October Artist's Date

Hello Poets,

I had a surprising artist's date last weekend. It was fabulous!

A tiny bit of backstory. In August, on vacation, I bought a 1960s era electric typewriter. I brought it home, watched Youtube videos on how to give an old machine a refresh, applied elbow grease, plugged it in and am now enjoying the typing all kinds of things for fun and for the paper crafting that I do. 

My heart's desire --what I really want is an manual typewriter. 

On Sunday, I peeked at facebook marketplace and saw that someone was selling a Royal Quiet De Luxe for $40. How could I possibly resist that? 

Sunday was one of those glorious autumn days of bright sunshine, crisp air and a hint of blush in the maple trees along the parkway. I got in my minivan, cranked up the music and drove out into the country to the home of the seller who met me at her mailbox with a darling 1940s era manual typewriter.

triolet

I'm going to try not to become a typewriter collector. I have fond memories of being able to bang away on an old manual typewriter of my parents when I was a kid and I still love them.

Now I have a new memory of meeting a vintage friend that I can't wait to clean and oil and get into tip-top typing shape. Hopefully, I'll even type out some poetry!

Pythagorean Poem

Don't miss this week's poetry round-up at Jama's Alphabet Soup. She's had some great book recs lately. I so enjoy reading her posts.

photo by retrospekt.com 

SJT: Change

 Hello Sojourners,

'Every little thing is gonna be alright'

I have started this post several times...and scrapped my drafts. I can offer drafty-draft poems on a weekly basis without batting an eye. But, a prose piece about how I really feel? Oooh, that's harder for me.

I work in a school that is full of students that are marked by change. Think about these conditions:

• all are tweens or teens
• a majority of them are not native English speakers
• many are refugees 
• many, even if they are not refugees, are first generation Americans
• a majority live below the poverty line which can impact changes in housing and overall feeling of security

Add to the above these facts about our school

• We have had three different principals (and assorted assistant principals) in the last three years
• We have a high educator turnover rate (25% is not unusual)
• Our building is over 50 years old with a "new" wing built onto it making our space a bit wacky. I kid you not, new courtyards built with stage-style half-circle cement seating were surrounded by rocks (to keep the weeds down. Reader, weeds still grew).

To say that my students and I have felt the effects of these changes would be an understatement. Life as an educator and as a student can be tough for a lot of reasons.  At the end of last year, I felt like I was at the end of my ability to be an effective educator. I was ready to quit or retire early.

However, this summer I was (and remain) determined to keep the challenges from defeating my spirit. I addressed my physical, mental and spiritual health directly. I saw trusted professionals, got back to journaling, walking, and noticing 'glimmers' in my day.

I was nervous about how this new school year will go. So far, the time and practices I've put into place are helping me manage the impact of changes beyond my control. 

Today, I have a day off of school for Rosh Hashana (Shana Tova to those celebrating) October feels like a good time to recognize that things are going OK. The change in me to manage the change around me has been good. Thanks be to God.

A Pythagorean Poem for October

 Happy Poetry Friday!

A gourd time was had by all. Linda Mitchell

The Inklings were challenged by Margaret @ Reflections on the Teche to write pythagorean poems. 

____ 

A Pythagorean Poem
created by Shari Green

The math background:
Pythagoras' theorem is a2 x b2 = c2
One possible triple is 3,4,5.

3x3 + 4x4 = 5x5

 9     +  16.  = 25

Using the triple, the poetic form works like this:
1st stanza: 3 lines of 3 words each
2nd stanza: 4 lines of 4 words each
3rd stanza: 5 lines of 5 words each*

*The third stanza must be composed of all the words found in stanzas one and two (in any order; variations okay).

The third stanza should also be a progression of sorts, a product of the first two in thought or theme or meaning.

____

Trust me kids, this is tough than it looks--just like high school Geometry!

Kudos to Shari Green for inventing this form. It is a fun challenge. I actually employed a spreadsheet to make sure I had used all the words from the first two stanzas in the third without repeats. LOL. 

October

Find a pumpkin

Is it orange?

Is it round?

Brush off the dirt

Now thump its base

How does it sound?

Like a hollow drum?

A-thumping, it is found! It is an orange pumpkin hollow-like. Brushed off bass The dirt round its drum, how does it sound, now?

 

Linda Mitchell--draft

Thank you, Tabatha @ The Opposite of Indifference,

for hosting our round-up as we welcome October.

WORLD and I have gotten back on track with poems. The little series below stem from a clunker offered by Amy LV. Flowers love the feel of rain.

Enjoy!

haiku

this hopeful world where
flowers love the feel of rain
while reaching for sun

cinquain

Summer Flowers Love

The feel 

of rain. Applaud

a hearty watering 

each stem reminded once again

of spring

4x4

Flowers Love

the feel of rain spilling, sipping
dripping, dropping

refreshed again

More Inkling takes on the Pythagorean Poem:

Mary Lee Hahn @ A(nother) Year of Reading

Catherine Flynn @ Reading to the Core

Molly Hogan @ Nix the Comfort Zone

Margaret Simon @ Reflections on the Teche
Heidi Mordhorst @ my juicy little universe

Thirteen Ways Middle Age

 The Poetry Pals are writing thirteen ways. I'm joining in.

Thirteen Ways Middle Age

moonbeam webs stray at my temples sleep escapes my nights

what doesn’t seem long ago, was…not on my phone yellowed paper files

what’s old music is new again – hey Mom listen to this, Pink Floyd!

I cannot hear of war without heartsickness children shouldn't die

my grandmothers smile at me from mirrors playing peak-a-boo 

some plans have been made burial plot purchased with my ancestors

half full not empty  by half

without rhyme, poetry has now become my first language

with pen, I hand-write letters on paper just to be old-fashioned

cursive writing is my secret code–especially F, G, Q, and S 

god has not changed, yet i see what’s sacred in more and more every day

children now look

after me making sure

mother is safe

it takes longer to scroll to the year of my birth the summer of love

Linda Mitchell -- draft


Don't miss any of the Poetry Friday round-up hosted this week by Incredible Irene Latham at Live Your Poem who is introducing her brand new anthology, The Mistakes That Made Us. Confessions from Twenty Poets, selected by Irene Latham and Charles Waters, illus. by Merce Lopez (Carolrhoda/Lerner Publishing. 10/1/24).

The Mistakes that Made Us: Confessions from Twenty Poets

Poetry Friday People,

A tremendous benefit of attending a Highlights Foundation Workshop is meeting with rich learning and teaching of a cohort of poets and faculty.

I'm fortunate to have had time to spend with Tracy Kiff-Judson, Marcie Flinchum Atkins and many poets I didn't know before. The cross-pollination of ideas between us was tremendous and fun and inspirational. Getting one-on-one writing conversations with faculty Irene Latham and Charles Waters? Invaluable! 

Just me hanging out with Charles Waters at Highlights '24

While at Highlights, I saw an early version of The Mistakes That Made Us: Confessions from Twenty Poets. Poems were selected by Irene Latham and Charles Waters (Carolrhoda Books. October 1, 2024).

Poets, this anthology is more than simply beautiful. Rock-star contributors: Latham, Waters, Shihab-Nye, Engle, Wolf, Florian, Park, Yolen  as well as Poetry Friday friends: Tabatha Yeatts, April Wayland, Matt Forest Essenwine made this collection a unique work of art. Illustrations by Merce Lopez brought all the mistake moments together in a bright and whimsical color palette. Her artwork makes the mistakes human and approachable for readers.

I was specifically challenged at Highlights to consider not just the poems I've been writing for years but the structure of how poems might fit into a collection. This is an art form in itself.  The Mistakes that Made Us provides a beautiful example of structure for readers (age 7 to 97). Take a look at this from the table of contents--

Oopsie-Daisy

Stuff Happens

Blessings in Disguise

What Have I Done?

I love the real-talk structure of this anthology's sections. 

As I read the book with my middle school librarian's hat, I am delighted. These poems are perfect to support kid-understanding that they are not alone. There other humans who understand how they must be feeling. This is vital to our work as educators.

Doug Florian's poem, My Favorite Mistake, is already a strong contender for Poetry Pandemonium '25 that I provide annually for my students. 

The Mistakes that Made Us. Carolrhoda Books 2024,

This Mistakes that Made Us debuts on October 1st and is available for pre-order right now. I can't wait for more members of our community get their hands on this book. It's great inspiration for future writing. I look forward to whatever anthology Irene and Charles build. I've got an order for the book in to my public library with instructions to check it out to me first!

Thanks to our Friend Linda Baie at Teacher Dance for hosting our round-up this week. 

I've added another WORLD poem to the padlet. 

a note tucked into my 2024 WORLD journal from 'Poetry & Poetry Anthologies'
Highlights June '24

Poetry Anthology News

Dear Poetry Lovers,

I am so very happy to share poetry anthology news. There are three anthologies new this month published by Sarah Donovan of Ethical ELA. 

These books are written by educators for educators. I'm proud to be included with poetry in Words that Mend as well as Just YA. These poems began as responses to prompts in Ethical ELA's monthly writing community that I love being a part of.

Anyone can read these books for the beauty of the poetry, essays or short stories. However, all of the work included is appropriate to share as fresh writing by living poets with young people age 12-18. The poems can serve as mentor texts or points of peace in our tumultuous world. If that's a need for you, dear grown-up, they are for you too. 

What makes Words that Mend and Just YA particularly special is that they are available as free downloads for educators (or anyone). No teacher will have to purchase these books on their own or worry about asking for budget funds to access the resources. They are free to use. I LOVE this!

A poem I wrote, MessageChatGPT,  from page 191 of Just YA:

I hope you will take some time to read poetry from today's educators. We have so much to say because were are feeling so much. We'd really appreciate some review love for all these works on Goodreads or the places reviews drive sales such as Amazon or Barns & Noble. Even though Words that Mend and Just YA are free, I'd love to get the word out, literally, to as many readers as possible.

I'm still working on drafting a WORLD poem for this week...stay tuned.

Thanks so much to Heidi @ https://myjuicylittleuniverse.blogspot.com/  for hosting our round-up this week. She always got good things to read and to think about.

Life at the Speed of Grace

Ah, September.

I love this month...the clear, crisp skies make my heart sing. The school supplies are still fresh and new and learning is on the agenda. Like so many educators, this time of year is my true New Year celebration.

I love this quote attributed to Virginia Woolf.

found on facebook

Patricia offered, Life at the speed of grace, as a Spiritual Journey Prompt last year. I'm sharing my response to Mary Lee's challenge to the Inklings which was to write to the poem, Next Time by Joyce Sulphen.

Sulphen's original poem has a positive tone. I struggled to write the phrase, next time, from being one of deeper personal regret. I wrote a poem...discarded it. Wrote a second poem...discarded that one too. This third poem is more wistful. Wistful is more positive and lovely to me than the angst of regret.

It wasn't until seeing (by looking at an old calendar and thinking it was from THIS year. OOOOPS!) Patricia's Prompt, though, that I had a title. I'm not sure the title makes sense if you are a grammarian. I am not. I'm taking meaning from the words in a looser way that fits this poem.

Grace, Past Perfect

Next time, I’ll be good at math.
I’ll remember the order of operations to add, subtract, multiply and divide 

more time for us.

I won’t rush through homework I’ll enjoy learning without my intricate schemes of getting out of it.

I’ll read aloud to you       –all the poetry that doesn’t rhyme the gorgeous images we’ll paint in our minds.

I’ll find ways to enjoy
weeding your giant garden
      a farmer’s acreage, really
–remember the deer
meandering in to nibble green beans and lettuce?

But I’ll be decades away

poking fingers into dirt

under my suburban kitchen window
with your grandkids
chatting about how many days until
we can eat beans
from the seeds we're planting.

I will remember all the steps
of how to sew a hem, a button,
a zipper. I’ll still buy my clothes
but I won’t throw away
what I can mend.

I’ll be better tending relationships.
    I now know can’t last forever–In fact,
I’m calling my sisters right now.
I won’t even have to say
I’ve been thinking of you.

Linda Mitchell --draft

If you happen to be reading this on Friday, make sure you hop over to Buffy Silverman's blog for the weekly Poetry Friday round-up. Buffy is one of my favorite nature writers. You won't want to miss her work!

I've got more shined up clunkers to share. These are from comments left at my annual Clunker Exchange Post. Anytime I could use my OLW '24, WORLD, in a poem, I posted to the padlet of WORLD poems I'm keeping for this year. Find refurbished clunkers from:

Laura Purdie Salas

Karen Eastlund

Marci Flinchum Atkins

Connect to more Inkling responses to Next Time:

Mary Lee Hahn @ A(nother) Year of Reading

Catherine Flynn @ Reading to the Core

Molly Hogan @ Nix the Comfort Zone
Margaret Simon @ Reflections on the Teche
Heidi Mordhorst @ my juicy little universe

Hello, hello, hello! Labor Day Weekend '24

 Hello, hello, hello!

Mixed media collage. Linda Mitchell August, 2024

How are you? I've missed you, Poetry Friday people. Summer has been great--let's catch up!

When I left in May for a summer hiatus I was unsure of some things: Would I stop writing? Would creativity leave me in the dust? Would summer be enough time to sort out unfinished projects, new projects and learning opportunities? I have this wonderful and terrible habit of impossibly trying to do all the good things! 

Now that I am fully back to work with teachers and students in the building, I can happily report that I have continued to write. Creativity did not leave me in the dust. I have grown as a creative person and I have sorted some projects and project priorities. Although, if I'm honest, I'd love a bit more summertime.

Look! An honorable mention in the Lyrical Language Lab Free Verse Contest '24. I wrote this poem after seeing the contest announcement--as opposed to digging through my files to see if I had written something already that might fit the criteria.  Woot!  If you think you might want to take a poetry course, the LLL is a good one. It's not easy but it really works your poetic heart, mind and soul. You will be a better writer after taking the course (and doing the work, of course).

I had fun playing with clunker lines you all gave me in May. I'd love to see any clunker re-writes you've worked on. 

Here are two lines I from the comments of that post turned into poems: 

I have more poems from shared former clunkers. I'll share more in future posts.

See this beautiful Summer Poem Swap gift to me from Denise Krebs? It's such thoughtful art and sentiment. Many thanks to our Tabatha for organizing poetry swaps that make my snail-mailbox a happy place to visit.

A little more art from Jone who gave me some joy too. Mixed media artists sometimes swap Artist Trading Cards aka ATCs (think baseball cards but for artists). She designed this pretty ATC and sent it in one of her gorgeous raven notecards. 

ATC from Jone McCulloch. Summer 2024

There's more from this summer. I don't want to overwhelm you in my first post back. Thank you, Susan @Chicken Spaghetti for hosting our Poetry Friday round-up today. I'm hopping over to see all the poetry goodies you have collected for us. 

Inkling Challenge and Summer Hiatus

Hello Friends,

Thank you Tracey at Tangles and Tales for hosting our round-up this weekend.

Molly gave us a wonderful challenge for June.

I stopped by the Poetry Foundation for some inspiration and mentor text and found this lovely poem, You Learn by Living, by J. Patrick Lewis about one of my favorite historical figures.

https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/56361/you-learn-by-living

Isn't that a great poem? I would so love to see students creating these for their heroes. Alas, school ends for them this week! I hope all my students enjoy a wonderful summer break and grow fat brains from reading. We can write a fresh crop of biography poems next year. 

I have plans to travel more than stay home this summer. So, for the first time in a few years, I'm taking a summer hiatus from Poetry Friday. I reserve the right to pop in and enjoy the poems of others. But, I want to preserve my writing creativity and energy for some projects that I'm working on. And, summer for a school librarian sometimes feels too short for that to me!

So, my friends, remember to hydrate, re-apply your sunscreen, take time to live and write and don't be a stranger. I can always be reached by the gmail account connected to this blog.

To read more Inkling responses to Molly's challenge find them at:

Mary Lee @Another Year of Reading
Heidi @my juicy little universe
Molly @Nix the Comfort Zone
Margaret @Reflections on the Teche

Here's one more WORLD poem for the road!

Three Hearts: An Anthology of Cephalopod Poetry

Oh, my goodness--we are so close to June. Can you feel it? I've busted out my capris and sandals and am looking forward to finishing up the school year with students. 

Thank you, Janice Scully, at Salt City Verse for hosting our round-up this weekend. She is highlighting the delightful anthology Picture Perfect Poetry: An Anthology of Ekphrastic Nature Poetry for Students. This collection is anthologized by Carol J. Labuzzetta one of our Poetry Friday poets.

I've just received my copy of Picture Perfect Poetry and it is beautiful! I have a plane ride coming up and this book is coming with me. I love that I recognize so many names in the pages.

I also have a celebration--a couple of poems published in Three Hearts, An Anthology of Cephalopod Poetry, Edited by Sierra Nelson (World Enough Writers. 2024). When I perused the book I was delighted to see that my contributions rub shoulders with poets I admire. 

https://worldenoughwriters.com/Publications.htm 

Here are two poems of mine in Three Hearts.

haiku Found in A Handbook to the
National Museum 1886

1.
octopus limbs
grasp, enfold and draw in prey
of squid proportions

2.
dimensions
are valuable in the 
cold fiords

Linda Mitchell (120)

Middle School Octopus

from Octopus focus on key features for camouflage

The first day of seventh-grade is about   camouflage.

Don't do anything to be seen or heard. It   is

the deadliest whirlpool of your life. If you   used

brilliance to survive elementary school, drop it. Better   to

blend in with cephalopods, move along with suckers--be a   fool

swimming, eating, inking, like the others.   A

fish in the center of a school isn't tempting prey.   Wider

expectations for success must be met out of   range

of waking hormones and lab partners, projects, square-dancing...  of

growing undetected, passed over by bigger teen   predators.

Linda Mitchell (121)

There's a new WORLD poem on the padlet. I wish I could be more cheerful. Truth is, WORLD is struggling these days. I cannot help but to lament.

Poetry from Michelle's Clunker

Hello to May Twenty-Fourth! 

Let's go out and play with poets in the springtime.

Michelle Kogan gave me a clunker to worth with. I've been playing with her words, "reason to hope, and time to consider." There are wonderful and complex ideas in this line.

First, a haiku

sing con vibrato
each green bud and leaf of spring
keeping time with hope

Next, a triolet

Stories of hope,
time to remember
ways we cope
stories of hope,
courage-word lifeboats
or a fire's ember
stories of hope
time to remember.

Thank you Michelle for the clunker line and for hosting our Poetry Friday round-up this week. I look forward to seeing what you're up to this busy-bee spring.

There is a new WORLD poem on the padlet. 

Inspired by Treasure Books, I've been making some paper dolls lately to unwind. So fun. This lady is a bit stiff...she was my first attempt.

Paper Princess collage, May 24, Linda M.

This lady let me know with her expression that she doesn't like any shade of orange...maybe another color on her will coax a smile.

Paper Princess collage. May 24. Linda M.