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