M Christine Delea's Blog, page 42
November 30, 2022
To Memory, a Pantoum by Jacinta White
To Memory, a Pantoum
by Jacinta White
published in Change Seven Magazine, Issue 2.1
His favorite tie hangs on the back of the wicker kitchen chairHe’s taken it off, and his wedding ringWhen askedHe says they are now tight; he’s forgotten why he wears them
He’s taken it off, and his wedding ringSlipping away what has beenHe says they are now tight; he’s forgotten why he wears themHe wants to fly free like blackbirds
Slipping away what has beenHe turns awayHe wants to fly free like b...
November 27, 2022
Sonnet Adjacent: Poetry Prompt
Being as we are in a very traditional time of year--the holidays can turn even the most relaxed person into a crazed traditionalist about cranberry sauce, when to open presents, who sits where for Chanukah dinners, etc.--it seems fitting to look at, and try, a very traditional and long-standing poetry form.
Sonnets are one of the Western world's oldest poetry forms, and is the one most people who are not poets are most familiar with (after limericks!) . . . most people have at least a passing k...
Butter by Elizabeth Alexander
Butter
by Elizabeth Alexander
published in her 1996 book, Body of Life
My mother loves butter more than I do,
more than anyone. She pulls chunks off
the stick and eats it plain, explaining
cream spun around into butter! Growing up
we ate turkey cutlets sauteed in lemon
and butter, butter and cheese on green noodles,
butter melting in small pools in the hearts
of Yorkshire puddings, butter better
than gravy staining white rice yellow,
butter glazing corn in slipping squares,
butter the lava i...
November 23, 2022
Turkeys by Mary Mack
Turkeys
by Mary Mack
published in her book, Breaking the Fever (Marsh Hawk Press)
One November
a week before Thanksgiving
the Ohio river froze
and my great uncles
put on their coats
and drove the turkeys
across the ice
to Rosiclare
where they sold them
for enough to buy
my grandmother
a Christmas doll
with blue china eyes
I like to think
of the sound of
two hundred turkey feet
running across to Illinois
on their way
to the platter
the scrape of their nails
and my great uncles
in their homes...
November 20, 2022
Did You Ever?: Poetry Prompt
This week's prompt very definitely lends itself to poems, essays, stories, one-act plays, performance art, and a lot of other things! Whether you go sad or happy, thoughtful or light, complicated or minimalistic, everyone/anyone should be able to get something from this prompt.
Choose one of the following and write about it:
a time you peed in a sink
a time you slept outside or in a car, although you had not planned to
a time you got a concussion
a time you saved/attempted to save a wounded wi...
When Giving Is All We Have by Alberto Ríos
When Giving Is All We Have
by Alberto Ríos
One river gives Its journey to the next.
We give because someone gave to us.We give because nobody gave to us.
We give because giving has changed us.We give because giving could have changed us.
We have been better for it,We have been wounded by it—
Giving has many faces: It is loud and quiet,Big, though small, diamond in wood-nails.
Its story is old, the plot worn and the pages too,But...
November 16, 2022
Conversation with a Fireman from Brooklyn by Tess Gallagher
Conversation with a Fireman from Brooklyn
by Tess Gallagher
He offers, between planes,
to buy me a drink. I’ve never talked
to a fireman before, not one
from Brooklyn
anyway. Okay. Fine, I say. Somehow
the subject is bound
to come up, women
firefighters, and since I’m
a woman and he's a fireman, between
the two of us, we know something
about this subject. Already
he’s telling me he doesn’t mind
women firefighters, but what
they look like
after fighting a fire, well
they lose all respect. He’...
November 13, 2022
When My Gender is First Named Disorder by torrin a. greathouse
When My Gender is First Named Disorder
by torrin a. greathouse
published in
Do they mean this as a synonym for disorganization? Machine with excess parts? If I called the parts of me I no longer want vestigial this would imply they were the vestige of a once-boy. Remnant of a never-was. Or perhaps they mean it as disruption in the neat arrangement of a system? Misplaced chromosome. Missing rib. Screw balded as a knuckle. First cell to metastasize. Our language ...
A Person, Place, or Thing: Poetry Prompt
In "When My Gender is First Named Disorder," torrin a. greathouse has created a poem filled with poetry-perfect nouns. They are specific, vivid, and plentiful--they are a huge part of what makes this poem so powerful.
For your prompt this week, take a few minutes and look around you. Write down ten nouns--things you see and/or things that looking around make you think of.
Now take 3-5 of the nouns from greathouse's poem and add those to your list.
For the last part of the prompt, choose one...
November 9, 2022
Recuerdo by Edna St. Vincent Millay
Recuerdo by Edna St. Vincent Millay
We were very tired, we were very merry—We had gone back and forth all night on the ferry.It was bare and bright, and smelled like a stable—But we looked into a fire, we leaned across a table,We lay on a hill-top underneath the moon;And the whistles kept blowing, and the dawn came soon.We were very tired, we were very merry—We had gone back and forth all night on the ferry;And you ate an apple, and I ate a pear,From a dozen of each we had bought som...
