Today Karen at Karen Edmisten* will be hosting Poetry Friday.  Please head there to see the goodness of our Poetry Friday Community.

There's been quite a bit of chatter about the Covid-19 Vaccines. I don't recall a time that there has been more excitement over shots.  And it feels like winning the lottery to get an appointment which I have today (which means I might get to sub in April).  

We moved last June.  Once of the items that surfaced recently were my immunization cards for the Polio vaccine fifty-nine years ago. I have this glimmering of being in the big space that was the auditorium of my father's school, Clifton.  We were given a sugar cube with the dose.

pokey-poke
hope on horizon 
two vaccines
© jone rush macculloch (2021 draft) ​

Thanks to Ruth at There is no such thing as a God-forsaken town for hosting Poetry Friday.  She is sharing from a book that is on my list, Brading Sweetgrass.

Every February, Laura Shovan invites writers to celebrate her birthday by writing poetry.  There is a yearly theme.  This year, it's "Bodies". These are some of the responses to prompts I've shared thus far.

The emphasis for the daily prompts is to be writing, the daily practice of writing.  There are days that the poems noodle around before landing on the paper.  

An email from American Academy of Poets Educator Newsletter arrived in my mailbox today. It has several offerings for Black History Month.  I discovered this one by Marilyn Nelson. Fitting as we are in the midst of vaccinations.

Making History
Marilyn Nelson 
Blue and White Orlon Snowflake Sweater, Blue Snowpants, Red Galoshes
          —Smoky Hill AFB, Kansas, 1955

Somebody took a picture of a class
standing in line to get polio shots,
and published it in the Weekly Reader.
We stood like that today. And it did hurt.
Mrs. Liebel said we were Making History,
but all I did was sqwunch up my eyes and wince.
Making History takes more than standing in line
believing little white lies about pain.
Mama says First Negroes are History:
First Negro Telephone Operator,
First Negro Opera Singer At The Met,
First Negro Pilots, First Supreme Court Judge.
That lady in Montgomery just became a First
by sqwunching up her eyes and sitting there.

Copyright © 2014 by Marilyn Nelson. From Beloit Poetry Journal, Split This Rock Edition. Reprinted from Split This Rock’s The Quarry: A Social Justice Poetry Database.

I'm so happy to host Poetry Friday this week.

A new year, fresh and into the second month already.  How does that happen?

Poetry Friday is a weekly happening for all who love poetry,  Write it. Read it. Pass it on.

I found my first Poetry Friday post HERE. It was to announce the CYBILS POETRY winner for 2006.  The post ran in February 2007.  Thirteen years of Poetry Friday for me.  Whether you are new to Poetry Friday or have many posts, welcome, welcome.

There were a total of eleven participants for the 2021 New Year Poetry Postcard Exchange.  
​This week I curated words from all the poems creating a FOUND poem.  I hope you will consider joining the exchange in 2022.

Refusing to Wait for Springtime

Minted moon silverdrops, yesterday’s rain,
reflecting an invitation for merrymaking on the icy pond.

Beneath the surface, unseen creatures
busy themselves with an honest day’s work.

Chickadees flying free, blue herons perching
high in a tree watching the morning joy. 
​
© jone rush macculloch (2021 draft)