Spring Is in the Air Skinny

Spring is in the air and buds are popping everywhere. The allergy season is sneezing its way into recognition, and kleenex boxes are strategically placed around the house. What is odd this season is that boutique boxes of kleenex are seldom seen on shelves. Quarantine life is fraught with dilemmas, this being a minor one. My husband, the masked wonder, managed to find two multi-boxed packages at Costco so allergy season can continue now that kleenex is close by.

I thought the skinny format would work nicely with a new poem and a nature photo I took a few years ago. I even found a ditty tune I created in 2016 to accompany it. 

Spring is in the air,

budding,

popping

everywhere

with

budding

springtime

wear.

Smell

nature's

budding.

Spring is in the air.

©CV, 2020

Now, please enjoy my invented ditty song, Spring is int he air, created with the app, Ditty. Unfortunately, this app is no longer in existence.

The Skinny poetry format was created by Truth Thomas in 2005. The Skinny Blog explains that "The Skinny" is a short poem that consists of eleven lines. "The first and eleventh lines can be any length (although shorter lines are favored). The eleventh and last line must be repeated using the same words from the first and opening line (The first and eleventh lines can be an; margin: however, they can be rearranged. The 2nd, 6th, and 10th lines must be identical. All the lines in this form, except for the 1st and last lines, must be comprised of ONLY one word." 

Crowdsourced Poem_National Poetry Month

From the quiet corners of three separate shelter-in-place areas, a thought grew into a well-conceived #NYEDChat Twitter chat. With the topic, "Poetry Soothes Souls during Trying Times", in place, questions were created by my guest moderators/poet-authors, Georgia Heard and Rebecca Kai Dotlich, and me to encourage tweeters from across the world to discuss the comfort and joy that poetry can bring. 

On Monday night, April 20, 2020, #NYEDChat aired for a half-hour on Twitter. People poured in from across the states and as far away as Canada and Brazil. They chatted, reflected, responded, and inspired by each others' comments. After 524 tweets, I created a transcript of the chat using Wakelet. In addition, I created a crowdsourced poem from some Question 1 responders.

Question 1: So many people seem to be turning to poetry during these trying times.  

Why do you think that is? 

I thank my guest moderators, Georgia and Rebecca,  for their time and willingness to inspire others. Appreciations are also sent out to all those who joined the chat and provided a wealth of resources and thoughts.

It's time to join Two Writing Teachers for Slice of Life Tuesday. I plan on adding the above poem embossed on a digitized scene outside my window #NatureNurtures Gallery. 

Nature Nurtures Neighborhoods

As COVID-19 continues to rage here on Long Island, nature shares its beauty. With a heart full of gratitude, I step outside my home to notice my surroundings and let nature nurture my soul. Tiny buds open with the colors of spring and skies flood earth with glorious rays. Sunrises and sunsets spread their hues of rose tint and sunset orange. 

Step outside.

Neighborhoods come alive

with the scent of springtime.

Please join me at NYEDChat's Annual Poetry Twitter Chat

Monday, April 20, 2020, 8:00-8:30 pm EST

to discuss

"Poetry Soothes Souls During Troubled Times"

Georgia Heard
and
Rebecca Kai Dotlich 
will guest moderate.

Raise your voices with our poetry community to give
the gift of hope through poetic thoughts.

Today, I join the talented photographer poet Molly Hogan at her blog site where she shares the sensory experience of creating bread and then mixing it with poetry. Her poem is sure to bring comfort to readers. As an aside, Molly allowed me to use one of her lovely bird photographs to pair with one of my quarantine life poems. It can be seen here.