is in the Ohs of Leeds.
You handled that 0 brilliantly while declaring your love of your town
Love the ohs. Your sparse language in your tribute really make me want to know more about Leeds. Thanks, Kevin!
Great idea to make the zero = “oh”
Kevin, what an Ode to Leeds. So very clever!
Mo, this is so cool! I started odes to all my former zip codes just for fun. What a cool way to describe a place. I’ll bet my middle school students would love this! Thanks for sharing. And, I’m a little jealous of your zip! I’m visiting Chicago this summer for the first time–I want to see everything!
1 students
4 once children, now grown
1 live
0 have children of their own
3 I’m a grandteacher
This is awesome Linda. Even I’m a grandteacher! Craziness. I love the rhyme too and “live” in its own line.
Grandteacher! That’s a gem of a word, Linda! So fun to see the community this way, through your eyes.
A grandteacher!!!! Perfect way to talk about how some of us feel about our students who have students!
Another cheer for grandteacher! My mom volunteered into her late seventies and became a GREAT grandteacher! (small town)
Grandteacher!! Love this.
Linda! A grandteacher! What a fun new word – – I have students with children of their own, and I marvel at this word and role you have shared. Perfect for a meeting and greeting of them and their kids!
A grand teacher- what a perfect word! I’m thinking about writing about firmer zip codes, too. This prompt could be addictive. Let me know if you want to meet up when you’re in Chicago this summer 😃
Linda,
The zip ode is perfect for showing how deep your roots are in the place you live.
Linda,
I’m in your same boat yet I have NEVER thought of or heard of the term “grandteacher”!! I love that as I am the grandteacher to so many!
Very cute. I love the word “grandteacher” and used to be one.
Grandteacher! What a grand title. This is a precious poem created with a zip code. Fun, fun!
Hi Mo! So I wrote one of these when I was still living in Kuwait. But for the life of me I can remember where I heard of the prompt. Pretty sure I was just googling some cool prompt for students, and I agree they’d probably like trying it out. Anyway, since I don’t think zip codes exist in my current home, I’ll share this one from last year, which still applies, just in a different place.
72451 (the Kuwait code)
I don’t know where my home is.
For now,
home is right here,
this place that’s hot as
hell.
Tee hee. My SIL taught in Kuwait. I love her stories and all the gold pieces she brought home from there. “home is right here” resonates with me. I taught internationally too. I really thought about the meaning of home when I was away and then back in the states. It was such a great experience and shaped me forever. Love that you used the Kuwait code.
Angie, what a zinger of a poem – it hits home. Really. That line of not knowing “where my home is” speaks to longing and a multitude of things…a temporariness, too. That last line – bam. So well-done.
Boom! What an ending!
Your home is where your “burning heart” is! Hehe. Love this
Angie, your poem shows that home can be more than one place. It’s where life is.
Well you learn something new everyday. I found the zip code for Albion, the city I currently live in.
91001 (the Mauritius one)
Island fever? Nah, don’t get car, boat, or homesick
either.
🏝️
🩵
instead.
Two poems today! Girl, you rock! It sounds like you have so many adventures to share!
Love this one too, Angie! Your home is in your heart, and it’s amazing!
Angie,
In the early 1980s I lived in Yuma, Arizona. Your poem is how I felt when I moved there as a newly married woman. I hope you can feel at home some day.
Angie, it’s not about the place; it’s about how you feel I think. The final line delivers the “boom.” ))
Haha! Angie, oh, my yes. I thought Bahrain was hot, but Kuwait has it beat by at least ten degrees! I love the fun at the end of your poem about home.
3 | My three children
2| My marriages
7| My older siblings, some I don’t know
9| My years spent studying, thirsting for more, drinking in
6| My hours of sleep each night
I like how each number signifies part of your life. It’s going to be fun looking up where people are from 😀
Morning Ashley, I peeked at your zip ode before writing this morning. That #9 stands out for me…thirsting for more, drinking in. What a wonderful hat tip to your near or distant past.
All these add up to home, Angie! Fun spin on the prompt…and so full of story.
A fun numerical snapshot of your life!
Oh, what a great way to incorporate the Zip Code and things about your life! I’m amazed at the way the short forms bring so much to the table.
Ashley, I love your spin on the prompt. It’s yet another way we can differentiate for our students. You said a whole lot in a few syllables!
Ashley,
This is a clever approach to the poem. It shows us so much about you and makes me think of lots of variations to the prompt. Well done!
Ashley, how interesting! So much we can learn about you through the numbers in your zip code. You have some interesting facts too, like your siblings and I love the nine years of study “thirsting for more, drinking in” Beautiful, Lifelong Learner!