NaPoWriMo, Yay!

March 6, 2016 by leximagines

I adore spring.

The birds are waking me once again in the early morning. We can open our windows to fresh air. There are thunderstorms and rain to soothe my soul and water Earth.

And soon-to-be-here April ushers in two ways of celebrating this all of this wonder –
National Poetry Month and NaPoWriMo
(National Poetry Writing Month).

National Poetry Month is a time I celebrate poetry in many ways, but one of my favorite is with my first graders. We listen to poets, hip hop, the classics, and watch poems that have been
made into videos. They are intrigued enough to write their own
poems and start down the road of the bard.

One of my greatest inspirations, not only this month but all
year long, is Tweetspeak Poetry. I receive an Every Day Poem
in my inbox each morning. Check them out. They also have a
myriad of ways to inspire and share word. They even have poems
to color. And maybe even a free e-book of poetry? Take a look,
especially at their Top 10 Sites To Follow For National Poetry Month
to further entice you into poetry.

And….Yay!!!!!! NaPoWriMo!!!!

This is the month long challenge of writing a poem every day. For each day of April, the fine folks at NaPoWriMo list a prompt and a poet. You take it from there. Join me?

I will post my poems each day – a brave thing to do, maybe silly and foolish – but it is a wonderful way to release and quiet that inner editor.

AND, I hope to partake in the Big Poetry Giveaway 2016. Check back April 1st for more information on how you can win a free copy of my book of poetry, Filters, and one from one of my favorite poets!

In the meantime, sharpen your pencils, dust off that keyboard, get some really yummy snacks and some coffee, lots of coffee. (Oh, I know many of you are tea totes, but that’s okay. You can play, too.)

Let’s get ready to rumble!!!!! And tumble. Maybe even bumble and mumble a bit.

Random Acts of Poetry Day, Showing the Love

October 8, 2015 by leximagines

Sharing the love from yesterday’s Random Acts of Poetry Day.

Thank you, Tweetspeak Poetry for inspiring us to share the love of poetry randomly around the world. Let’s do it again next year!

My first grade class at Independence Elementary in Colorado spent the day randomly visiting classrooms to share their favorite poems. We wrote our morning and evening chants on colorful sentence strips and placed them on the walls all over the building. Our principal asked us to keep them up because on Friday principals from all over the Cherry Creek School District will be visiting us and she wants them to see our love of poetry. So our random acts will continue to spread through the week and, hopefully, other schools.

I also gave a copy of Tania Runyan’s How to Write a Poem to one of our teachers. Ms. Hearne in third grade won the drawing and says she will use it with her class. Yay!

And…yesterday, I was presented a copy of the Psalms, the poetry of the bible, by my new “family.” I was named the first Artist-In-Residence at A Church of the Holy Family, ECC in Aurora, CO. I am so grateful to know how Fr. Scott Jenkins, Kelsey, and Jennifer and all in my church community in their passion for Celtic Christianity honor the role of the bard.

My heart is full.

I love poetry. I hope you do, too!

Random Acts of Poetry Day

October 7, 2015 by leximagines

Today is the day!

Leave a poem on a mirror,
with chalk on a sidewalk,
in your love’s lunchbox.

Here’s one to share:

I will leave your white house and tranquil garden.
Let life be empty and bright.
You, and only you, I shall glorify in my poems,
As a woman has never been able to do.
And you remember the beloved
For whose eyes you created this paradise,
But I deal in rare commodities—
I sell your love and tenderness.

—Anna Akhmatova, translated by Judith Hemschemeyer

Thank you www.tweetspeakpoetry.com for your inspiration, always!

Crinkled Missives

May 5, 2015 by leximagines

In her hands a piece of paper becomes a bird,
not one that waits outside his morning window
nor the one in western sky drawing down evening sun.

In her hands parchment bends and folds
into lines of virgin litany, a new exhalation placed
beside crinkled missives no longer requisite.

He knows the beauty of her master work, delicate,
sure of their duty to make flight, lift his heartbeat
until it soars, he prays someday she will believe.

Author’s Note:

Today I play with first lines. At Every Day Poems the lovely people at Tweetspeak Poetry offer a challenge. Sign up to receive a poem in your in-box each morning. Find a line that sings to you and use it as the first line of a poem of your own design.

My inspiration this day comes from The Robot Scientist’s Daughter by Jeannine Hall Gailey.

Experience

April 1, 2015 by leximagines

the joke was funny,
my father, however, said it was blue
and warned me never to repeat it

in the fields where my grandfather
kept his bees on Mr. Granjeans farm,
cornflowers opened their eyes,
winked a welcome to his wild things
and relinquished their sweetness
lavishly

it crushed underneath my bare foot,
I felt it after it was too late, a few missteps
and damage was done, blueberry
plasma crushed into a virgin white wool rug,
my mother’s joy, just another false step
of mine in her aspiration for perfection

his phthalo blue applied with such
gentleness, brushed and slathered
across white canvas drew me spellbound
Saturday mornings,
learning from deep within
there are no mistakes,
just happy little accidents

periwinkle petals,
zaffer glazed eyes,
Dodger blue home runs,
denim enfolds me in comfort,
an indigo sigh shaped to my curves
soft, well-worn, experienced

.

.

.

Author’s Note:

Oh, it’s National Poetry Month!!!!

Oh, the choices!

Today I am choosing my prompt from Tweetspeak’s
“Show Us Your Poetry (Jeans)” challenge.

Tomorrow, who knows?

10 Resolutions from Citizens for a Saner Internet—and Life

January 2, 2015 by leximagines

The 8th Day of Christmas

Author’s Note:
I spent yesterday, January 1 not writing. I read and rested and thought. A quiet snowy day, very cold. A good rest day.

I am posting this from Tweetspeak’s Citizens for a Saner Internet and Life as my 8th Day of Christmas post, my new year’s resolve, and a hopes of helping others to a more positive, luscious life this year.

10 Resolutions from Citizens for a Saner Internet—and Life

We resolve to:

1. Consider sharing three beautiful posts for every negative post we feel we must share.

2. Share angry posts only if they significantly contribute to an important conversation.

3. Understand anger as important, a red flag type emotion, that loses its strength if all we ever do is feel angry.

4. Write headlines that are intelligent, witty, or intriguing without exhausting our readers by frequently playing the “outrage card” to get click-throughs.

5. If we feel we want to listen to an angry Internet conversation for what it may be able to teach us about a subject, we resolve to do so silently for a “waiting period,” in a stance of learning rather than one of defense and counterattack.

6. We will not link to attack journalism from our websites, so as not to give more power to the writer or website of said journalism.

Related, we will not link to or re-share iterative journalism, which is a sloppy form of journalism designed to deliver a “scoop” that may have no foundation yet in truth.

(Insider tip: you know you are being “played” through iterative journalism when you see its typical words and phrases: “according to a tipster, hearing reports, escalating buzz, is reporting, likely, still a mystery, reports are”)

7. Consider ways to move beyond the “page view model” of Internet sustainability (which is one reason attack or sensationalist journalism is often pursued by individuals and websites, because it can result in high page views, which can translate into staying financially sustainable. Yes, it might be time to actually subscribe to The New York Times!).

8. Get offline for periods of rest—optimally, one offline day a week and getting offline by a certain cutoff time in the evenings—and use this time to cultivate face-to-face relationships, read, exercise, or otherwise interact with the world around us (we recommend cinnamon toast as part of the deal )

9. If we are unsure about our own angry or sensationalistic post on a subject, we will first pass the post by trusted friends who come from different viewpoints, in a more private setting, before deciding whether to hit the publish button.

10. If we have been online for hours and are finally simply “surfing” because we feel lonely or unfocused, we will get offline and spend time with people face-to-face, read, exercise, play, or delve deeply into a new interest-area… one that will seriously challenge us and open up new avenues for our learning and our lives.

My poem for the 9th Day of Christmas will soon appear. Blessings.

Write it, Sugar

March 1, 2013 by leximagines

A few years ago, maybe four now, I took a class to teach teachers how to teach writing. As a first grade teacher I understood the importance of writing not only for learning how to read but also for learning how to think.

For two weeks we studied age appropriate writing research in the morning. Then, all afternoon we were given the task to be writers ourselves. At the end we produced four different genre pieces, an author’s discussion on each piece, and a final project for presentation. I discovered I love to write.

I now organize two writing groups. One is for adults. The other is for students in my school. Both are run the same way. We come to write from a prompt and share. It is not a traditional writer’s workshop where we critique work in progress. It is some of the most powerful writing I’ve seen and done. I’ve completed two National Novel Writing Months and have two novels ready for rewrites and editing. I learned that to fall in love with writing, you must write. Write what you like and don’t be afraid to share with others of like mind.

But I know I need more. I need to grow.

I am a novice. I am not interested in finding a university writing program or another degree. I just enjoy writing. I’ve had no real, gritty writing training in my life. I want to grow as a writer. I wasn’t sure what I should do.

Then I found Tweetspeak Poetry, Word Candy, the 100 Sweet Bloggers project, and the Poetry Workshop 2013. I read a new poem every day from Every Day Poems . I am inspired by Word Candy quotes and send them to friends. But the most important step I’ve taken is to join Tweetspeak’s Poetry Workshop 2013 with Anne Doe Overstreet.

I cannot begin to thank Tweetspeak, Anne, and my fellow students for this journey. We are only two weeks in and I feel like a freshman in college. I am learning. I am a bit scared. But I know I am going to grow. And that is what it is all about.

So there is no poem this month to go with the 100 Sweet Bloggers Project. I am writing like crazy, but nothing is ready. I am sending this Word Candy as inspiration to all my writing friends out there.

Write because you love to write. Write what you want to write because you love it. But don’t forget to sprinkle a little fertilizer on it to keep your blooms bright and luscious.

You can visit my other entries for the 100 Sweet Bloggers Project here:

February: Come With Me
January: New Year
December: Hobgoblin Nocturnes
November: The Science of Color

The Butcher

November 18, 2012 by leximagines

The princess slumped in a purple puff
her finest dress now wrinkled

She pouted then grinned
and told those who’d listen

“The swan will be arriving soon!”
She wished for the rabbit

the grey-brown one with fur
to greet everyone in the watery deep

mourning room but he couldn’t that day
could not move by himself

so it fell to the butcher
who was honored to play with

the princess her alligator prize
for it no longer mattered

neither swan nor brown-grey
could stay when the place was arranged

after gloves had been donned
clapping muffled the cries

the now crumpled princess
on a service of silver

was set right before their eyes
.
.
.

Author’s Note:

Some days are just like this.

Some days greet you with a snicker you would rather not pursue the reason for its presence. When that happens I know I should just get right back into bed.

Today Tweetspeak Poetry came to my rescue and gave me a reason to continue on. Even though I have laundry to do. Even though I must still write approximately 2500 words of my NaNoWriMo novel to keep ahead of this busy week. Even though it is a beautiful Sunday in Colorado and my dog, Bremen, wants a walk. The nasty grin greeted me this morning. I was able to shake it off until noontime. Thank goodness for Tweetspeak. Their poetry theme this month is surrealism.

I have been collecting their surrealistic images all month on Pinterest at Everyday Poems, but have not had time to write.Today was the day and the princess’s story was told.

Now back to the laundry. And NaNoWriMo. And possibly, the Broncos, but maybe not.

.

.

.

These are photos that I used as prompts for the poem. Click on each and it will lead you to one of the Tweetspeak or Everyday Poem sites where I discovered them.

Parallel Lines

November 4, 2012 by leximagines

Photo from Every Day Poems at TweetSpeak Poetry

sometimes
it’s just the memory

the power of pain
traveling down the track

tourists and gift shops
walls and checkpoints

daughters and guns
there is light

two parallel lines
not quite parallel

a slight angle inwards
coming together

not fear and retaliation
but dialogue slightly inward

a beginning
finding the light

just a slight angle inwards
an encounter pulling away

from the memory
the power of pain

.
.
.
.

Today is Sunday. I finished my daily count of 2000 words for my current NaNoWriMo novel, The Lion Tamer.

I am enjoying the leftover good vibes from last night’s mass celebrating All Saint’s Day and Seinheim at the Church of the Holy Family.

And I’m wallowing in my daily addiction of Facebook cruising.

A photo from Tweetspeak Poetry caught my eye. It drew me back to a FB post I read a few minutes earlier.

Nadia Bolz-Weber, a local Lutheran minister, is visiting the Holy Land and I am enjoying the updates of her travels on her FB page. I admire those who are fearless and go where I would never dare and do things I don’t think I would even entertain the idea of doing.

Her piece touched me today. And when the haunting photo on Tweetspeak scrolled into my view, I knew I needed to use some of Reverend Bolz-Weber’s words to build a found poem.

So many of our problems today seem to come from riding the rails on parallel tracks and not noticing that we are going to the same place. Especially with the political season in full swing, we always seem to see the other guy as the enemy. We see those at work who don’t agree with us as the enemy. We see the car cutting us off in traffic as the enemy.

But we really are going to the same place.

We are here together on this earth as residents. All of us.

I wonder, if we would just angle ourselves in, just a touch, so those parallel lines come together, as those who founded the Palestinian Israeli Bereaved Families for Peace that the Reverend encountered in her travels, maybe peace could be a real possibility. Maybe we could see through the eyes of those struggling what it is really like, what the situation really is.

Maybe we would find the light to light our way.

Maybe. Just maybe.

Pomegranate Beads

July 17, 2012 by leximagines

It has been hot. The heat appeared earlier than usual at summer’s doorstep and is lingering through its regularly scheduled time. Fire has ravaged our foothills. And rain seldom makes an appearance.

This poem is a cento. Piecing poems together from other poet’s words creates a mosaic, a found poem. At Tweetspeak Poetry the theme this month is July Mosaic. My poem is found and patched together from the words of Monday’s Every Day Poem, Girl with 13 Necklaces by Tania Runyan.

The heat might be getting to me.

Pomegranate Beads

The summer heat arrived
torrid without remorse
he poured the
pomegranate beads
into her parched mouth
a rainstorm of beads
to quench her thirst

Some
tumbling from her lips
spilling down her shirt
glistening ruby jewels
squeezed slowly
through his fingers
stippling her navel

Some
rolling through
the vented floor
for the inspector
with mechanical arms
whose monitor
fluttered at the muted
harvest

Some
clattering down the stairs
for the praying angels
standing guard
keeping them safe
from the inferno