Merely Day By Day

Here we are! Today is the last day of National Poetry Month. In this week's reading of The Practicing Poet, Adele Kenny shared poems written in sections. I will occasionally use this organization strategy in an essay. I thought I'd try it in this final poem of the month. On Deception i. who can explain magic? charms, spells,  a powerful force unexplained: an illusion, a lie believed. ii.  as a child I remember sitting in magic shows, believing everything was real. my grandfather would take all of us. we'd watch people disappear and return smiling.  iii. poetry: the wave of the wand cannot solve the problems on the page, staring at a blank space, waiting for the magic, searching for a lucky charm. © Cathy L. Mere, 2024  For April, I will be taking a deep dive into  The Practicing Poet: Writing Beyond the Basics ,  edited by Diane Lockward. This book is full of 30 craft tips, so it is the perfect way to shape this month's challenge and dig into the craft...

I was looking for something light and fun today when the news reported the escape of four zebras. Apparently, at the time of the report, three had been caught, but one was still on the loose. All I can picture is this one zebra out there living her best life - even if only for a short time. ( Here's the story from the New York Times .) Photo by  Fabrizio Frigeni  on  Unsplash The Great Escape  The grass is always greener       on the other side, they say.  I wanted to find out and       my chance it came today.  With slow and steady movements       I began to work the latch.  When I felt it give a little,       a plan began to hatch.  The doors began to open,      so  our dazzle we did run,  to find some greener pastures,       and maybe have some fun.   My friends weren't all that certain     t...

  For April, I will be taking a deep dive into  The Practicing Poet: Writing Beyond the Basics ,  edited by Diane Lockward. This book is full of 30 craft tips, so it is the perfect way to shape this month's challenge and dig into the craft of poetry. Stop by my Substack page,   Merely in Progress , to follow this month's writing journey, where you will also find reflections, links, and inspiration across the challenge.  Of course, this month is all about writing poetry, so I will have a new poem posted here each day utilizing a craft tip from the book. Here we go.

  Penny for your thoughts seems too small a price considering inflation and all. Who wants these thoughts anyway? To cut to the chase, they're just filled with worry. Worries like these can keep one up at night, put butterflies in your stomach. I suppose worries are a dime a dozen anyway, there's always plenty to go around. Let's face it, worries hit us at the drop of a hat when we least expect them. Though we try to push them away, work to ignore them, they sneak up when we least expect it. It costs an arm and a leg to bury them deep in the earth.  © Cathy L. Mere, 2024 Of Note: A little 4/28/24 update: Hold your horses! Early in Lockward's book, The Practicing Poet,  Pattiann Rogers (pp. 75-81) talks about list poems. She shared a few examples of poets using idioms to write their poems. It was lighthearted and fun to read. I decided to try it  after making a long list of idioms and looking for a thread that might work.  Then, this morning, I woke up to th...

It's Poetry Friday...and National Poetry Month.  Today's Poetry Friday community roundup  is hosted by Ruth at " There is no such thing as a God-forsaken town ."  Stop by for all the poetry joy you need today! (If you're interested in the madness I've jumped into this month, scroll to the bottom of this post.)   On Home Recently, I went to see Joy Sullivan and Maggie Smith in a conversation hosted by Gramercy Books . Joy's new poetry book "I nstructions for Traveling West "  had just been released. As the evening was concluded they took one more question. A man in the back of the room asked, "Joy, what have you learned from leaping, and Maggie, what have you learned from staying rooted?" I found the question fascinating. Joy went on to talk about what it was like to leap. Maggie talked about what it was like to be rooted. However, if you really listened, you heard Joy talk about the anchor of her home community. If you've read Mag...

  Photo by  Mykola Swarnyk , Wikimedia Commons birding. northern flicker, sings an unfamiliar song, hiding somewhere in the prairie. unexpected surprise.  © Cathy L. Mere, 2024 Today, I decided to try writing a pensee poem. This is the first time I've done so, and I thought the form was a bit trickier than I had anticipated. Thanks to Marcie Flinchum Atkins for introducing it to me in her Poetry Friday post last week.  Pensee   5 lines (2, 4, 7, 8, 6 syllables) Line 1—introduces subject Line 2—description of subject Line 3—action taken by subject or for subject; has a verb Line 4—info about time and setting Line 5—final thoughts For April, I will be taking a deep dive into  The Practicing Poet: Writing Beyond the Basics ,  edited by Diane Lockward. This book is full of 30 craft tips, so it is the perfect way to shape this month's challenge and dig into the craft of poetry. Stop by my Substack page,   Merely in Progress , to follow this month's wr...

For April, I will be taking a deep dive into  The Practicing Poet: Writing Beyond the Basics ,  edited by Diane Lockward. This book is full of 30 craft tips, so it is the perfect way to shape this month's challenge and dig into the craft of poetry. Stop by my Substack page,   Merely in Progress , to follow this month's writing journey, where you will also find reflections, links, and inspiration across the challenge.  Of course, this month is all about writing poetry, so I will have a new poem posted here each day utilizing a craft tip from the book. Here we go.

Iris by Gianna Commito 2022     on display at Columbus           Museum of Art IRIS fragments  pieced together. patterns: broken, replaced. shapes now unfamiliar. LIFE, in monochrome. paused. pulled apart. still in chaos. joy sneaks through momentarily fractured light.  © Cathy L. Mere, 2024 Today's poem is a collision of: a visit to the Columbus Museum of Art where I stumbled upon Commito's 2022 painting of Iris Craft Tip 23: The (Perpetual) Metamorphosis from "The Practicing Poet" word lists (Craft Tip #1) from  Marrow Gallery: Gianna Commito Encyclopedia Britannica: Cubism For April I will be taking a deep dive into  The Practicing Poet: Writing Beyond the Basics ,  edited by Diane Lockward. This book is full of 30 craft tips, so it is the perfect way to shape this month's challenge and dig into the craft of poetry. Stop by my Substack page,   Merely in Progress , to follow this month's writing journey, where you ...

  For April I will be taking a deep dive into  The Practicing Poet: Writing Beyond the Basics ,  edited by Diane Lockward. This book is full of 30 craft tips, so it is the perfect way to shape this month's challenge and dig into the craft of poetry. Stop by my Substack page,   Merely in Progress , to follow this month's writing journey, where you will also find reflections, links, and inspiration across the challenge.  Of course, this month is really about writing poetry so I will have a new poem posted here each day utilizing a craft tip from the book. Here we go.

  Grandma Life a little each day I  move tiny objects to four feet, place protectors in outlets; set up beds with soft blankets, pile books for bedtime. ready the kitchen set, bought decades ago, pull the toy box out from behind the couch; the refrigerator drawer now has  more  fruit than vegetables, the not-so-secret-snack-stash filled. small chairs are placed on the patio, a swing blows in the breeze; a list of possible activities, a menu of favorite meals, all readied.  I've become her. © Cathy L. Mere, 2024 For April I will be taking a deep dive into  The Practicing Poet: Writing Beyond the Basics ,  edited by Diane Lockward. This book is full of 30 craft tips, so it is the perfect way to shape this month's challenge and dig into the craft of poetry. Stop by my Substack page,   Merely in Progress , to follow this month's writing journey, where you will also find reflections, links, and inspiration across the challenge.  Of course, this mo...

It's Poetry Friday...and National Poetry Month.  Today's Poetry Friday community roundup  is hosted by Heidi Mordhorst. Stop by for all the poetry joy you need today! (If you're interested in the madness I've jumped into this month, scroll to the bottom of this post. Today's craft tip: Achieving Tone .)          Photo by  Pietro Voso  on  Unsplash What the Oak Knows the oak stands firmly grounded between fields and fencing. it watches as cherry, redbud, and crabapple flower, before opening its green fingers to the sun. it knows the rhythm of the farmer who will plant beans this year instead of corn, it knows of rain, and the way the running creek returns every spring. it's watched houses rise and families settle. it's weathered snowstorms and tornadoes, its roots deeply planted. it knows joy and it knows sorrow, mostly it knows that the birds start singing before darkness recedes in morning.  © Cathy L. Mere, 2024  For Apr...

Crabapple Abuzz Soft blossoms abound, cascading across branches. Bees busily feast. © Cathy L. Mere, 2024 For April I will be taking a deep dive into  The Practicing Poet: Writing Beyond the Basics ,  edited by Diane Lockward. This book is full of 30 craft tips, so it is the perfect way to shape this month's challenge and dig into the craft of poetry. Stop by my Substack page,   Merely in Progress , to follow this month's writing journey, where you will also find reflections, links, and inspiration across the challenge.  Of course, this month is really about writing poetry so I will have a new poem posted here each day utilizing a craft tip from the book. Here we go.

Thanks for stopping by Merely Day by Day.  It's National Poetry Month.  Crafting Surprise   In this section of The Practicing Poet, poets share tips for crafting surprise in our poetry (link to Substack summary in title above): Craft Tip #13:  Using the Line to Surprise  by  Meg Day Craft Tip #14:  Truth’s Surprise  by  Lawrence Raab Craft Tip #15:  Throwing the Reins upon the Horse’s Neck  by  Chris Forhan No Regrets To a poem a day  I did commit, but time for writing  I could not fit. What else can I say, it's time poems need. I cannot write them with lightning speed. At this point in life I'm no longer willing, to have rigid requirements  in my day filling.  I took a short pause, but today I am back. with a quick little rhyme to get me on track. You'll find no surprise, at this poem's end, just this terrible rhyme, I shouldn't have penned.  © Cathy L. Mere, 2024 For April I will be taking a deep dive...

Thanks for stopping by Merely Day by Day.  It's National Poetry Month. Craft Tip #11: Syntax: The Life Form of Poems  This chapter of The Practicing Poet was all about way we put sentences together grammatically. Our personal synax often shows through in our poems and use of line. For this poem, I tried to push again the first order that came to me a bit. It was a game...just like this poem.  Games Toddlers Play before the sun our games begin. rise and shine,  let's see who wins. no to eggs. "yogurt, please." outside we go. "no, let's play in." open pantry, open fridge, a snack is needed yet again. lunchtime yet?, is on repeat. no to meat. no to fruit. picking books before nap time, let's read three - five it is.  smiles so sweet, hugs goodnight. after naps,  we'll play again. © Cathy L. Mere, 2024 For April I will be taking a deep dive into  The Practicing Poet: Writing Beyond the Basics ,  edited by Diane Lockward. This book is full of 30 craf...