Happy Poetry Friday! Welcome, everyone! (Wondering what Poetry Friday is? Click here.)
Two things before moving onto poetry:
1: I’ve been having a lot of trouble commenting on posts lately. Mary Lee and Tanita gave me some tips on Inlinkz work arounds, so if the Roundup this week is through Inlinkz, I might better be able to comment. I’ve been reading at least 10 or 12 posts the past couple of weeks, but I ‘ve only been able to comment on maybe two. So frustrating!
2: Book banning. Ugh. Here’s a bit of my Facebook/IG post: “Just learned from my friend author Jyoti Gopal that We Belong is one of the books being targeted by Rutherford County Library in Tennessee…My We Belong is flagged for showing “diverse children in urban setting.” Damn straight. Editors Carol Hinz and Shaina Olmanson, illustrator Carlos Velez Aguilera, the entire Lerner team, and I worked very hard to make this a book that includes and celebrates all people. To Luanne James and all librarians fighting for kids to have access to books that reflect their lives–thank you! Keep up the fight” Here’s a link to the newspaper article.
Now, poetry!
1. Irene Latham’s leading a poetry webinar through Inked Voices!
2. David L. Harrison and Tim Rasinski talked about 40 Poems for 40 Weeks on the Robb Review!
Warning, this post mentions suicide and bullying.
At the start of this year’s American Idol season, one auditioner sang a song inspired by the terrible story of a young girl who died by suicide after being relentlessly bullied. It’s a story we’ve seen played out across the United States a number of times in recent years, and it’s utterly horrific.
I couldn’t get this story out of my mind, and it made me wonder about these young, modern bullies who attack someone through not just the usual whispers and rumors and lies but the online posts and texts. I wonder if they have any realization in their heads when they’re writing those comments or clicking Like that they’re actually attacking someone. That their words have power. That hurting someone else shouldn’t be the thing that makes them feel better about themselves.
I’ve been noodling around with this topic for weeks, calling it my “did you know” poem.
And then along came the ovillejo, a poetry form that Tanita chose for our March Poetry Sisters poem. It’s a pretty strict form, with three couplets and then a quatrain. The first line of the couplets and all of the lines in the quatrain are eight syllables. The second lines of the couplets are three or four syllables. Ideally, the second lines are supposed to either echo or answer the first lines. I didn’t adhere to that part; each of my couplets is a thought.
And then there’s the rhyme scheme.
a
a
b
b
c
c
c
d
d
c
Even though I love to write in poetic forms, I’m just still feeling a bit overwhelmed with life. I looked at this form and just thought, huh. So then I thought about my did you know poem I had been noodling with, and I wondered if I could pour a bit of that into this form and make it work.
Writing process note for those interested: Looking back at my notes draft of that earlier noodling, I wrote:
So these lines are calling out to me:
Are you a person with a heart
or just a skin of bloody thorns?To use those as the ending lines, I’d need rhyming pairs for skin, bloody, and thorns.
And then I brainstormed rhyming words, and I reverse engineered a draft.
Not really :>) Putting some of my lines and thoughts into this container definitely shifted the meaning of the poem. It started as something that included both personal and political bullying. But it turned into a poem about wider evil, about those who just really don’t care about other human beings. I didn’t want to name specific people, because I think it’s a question we can ask many people. But I do think it’s especially timely to be posting this right before the big No Kings marches this weekend!
So, here you go. This is my second draft. And I’ll be back to noodling with my initial more specific topic too…
For lots of great poetry this weekend, check out the Poetry Friday Roundup, hosted by Marcie Flinchum Atkins, who’s celebrating twilight in honor of her almost-here picture book, When Twilight Comes. And don’t miss the ovillejos by my poetry sisters and maybe some others in our Poetry Friday community.
Liz
Sara
Tanita
Tricia
Mary Lee
Click here to see all our previous Poetry Princesses collaborations.
21 Responses
“You brush your hair to hide the horns…”
Girl, preach.
Agree!
I also like “your mirror shatters as it warns.” Powerful, Laura.
While I tend to see The Lightmess with family in public service in schools & friends in nursing & other helping paths, thhis time in our history brings me too many
“bankrupt souls cheap and muddy” Laura. all your lines, even in draft,’ hit the bulls-eye for this reader. Appreciations for this strong & beautiful post. Take care out there…
Laura, this is so powerful. You are an amazing talent to create this as only a second draft. I am gearing up for No Kings on Saturday too and really looking forward to the day!
Wow! What a powerful poem, Laura. “dipped in discount tin” and “bankrupt soul” are apt descriptors. Thank you sharing your process as well.
Amazing! Piercing! Full of truth!
I never thought of this form as a vehicle for righteous rebuke. Wow. You really took this somewhere different and it works.
Thanks for taking us into your process, Laura. With Palm Sunday this week, the crown of thorns in the pic is reminiscent of the crucifixion. What a powerful poem in so few words.
Oh Laura, what a powerhouse of a poem! To me, it shows what can happen when we take the things that are really impacting us emotionally and use a poet’s focus to try to bring words to the experience. A great reminder to write about the things that really matter to us. Thank you. And thanks for shouting out the poetry workshop! xo
A visceral poem that drives the point! Keep marching on, I’ll be there too, thanks Laura!
Each line has force, Laura, but realistically, “Do you have a beating heart?” are words I want to ask again and again! It’s a poignant poem from “your” beating heart! I read the article about your book, wondering how people can think such cruel thoughts and be afraid of a child’s book that could upset their lives? Also, I struggle with Inlinkz, too, though I use it when I host, some links are challenging to find! Best wishes for your life to be calmer! I saw that you’ve been having fun at Disney World!
“your bankrupt soul” — yes. Truth. I’ve been struck so often lately by how the entire history of humanity is the history of a few bankrupt souls wielding their power over the masses. Such a powerful poem, Laura.
The book banning — arrgh! I could scream (and often do.)
WHOA, Laura. This is so, so powerful and fierce. I’m grateful to you for taking this head-on. I honestly think the line “Do you have a beating heart” is my favorite. It really IS that simple.
Also, re. your first two points — I’m having a terrible time commenting today! Why?????
And damn damn the book banners. It’s infuriating. May all who need that beautiful book get their hands on it…
Wow, what a post! Thanks for the links and process talk before your poem. I’m sorry that ‘We Belong’ is being targeted. I’m serving on my state’s Intellectual Freedom Committee and I’m learning that the number of folks attempting to censor diverse books is small. There is currently a bill in Congress (H.R.7661 that is a direct attack on the LGBTQI+ community). When I looked up the ‘moms for liberty’ wikipedia page, I noticed something that was familiar to the bill–the name of the county the Congress Rep. that sponsors this bill is from. I started poking around. The same woman/moms for liberty officer who was forced to apologize for quoting Hitler in 2023 is the congressional rep. from Illinois that sponsors this bill. Here’s a citation from the wikipage that shows the link (“Moms for Liberty chapter apologizes for quoting Hitler in newsletter”. NBC News. June 22, 2023. Archived from the original on June 22, 2023. Retrieved June 23, 2023.)
If anyone is interested in fighting back against this bill, a phone call to your Congress rep to oppose H.R. 7661 would be helpful to the effort that ALA has launched against it.
Thank you for letting us know about the challenge to your book and tackling this form that looks tough! But, I do love how fairy tale/nightmare the idea of brushing hair to hide horns is!
Off to my congress people…though both of my senators could be the subject of Laura’s poem…ugh.
Thank you, Linda–yes, Moms for Liberty is just…an unfathomable group.
Oof. All kinds of brilliant and true. And I’ll borrow Liz’s word… “fierce.”
Laura this is powerful! I so appreciate how you always share your process as I find that fascinating. “You brush your hair to hide your horns”–I mean…yep! Thanks for sharing!
I’m sorry, I can’t get past that a book showing diverse children in an urban setting is being banned!! GRRRRR!!!!!!! Gotta march!!!
Oh, yes, the “bankrupt soul”, arrows that “pierce their skin”, hiding horns, “all thorns” So many powerful images of evil. And the evil of banning a book for “diverse children in an urban setting” is unsettling in so many ways. I’m so sorry for our country, and always happy to see librarians fighting against that. I just bought We Belong because I didn’t have it yet. That is the only good thing about attempts to ban; it give the books more attention. Here’s to making No Kings 3 the biggest and most effective ever.
This is such a powerful poem. I appreciated your description of the process that got you there. The last two lines wrap this up so well and pack a punch. Well done.