Next week, I will be hosting Poetry Friday RIGHT HERE at Mainely Write! That will be on July 3rd - the same weekend we have summer in Maine. Eeesh! Maybe I don't have to put that snow shovel away - winter's going to be here again before you know it!
There are a few links I'd like to share here today for Poetry Friday:
For poetry connections today I, and others, have poems posted on Michelle H. Barnes site, Today's Little Ditty, where Michelle is posting the June challenge poetry. Corey Rosen Schwartz has challenged us to write about building a treehouse, using unpredictable multisyllabic rhyming words. I submitted "Moldysocks and the Three Treehouses". Go to Today's Little Ditty to read it and more treehouse poems for June.
Then Keri Collins Lewis, at Keri Recommends is sharing the poem that I sent her as our first swap of the summer. The poem I wrote and sent to her was written after reading many of her posts over the past year. It really is something I'd like to do more of - reading older posts. Often we pop into the middle of a blogger's life, and there is so much more we could learn just by reading. This fun in the sun activity is organized by Tabatha Yeatts of The Opposite of Indifference.
Lastly and bestly, I'd like to share the awesome poem by Keri that she sent to me for the Summer Poetry Swap. Keri must have read a few of my posts, because she sent me a beautiful laminated picture of a seagull soaring. Here's the picture with poem:
drops ideas onto the rocks below,
then picks out the scrumptious words - -
meaty morsels to sustain her
until she hatches a new poem.
© Keri Collins Lewis, all rights reserved
Isn't that beautiful? I love it! I love the picture; I love, love the poem. And it seems to fit how I work. I like picturing the process this way. I can almost see myself "dropping ideas", like mussels, onto the rocks below. I love "scrumptious words", and "hatches a new poem"!
This also prompted me to go around my house and find my seagulls...of which I have a few... (I may have missed some)
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| Seagull pillow |
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| Seagull framed tile |
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| Two seagulls perched on a cork lid |
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| Two welcoming seagulls |
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| Two flying seagulls |
How did she know it would be just perfect?
I've already sent out my second poem for the swap. I don't know how long it will take to get to its destination. I'm staying out of this part of the process now. If you've been to Keri's site, you now know the story behind the poem I sent to her. I am hoping this second one goes more smoothly! I'm not even going to check this time. Well, not yet anyway.
Have a great day... read more poems!
Keri was one of the first people to post this week, so I've already read the oh-so-clever and incredibly thoughtful poem that you wrote for her. And now I get to read her poem to you. I love the image of dropping ideas onto rocks to crack into poems. And it's fun to see your collection of seagulls. I love Maine and would like to spend my summers in a cottage on the ocean (but definitely not winters- I did four years in New Hampshire and those winters were rough!)
ReplyDeleteI loved Keri's poem - it adds to my love of writing - and seagulls, too.
DeleteI have received beautiful poems from Keri too, Donna, and this one fits you beautifully. I'm going to send a picture to you of a sea gull perched on a piling (I think) that I found in an antique shop when I was on the Chesapeake Bay with my students. I collect little iron animals, & this was a lovely "find". I love your treehouse 'story', by the way. You have quite a few poems that would make great picture books!
ReplyDeleteYour seagull is so cute!
DeleteWhat a beautiful network of poets! I am just dipping into this pool and am amazed by your community. Hoping Maine gets summer soon!
ReplyDeleteThe calendar says it is summer. We have had a quartet of phoebes leave their front porch nest. Fortunately, most of our summer is just pretty and maybe 80 degrees, usually with a breeze. Today is a pleasant 66 degrees and sunny with light leaf-moving breezes down here on the island - 70 inland a bit. No need for fans today, hardly ever a need for AC.
DeleteThis is a great network...you will love diving in!
Perfection!
ReplyDeleteI knew I couldn't take part this summer and do a job that would do justice to a fellow poet, but now I'm feeling blue and left out! Maybe this winter I'll swap again!
Aw! That makes me sad, too! Definitely jump back in for the winter swap!
DeleteLove the poem and how nicely it goes with you and your seagull collection! What a fresh image of poem-making Keri created :-)
ReplyDeleteI can almost smell the ocean when I read it! Amazing how nicely it fits in here.
DeleteWhat a collection you have amassed - such fun to have a poem now that ties them all together.
ReplyDeleteIt was a great way to start off the swap!
DeleteWow -- It's like Keri read your mind. What a great opening line! "She soars on the edge of the world."
ReplyDeleteIt is!
DeleteLove your seagull collection and Keri's poem is a perfect addition. Also read the odyssey of the package on her site. I'm sure the next delivery will be smoother; it would be hard to duplicate that one. (Also loved the butterfly-shaped word cloud--how did you do that. Clever!)
ReplyDeleteLet's hope it goes smoothly!
DeleteI made the "bee" (Keri keeps honeybees) by putting a bee silhouette jpg into Tagxedo (which is one of the features). I used her website to glean words from in the Tagxedo, editing out any I didn't want, and playing with the number of words it used, colors, fonts, orientation, etc. If you haven't used Tagxedo yet, you should go play with it! I have made my own butterfly shape in a paint program and uploaded it to Tagxedo also - but I haven't posted that one.
Oh! This poem suits you so well, Donna! What a wonderful poetry swap this was– you and Keri both were so thoughtful in your creations. And what can I say about Miss Moldysocks? She's the life of the party, that one! ;)
ReplyDeleteWe may not have seen the last of Miss Moldysocks...she does like to party.
DeleteAnd wasn't Keri's poem just perfect?
Hi Donna! What serendipity that you collect gulls! I got goosebumps!! Thanks again for bringing so much fun buzzing into our summer. (BTW, Mark caught a HUGE swarm on Friday so now we're up to 4 hives on the porch.) If you ever need to heat up in the summer, you're welcome in MS!!
ReplyDeleteI just cannot imagine catching a swarm of bees. That must be an incredible sight!
DeleteLikewise, if you are ever in need of a cool ocean breeze, we've got 'em here for you!
On Tuesday I believe I will post another chapter to the seagulls for TWT Slice of Life. There's just one more little interesting thing that happened.