Poetpourri

There have been many poetry happenings starting up on social media lately. Writers' pens have been moving quickly across their notebooks and/or computer screens, sending messages of beauty and strength in response to nature and news. Haikus, free verse poems, image poems, blogs, and digital inspirations have been created and sent out to spark conversations. The movement has grown into a poetry in action initiative.

Last week, Donna Smith of Mainely Write posted responses to a challenge she initiative dealing with the topic ferocious women. You can find the different poems in response to the challenge here. Since I was preoccupied with hosting Poetry Friday, I left the penning of my poem to later. Sixteen writers participated initially by sending in lines that you can see below. From these a new poem was to be created.

1. Buffy Silverman: "ferocious women who never bring you coffee" - refrigerator magnetic poetry
2. Donna Smith: "always leave a wild song" - refrigerator magnetic poetry
3. Linda Baie: "dreaming women do art in poetry" - from her pile of poetry blocks
4. Buffy Silverman: "where wizards and wolves rush by in a blur of green and gold and gray" - patched together from Kate Dicamillo's Where Are You Going Baby Lincoln
5. Kay McGriff: "ignore the awful times, and concentrate on the good ones" from Vonnegut's Slaughterhouse Five
6. Linda Mitchell: "waking the world to a new day"
7. Margaret Simon: "steam that climbs like smoke from a fire" - this was in the comments the first week, and I'm not sure if it is a comment or a line... but I'm using it! 
8. Carol Varsalona: "fearless women reach out, connect, and find joy in life's intertwined moments" - Connecting the word "fearless" that April had used last week.
9. Tabatha Yeatts: "little chest to put the Alive in" - Emily Dickinson
10. Joy Acey: "wear loose clothing and a smile" - from a thought and some connections
11. Jan Godown Annino:  "I feel like there should be more stories out there for girls, and I try to tell them" - a quote from Hope Larson from the book COMICS CONFIDENTIAL.
12. Mary Lee Hahn: "ferocious women do not exaggerate" - from Mary Oliver's UPSTREAM on page 109, "I do not exaggerate."
13. Brenda Harsham: "make a ferocious dinner that eats masks, drips truth and saves softness for dessert"
14. Keri Lewis: "radical at their core" from her husband's magazine, "Guns & Ammo"
15. Kiesha Shepard: "ferocious women would rather drink the wind" - a line from Mary Oliver's (Why I Wake Early) titled "The Arrowhead"
16. Diane Mayr: "out of endurance, exaltation" - a line from the poem "Monadnock" by Robert Francis.

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Eye on Women

Fearless women,

Alive with life,

Ferociously

Reach out

To drink the wind,

Ignore the awful times,

Exalt the good ones,

Connect and find life's

Intertwined moments

To tell the stories

That ought to be told.

Dreaming women

Alive with hope,

Do art in poetry,

Leave a wild song

For young girls who

Steam through life with

Energy that climbs like smoke

From fires, waking the world to

Yet another day of bold, joyful pursuits

Saving softness for dessert and dreams.
©CVarsalona, 2017

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Ferocious women connect to wake a world from the awful times of past decades:

Under-paid roles, bringing in coffee as wizards and wolves rush by in a blur.

Radical at their core, ferocious women unshackled from rigidity of corseted clothes,

Don the garb of loose clothing to concentrate on a new day filled with exaltation.

Fearlessly, they drink the wind, smile in unity, and write stories for posterity,

Audaciously charging ahead, concentrating on good times to pave the way

For a bold new generation of brilliant, truth-bearing daughters

Who listen, lead, and build hopes and dreams

on the principles of democracy.

©CVarsalona, 2017

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Penny Klostermann is hosting the Poetry Friday Round-up at Penny and Her Jots.

Join in the fun.