Influence & Inspiration

 "The music of my youth." This is how one of my friends described Aretha's body of work. So many of us -- Detroiters, Americans, and citizens of the world -- mourned the loss of "The Queen of Soul" these past two weeks. Fellow musicians and regular folks, all fans, she inspired, bolstered, and comforted paid tribute to her in words and song.

Though her music and voice always made me stop and listen or move to the beat, my favorite Aretha moment happened in 2015 at the Kennedy Center Honors where she celebrated Carole King by singing "Natural Woman." Tears rolled as I sang (off-key) and watched the communication between Aretha and Carole and between Aretha and the star-studded audience. President Barack Obama wiped a tear from his eyes along with me.

With her music, her leadership, her example to her family and community, the legendary Aretha Franklin defined an era in our history.

Today's Prompt:
By this time in our lives, we've all experienced a loss of someone whose presence or actions on a large platform have affected us. We may not know the individual personally, but he or she has inspired or comforted or taught us. We've also had family and personal friends whose lives have had an impact on our own. Write an ode to that person. Or, write a poem about how that person influenced or inspired you.

Word Bank:
Tribute
Inspiration
Legend
Presence
Model
Mentor

Video Prompt:

We would love to read your work, so please share your poem or provide a link to your website or blog in the comments below. Thank you, and happy writing.

 
Annis Cassells is a writer, poet, life coach, and teacher.  She divides her time between Bakersfield, California and Coos Bay, Oregon, where she conducts memoir writing classes for senior adults. She is a member of Writers of Kern, a branch of the California Writers Club. See Annis’s blogs at www.thedaymaker.blogspot.com and www.poemsbyannis.blogspot.com and her website at www.connectionsandconversations.com

Strength

A writer friend once said, “If I’d known I was going to live this long, I’d have taken better care of myself." At the time I laughed. But as the years have gone by, her statement has come back to me many times.

Now that I’m in the last few days of celebrating my 75^th “Birthday Season,” I’ve thought even more about maintaining self-care. The central, recurring thought: strength.

Physical strength is good and necessary so we can keep going. Equally important is having strong convictions and passions.

I recently met up with a childhood friend who’s about my age. During our conversation, I often heard, "I'm too old." and "I don't care about..." She seemed to have given up on life, even though she has a track record of being a strong woman in her younger days. This is a woman who gathered the strength to flee an oppressive relationship in a foreign country and get her five-year-old son back to the United States. She worked hard and made a comfortable life for them.

We’ve all had to muster strength to get through life’s challenges, small and large. Think back years, or even days, to when you had to be strong and resilient. Write your “strength poem.”

Word Bank

Fragile

Intense

Powerful

Tough

Weak

Photo Prompt

Washington, D.C. Photo by Annis Cassells

Quote Prompt

"It doesn't take a lot of strength to hang on. It takes a lot of strength to let go." J. C. Watts

We'd love to read your work. Please share your poem in the comments below, or provide a link to your website.

Annis Cassells is a writer, poet, life coach, and teacher.  She divides her time between Bakersfield, California and Coos Bay, Oregon, where she conducts memoir writing classes for senior adults. She is a member of Writers of Kern, a branch of the California Writers Club. See Annis’s blogs at www.thedaymaker.blogspot.com and www.poemsbyannis.blogspot.com and her website at www.connectionsandconversations.com

Poetry Prompt - Commencement

Photo by Amy McGrath

Yesterday, like many parents, I sat in an auditorium and bore witness to a rite of passage. My older son donned his cap and gown, processed to "Pomp and Circumstance", and walked across the stage to receive his high school diploma. It was the most bittersweet feeling I have ever experienced. I was simultaneously yearning to hang on to my little boy and bursting with pride at the kind, caring, talented man that he has become. 

I remember watching him take his first steps when he was a toddler. I encouraged him, helped steady his balance, and cheered him on. When he stumbled or fell, I was there to help him back onto his feet. Now I am in awe as I watch him take his first steps into adulthood and my task as his mother is the same now as it was before. Encourage him, steady him, cheer for him, and be there to assist when he stumbles or falls. 

The Prompt:

Free write about beginnings or first steps. Use what comes up for you to create a poem.

Word Prompts:

Graduation

Commencement

First Steps

Beginnings

Getting started

Please share the link to your poem (or post your poem) in the comments below. If you're on Facebook, you can share your poem in the Poets on the Page group. 

 Amy McGrath is a mixed media artist and writer in Virginia Beach. She is a regular contributor here and volunteers at The Muse Writer's Center in Norfolk. Her current writing project is a memoir about her experiences as an adoptee and about the journey to find her birth parents. 

Mom

 

Kaitlyn Stanford, "50 Best Mom Memes"

When we grew up in Detroit in the 1950s, our friends thought the Cassells kids had “the coolest” mom. My buddy Saundra and I have reminisced about the times my mother took us to the frenzied Rock & Roll shows that were popular in those days.  Mom was right beside us as we found our thrill on Blueberry Hill with Fats Domino, did the twist with Chubby Checker, and were all shook up with Elvis.  Saundra said, “We all wanted your mother.”  

 

Of course, to her own three kids, she was just “Mom”. We knew without a doubt that she would be at home when we came running in after school. She often had a plate of cookies or a cake sitting on the yellow Formica kitchen table, and the television was always tuned to the channel for Mickey Mouse Club. 

Think about your mother. How did your perception of her change over the years? What about your relationship? How are you like, or unlike, her? Write about it. Discover your poem.

Or, take out a photo of your mom, study it and free write about the photo. From this piece, find your poem. Will it be in tribute? An explanation? A description? A rebuke?

Word Bank Prompt

Unconditional love

Teachings

Forgiveness

Home

Estrangement

Photo Prompt

"Ms. Ruthie Rides" photo by Annis Cassells

Reading Prompt 

In Ellen Bass's Mules of Love "For My Daughter on her Twenty-first Birthday"

Annis Cassells is a writer, poet, life coach, and teacher.  She divides her time between Bakersfield, California and Coos Bay, Oregon. She is a member of Writers of Kern, a branch of the California Writers Club. See Annis’s blogs at www.thedaymaker.blogspot.com and www.poemsbyannis.blogspot.com and her website at www.connectionsandconversations.com

Life's Seasons

Photo by Annis Cassells

“All seasons have something to offer.” ― Jeannette Walls, The Glass Castle

Summer, Fall, Winter, Spring. We can count on the seasons like clockwork to follow each other. We can compare and predict. “It’s going to be a cold winter.” Or, “We had a shorter spring and went right into summer.”

Life’s seasons, though, are non-linear. They may be sudden and random. And we can never predict their duration. The seasons become a metaphor, a symbol, for how our lives play out.

With regard to Life’s seasons, within days or even hours, we can experience each one. They often catch us by surprise, and though we deal with them, we may not see the seasons as a metaphor at the time. That insight comes later, upon reflection, but life’s seasons correspond to weather’s.

Summer – When we are carefree and relaxed, when experiences and places are welcomed and enjoyed. 
Fall – We’re in contemplation and preparation, harvesting ideas or gathering skills or insights we’ll need.to carry on. Or move on. 
Winter – Which we find challenging, even difficult, yet filled with blessings. Blessings that we may not see until Spring. 
Spring – The season that always follows winter with light and new life, with hope, renewal, and possibilities. We catch our breath and reflect on the wonder and blessings Winter provided. 

Life’s seasons may change as often or as fast as the wind. We wake up in Summer – all is great and we are happy. Life is going our way.  Within hours, there’s a SNAFU and we feel the ice of Winter. Then we’re in Fall as we react, marshal our resources, figure out a plan, and begin executing that plan. Sometimes, we have to come up with alternate ideas before we reach Spring. But soon Summer is on the way again, and we bask in its goodness. 

The Prompt 

Think about what season you're in right this minute. What got you there? Was it the rocky-ness of life or a smooth path? Make a list of all the words that come to mind as you think about your seasons -- now and past. Come up with a first line using some of those words. Then let your free verse or haiku or couplets flow.

OR

Write a poem about your favorite  OR your most dreaded season of the year. Maybe this will take you back to your younger days. Maybe it will take you to looking forward.

Word Bank

cycle

change

growth

dormant

awakening

light

harvest

Photo Prompt 

Photo by Annis Cassells

Please share the link to your poem (or post your poem) in the comments below. And, if you're on Facebook, post it to Poets on the Page. We're looking forward to reading your work.

Annis Cassells is a writer, poet, life coach, and teacher.  She divides her time between Bakersfield, California and Coos Bay, Oregon. She is a member of Writers of Kern, a branch of the California Writers Club. See Annis’s blogs at www.thedaymaker.blogspot.com and www.poemsbyannis.blogspot.com and her website at www.connectionsandconversations.com

Poetry Prompt - Blessings, Curses, or Limericks?

Image by Karen Arnold
on PublicDomainPictures.net

Tis that time of year, my dears! The wearing o' the green and the celebrating of St. Patrick's Day is not limited to those of Irish descent. On March 17, we can all take part in the festivities. For our prompt this week, I offer you a choice - blessings or limericks!

Please share the link to your poem in the comments below. Or go ahead and post your poem. We're looking forward to reading your work.

I wish you words,

Amy McGrath

The Prompt:

Write your own version of an Irish blessing or, if you're so inclined, try your hand at writing a few limericks. Here are examples of both to inspire you...

Blessings:

May you live a long life
Full of gladness and health,
With a pocket full of gold
As the least of you wealth.
May the dreams you hold dearest,
Be those which come true,
The kindness you spread,
Keep returning to you.

May the road rise up to meet you.

May the wind always be at your back.
May the sun shine warm upon your face,
and rains fall soft upon your fields.
And until we meet again,
May God hold you in the palm of His hand.

An Old Irish Curse:

May those that love us love us;

And those that don't love us, 

May God turn their hearts;

If he can't turn their hearts,

May he turn their ankles, so we'll

Know them by their limping.

And some limericks:

There once was a man from Nantucket,
 Who kept all his cash in a bucket,
 But his daughter, named Nan, 
Ran away with a man, 
And as for the bucket, Nantucket.

There was a girl from Rabat,

Who had triplets, Nat, Pat and Tat;

It was fun in the breeding,

But hell in the feeding,

When she found she had no tit for Tat.

And finally, by Ogden Nash - 

A wonderful bird is the pelican,

His bill can hold more than his beli-can.

He can take in his beak

Food enough for a week

But I’m damned if I see how the heli-can.

Poetry Prompt: "Well, That Didn't Go As Planned"

Image by kai Stachowiak on Public Domain Photos

I don't know about you, but the final weeks of 2017 and the first weeks of 2018 have been full of surprises! We were planning to move to a new space in February, but things happened very quickly and we had to move before Christmas. I also received a financial settlement this past week that I'd been waiting five and a half years for. I've also had several days where I made plans for myself only to find out my husband had made plans that included me.

The unexpected, the unplanned can affect us in different ways. We can sometimes get angry or upset that want we wanted didn't happen (or didn't happen as we envisioned). Or we can embrace the chaos as just a part of live, roll with it, and trust that the Universe is working in our best interest.

The Prompt:

What unplanned or unexpected things have happened in your life? How did you react/respond? What was the ultimate outcome? Free write for 10 minutes about the unexpected, unplanned things that have occurred and see what comes up.  Look back through what you've written and see if something appeared on the page that you didn't anticipate. (See what I did there?!?)  Turn something you find into a poem

Word Prompts:

Unplanned
Unexpected
Surprise
Chaos
Magic


I wish you words,
Amy McGrath