Surprises Arrive

The days have a chill now and the countdown to Christmas is more real than ever. As dusk brings down its shades, timed lights illuminate the new house. The smell of cookies waft out from the kitchen where memories of Christmases past arise. Holiday joy is tucked into each nook, waiting for a special arrival of my granddaughters. Will there be a surprise on their face when they walk in the door?

The topic of granddaughters is often in my thoughts. My artist-poet friend Michelle Kogan picked up on my love of being a grandma and sent me a grand surprise through the mail, my first ever winter poem swap. Imagine my surprise to find an original Kogan watercolor pen ad ink art inside the envelope. Not only is the drawing beautiful but there is a golden shovel poem she created from a poem on my website. She even included instructions for the framer if the print is framed.

two

girls

and

a

book

 sweetly

cuddled

together

grandma

pride

Michelle's note was included inside one of her cards, Reindeer, watercolor and watercolor pencil from her Etsy collection. Below you will find other floral and bird handcreated note cards and a  a couple of bookmarks. I could look at these beautiful drawings again and again. 

I swooned over the delightful rabbit cards, one for Valentines Day and the other one with a poem for allergy season.

itch twitch tickle

teasing breezes bring sneezes

over me and

you

In gratitude for Michelle Kogan's gorgeous, colorful, authentic artwork and persistence to meet the Poem Swap deadline, I penned the following poem: 

 

within the heart of a poet, lays the beauty of silent words

waiting to reveal sweetened messages of inspired thought

as simple and pure as moonbeams in an indigo sky

©CV, 2021

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Michelle and I planned to showcase each other's Winter Poem Swap offerings at Poetry Friday today. Click here to view what Michelle said about what I sent her. We were determined amidst our busy schedules to meet the deadline as close as possible.

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The Winter Poem Swap was inspired by poet friend, Tabatha Yeatts, and scheduled this season by my author-poet friend, Laura Shovan. I am grateful to have such a wonderful poem partner to start off my experience in the Winter Poem Swap. 

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I unveiled the final edition to the Bedecked In Autumn Gallery of Artistic Expressions this week. You can find another piece of Michelle's artwork featured in the gallery here.

Please stop to see the majesty of autumn.

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Thank you to author-poet Buffy Silverman for hosting Poetry Friday on Christmas Eve.

She also shares her Winter Poem Swap with Amy Ludwig VanDerwater.

I wish everyone a joyous and blessed holiday season!

Positively Reaching and Connecting

While gearing up for #NYEDChat's conversation on Positive People Do More, my writing colleague Kevin Hodgson, sent me poem based on the invitation to the chat that I tweeted. I then, retweeted Kevin's text to honor the work fellow poets and writers are engaging in during National Poetry Month. 

We search the gap

between the difficulties

of the world

and the silent negativity

of the complaints;

We nestle our way forward

and work around way into the warmth

of the positive.

I'll light the fire, with words if I have to,

these poems make fine kindling,

and you bring the sustenance of ideas

we can share together.
Kevin Hodgson, 2016 

Intrigued by the line lifting remix technique, I composed a poem based on one line of Kevin's poem.

Following the lead of poet Amy Ludwig VanDerwater who created Wallow in Wonder for her 2016 National Poetry Month project to celebrate learning and writing from learning, I searched Wonderopolis for an article on positivity. I found Wonder of the Day #991, Do You Have a Positive Attitude?  Below is a blackout poem that I created from the information in the article.

My fellow Wonderopolis Wonder Lead Ambassador, Paul W. Hankins, has also been writing poetry alongside Amy Ludwig VanDerwater, based on Wonders of the Day. His series can be accessed here. 

To reach out and connect with #EduFriends and connected colleagues across the globe, NYEDChat will open its doors on May 2, 2016 for a chat on positivity that will surely be a meeting of the minds. 

Join the NYEDChat Moderating Team(Bill Brennan, Victoria Day, Blanca Duarte, Dan McCabe, Lisa Meade, Starr Sackstein, Dennis Schug, Tony Sinanis, Carol Varsalona) and our Positivity Champions (Bobby Dodd, Sean Gaillard, Reed Gillespie, Phil Griffin, Neil Gupta, Jon Harper, Jennifer Hogan, Eoin Lenihan, Craig Vroom, Jennifer Williams) for an epic conversation.

In the meantime, stay positive. According to the Mayo Clinic, looking at life's challenges in a positive way has its long-lasting rewards. Here are some benefits: 

• lower levels of distress 
• greater resistance to colds 
• better coping skills

You may enjoy listening to Luke Britnell's catchy tune, Think Positive. 

New Growth

"You can cut all the flowers but you cannot keep the Spring from coming." 
--Pablo Neruda

We rejoice in springtime as new growth salutes life.

Life, like spring,

can be dark and grey,

raindrops from clouded skies.

                                          But

                                             in the greening of the season,

                                                  new hopes spout from cracked fissures of life.

©CVarsalona, 2016

Ida Gerhardt was was a Dutch poet of a post-symbolist tradition.

https://ergonseed.nl/spring-poem

REFLECTION on NYEDChat:

This week, Janet Wong, Amy Ludwig VanDerwater, and Paul W. Hankins joined me to guest moderate NYEDChat's convo, April is Poetrylicious. For one hour, Poetry Friday poet friends and poetry lovers from around the states responded to questions about the wonders of poetry. Many creative ideas were sparked, spine poetry created and displayed on the #NYEDChat Twitter feed, resources collected, and professional learning networks (PLNs) grew.

To scan the transcript of the chat created with the support of Participate Learning, please visit the site here. 

In addition, please visit the witty and creative Michelle Heidenrich Barnes for the Poetry Friday Round-up at Today's Little Ditty. There you will find Michelle's original poem, Alter Ego, created for her ditty challenge and a plethora of Poetry Friday posts from the poetry-inspired community members.

Farewell to Fall

Last week, I walked among variegated leaves that danced in the sky around me. This week, nature painted the earth with marshmallow hues. As I watched in awe at the changing scene, Dean Martin's song, "A Marshmallow World," kept humming in my head. Being in Syracuse, Central New York for the holiday, one could expect snow to make its appearance for Thanksgiving, but I have not seen this phenomenon in recent years and was not ready for the entry. 

For several reasons I wrote the poem, Fall's Transition, that you will find below. First, I was surprised by nature's urge to close the fall season in such an expressive way. Secondly, I am collecting all of the Finding Fall Gallery submissions and will gear up to start building the collection. I decided to write a final poem to bring to mind the changing nature of the autumn season and wrap up the autumnal poetry collection.

For those still interested in submitting their perspective on finding fall, please send in an original poem and photo by the end of the first week in December so that I can prepare the gallery collection for its unveiling before the official end of fall.

While at NCTE 14 last week, I had the good fortune to attend a workshop with Irene Latham and Amy Vanderwater. Before the workshop began, I was able to meet in person several of the other Poetry Friday writers. Take a look at the "ussie" photo below. Do you recognize some of the faces?

Now, stroll over to Carol's Corner for the Poetry Friday Round Up. Carol wrote an original poem about her family and how good life is. 

I hope everyone had a relaxing and happy Thanksgiving.