Introducing Poemtober

 Stories are stitches of memories sewn together.

List created by Rebecca Herzog

"I would like, if I may, to take you on a strange journey.”

The Rocky Horror Picture Show

Please take a walk with me to view the enchanting, macabre, and bizarre front-yard decorations in my neighborhood. Displays entice me to create a #Poemtober collection of artistic expressions alongside my poet friend Rebecca Herzog with her prompt words. What I share in images each week may bring you to a state of delight or have you gawking in disbelief or shock.

I'll start by sharing my thinking on how to begin a Poemtober collection this year. Not only will I choose a word to prompt my thinking but I will pair it with a front yard decoration dressed in a seasonal look and perhaps digitize it to create a story of stitched memories.

Below you will find my first Poemtober sequence prompted by the word enchanting. While there are many Halloweenish displays going up around the neighborhood, I thought the word enchanting would be a great place to start. The word enchanting allows me to weave the boldness and vibrancy of the autumn season into poem.

One evening during a walk, I noticed the darkening colors of night surrounding the neighborhood houses. Trees were lurking in shadows as the sky opened to a speckling of stars. The title, October's Blackdraped Evening, came into being by pressing the words black and draped together to create a mood. Irene Latham does suggest this tip in her latest publication, This Poem Is A Nest. I took Irene's advice a step further and wrote my own next poem as the source text for nestlings, small poems originating from the nest poem.

Autumn whispers in the wind as evening

cozily closes under a blackdraped sky. 

Cricket sounds sing in tune with 

each other and rich-colored leaves

slip and slide across concrete walks

and roadways. Some, wet with afternoon

rain, wait for passersby to pick up

one or two for decorations.

Grey squirrels scamper 

in delight wondering where acorns

are stashed without noticing them

along the roadway. A few dogs proudly

lead their humans, bedazzled with 

masks, to greet fellow canines.

October's evening blush lingers as stars

speckle in an indigo sky and

enchanted eventide wishes

flow through crispclean air.

©CV, 2020

The nest poem is based on Using Irene Latham's book, This Poem Is A Nest, as the mentor text, I created my own nest and nestling poems. 

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Nestlings

I.

Wind whispers under stars.

October's leaves greet evening.

Enchanted delight

crispclean autumn!

II.

Autumn rain, scamper!

Wondering! Noticing!

Along roadway, evening lingers.

Stars speckle sky.

Enchanted wishes flow!

III.

autumn leaves scamper

noticing October's stars-

enchanted flow

IV.

wind cozily slides

in delight

where acorns greet

evening sky

©CV, 2020

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Stay tuned for the next installment of Poemtober.

It will not be for the faint of heart.

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Now, it is time for me to join the Poetry Friday Roundup. Janice Scully is the host today sharing some photos from Syracuse in Central New York, my home town. Ah, autumn there is lovely. Janice fills my heart with thoughts, original poems, and images of the season, ending with an inspirational quote. 

Building an Autumn Nestling

Imagine a brisk, sunny spring day with a bit of wind. I search for the osprey nest at the nearby Marine Nature Study Area. It can be seen from far away because it's built on top of a huge pole in the preserve. A lone guardian pensively stands by the huge bird-crafted nest of twigs. While I have never seen the birth of the baby ospreys, I know that their nest is visited often and photographed by many. 

Last Thursday, as I reviewed Irene Latham's new book, This Poem Is A Nest, on Stop #8 of the Blog Tour, my thoughts returned to the osprey nest I saw during spring. Irene's poetry book takes the reader through the building of a nest (poem) in spring and its development up to the winter season. Using Irene's source poem, Autumn, I am on a hunt to find nestlings, small poems, within the original nest poem. With the help of Buncee, I captured what I saw at the nature preserve but added a touch of autumn to bring an imaginative flair to the scene. 

    With faith, ospreys fly solo in autumn.

I follow their wordless flight to build my own nestling.

- Irene Latham, 2020, "This Poem Is A Nest"

Autumn:

 crispcool air leaves clouds still,

time another wordless flight,

whisperweight faith tucked beneath memory

©CV, 2020

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Thank you, Irene Latham, for your unique new book, Poem Is A Nest, that sparked my imagination and allowed me to create my own nestling from your source poem. Not only was I able write a poem but design a Buncee with a creative background.

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And now for a Special Announcement that I saved for the end of the holiday weekend:

Winner of This Poem Is A Nest Raffle Is

Jayne Hartnett from New Jersey

Boyds Mills and Kane, publisher of Irene Latham's book, will send Jayne a copy of This Poem Is A Nest. Congratulations! I know that this teacher and her middle school students will not only enjoy reading  Irene's book but will have fun creating their own nestling poems.

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Coming up is Slice of Life Tuesday at Two Writing Teachers. Join me there.

Nature Ushers In Autumn

In September did you watch how nature ushered in the fall season?  

On a particularly warm day, I noticed a simple leaf delicately falling to the ground.  Its dancestep movement drifted in with graceful choreography. A gentle puff of wind urged the tiny leaf to sway and swirl in a poised, descending manner. A quick swoosh of breeze added a touch of music to quicken the pace. I was in awe of nature's gentle touchdown to the ground.

sky ballerina

gracefully swirl in soft breeze

dancestep into fall

©CV, 2020

symmetrical leaf

landing upright with grace

autumn messenger

no ballet shoes required

stepdance into fall

©CV, 2020

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Craft Move

I took two words, dance and step, pressed them together, and created a new adjective to fit both my poems. Above the photo I attempted a haibun and below it a tanka. 

Thank you Irene Latham for Tips From a Nest Builder:  How To Find Nestlings in your new book, This Poem Is A Nest.  You can read more about Irene's unique poetry book at my book review on the #ThisPoemIsANest Blog Tour here.  Leave a comment there and enter the raffle to win a copy of Irene's book. 

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In October, autumn felt its transformation.  The once sweltering pathways of summer  offered a coolcrisp, silent sanctuary for thought.  From nature trail to seaglass lake waters, earth's landscape prepared for the brilliance of autumn.  

Referring to Irene Latham's Nest Poem from This Poem Is A Nest

to write a nestling poem

Below is Irene Latham's nestling poem from This Poem Is A Nest

that offers a reflective lens.

Autumn

world settles

leaves puddle-

still, time hums

-Irene Latham, 2020

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Notebook Work

Adding my digitized photo of Hempstead Lake Park

in Rockville Centre where I live to the nestling poem I created.

Autumn Breath Nestling

breathe in the crispcool

woodsmoke season as leaves ballet

beneath oak hums

©CV, 2020, Long Island

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I'm joining the Poetry Friday Roundup in Switzerland this week at wee words for wee ones. Bridget Magee, our host is serving her once a week poetry treat for the young and the young at heart... 

"This Poem Is A Nest" is Full of Wonderment

Autumn has appeared with its "coolcrisp"* days but for today summer still seems to be in the air with the debut of Irene Latham's newest book, This Poem Is A Nest.  Sunshine and warmth are bathed in this book's descriptive words and imaginative poetic nestlings.  "Delightful" is a single word of praise chosen by Kirkus to describe this engaging book so let's see why.          (*one of Irene Latham's lovely new "pressed together", unique words)

Come join me as I take a look at this small-sized, amazing poetry book, unlike others.  What is crafted inside is a beautiful 37-line poem taking the reader through the building of a nest in spring and developing the thoughts through the winter season.  From this imaginative beginning, 161 little nestlings, small poems, fly out not from robin blue eggs but from Irene Latham's creative writing talent.  Within the four source poems and the nestlings, Irene sparks joy, both for herself and the reader, while introducing a new concept, nest-poems.

"What fun to play with words, to arrange and rearrange, and to watch some of them learn to fly!"

I am honored to join a group of fellow bloggers reviewing Irene's beautiful book of joyful poetry that also showcases Johanna Wright's delightful illustrations.

Upon initially reading Irene's poetry book, I tweeted, "I am in wonderment over all the little nestling #poems coming from your central ones, Irene. Congratulations! " 

Irene responded, "'wonderment' was pretty much my state of being the entire time working on that book! (another word for 'joy," yes?)"

Now, let's look at Irene's book with the lens of teacher-writers who craft lessons for their flock of fledglings specifically to bring joy to their writing.  The strength of Irene's book lies not only in its uniqueness but in her ability to inspire and coach others to be creative and engage in word play.  A question to ask is how do we begin?  Irene encourages writers to find a starting point.  Using a nest such as Nest II: Summer leads writers to engage in creative word play and the crafting of smaller poems, an outgrowth of the original nest. 

Nestlings appear in Season Poems, or "Nest Abridged

->Summer<-

sky, empty - 

nothing more

than weave,

trill, buzz-

they wait for you

and also in The Color My World section.

->Yellow<--

honeybees thrum,

welcome home

One of the sections of the book that resonates with me is Tips From A Nest Builder: How To Find Nestlings.  This advice/coaching section provides writers with a plan to quickly engage in an adventure into writing.  Select a word to wrap your small poem around and add a chain of words from the original nest to fit your subject.  The next step allows for creative word play. "Just like birds build their nest with whatever is available to them-straw, shoelaces, paper, mud!-you, too, can be inventive."  More tips are provided before adding words of wisdom: "Nurture your nestings.  Fly!"

For those who love words, there are alphabet poems, wordplay poems, and definition poems that allow young writers to have fun with format, white space, and words.

H is for Hive 

hope hinges 

happy house-- 

honeybees hear 

home!

              heart!

                            harbor! 

Between its pages, This Poem Is A Nest is filled with inspiration and hope for writers to be as inventive as they choose to be.

As you open your heart to this experience, I hope you will find that there is nothing more joyful than discovering yourself and the world in a poem-nest. -Irene Latham

I sing praises for Irene Latham's inspired creativeness as a poem-nest originator.  Now, just like school children release their butterflies, I let go of my summer nestlings on this autumn day to fly into the world of social media.  Thank you, Irene, for the joyful experience of discovering a new poetic diversion during our pandemic life.

May your writing journey be filled with many nest experiences

that bring you a sense of wonderment.

Special Announcement: 

Boyds Mills and Kane, publisher of Irene Latham's book, offers a raffle prize of This Poem Is A Nest to one person who comments about Irene Latham's book in the section below. The winner will be announced at the end of the weekend.  All responders need to add their street address in the comment section along with their response. 

Finding Our Way

A true sign of strength is resilience and courage in the face of hostility, danger, or any issue that comes our way and either overwhelms or interrupts life. As global citizens, we have been faced with the after-effects of a monstrous virus, COVID-19. It has seeped into our nation and interrupted our lives, thus, changing the course of humanity with a new normal pattern of living.

Families share their home space with their work lives. Children find schooling either online in front of a computer, face-to-face in classrooms equipped with plastic shields and hand sanitizers, or in a hybrid model. Masks are expected to be worn to contain the spread of a disease that holds no boundaries. Yet, in this upheaval of life, a sense of humanity toward each other needs to grow from the center outward. in addition, a reverence for the earth must be rekindled to slow down anxiety-producing feelings of quarantine life. As resilient survivors of a not-expected lifestyle, we need to seek ways to transverse the gnarled paths of life in search of optimism.

Open Your Eyes To See Beyond

In quiet morning light flooding earth,

revisit silent sanctuaries.

Pause in reverance to observe

nature's crispclean gifts of vibrant hues.

Fill your coffers with autumn's treasures

showcased in jeweled, seasonal displays.

Dip your thoughts in peaceful streams of light

as nature paints earth with abundance.

Give gratitude for the artistry.

©CV, 2020

Thank you, Lillian Lake for a peek at Maine's dip-into-nature photo above.

May the colors of autumn wash away the sting of quarantine life and let us find balance in a world of mixed signals. I join Two Writing Teachers and its community of dedicated bloggers who post their slice of life each Tuesday.

Embraceable Summer Memories Gallery

In a world of masked moments and little travel, summer photos and poetry provide us with global adventures, albeit virtually. Join me in the final Embraceable Summer Gallery Walk. Applaud the beauty of summer and its alluring call. 

Do you remember pre-pandemic, summer concerts or gatherings?

I spent my #QuarantineLife summer without ever stepping in the ocean.

How did you spend your summer months?

To my delight during Summer 2019 and 2020, many digital inspirations were sent to me as gifts from across the globe. They provided an opportunity to relax and drift away into a summer moment while in a staycation frame of mind. 

Enjoy the Embraceable Summer Travels Across the World Google slideshow, here.

Share in the wonder of sunrises and sunsets by clicking on Summer's Enduring Beauty and Summer's Enduring Beauty Part 2. 

#QuarantineLife's motto is reflected in Jessica Bigi's fiery sunset glow.

Remember the steamy heat that had everyone talking.

Click here to watch the video poem, Summer's Steamy Embrace.

View Alan J. Wright's Embraceable Summer Poem here

that accompanied the visual from Australia (below). View the poem here.

Then, take a breath while ready Elizabeth Steinglass' poem.

Taste the succulent September's harvest offered by Janice Scully.

Click below on other segments of the Embraceable Summer Gallery to be dazzled by

various collections with digital inspirations like the one by @lucky_budd from British Columbia.

Introduction to Embraceable Summer Gallery

Unveiling Embraceable Summer Gallery 2019

Sending Summer Goodbys from Embraceable Summer Gallery 2019

September Bidding Summer Godspeed

End-of-Embraceable-Summer Slice

I would like to express my sincerest thanks to all the poets, bloggers, photographers, artists, friends, and colleagues from across the world for their contributions to this evolving gallery. Because of the magnitude of the collection, the gallery has been presented in six segments.

I hope you enjoyed the experience of taking gallery walks of nature throughout the world.

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 Thank you for spending quiet time perusing the final segment of the

Embraceable Summer Gallery. 

Are you interested in writing your own embraceable summer poem or sharing the experience with students?  

Start with the following prompt that offers a child's perspective on summertime, 

or this image of the stillness of sunset,

or observing a butterfly sent by Stephen Kelley

Photo by @ElizaWallace27 from Butterfly Conservatory, Aruba

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 Sending thoughts on love and peace out to all.

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I join Tabatha Yeatts, host of this week's Poetry Friday Roundup. I am excited to read the guest post by author Carole Boston Weatherford featuring her new verse novel about Marilyn Monroe.

I thank @anuj_feedspot and Feedspot for once again featuring my blog, Beyond LiteracyLink, as one of the top 40 Children's Poetry Blogs & Website To Follow in 2020 (updated September 30, 2020).

Thoughts on Love and Peace

Each month, I set aside time to meditate with Spiritual Journey Thursday friends. We engage in reflective moments to reach a level of spiritual awareness through blogging. Our host, Margaret Simon, has asked us to meditate on the following Enneathought of the Day.

"Consider the Holy Ideas today: No matter what type you are, in Holy Love, our sense of separateness dissolves, and we know ourselves as arising from the brilliant light of Divine Love that creates and sustains the universe."

When I meditate, I try to stay mindfully in the moment but that is difficult. As a measure of self-love, I feel that I need to engage in this practice more than I do to lower internal stress. During Sunday Mass last week, I listened intently to the sermon to find meaning in the words. I wanted to take away a feeling of peace that would permeate my day and last during the week. The homily and the above quote have encouraged me to reflect deeply and bring peace and love to daily life. 

After Tuesday night's first Presidential Debate 2020, the following small poem is appropriate.

Love is needed in this world, not criticism and disrespect as shown during the debate.

What is love divine?

Love divine is

Something that never loses hope.

-Sri Chinmoy

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hope floats on wings words

from life's ragged edges-

messenger of peace

©CVars, 2020 

With trust, people can band together to offset hate through love and understanding.

Love

and peace,

simple wish

for daily life.

Wake up troubled world!

Pray

for these

each morning

as dawn brings light.

Love one another!

Be

the breath

that shouts out,

that serves others.

Cherish love and peace!

©CVars, 2020 

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The above poem is a new poem type for me introduced by a fellow poet, Jone MacCulloch. An Arun is a fifteen-line poem in three sets of five lines.  Each set of five lines follows the same syllable structure: starting with one syllable and increasing by one (1/2/3/4/5 — 3x).  

With hope for a better world may separateness dissolve and people around the world arise with the brilliant light of Divine Love that creates and sustains the universe."

Please step into the peaceful scene below and reflect on how to approach this beautiful day.