What She Knows

Spontaneous poem written by starting with last line in a poem called “The Weaver” by Pat Schneider.

What she knows she knows

There is life after a death

There can be good days

Happiness

It has to come from within

No one can do it for her

There is no hole or gap

Just light shining consistently

Her name means light

And she lets it show the way

On how to weave a new life

The one she always knew she’d live.

That one wild and precious life.

Full Ocean You

 A caboose poem, using the last line of Mary Oliver’s essay “Ropes” as the first line of my poem.

Break the ropes that are holding you

The ones that tell you to resist

The ones that tell you not to trust your intuition

Break the ropes of the way you fall into routine habits that don’t serve

The fight inside against the world you see

Understand it’s all perception

Change your view!

Break the ropes tying you to the false safety of the shore

And become full ocean you

The Fire

This morning I read the poem “You Darkness” by Rainer Marie Rilke, and decided to use the last line to start my own poem. 

I have faith in the night

as it brings me ideas 

and yes, sometimes worries 

and on occasion, regrets.

The older I grow the more I know 

the value of the dark,

and this is what Rilke 

so brilliantly expresses.

The fire —it’s fine 

but what we need most 

is the dark,

so we can find the fire

 in ourselves.

Keep Walking

A Caboose poem from Grace Butcher's "On the Necessity of Snow Angels for the Well-Being of the World."

Here is a link to the reading of the poem. My poem is below.

 

 

Keep walking

towards the next beautiful thing

you will do

Be it meditating in silence

Stretching your body

Eating your Cheerios.

Be it motivating a reader

Listening to a stressed coworker

Taking another deep breath.

Reminding all that integrity

                   and kindness matter.

Keep walking

How to Be of Service in 2021

 Caboose poem from Barbara Kingsolver's "How to Give Thanks for a Broken Leg"

Step out as a brand new verb

moving

writing

listening

drawing

playing

wisening

breathing

reaching

illuminating

discovering

cycling

stretching

teaching

learning

resting

seeing

dreaming

keeping 

being

Your First Morning

 

Caboose poem inspired by Joy Harjo's "First Morning"

 

Don't look back, keep going

The year landed as it did

Now you move ahead,

reaping what you've sown

Knowing better days are coming.

In the bleak December this

may seem far away

And we know the virus

is only increasing (sadly, unnecessarily)

But every morning is a 

FIRST MORNING

The first morning to smile

     The first morning to breathe

          The first morning to write yourself into a new story.

It is always possible.

No clock ticking but your own self-imposed limitations.

Don't look back.

Keep going.

Harness the Power

 First line from January O'Neil's "Love Song for a Decommissioned Power Plant"

Thoughts inspired by Dolly Parton's song "I Still Believe"

Write this new space into being

a place where the dreams

of many can begin to come true.

Those of us who have believed

for a long time

in a better world.

Write of the possibility and the glow.

Write as if it will help us

all belong.

It is a guiding force:

compassion, empathy, real caring.

Fill the void

of the last few years.

Ignore the ignorance.

Write the possibility

and build the dream.

It is there

within reach.

Now.

The time is now.

Place Your Bet

 Today's Caboose poem from Barbara Kingsolver's "How to Fly (in Ten Thousand Easy Lessons)"

You summited the mountain

    or you didn't

You sought for the best

    and might have fallen short

You cared too much

    and was left hurting

You made a wrong turn

    and it took years to correct

You made too many mistakes

    and lived the consequences

You opened your heart anyway

    and found peace

You stopped thinking about failure

    and placed your bet on LOVE

 

Remember Yourself

 Caboose poem inspired by "Blackbirds" by Julie Cadwallader Staub

We live and move and have our being here,

in this curving and soaring world.

We do not always recognize our influence

or remember what we came here to teach.

It's happening always.

It's our state of being.

It's who we are

at the core

     the heart

     the things pushing us within,

     whether we feel it or not.

Take your eyes to the sky and learn.

Remember yourself.

It's big.

     It's bold.

          It's ever-changing.

Lost in the Night, Found in the Morning

This past week I had my students do a little creative activity related to a couple of poems in our textbook. After studying some things about the poems, they had to choose a line from one of them and use it to begin a poem of their own. It was a beautiful surprise to see how many slid right into this activity, and produced lovely little pieces of writing. They only "rules" were it was to be 7-12 lines, and they had to include an image with the poem.

This idea is not a new one -- to use a line from one poem to begin another. Yesterday I decided to call these "caboose" poems.  As a kid, I always loved waving to the man in the caboose at the end of the train. I miss cabooses a lot!  I see the line the poet gave us as the train and we're the caboose, waving to them letting them know they inspired our own writing.

***

One of my morning practices is to read a poem and write one of my own. Today I decided it was time to make a daily practice of "caboose poems" specifically.  Here is my first one; the line is from Joy Harjo's "How to Write a Poem in Time of War."

 

Smoky sweet sunrises

where I love to be

in the morning

with music, prayer,

thoughts and words

and coffee and plans

Where I set myself

strong and vow to

do no wrong

(and fail...sometimes)

The wildlife calls

as does the sky

reminding me

I am here

while the clouds

paint and illuminate

while the sun 

does its sun thing

I am finding the me

lost in the night

of dreaming