“Here,” a Skinny Poem, plus poetry videos

Welcome, and happy Poetry Friday! (Wondering what Poetry Friday is? Click here.) I’m so happy you’ve dropped by. Whether you’re a regular participant in the Poetry Friday world, or you ended up here from a search or a link, please know that we’re a welcoming community! Read, comment, think, share, and enjoy!

First, a quick announcement: David Harrison, whom many of you know, has accomplished a mighty feat! Part of his legacy as Poet Laureate of Missouri is this amazing video library of poets sharing their Poetry from Daily Life column. It’s an incredible resource for educators, students, and poets. The whole video library is here! I can’t wait to watch them!

Here’s my contribution. (Also, I need to learn to talk faster in videos!) It’s about a 5‑minute watch. But make sure to check out and share the other videos. You’ll no doubt meet new poets, watch poets you already admire, and learn new things about teaching, reading, or writing poetry. Also, here’s a bit more background about the project.

Now, for my daily poem! We’re well into April, National Poetry Month, and I’m finally catching a breath to explain what I’m doing! I wanted to do a daily poem, but I knew I had to keep it simple. We’ve already had an out-of-state wedding celebration, and now my husband is retiring, so there’s lots of celebrating there, plus normal family ups and downs. Downs, right now, as my dad is in the hospital. (I posted a poem for caregivers and everyone in the sandwich generation yesterday.)

Anyway, I chose the skinny form, because it’s brief, easy to remember, and–I was hoping–flexible. I’m discovering that that repetition of the same word three times in such a short form is actually really challenging 🙂 Oops.

I’ve also been wanting to get out my Zentangling stuff. My work is rough and messy, but I decided April was about a daily practice. Not about great poems. Not about great designs or art. So I’ll share one skinny poem with a little Zentangle element every day that I can. Here’s today’s.

I’ve never felt a super strong attachment to places I’ve lived. Maybe because I grew up knowing I had to escape Florida’s heat. I adore living in Minnesota. That being said, I think there are many places I’d be happy living (just not hot ones). Hehe. So when we left Oregon and headed home (see that skinny here), I was looking forward to getting back to my routines and the places I love. But I was also pondering that home is wherever I am, for the most part, as long as I have people I love, nature, and seasons.

You can see all my poems for this month here.

And for lots of wonderful poetry, don’t miss the Poetry Friday Roundup with poet-anthologist Irene Latham (who’s also in the video library!