Poetry Friday - Gifting!

 

I sat in a nearby park to watch!

 It's Poetry Friday! Thanks, Ramona Berhenki HERE at her blog, Pleasures from The Page, for hosting. Her sharing of an anthology from Lee Bennett Hopkins titled "School Supplies" feels just right for this beginning of the school year. 

        With all the turmoil and disasters happening in the world, finding gifts in my mailbox lifts my spirits. Among other lovely things, like Wednesday night's super blue moon, the summer poetry swap created by Tabatha Yeatts brings beautiful surprises that, like the cliché, keep on giving.

          I shared those from Tabatha, Denise Krebs, and Patricia Franz earlier in the summer. This past week, I received more creative bounty from Janice Scully and Jone MacCulloch. 

         One thing I also want to acknowledge is Janice's thoughtfulness. After I sent her a package, she replied with thanks and asked about her own gift sent. I never received it! Sadly, USPS is not always reliable. But Janice put together a second gift and that one arrived! Thanks so much, Janice for a poem of address to the marvelous redwoods and for Billy Collins, a favorite!

         Earlier in the summer, Jone wrote to ask if I had a One Little Word for the year. I did not, but did share that a favorite word is "serendipity". You'll see how Jone created a journal cover from learning about that word! Thanks for your creativity, Jone. You've given me a poem but also a journal's cover with secrets. I'll enjoy its message while capturing other favorite words!

             Jone also sent me a created calendar with poems from her for every month!

        This is a card made from the journal you can see in the picture above. The quote is penned there, and my word, 'serendipity' adds to others among the blooms! Also, Jone sent two poem postcards (below), one to keep and one to send with parts of my own words to Patricia! I think she knows how much I love the ocean!

Poetry Friday - The Special Swap

   

             It's Poetry Friday! Thanks, Linda Mitchell HERE at A Word Edgewise for hosting. Linda is reminding us today about her annual "clunker" call.

And for next week, Irene Latham posting: The Moon in June" will be the theme for Poetry Friday Roundup happening June 30 at Live Your Poem. Can't wait to read your moon poems!

       Today I'm celebrating the summer poetry swap, begun by Tabatha so long ago. I haven't always participated but have a huge folder full of all I've received during the past years, always wonderful to see and read again!

      My first swap came last week from Patricia Franz, who has given me permission to share the two poems she wrote and as a bonus, a beautiful card showing a lake picture from a favorite photographer. The poems are inspired by her own photos and her goal to write ekphrastic poetry this summer.  Here are the poems with the card and the photos from which Patricia wrote, then my own response to the lakes. Before my husband and I, with two small children, moved to Colorado, we lived on a lake, a beautiful one that I know we didn't know how wonderful it was until we left it. However, I appreciate so much that Patricia has given me a new chance to remember! 

peace be

peace be the spring sun

snowmelt and scree

peace be the pinecones

peace be me

peace be the forest

snowmelt and trees

peace be the pinecones

peace be me

peace be the pollinator

snowmelt and seed

peace be the pinecones

peace be me

peace be the morning hike

snowmelt and plea

peace be the pinecones

peace be me

©draft, Patricia J. Franz

Poetry Friday - Lasts

       Margaret Simon at Reflections on The Teche hosts our Poetry Friday as we say goodbye to August Fridays. She's sharing a swap, too, and responding with a "zine". Don't know what that is? Margaret explains and it's probably something you'll want to try! Happy Friday!

        
    One can think it's the beginning of the end, the end of summer sun and sweat, iced tea and outside play. Our September arriving in one week can bring temps in the nineties or someone wanting to be picked up because it's snowing. It's time to celebrate all the "lasts", including my "last" Summer Swap! First, thanks to Tabatha at The Opposite of Indifference, our super planner for our swaps!

     Opening this final swap package, and from Michelle Kogan, I know I'm in for a treat. Not only is Michelle a poet, but also an artist. Inside is a poem to frame, a poem with a postcard note, a bookmark, and a handmade journal. Thank you, Michelle, for the beauty to enjoy seeing, the beauty to love reading, and the extra fun filling up my own pages via your inspiration. 

Poetry Friday - Swap Fun

           Poetry Friday is over at Michelle Kogan's site, here! with a beautiful introduction to Margaret Simon's book just out three days ago, Bayou Song. Margaret blogs at Reflections on The Teche. Thanks, Michelle!

          I have only words of appreciation: to Tabatha Yeatts at The Opposite of Indifference for the idea of poetry swapping, to all the poets (of which there are many) who continue to send what I think of as "slow-mail smiles", small packages arriving in one's mail with wonderful words. 
            This time, my swap begins with a lovely poem with a special collaged frame from Linda Mitchell at A Word Edgewise. It feels just right to start the summer with a poem about a poet, doesn't it? Thanks, Linda!

Here's the text:

A poet

The poet doesn't invent. He listens.

                                            ~Jean Cocteau

A poet listens with all the

senses —tree, moon, flower, child, dance. An artist 

in a playground--each morning, recess. She doesn’t

simply write words…she can invent

nuances of knowing. She

begins a poem and even the pen listens.

Happy Summer, Everyone!

Poetry Friday - Sensational Swap!

          Carol Varsalona, poetry collector extraordinaire, and new grandmother serves as our first July host of Poetry Friday today. She blogs at Beyond Literacy Link. You're welcome to visit for lots of poetry wonders, including the announcement of Carol's most recent collection, the Springsations Gallery about to be shared! Thanks, Carol!

As posted recently: One of the delights several times a year is the Poetry Swap created by Tabatha Yeatts, at The Opposite of Indifference. See the sidebar for the beautiful image she created for us swappers!

This week, I am grateful for another gift of "happy mail", as Keri Collins Lewis called it when I emailed my thanks. I appreciate the collage created on the notecard face, love those 'happy' message cards, and adore the poem. 

        I'm off Saturday to the beach for a couple of weeks, carrying this poem along, steering toward adventure, just as Keri wrote! And looking for clamshell clouds as Brenda wrote in the poem I shared last week! Thanks to both, anticipation is high!

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    A special, and yummy, announcement from Tabatha Yeatts who is our host next Friday at The Opposite of Indifference: July 14th is National Macaroni and Cheese Day. The Poetry Friday Roundup will be in honor of the event and for those who wish, please share for an optional Mac-N-Cheese theme!

Summer Swap Finale

          Sylvia Vardell, who, with Janet Wong, created those fabulous Anthologies filled with poetry, for all of us, not only teachers and students, is our host today on Poetry Friday. Visit all the poetry treats at her blog, Poetry for Children. 

          Tabatha Yeatts' idea of swapping poetry has given me the chance to know, then write for numerous people through these recent years. It is a pleasure to do this, trying to find a way to touch someone long distance with words only for them. And it is a wonderful thing to receive one too. Here is my final slow mail surprise, from Joy Acey, one of the few swappers I've had the "joy" to meet, and spend a week with! I spent my first week in a poetry workshop led by David Harrison a few years ago, and Joy was in that group, a veteran that took us all under her wing, spreading love and golf balls with special words all around the grounds. I do hope I'll have the pleasure again sometime. But now I get to share my last swap poem, from Joy. We live far apart, Tucson and Denver, but we do share one thing, beautiful mountains. And Joy knows that, wrote and painted from that connection.
           I love the way the painting changes as she shows those changes in her words, a metaphor for life perhaps? When one has a 'view', Joy has shown us those numerous faces that can be seen. 

Click to enlarge. The background is mine, to take the photo.

Poetry Friday-More Poetry Gifts

       Lucky for me, the Summer Swap continues. Started by our host today, Tabatha, it is now fun to get the mail. No longer is it only junk, but continuing lovely surprises. I've received mail from Diane Mayr, shared here, and from Donna Smith, written about here. I'm going to take a break in the next weeks, going to be with family on the beach again, so this time I'm sharing two I received this past week. It's a pleasure to share these, too. Visit Tabatha at The Opposite of Indifference for more poetry sharing.

       Recently, I discovered a definition of poetry new to me, but one that especially applies to Jone and Buffy today. "The poet doesn't invent. He listens." ~Jean Cocteau    

       Be sure to click on each picture to enlarge for easier reading.

      From Jone MacCulloch, in the throes of moving and family vacations.  I'm grateful that she managed a wonderful poem and on a postcard. I love and collect postcards, enjoyed writing with Laura Shovan a few years ago for her postcard poetry challenge.

 

       And from Buffy Silverman, another poem from nature, this time with Buffy's own photos of caterpillars. She wrote that they've grown even bigger since the photo was taken.

Thanks Jone and Buffy for filling my week with poetry! 

Poetry Friday-Summer Swap!

        Kimberley Moran hosts our Poetry Friday today here, on Google +.   Thanks Kimberley!

          In last week's Poetry Friday I shared a beautiful poem from Diane Mayr for our summer poetry swap, started and beautifully managed by Tabatha Yeatts whose blog is The Opposite of Indifference. It is a pleasure to write for someone, to try to learn about them, mostly through their blogs, and write personally for them. A few days after I wrote about Diane's poem, a box came in the mail. I knew I hadn't ordered anything, and it couldn't be one of the swap poems because it was a box. Wow, was I wrong! Here is a picture of the box 'inside' the box:

Click to enlarge

         To explain: my One Little Word this year is "paint", and Donna Smith and I have followed each other's posts since we first began blogging a few years ago. She knows I've been trying to do some different things besides writing and reading. I posted a watercolor a while ago. And, taking that picture of my watercolor, knowing that "paint" was a special word, she wrote a lovely poem AND ordered a puzzle. It was a lovely surprise. 

Poetry Friday - Gifting

      Poetry Friday is hosted today by Katie at her blog, The Logonauts.

Click to enlarge for easier reading. 

          Summertime Poetry Friday is such a pleasure because I have the opportunity of sharing poems written by PF friends, and for me especially. Thanks to Tabatha Yeatts at The Opposite of Indifference, some of us participate in a summer poem swap. Tabatha pairs us up--secretly--and surprises arrive periodically in the mail. As I wrote, pure pleasure.