Welcome to Poetry Month 2018 at No Water River!
Please take a moment to peruse the how-to below, and then dive in! Happy writing — and thank you for helping to build our collection(s)!
Remember: The Community Collections are open indefinitely, so you can visit each post at your leisure to add your poem!
Today’s Guest…
made history in 1989 with her controversial picture book Heather Has Two Mommies, and has continued to be an important voice writing on women’s and LGBTQ+ topics ever since. Please welcome author, teacher, and advocate …
LESLÉA NEWMAN
THE POEM
THE PROMPT
Pick a familiar song or poem and write an imitation of it, using the same form (number of lines, sentence structure, rhyme scheme if the poem has one, etc.). Take something old and familiar and make it your own.
COMMUNITY COLLECTION 6: FAMILIAR SONGS
WANT TO ADD YOUR POEM?
1. Paste it into the comment section below. I will gather the poems and add them to this post. OR
2. Email it to me at renee@reneelatulippe.com and I will add it to this post (graphics welcome)!
*****
I’ll Be Lookin’ at My Email
I’ve Been Working on My Project
half the dag-gone day.
I’ve been working on a project
just to get an easy A.
Can’t you see my mother helping?
Hoping Miss Roberts never knows!
Can’t you hear my mother shouting,
“That’s not how it goes!”
.
“That’s not how it goes.
That’s not how it goes.
That’s not how it goes my dear!
That’s not how it goes.
That’s not how it goes.
That’s not how it goes my dear!”
.
Maybe I should alter the project.
Maybe it’s a little too great.
Maybe I should alter the project –
Miss Roberts knows I’m only eight!
.
Colleen Murphy
© 2018
Mend
.
SINNER
despite a life of crime,
your grace and blessings they abound,
with comfort so sublime.
.
T’was crime that kept me in its grips
and Grace, my sins revealed,
how precious You forgave my slips
and now my soul is healed.
.
(C) Sherry Howard
Side By Side
(Morning Has Broken) April
Snow in my driveway, covers my shoes.
Wish I could fly off and land in the tropics
God, give me patience, for one more day.
.
(c) Wendy Bokovoy
THE WIGGLY, SQUIGGLY CATERPILLAR
crawls up a leafy tree,
spins a cocoon as cozy as can be.
After twenty days, a butterfly appears,
and the pretty, flitty butterfly
flies off and disappears!
.
(c) 2018 Dianne Moritz
MY RED CAR
Off I go, but not too far.
‘Round and round the yard so fast,
Wave to Mom as I drive past.
Peddle, peddle my red car.
I’m a racing SUPER STAR!
.
(c) 2018 Dianne Moritz
Wine Glasses Shattered
Red liquid splattered, soaking the rug
Inside I’m screaming
I know the reason
I will be cleaning ’til morning comes
.
So glad my carpet, woven by Persians
has a slight scarlet thread from the loom
Thanks to the weavers for this insertion
The stain looks like flowers ready to bloom.
.
Thanks for the cleaning
Thanks for the cleaner
There’s hope for redeeming every mistake
Thanks to the husband who found the cleaner
and to his cousin who cooks a great steak
.
Wine glasses shattered onto the carpet
Red liquid splattered, soaking the rug
There’s no more screaming
I know the reason
I won’t be cleaning ’til morning comes
.
© 2018 Doraine Bennett
Take Me Out to the Ballroom
.
Colleen Murphy
© 2018
This Seat Was Made for You and Me
my horsey waits yonder the tree
my horsey waits yonder the pasture
please make sure he gallops to me.
.
Bring back, bring back
Oh, bring back my horsey to me, to me
bring back, bring back
oh, bring back my horsey to me.
© 2018 Robyn Campbell
THE POET
Lesléa Newman has created 70 books for readers of all ages, including the short story collection A Letter to Harvey Milk; the poetry collection I Carry My Mother; the teen novel-in-verse October Mourning: A Song for Matthew Shepard, and the children’s books Sparkle Boy; The Best Cat in the World; Ketzel, The Cat Who Composed; and the children’s classic, Heather Has Two Mommies, the first children’s book to portray lesbian families in a positive way. She has followed up this pioneering work with several more children’s books on lesbian and gay families: Felicia’s Favorite Story; Too Far Away to Touch; Saturday Is Pattyday; Mommy, Mama, and Me; and Daddy, Papa, and Me.
She is also the author of many books for adults that deal with lesbian identity, Jewish identity, and the intersection and collision between the two. Other topics Ms. Newman explores include AIDS, eating disorders, butch/femme relationships, and sexual abuse. Her award-winning short story, A Letter To Harvey Milk, has been made into a film and adapted for the stage.
Her literary awards include creative writing fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts and the Massachusetts Artists Foundation, four Pushcart Prize nominations, two American Library Association Stonewall Honors, a Muse Medallion from the Cat Writers Association and a Maxwell Medallion from the Dog Writers Association of America.
From 2008-2010 she served as the poet laureate of Northampton, MA. Currently she teaches at Spalding University’s low-residency MFA in Writing program. Her newest poetry collection, Lovely, from which the poem “Wedding/Funeral March” is excerpted, was published by Headmistress Press in January 2018.
Discover more about the author and her books at www.LesleaKids.com and www.LesleaNewman.com.
(from the author’s website)
THE BOOKS
LOVELY
Lovely is an eclectic poetry collection that takes the reader on a journey as the speaker of the poems travels from childhood through young adulthood, to finally become a “woman of a certain age” who has gained insight and wisdom along the way. Many subjects are touched upon including loss of innocence, mother/daughter relationships, aging, self-acceptance, grief, the sharp pain of violence against women and the LGBTQIA community, and the deep pleasure of long-term love.
Written with Lesléa Newman’s signature passion and wit, these well-crafted and accessible poems are full of startling, poignant, and powerful imagery and will stay with the reader for a long time to come. (from the author’s website)
OCTOBER MOURNING: A SONG FOR MATTHEW SHEPARD
On the night of October 6, 1998, Matthew Shepard, a gay, twenty-one-year-old college student was lured from a Wyoming bar by two young men, savagely beaten, tied to a remote fence, and left to die. Gay Awareness Week was beginning at the University of Wyoming, and the keynote speaker was Lesléa Newman, discussing her book Heather Has Two Mommies. Shaken, the author addressed the large audience that gathered and remained haunted by Matthew’s murder.
October Mourning, a novel in verse, is her deeply felt response to the events of that tragic day. Using her poetic imagination, the author creates fictitious monologues from various points of view, including the fence Matthew was tied to, the stars that watched over him, the deer that kept him company, and Matthew himself. More than a decade later, this stunning cycle of sixty-eight poems serves as a powerful, enduring tribute to Matthew Shepard’s life. (from the author’s website)
Casey loves to play with his blocks, puzzles, and dump truck, but he also loves things that sparkle, shimmer, and glitter. When his older sister, Jessie, shows off her new shimmery skirt, Casey wants to wear a shimmery skirt too. When Jessie comes home from a party with glittery nails, Casey wants glittery nails too. And when Abuelita visits wearing an armful of sparkly bracelets, Casey gets one to wear, just like Jessie.
(from Amazon.com)
Don’t miss a prompt! Save this calendar to your desktop.
CALENDAR OF POETS ~ APRIL 2018
“Wedding/Funeral March” and prompts copyright © 2018 by Lesléa Newman, from Lovely by Lesléa Newman
Copyright on community collection poems held by authors indicated. All rights reserved.
Other post content © 2018 Renée M. LaTulippe or as indicated. All rights reserved.
Guitar photo by Tim Mossholder via Pexels (no attribution required).
Leslea….what a wonderful creepy poem you’ve written. It’s such a serious topic wrapped in Here Comes the Bride….which I can only hear in a child’s voice because of the poem. This poem pokes at my emotions and I cannot simply dismiss it as silly because this is happening all over the world.
“Poke at my emotions” – yes!
Alarming and sad to read your poem, Leslea, another tragedy of someone’s unbelievable tradition. Thanks for speaking out for others in your books. I’ve read most, loved this young “Sparkle Boy”.
Hi Leslea,
I love your books for kids!
Your poem hit right to my soul.
Fun challenge.
Dear Leslea & Renee – Appreciations for this post, which covers potent books & topics. I read & kept my copy of SONG FOR MATTHEW SHEPPARD. It was so hard to read & so important to read. I feel the same about the poem memorializing Amina Fialia. Can’t read it without tears. Thank you for these tears. And for your poet’s voice.
Same here, Jan! OCTOBER MOURNING has always stayed with me. (And so will Amina’s story.)
I am lucky enough to be in a critique group with Leslea and get to hear early versions of many of her poems. She is a poetry force to be reckoned with!
Jane
She is indeed. Her words linger…
Leslea–The first time through I read your poem without reading the prompt. It packed a wallop. Then I read it through again with the wedding march in mind. The juxtaposition of that triumphant celebratory tune and the horrifying reality painted with your words highlighted the obscenity, the atrocity…I’m struggling to find the words. You clearly are not.
Molly, you expressed that so well —the heartbreaking irony! I was struggling to find the words, but you nailed it.
Lesléa, thank you for sharing this powerful poem! I look forward to reading more of your work, and to the challenge of your prompt.