Fresh out of clunkers but a happy heart

Happy Friday and Happy Poetry.

Thank you, Rose, at Imagine the Possibilities for hosting this week's round-up. I have a clunker line from Rose that finally made it into a poem.

Rose's offered line: "snow piles like cotton balls on bushes"

Potluck

Winter has arrived

Snow piles like cotton balls on bushes, trees,
the bird feeder.

Blue Jay calls a morning meeting.
Crow is not ready and a squabble brews 

across stillness.

By the time I pull on socks, boots, 

scarf-wrap my head and swing a bucket

from my mittened hand
there’s muffled tittering, scampering, 

a coming-to-life after the storm.
Sky opens her best cerulean,
Evergreens scent deep shadows
lying short under Winter’s sun.
I have brought little bits of golden grain to the party. There is hardly any room on the buffet to place them.

Linda Mitchell 9/25

The post office played hide-and-seek with a poetry swap gift from Rose. But, it finally made it with a bit of an extra push and I'm delighted.

Poem by Rose C. 2025

Somewhere

By Rose Cappelli

Somewhere an idea is floating through clouds winging its way through the pink-blue sky

Somewhere words are gathering like sheep filling up spaces rearranging places Somewhere a child is waiting for a story to explain, entertain inspire, delight

Somewhere a writer is creating

I'm not sure if Rose intended the postcard's word Art as part of the poem...but isn't that cool how it fits?

Magaret Simon left these questions in exchange for one of my clunkers: “until we see our whole world crying, we ask, what do I do? What can I do?” I let nature take its course with these questions in the form of three short haiku.

1. 
   

blue, bluer, bluest
when the whole world is crying
what else can sky do?

2. 
   

mourning doves coo
what do we do? – can we do?
the whole world crying

3. 
   

we shine and we sigh
say sun and moon from heavens
we see the whole world

Linda Mitchell 9/25

Thank you poets for leaving me clunkers to play with this summer. Between those lines and poetry swap gifts, I feel as rich as a poetry queen. I have a happy heart.

Still Summering

Hello Poets,

I'm happy to report that my youngest made it to graduate school last weekend as I caught up with aunts and uncles, cousins, my sisters and my Dad. This included hundreds of miles of travel by train, foot and mini-van--but all worked out and back again safely.

My happy place full of family

This weekend, Handsome hubby and I will follow our youngest to his school in that same mini-van full of his stuff to fill a closet, kitchen and all other spaces of his dorm suite with a birthday present tucked into a bag-o-stuff. So, you'll find me on the road again and catching up with poetry in my favorite way -- slowly.

While traveling with my notebook a week ago, I had a chance to tinker with some clunkers shared by Michelle, Patricia and Jone. It's amazing how their donated lines fit a theme. I nominate these poets for the next anthology.

Moonflower's secret came from Michelle Kogan. 
My response:

Moonflower’s Secret

grows glows shows this rose glows unknown by  dawning. Glow secret moonflower, glow

~Michelle Kogan & Linda Mitchell

Patricia Franz offered: Dream churns at the edge of night My response:

--Just there,
  behind the edge of your eyelids,

            Arachne spins and Diana stalks hart                 after midnight.

Morpheus bids a maid
churn milky dreams of babes

into frothy flowers of Demeter’s field
                to adorn moonlight.

Patricia Franz & Linda Mitchell

From Jone: twilight dream-waves sing rhythmic lullabies. My response:

If mavis song, then twilight 

and tides of dream-waves. 

Selkies sing. 

Warp and weft fall rhythmic   fahs wee pleasing lullabies

Jone MacCulloch & Linda Mitchell

I have but two summer clunkers left to play with. Both are from soon to be PF hosts. I hope to have them ready by the time each hosts our weekend round-ups. If you haven't had a chance to offer a clunker but would like to, please add them to the comments. The original Clunker Exchange post can be found here.

Don't miss this week's PF offerings in our round-up hosted by Carol at Beyond LiteracyLink.

Summer Gifts from Carol, Jone and, Moe

Hello Friends,

It's good that it is Friday and that we bring poetry. 

I'm delighted with amazing gifts of summer...not only fresh fruit and vegetables at the Farmer's Markets but also time to browse and ponder and mosey.

I so enjoy the lines poet friends give me in exchange for one of my old clunkers. Carol V. at Beyond Literacy gave me this line: "a harbor of shared memories." Thank you Carol!

July

a harbor of shared memories. Carol V.

The sound of tires rolling 

onto this old dirt road wake me.
It’s been a long ride.
And now, dusty.
That’s OK. My first home
is country…rolling hills
and blue clay creek beds.

No matter how long
between visits, tiger lilies
along the driveway

harbor shared memories
between Dad’s open-mouth mailbox
and weather-stripped backdoor.

Linda Mitchell
July 11, 2025

I'm grateful for the Summer Poetry Swap hosted by Tabatha at The Opposite of Indifference --who is graciously hosting this week's PF. Please stop by to read and comment on a few bloggers. It really does make a difference to bloggers to see a comment on their creative writing efforts. I was able to sign up for all summer swaps. I've loved opening my mailbox to find poems and more from friends.

Jone MacCulloch spoiled me with a poem honoring my OLW for 2025, barefoot.

Dreaming Barefoot

The poem was lovingly wrapped up with a custom-created card, bookmarks, and ephemera that I can use in paper crafting. Jone sees me! It's wonderful. Thank you, Jone. xoxoxoxo!

I also swapped poetry with Moe Phillips. Until our swap I had admired her witty poems on instagram but hadn't met her. I wish you could have seen my face and heard my gasp as I opened her poetry package that included a beautiful handmade journal from what looks like handmade papers. She also included a poem found in the pages of one of her favorite novels, Moby Dick--which is perfect because I've tried reading that novel a couple of times and I just can't get into it. I am delighted to know someone that loves it. Her poem helps fill one of my literature gaps.

Hand made journal and poem by Moe Phillips...I'm swooning!

If you haven't had a chance to enjoy a poetry swap, I encourage you to try it. The only requirement is to swap a poem. There is no need to send any extra goodies. I send extra goodies because it boosts my mood and creative energy to feel like I'm making something for someone else. 

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. 

Poetry Friday is HERE! Clunker Exchange

Hello Poets,

A few years ago I started what has now become an annual activity. I call it a Clunker Exchange. None of the of poetry lines below were quite right for the poem I wrote them into. Sometimes, the line held a grammar gaff, or a spelling mistake. Maybe a metaphor didn't quite work, or any number of things that caused the line to clunk instead of sing.

Here's How a Clunker Exchange Works:
I'm giving you any of the lines below in exchange for a clunker of your own. Find a line from a poem you've revised or meant to but never got around to revising. 

I will gladly take your clunker and turn it into something new if you take one of mine and do the same. Please and thank you.

Photo Source: Jerry Lofaro

Clunkers

•  again the notion that with
• How to write a peace poem
• into another world
• only sure of light pushing her brush
• She is gone and she is there
• You listening,/my face deep in shadowed spaces
• In the sunroom, our old lady faces
• weave our own cloth. I go
• pattern belong to each other
• under an electric wire salad slaw
• paints like it’s an epiphany
• My only flaw and freedom
• Just a little puff of spray for interaction
• It’s an engineer’s puzzle niche
• What is Autumn to the bee?
• you’ve lost your way – up ahead lies harm
• wrapped up in a gift box, bag or stocking stash
•  Joy as a prairie poppy
• more a drawer of worlds
• are my eyes in the mirror like his?
• thinned and whisper wept–
• with large or small emptiness–air space
• I could see that the group wasn’t really helping me
• The window radiator / sure made a bumpy seat
• the lightning truck keys
• You are sad and relieved at the same time
• pinning another year into memory
• A band that relegates bright
• What are the odds/That you would be/The less than six degrees
• Sunshine and short shorts
• joy is a choice / Still I struggle
• a dandelion dotted day
• weedy dirt patch of writing /should never see the light of day. 

Don't forget to respond with a line of poetry from your stash that I can play with and write into something new. Remember, blogger marks some comments as anonymous. Make sure your name shows up so I can give credit to our masterpiece later. Ha!

I'm hosting the round-up this week. Please leave your links below. If you aren't familiar with Poetry Friday, check out this description here. Jump in!

Mr. Linky's Widget