The moderator for this week is Kathy!
bio for Kathy:
The entire north wall of the living room in my childhood Minneapolis home was lined with built-in bookshelves designed by my dad that held my mom’s collection of antique and old books. She kept the children’s and poetry books on the lower shelves so they were always within reach. She, also, had framed pictures with poetry on them on the kitchen wall so we kids could read them instead of cereal boxes. Poetry brings me home.
Tuesday
The prompt poem: “Wrap” by Aimee Nezhukumatathil
Writing suggestions:
Use any of her writing techniques (concrete words, specific words, specific detail, sensory detail, enjambment, use of punctuation for emphasis, homonyms, repetition of word/phrase (anaphoria?) use of word in an unusual way—a hush of paprika etc.) to develop a poem.
Use her form with homonyms (Links to lists of homonyms provided)
Write about a word, object, or action that describes someone special to you
Make the simple/common special
A cultural behavior
I don’t mean/What I mean structure
Punctuation for emphasis
Inspiration Lines
"the promise of a gift, the curl and furl of red ribbon just begging to be tugged."
"waiting with my grandmama"
"a hush of paprika and burnt honey"
Other:
Thursday
Today's prompt poem: Anne by CMarie Fuhrman
About This Poem
“I struggled for years to understand and make peace with Anne’s suicide. We grew up together, neighbors. I remember Anne on the school bus every morning, crouched in her seat, alone, staring out the window. Even that young I must have known shame in not reaching out. The third-grade day in the poem has never left me. Anne was vibrant and proud. The glass buoy was my way into the poem and back to Anne, to how tightly she clung to it and her eventual letting go.” —CMarie Fuhrman
Why I Chose This Poem:
“Anne” captures me immediately with its inviting conversational tone. The poem is personal immediately to prepare me for the intimately personal later. Her memory of Anne and Show and Tell was so descriptive that I was back in elementary reliving similar situations and people. That made me feel even more for Anne herself during the rest of the poem which is essential. I know the narrator cares much for Anne because the poem is written with such care. Each word and line is chosen and placed with purpose. The use of apostrophe and brief direct quote add extra emotion. “Anne” hurts, but I’m so glad I know her story and was given the opportunity to revisit some people from my past I needed to be with for awhile.
Possible Writing Suggestions
A childhood classroom memory
Show and Tell or other classroom rituals
Poem asking for forgiveness/ poem of apology
Poem using apostrophe, direct quote, conversational tone
Poem of past and present
Quotes:
“I imagine today just like yesterday—“
“so far from anywhere our imaginations had yet taken us”
“You illumined”
About CMarie Furhman
https://western.edu/people/cmarie-fuhrman/
Friday
Today's Poem: A Journey by Nikki Giovanni
Why I chose the poem: I think Giovanni is a master. She is the first poet I ever heard read heard poetry. (So she is special to me) I immediately went home and wrote poetry for days.
I appreciate how this poem captures a journey—the getting ready, the hope for what is to come, the belief in the adventure, the strength of purpose. The first time I read it I was struck by how it could be read at a wedding and thought it was a love poem. But as I read it with other “journeys” in mind, I recognized its universality. Since we are in the month of June, the beginning of the traditional “journey” season, it’s appropriate to consider a journey poem.
I am intrigued by the form of “A Journey”— the short “coupletesque” stanzas, the phrases separated by ellipses, the anaphora and other use of repetition
Ideas for Writing
Write about a journey you took or are planning to take
Propose a journey
Write about anticipation
Use anaphora or ellipses
Here’s a poetry form suggestion (idea by Saraiya Kanning):
It’s a journey...that i propose
I am not ____________________
I will be ____________________
I am not afraid of___________________ I am_____________________
It’s a journey...and i want _
Lines to inspire
I am Ra
We are simply riding
We must provide our own guideposts
I accept your promise
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