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Happy Poetry Friday!
It's May, and my turn to invite my fellow Inklings to write in a special way.
Whitney Hanson (https://www.whitneyhansonpoetry.com/) is a young poet who has caught my interest. She shares primarily on TikTok. I’m not on TikTok which is why I didn’t know of her until I caught up with her work on Instagram. Hanson offers poems that begin with, “in poetry we say…”
In these poems, Hanson takes a common phrase we know in English and translates it poetically. Her newest book, In Poetry We Say…(self-published March 2025) is a writer’s journal full of invitations to respond to, “in poetry we say…”
I see an invitation to write in a few ways:
1. Find a poem that you love to show how poetry translates English in a new way for you
Or,
2. Write poetry in a way that responds to the phrase, “in poetry we say…” so that the poem is a translation
Feel free to go rogue and respond to Hanson’s poetry in any way that makes you happy.
CLOSURE by Amanda Gorman
To begin again
Isn't to go backwards,
But to decide to go.
Our story is not a circle carved,
But a spiral shed/shaped/spinning,
Shifting inward & outward ad infinitum,
Like a lung on the bank of speech.
Breathe with us.
We disembark both beside & beyond
Who we were, who we are.
It is a return & a departure.
We spiral on, pushing up & out,
Like a growing thing
Making its form out of earth.
In a poem, there's no end,
Just a place where the page
Glows wide & waiting,
Like a lifted hand,
Poised & paused.
Here is our bond, unbordered by bone.
Perhaps love is how it feels
To breathe the same air.
All we have is time, is now.
Time takes us on.
How we are moved says everything
About what we are to each other
& what are we to each other If not everything.
Offering a poem I wrote to translate a concept:
In English we say I have closure. In poetry we say...
Here’s a poem
I never wrote
about how I untie
an emotion boat
from the dock
dropping her line
into the deep,
watching currents
carry the her bow to stern out–
further and further
still
until those feelings
drift away,
out of sight for a year
and a day
when you and I know
anything we stowed on that boat
that we cannot even see now by telescope
is forever gone.
Bon voyage old feelings.
So long,
so, long.
Linda Mitchell 5/1/25
Find other Inkling responses to this prompt:
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
Thank you, Mary Lee, for hosting our round-up this weekend!
Bon voyage, old feelings! Love this, Linda :) I like the way you handled the image, too. Cool prompt.
ReplyDeleteLinda, I love those first 4 lines so much! The idea of the poems we never wrote, appearing despite us on the page "glowing wide and waiting." So long, so long. Lovely.
ReplyDeleteInteresting prompt, love your response. I like how you compared closure to an emotion boat, with the process being gradual -- drifting away, "so long, so long" perfect way to evoke emotions fading . . .
ReplyDeleteYour written responses demonstrate your strong capacity for introspection, Linda. It is a feature of your poetry I enjoy and admire. Poems we never wrote... indeed. Thanks for this reading journey. I enjoyed it immensely
ReplyDeleteYour poem! Your photo! Wow. I have some boats I need to untie and wave to as they drift away...
ReplyDeleteGorgeous poem Linda, leaves me breathless, wonderful release and love the short meander of playfulness as we go there! Your “year/and a day” and “so long, / So, long.” reminded me of Edward Lear’s “The Owl and the Pussy Cat,” thanks for these two rich poems!
ReplyDelete"untie an emotion boat" wow! Yes to this!
ReplyDeleteWonderful words and picture, Linda! I love the image of the boat taking away all those bad feelings that need to go - a beautiful metaphor.
ReplyDeleteLinda, that is a fabulous boat poem--the deep emotions, the letting things go, the closure...all beautiful.
ReplyDeleteYou inklings are amazing, and what a prompt! Your poem will stay with me... what perfect images. Thanks for sharing all and for your unblinking, curious eye!
ReplyDeleteI adore this start: "To begin again/Isn't to go backwards/But to decide to go." I'm trying to instill a growth mindset in my son, to help him learn to embrace failures as opportunities, and to look at starting again as a sign of strength and courage. Anyone can give up. But not everyone decides to go.
ReplyDeleteYour poem resonated with me, Linda, about the emotional boat set adrift, and everything stored on that boat gone forever. I thought about the choice involved, with some sadness. Very thoughtful poem and prompt.
ReplyDeleteI love the idea of setting an emotion boat adrift. Your use of white space works so well with that idea, and the way you edged your photo adds to it all. Also, your beginning lines are a fabulous prompt in and of themselves--"here's a poem/I never wrote" Love that, too!
ReplyDelete