Welcome to Poetry Friday.  It's December? Just wow!  Catherine at Reading to the Core is hosting us today.
I am writing a small poem every day in December.

December 1
rainy day
birds on the feeder
fireside nap
©jone rush macculloch
December 2
hammers pound
inside my mouth
root canal
© jone rush macculloch
(had not only a root canal this week but microsurgery in the mouth and it's been raucous )

 We have 12 poets reading and I will also be featuring artwork from several artists in various slideshows, so each of you will only have time to read your poem(s) from the book. I will introduce each reader with poem title and page number for those who want to follow. (I’ll send the exact reading order to you a day or two before the show)
Featured Poets: Amelia Diaz Ettinger • Emmett Wheatfall • Leanne Grabel • Anne Richardson • Rebecca Smolen • Eileen McGurn • Jone Rush MacCulloch • Sue Fagalde Lick • M.F. McAuliffe • Dale Champlin • Ann Farley • Carter McKenzie
Here’s the link for registration:
https://us06web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZItce6grj0uGtM9iv1mC4LkrDY19wNhS5bB
 (Once registered, you will receive a link from Zoom. Then on the day of the show, simply use the link that was sent to you to join about 5 minutes before the show starts so we can start on time).  There will be a “waiting room” and Shawn will start admitting people in order of arrival a few minutes before the show. She'll review “zoom etiquette” with the audience after I welcome everyone, so they know how the show will proceed and how to use the chat room / speaker view / how to “applaud” / muting microphones during the reading, etc. I will also formally introduce each of you before you read. 
https://thepoetrybox.com/live-12102022

​I am excited to be reading.

Won't you join us? Sign up for the 2023 New Year Postcard Exchange.  Send five, send ten or send to all. Did you know there are 30 days until 2022 ends? Woohoo! Let's celebrate the New Year with a New Year Postcard? In Japan, it’s called Nengajo, a Japanese custom of ushering in the new year.​How It Works:

• Choose to send five, ten postcards.
• Create a postcard:  you can buy a postcard and write a poem on the other side or you can create one postcard to send to everyone (I use Walgreens or Zazzle)
• Once you get the names, send by February 1, 2023 (during the Chinese New Years)
• If you choose, you can work in the Chinese animal for 2023: The year of the Water Rabbitt. It is not required.

On  the November 17, 2022 post, I featured an interview with Rebecca Brock, author of Each Bearing Out.  She graciously sent me two poems to share.  One was shared during that post and today, I'm sharing her other poem. 
Originally appeared online at Mom Egg Review, December 2020

Good Housekeeping
She keeps trying to get her house in order
pretending with the rest of them
that the sun won’t melt the earth,
that the seas won’t burn, that the land
won’t disappear under water or ice
or our own triggered destruction.
She keeps going back to the dishes,
to the meals, to washing the clothes,
to worrying over the state of the carpet
which is funny in a sad way
if you knew the state of her house--
the way the windows leak, the way the doors
have to be snugged closed, the way
they blow open anyway, with the slightest wind,
the cracks in the ceiling from settling or moisture
or just poor craftsmanship. She still decorates
for holidays, she still worries
over the tidiness of things, the nutrition of meals,
the state of the bathroom—of the toilet--
under assault by the misdirection
and lack of attention
of three males in one small house.
She is like some mad woman
straightening a frame during an earthquake,
righting a vase after a hurricane took off the roof.
She sees it is the season to behave so,
to live beside, within madness--
to mother through it.
It is despair pushed off
to vacuum anyway, to make a decent meal,
to require everyone to sit. She is hoping
the children won’t notice or remember the windows,
the carpets—the way the door won’t shut.
She is desperate for their happiness
for their solidity, for them to make it
to some new place
she never will.

This poem really caught my eye.
Plus happy news, Rebecca has recently found out she is a Pushcart Poetry Award nominee for two other poems

On November 12, The Poeming Pigeon held an online launch party for Issue 12.  The video for that event is now posted and can be found HERE or below.

There was to be an in person event on November 13 but it needed to be rescheduled and moved to Zoom.  While I was excited to present in person, I can now have my friends in other time zones attend via Zoom. You must register to attend.
​
Hope to see you next month for our December 10th show for Part 2 of our launch of The Poeming Pigeon. You can register for event HERE

Ruth at There is no such thing as a God-forsaken town has our Poetry Friday Round-Up today.
This month the Poetry Sisters,
Tricia @ The Miss Rumphius Effect
Tanita @ {fiction, instead of lies}
Sara @ Read Write Believe
Laura @ Laura Purdie Salas
Liz @ Liz Garton Scanlon
Kelly @ Kelly Ramsdell
Andi @ A Wrung Sponge came up with a challenge to write recipe poems.

On Thanksgiving Day, Silver Birch Press featured, A Day's Journey, Thanksgiving 1960. This poem is a revision of one I have worked on for many years. Plus,  they included an art piece that goes with the poem.
Last Friday, I tried recipe poems  with the fifth grade class I subbed in on November 18, 2022.  

To celebrate and share the release of What Is A Friend? by Sylvia Vardell and Janet Wong, I decided that we would write "How To Have a Friend" poems, recipe poems when I visited.

when I go into a class, I really like to discuss what makes a good poem.  We read some for the book. 
then I shared this poem, a draft from my WIP:
Dara: How To Have a Friend

​sprinkle laughter 
a little cinnamon and chili
knead in mischief, mix in memories
salmon ceremony, eat mealworms on a dare,
snowball fights,and freckles
sift in leaves
from the tree you climbed
melt Europa
caught just yesterday
hold on - let go.

Then I shared a poem I wrote as a recipe poem to model 
and we discussed the ingredients of having a friend and what we might mix in.
How to Have a Friend by Ms Mac

Add:
Laughter
Kindness
Always there for me

Mix in:
Walking home from school
Singing Led Zeppelin at the top of our lungs
Swimming pool days

Sift in:
Wish I could see her more often
sing Led Zeppelin. Friends for how long?
Melt in:

accidentally walking into her coat closet 
Staying out too late
Foothills of Simi Valley
Blend it all together:

Ronky Girl, Forever Friend

We also did a Picasso Face art lesson to go with the friend poems.  I was able to get the poems onto Padlet but am working on the art.  Below, please enjoy Mrs. Fisher's Fifth Grade poets.

Won't you join us? Sign up for the 2023 New Year Postcard Exchange.  Send five, send ten or send to all. Did you know there are 37 days until 2022 ends? Woohoo! Let's celebrate the New Year with a New Year Postcard? In Japan, it’s called Nengajo, a Japanese custom of ushering in the new year.​How It Works:

• Choose to send five, ten postcards.
• Create a postcard:  you can buy a postcard and write a poem on the other side or you can create one postcard to send to everyone (I use Walgreens or Zazzle)
• Once you get the names, send by February 1, 2023 (during the Chinese New Years)
• If you choose, you can work in the Chinese animal for 2023: The year of the Water Rabbitt. It is not required.

I had planned to share something else today but in light of this weekend's shootings, I am sharing this poem which I posted in May.  I also submitted it to the Oregon State Fair this year and is won second place in short poetry.
While my poem is in response to the Uvalde School shooting, it holds true for any place.  People should have the right to have fun and go out without the worry of not coming home.  My heart goes out to those families who lost loved ones this past weekend.
​

A Thread
There’s a thread you follow
~ William Stafford 

In the middle of the day, there’s
one moment in which a
classroom doesn’t know their thread
life will unravel. And again, you
wonder when gun safety reform will follow

© Jone Rush MacCulloch

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