M Christine Delea's Blog, page 13

How to Open Doors: Prompt

I have had 16 cats throughout my life. Their back stories have been as different as their personalities. They were/are, of course, all beautiful and intelligent, but only a few have figured out how to open doors. Three, to be exact. Our cats are all indoor cats and the ones who are able to open doors only do so on inside doors (although Banshee could open the front door, he only ever showed off when one of his humans was there to be impressed).

For this prompt, I would like you to think about a...

Ellis Island by Joseph Bruchac

Ellis Island

by Joseph Bruchac

(published in his 1978 book, Entering Onondaga, Cold Mountain Press)

Beyond the red brick of Ellis Island

where the two Slovak children

who became my grandparents

waited the long days of quarantine,

after leaving the sickness,

the old Empires of Europe,

a Circle Line ship slips easily

on its way to the island

of the tall woman, green

as dreams of forests and meadows

waiting for those who’d worked

a thousand years

yet never owned their own.

Like millions of oth...

Meteor, April 2020 by Amy Miller

Meteor, April 2020

by Amy Miller

(published in Sweet Lit, 2020) 

In the year of our plague, we saw a light. Like a plane on

fire, west in the sky, just after sunset when Venus and the

moon were trying so hard to touch. There, flashing on the

lids of the trash cans—sudden, moving, in flight—

something meeting its end, crashing to earth. I looked up

and said What the hell. Not Glory, not Thank you. 

Sometimes they say

a mixed blessing, which means

you’re screwed. Or Careful

what you wish. I ...

See You in September: Prompt

"See You in September" by The Happenings is just one of the many great songs written about September. See also:

September by The Shins

September in the Rain by Dinah Washington

September Song by Walter Huston

September by Earth, Wind, and Fire

Wake Me Up When September Ends by Green Day

September Fields by Frazey Ford

Blame It on September by Allstar Weekend

September When I First Met You by Barry White

Pale September by Fiona Apple

September When It Comes by Johnny and Roseanne Cash

September ...

Season’s End by Audrey Colasanti

Season’s End

by Audrey Colasanti

(published in Humana Obscura, Fall/Winter 2021)

All around, the grasses sway copper and flax,

warm and honeyed; a thousand phantom

cicadas zither their wings in vibrating

song, The tips of the nodding sedge have turned

pink, the timothy and heather to pewter

and tin. The air, filled with the scent of dust

rising, sticky in the heat. Grasshoppers dart

across bristly plumes, clicking their heels—

the rhythmic hum and buzz of summer’s end—

bees and bees sucking ...

Portrait of a Figure Near Water by Jane Kenyon

Portrait of a Figure Near Water

by Jane Kenyon

(published in her Collected Poems, Graywolf Press, 2005)

Rebuked, she turned and ran

uphill to the barn. Anger, the inner   

arsonist, held a match to her brain.   

She observed her life: against her will   

it survived the unwavering flame.

The barn was empty of animals.   

Only a swallow tilted

near the beams, and bats

hung from the rafters

the roof sagged between.

Her breath became steady

where, years past, the farmer cooled   

the big tin ...

A Family Affair: Prompt

Be inspired by Ruth Stone’s poem, posted on my blog today. Her portrait of Aunt Maud is detailed, fresh, and thorough.

One of the major parts of the poem is the speaker’s memory of an incident with her aunt. Here’s where this prompt starts!

Think about an incident that you were involved in with another family member. It does not have to be something momentous (like a wedding or a car accident). Even trivial things change us, provide insight into the world, and/or force us to understand someth...

How Aunt Maud Took to Being a Woman by Ruth Stone

How Aunt Maud Took to Being a Woman

 by Ruth Stone

(published in Persimmon Tree and elsewhere)

A long hill sloped down to Aunt Maud’s brick house.

You could climb an open stairway up the back

to a plank landing where she kept her crocks of wine.

I got sick on stolen angelfood cake and green wine

and slept in her feather bed for a week.

Nobody said a word. Aunt Maud just shifted

the bottles. Aunt’s closets were all cedar lined.

She used the same pattern for her house dresses—

thirty years. Pl...

Summer by César Vallejo

Summer

by César Vallejo

translated from the Spanish by Yvette Siegert

Summer, I am leaving. And how they pain me,

These meek hands of your afternoons. 

You arrive devout; you arrive old; and now

You will find my soul with no one in it. 

Oh, summer. You pass through my balconies

With your great rosary of amethyst and gold

Like a tragic bishop who travels far

To find and bless the broken 

Rings of two dead lovers. 

Summer, I am leaving. And there in September,

You will find a rose I’ve left ...

The Sound of Silence: Prompt

Today's poem on this very blog features some silence, as well as cows and birds making some noise. And although the speaker is out watching the Perseids, they are not making any noise (at least as far as she can hear).

Today, I would like you to describe silence in as much detail as you can.

You can be surreal, sarcastic, funny, or anything else. You can compare and contrast different kinds of silence, or argue that there is only one type of silence. Use whatever visual art and/or literary te...