Invitation to Write Breathings of Your Heart

It is National Poetry Month and I, like many friends, am writing poetry from the heart. Renowned poet, William Wordsworth stated: "Fill your paper with the breathings of your heart," reminding me to let my mind and spirit fill the page with heart-felt thoughts. 

This month's annual Poetry Friday community project, the Progressive Poem, organized by slicer Margaret Simon, is centered around a no-choice-need-to-escape from a child's perspective. Are you intrigued?  In this story poem, you will see examples of writers breathing life into their couplets. Each set of couplets is written by a different writer. It is filled with imagery, emotion, and hope so far. When writing Day 14's couple, I reflected on my experience as a reading specialist and districtwide administrator who listened to poignant stories from children. The narratives were full of struggles, hardships, and in many cases flight from their homelands. The children told their stories in person and/or on paper. The Progressive Poem is filled with imagery, emotion, and hope from the eyes of a child. You can read the story unfolding here and continue to read new lines each day until the end of the month.

I enjoy creating galleries of artistic expressions and showcasing the writing of others along with mine. Please accept my invitation as slicers arjeha and Denise Krebs have done. Their work is on the Poetry Parad Padlet. Click here.

INVITATION

Please consider offering one image poem (see arjeha's below)

FOR

I'm off to join Two Writing Teachers Tuesday Slice of Life, a reflective community of worldwide writers. 

Life Awakens in Spring

It's springtime in Virginia, a time to celebrate nature's transition to warmer weather and the burst of cherry blossom trees. In between sunshine moments, gray April showers sprinkle crystalline drops as nature takes center stage There are many reasons to celebrate springtime. For Poetry Friday nature lovers, poetry love is in the air. It swooshes across the open sky, echoes nature sounds, and opens hearts to the beauty of a spring day that quietly whispers in the wind. 

Morning Springs Open
morning light
streams in
unfolding spring's verdant palette of green
hidden buds buried in earthen soil sprout
breathe in
nature's perfume
peace surrounds
©CVarsalona, 2024, trinet poem


Are you ready to sing praises for a spring morning?
I invite you to be creative.
Snap a spring photo that speaks to you.
Write a poem and mesh the two together.

JOIN ME at The
Padlet, the container for my next
Poetry Parade Gallery of Artistic Expressions

Thank you, Denise Krebs, for being the first colleague to add your spring image poem to the Poetry Parade Padlet.

_____________

I am now ready to join the Poetry Friday Roundup with this week's Poetry Friday host, poet-educator friend Jone Rush MacCulloch. She is sharing a fabulous interview with Carol Labuzzetta, the publisher of a new anthology, Picture Perfect Poetry: An Anthology of Ekphrastic Nature Poetry for Students. I am honored to have several poems and a nature photo in Carol Labuzzetta's book.

Solar Eclipse 2024

Parts of North America silently waited for nature's moments of totality. on April 8, 2024. News stations aired programs. Libraries distributed solar eyeglasses. People huddled in parks, yards, and special event areas to watch a spectacular sight, the moon passing between Earth and the sun. News stations captured the event minute by minute as the moon blocked the view of the sun. We watched ABC News coverage. Each area from Mexico to Maine shared their 4 minutes of totality as the sun darkened the sky followed by sunlight. 

My son, husband, and I moved between the news and our backyard as we waited for the event. Then, the sky clouded. What would we see? My son asked Siri, "What time will the eclipse occur here in Northern Virginia? Much to his surprise, we would only see a partial eclipse. Regardless, I decided to capture the event even without solar glasses. How did I do this? I cleverly moved my iPhone toward the sky but did not face the sky. I started clicking my iPhone camera. Click! Then, I remembered the Pink Floyd song, Total Eclipse of the Sun, that my husband likes. You can listen to it below and then read my trinet poem introduced to me by the Australian poet, Alan J. Wright during a Poetry Friday Roundup. This poem has seven lines and lines three and four have six words in each line. All the other lines have two words per line. The trinet has no restrictions for rhyme, subject, or syllable. 

Total Eclipse of the Sun

The above photo was captured while watching the sky, shapeshift. Can you see the yellow light around a black object in the middle of the photo? Shortly after I took the photo, the sky became more gray in color and the weather became cooler. What a surprise! I came inside to watch ABC's coverage of the awesome totality moments-solar eclipse in New York State. I can imagine how fabulous it was to be there. 

INVITATION

Please consider offering one image poem of

⤵

for my 2024 National Poetry Month Project

⤵

See more information on my new Gallery of Artistic Expressions and take a peek at my Poetry Parade Padlet. which will showcase my poems and other artistic expressions by writers, poets, and others.

I offer this Slice of Life to Two Writing Teachers. with gratitude for accepting my slice late.

New Ideas for NPM Month

Dear Springtime,

Recently, showers have splashed across pavements and fogged windows while blurring your spring colors. As a troubadour of nature, I pause to honor the earth and nature's seasonal transition during April's National Poetry Month. Through the lens of nature photography, digital graphics, and poetrylicious poetry, I wish to restore a colorful lens to my everyday life and renew my spirit of creativity. I will wait patiently for your palette of colors to pop and the weather to warm. 

Sincerely, Your Faithful Follower

With pleasure, I invite my poet friends, writers, artists, and nature lovers to capture the splendors of a springtime moment and  join me as I write 

⤵

for my 2024 National Poetry Month Project

⤵

Join the Gallery of Artistic Expressions, Poetry Parade 

Capture the splendors of Springtime with your creativity.

Your options are:

• an original poem superimposed on a photo (image poem)
• a collage poem with scrapbook art
• a postcard poem
• a playlist of springtime music
• inspirational quotes on springtime
• Please add your offering to my Poetry Parade Padlet here.

As Myra Garces-Bascal stated in a previous Poetry Friday, "Poetry requires one to pause, consider, and stare at the marvel of the world. the intricacies of a leaf, or be still enough to let melody wash over one's soul."

While cruising on the Potomac yesterday, I searched for the treasured cherry blossoms but many were whisked away with the rains. While this was disappointing. nature did offer a glimpse of a few beautiful cherry trees at the entrance to the docks.

☔☔☔

Below is my image poem from yesterday's Lunch Cruise in Washington, DC.

☔☔☔

It is time to join the Poetry Friday Roundup at Irene Latham's blog.

Irene has poetic goodness to share with her recent public community poetry project in Blount County, Alabama. I was happy to share some of my image poems for her project. Irene is also showcasing the beginning of the Progressive Poem up to her fifth line in the poem. I am excited to read the line for the day each morning. Besides all of this news, there is more. Irene shared her ArtSpeak: FOLK ART poem, titled Prayer. Thank you, Irene, for being this week's hostess.

Morning Draws Near

Early this morning as I drove on the highway, the sky opened and tears of damp, flowing rain descended. I watched the change that dawn brought-charcoal black to slate gray to light gray. Morning drew closer and daylight caught the light of April showers. I remembered that it was Thankful Thursday and gave thanks for life cleansed by the rain. 

Then, later in the evening, I opened  Violet Nesdoly's blog for Spiritual Journey 1st Thursday and read, "Have you ever experienced things coming together in your life in surprising, yet seemingly meant-to-be kinds of ways?"  She continued with thoughts about her journey with sketching and drawing and provided examples of her Bible journaling. I reflected upon Violet's question, recalling my drive to a school and the photo I took. That is when I decided to digitize my photo and see what words would evolve. I engaged in quiet time reading through Bible verses on joy and this led to what I am terming digital spiritual journaling.

As morning breaks,

the world opens

its doors.

Praise

for a

new dawn

to refresh our lives.

I took the liberty to combine different versions of 2 Samuel 23:4.

He is the light of the morning when the sun rises- 

A morning without clouds 

When the tender grass springs out of the earth, 

Through sunshine after rain.

From morning to evening the sky turned shades of gray with the sun peeking for short bursts here and there. It is time to let the sunshine after the rain bring me to a peaceful rest. Joyful thoughts are mine at day's end. 

Be renewed in spirit as Eastertime is approaching!

Thanks to Irene Latham for the start-up of the 2017 Spiritual Journey first Thursday originally created by Holly Mueller and Violet Nesdoly for hosting the writing event this month. 

The digital and poetic thougths in this slice are part of my #poetrylisciouspoetry collection for National Poetry Month.

Seasonal Change

As I walked on the boardwalk today, I realized what I wrote yesterday is evident today: Moments in time transition with each seasonal change. 

From March to April, I noticed a change at the boardwalk and wondered why it was important to me. I decided to look at the contrast and similarities to explore the topic "Why Are We Doing This", posed by Margaret Simon for DigiLitSunday. 

Reflecting on a March day 
at the Long Beach Boardwalk on Long Island:



Picture this April day at the same boardwalk:

It's boardwalk Sunday-
A crystal blue sky, 
Seagulls sweeping by, 
Children out to play,
A beach time soiree.

Questions:

What do you notice in the digitals? What do you wonder about? Why are these questions important? How do the questions about the digitals impact your thinking? 

Self-Reflection:

I pause to ask myself "Why do I create digital inspirations and write poetry?" As a wonderologist, nature and small moments in life spark my curiosity and ignite creativity. 

-I notice and wonder about what I see.

-I observe and examine life and find positivity in its gifts.

-I celebrate the small moments with the eye of a photographer.

-I explore life with the poet's pen to experience the full potential of the possible.

-I share my findings so that others may find their voice and be immersed in the process of creating. From that act inspiration and joy flows.

The Journey:

Celebrating life poetically with a positive outlook is a pathway I travel to explore life and learning. Beyond the digitals, I create global galleries of artistic expressions as a means to connect voices from around the world and to share the love of poetry through the wonders seen.  

Projected Thought:

A creative, joyful environment where process and voice are honored is a haven of learning. 

If ALL students could view the world with creative eyes and curious minds, then their learning spaces would be filled with passions they wish to explore. Choices would be offered, inquiry paths sought, and process-driven results the offshoots. "Messy learning" would become a positive within their grasp as they grapple with creating content not just taking it in. 

DigiLit Sunday

I will be celebrating the month of April with poetryliscious poetry and a soon to-be-announced spring gallery. 

These digitals, as part of my Poetryliscious Poetry collection, will be offered to Laura Purdie Salas for her National Poetry Month project, #wonderbreak.