M Christine Delea's Blog, page 40

There Is a Street Named for Martin Luther King, Jr. In Every City by Hanif Willis-Abdurraqib

There Is a Street Named for Martin Luther King, Jr. In Every City

by Hanif Willis-Abdurraqib

For Joe Bart

especially the ones where blood sprints / from a black chest to color the earth / a darkened brown / the color of a black mother's skin / if she knew what it was to be alive / in the old south / if she knew what it was / to rock on the porch in the southern heat / until her babies made it home for dinner / if she made her skin a bed / for all of the sun's eager children / until her own ...

In Honor of MLK, Jr.: Writing Prompt

The contributions made to America by Martin Luther King, Jr. and Coretta Scott King are many and they are monumental. The writings and speeches would have been more than enough; however, they also acted on their philosophy and ideas for society. They led or helped to lead marches and boycotts, traveled worldwide to meet with other activists, participated in demonstrations, and worked with a variety of organizations that focused on non-violence, civil rights, equality for all, and social justice....

Elegy with Apples, Pomegranates, Bees by Hayan Charara

Elegy with Apples, Pomegranates, Bees, Butterflies, Thorn Bushes, Oak, Pine, Warblers, Crows, Ants, and Worms

by Hayan Charara

published in Poem-a-Day on May 20, 2015, by the Academy of American Poets

The trees alongside the fence bear fruit, the limbs and leaves speeches to you and me. They promise to give the world back to itself. The apple apologizes for those whose hearts bear too much zest for heaven, the pomegranate for the change that did not come soon enough. Every seed is a h...

Welcome to January: Writing Prompt

January, like a few of our other months, takes its name from a Roman god, in this case, Janus. He is depicted as having two faces in the front and the back of his head, which allows him to see both the past and the future.

Janus is also associated with all types of thresholds (doors, archways, gates, etc.), as well as beginnings and endings; in other words, transitions of different kinds. It is very fitting, as we tend to view the New Year as a time to change ourselves and our lives (what resol...

A Spine Moving by Karen Braucher

A Spine Moving

by Karen Braucher for Dr. Jocelyn Kirnak

published in Caveat Lector

In this poem there will not be

a looming, joking male chiropractor who leans down and cracksmy twisted back as I scream. He will not tell me crazy stories about getting

Cuban cigars for JFK as a young marineas he checks the length of my legs. Afterward,I will not float out of his office, completely without pain for two hours, seventeen minutes.There will not be hours. No three o’clock ...

For the Rest of the Trees by Christina Gessler

For the Rest of the Trees

by Christina Gessler

published in Black Fork Review, 2021

When the firemen cameand told us to pack what we could they offered us a helpful checklist: passport keys important medications and suchbut staring at the list I thought unkind things about whoever wrote it. Don’t they know? My passport expired three years ago, and all the things that

matter I can’t pack.

When the firemen left

and the red cross camethey offered us each a small water bo...

Compass: Writing Prompt

Happy New Year!

Are you ready to write a new poem/story/essay/journal entry each week this year? And if you want/need to write more, that's great--just look at the past prompts here for additional inspiration.

Your first task for this prompt is to read today's blog poem. In it, the poet, Richard Widerkehr, uses his title to give us readers the setting. It has little to do with the poem itself, but it does tell us the speaker is outside, and that does set up the poem.

There is a Lake Whatcom ...

At the South End of Lake Whatcom by Richard Widerkehr

At the South End of Lake Whatcom

by Richard Widerkehr

published in Sweet Tree Review, Winter 2017

At night the lake looks closer,and somehow it’s brighter than the sky,spread out like watery cloth.

It’s hard to think of the speed of lightor the way light’s supposed tobend around things. From where

I stand by the still water, the starsdon’t pulsate. They get bigger and bigger, wet as the grass at my feet.

Capitalism by Elaine Fowler Palencia

Capitalism

by Elaine Fowler Palencia

published in Rattle, August 18, 2021

Along the two-lane blacktops

of my childhood we stopped

to buy watermelons.

Mother thumped them,

listening for that deep, ripe sound.

If she hesitated, the farmer

would take out his clasp knife,

cut a square plug for tasting,

offer it on the point of his knife.

She always bought the melon

he’d spoiled for us.

Later, a high school friend

who sold Bibles door-to-door

for spending money, said

he was sent out with these ...

Winter Wonderland: Writing Prompt

This week's prompt acknowledges that we all have different reactions to winter and its holidays.

Write about winter. You can even use "What Winter Means to Me" as a placeholder title. (But please change that in revision, as that is not a great title.)

You can focus on a specific memory, incident, holiday, or person. Use lots of specific details that entail the 5 senses: the smell of popcorn at the Super Bowl party, the sounds of waves on the beach, the feel of -40 on an uncovered nose, the sig...