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Click to download a pdf of the Plotting, Pantsing, & Poetry workshop notes.
And here’s the video of the workshop. 60 minutes.
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poem-Emptying my mother’s house September 7, 2020
I tell myself,
In the process of creation,
her art fulfilled its purpose.
If the family has chosen what to keep
Freeing the rest to the universe
is just extending its mandate
not a betrayal to her
memory.
poem-siren call September 3, 2020
It used to be
a howling ambulance
made me hold my breath
waiting to hear if it flew to you.
Now you’re past their aid,
so I send a blessing
to the stranger in need
and into the sky in memory
of you
poem-special delivery August 31, 2020
Two raw hazelnuts on the back deck.
Delivery from a rat? a squirrel? a passing crow?
I guess that’s something we’ll never know.
poem-fuel August 29, 2020
Inspiration:
green mountain sides
blue skies
spruce scented air
Danger:
summer lightning
immolation
devastating beauty
Prescription:
diamonds dancing
mountain lake
water-bomber
Metaphor:
change
desire
this
Poem-growing August 28, 2020
One small change today
One gift of time
One contribution to a cause
One life-lesson contemplated
One old idea reconsidered
One step toward wisdom
won each day.
Poem-sisters August 27, 2020
Three bitter sisters
Decades
Decades
Decades
What planted those seeds
That swelled with pain
Wound* roots
Those wounds** rooting
around around
deep deeper deepest
Shoots spread painful shots
cruel words
Bloom with false faces:
kindness for friends
peevish pieces for families,
never words children
needed to hear.
Three bitter sisters
Broken spirits
planting bitterness
for decades,
seeding
so many sad
children.
*(past tense of wind)
**(synonym of injury)
poem-the dark side of the moon August 24, 2020
too much new
tensions wrapping around psyches
tugging
we’re choking on the changes
fruitlessly fearful
waiting for someone to hear us
Relief.
A sensible plan
Workable ideas
Deep breath.
This might just work
poetry-evening August 22, 2020
frog serenade
swish of wings
whine of mosquitoes
aimless clapping
beside the bonfire.
Shawn L. Bird 