Poetry Friday, Week 13: A Family Literacy Event and Getting Ready for National Poetry Month3/27/2026
 Marcie at Marcie Flinchum Atkins is hosting today. Her book When Twilight Comes is here! I can't wait for my copy. She's writing about my favorite time of day. If you have a twilight poem to share, tag her: @MarcieFAtkins Hashtag: #PoetryFriday Share your link: www.marcieatkins.com/blog Family Literacy NightI was invited as a poet to participate in my friends' elementary school's literacy night this week. I've subbed in the library when they had librarians and in the classrooms there in the past. I was over planned for the event with four activities: three were stations and one was a whole group activity. It was clear that the whole group didn't fit the needs of the night. The stations included the following: Station One: Read Some Poetry Station Two: Write a Haiku with Haiku Cubes Station Three: Write a 3 line or 6 line poem using the Poetry Cubes As I set up the stations, I realized that I had three risk levels: low for the reading poetry books, medium risk for using the Poetry Cubes, and high for using the Haiku Cubes. I set up examples on a chart. And I made sure to pull some of the more adult words from the Haiku Cubes (IYKYK). Families came in and out the whole hour. What I didn't plan on was that a few students just wrote a poem on their own. I had cards, tags, and library pockets for them to create a "Poem in a Pocket", thinking they could copy the poem they wrote from the station. It reminded me of how much fun I had during the years I helped family library nights at my school National Poetry Month: Verse of Ages Daily Word Prompts I belong to the Oregon Writers' Colony. Every year, they publish a word list for April and follow up with a reading. When I had my "Poetry Rocks" group, we attended and share poems. With my book getting ready to launch, I have the bandwidth to participate with these little word nuggets. I hope you can join me and are inspired by the words. My friend and creator of the list, Susan Blackaby, says this: To celebrate National Poetry Month, OWC is once again hosting Verse of Ages. Get ready for a month of prompts and myriad ways to stretch your imagination! Skip the rules and see how words spark ideas and then go where they take you. Here are some ways to use the prompts, but these are just guidelines:
Save the DateThe next Poetry Pop-Up Writing Salon will be on Saturday, April 11, 2026. It will be at 11 AM EST.
It's going to be a busy weekend for me as I am hosting on Friday, April 10. Perfect way to celebrate National Poetry Month. Welcome to Poetry Friday. Tanita at {fiction, instead of lies} is hosting this week. I have some of my daily haiku this week to share amid a couple of announcements. Mar 12 line by line ruler in hand, find small errors © jone rush macculloch, 2026 Mar 13 only unlucky thing wind and rain Friday the thirteenth © jone rush macculloch, 2026 Mar 14 the ocean tide goes on forever Pi day © jone rush macculloch, 2026 Mar 16 tide watching negative ions wash over peace comes from writing words flow with the tide © jone rush macculloch, 2026 Sneak Peek Were you a reader of Sylvia Vardell's Yearly Sneak Peek List? Here's the one for 2026. Were you aware that 2026 is the last Sneak Peek List from her? Jena Benton Lasley and I would like to create a small group to continue this amazing tradition, Would you be interested in becoming a poetry scout and help with creating a list for 2027? It is mainly having eyes and ears as to what is coming out in the poetry world in 2027. If so, please fill out this form (Name and Email). We'll be in contact with you. Save the DateThe next Poetry Pop-Up Writing Salon will be on Saturday, April 11, 2026. It will be at 11 AM EST.
It's going to be a busy weekend for me as I am hosting on Friday, April 10. Perfect way to celebrity National Poetry Month.  Linda at TeacherDance has a lovely haiga for us today as she hosts Poetry Friday. Were you a reader of Sylvia Vardell's Yearly Sneak Peek List? Here's the one for 2026. Were you aware that 2026 is the last Sneak Peek List from her? Jena Benton Lasley and I would like to create a small group to continue this amazing tradition, Would you be interested in becoming a poetry scout and help with creating a list for 2027? It is mainly having eyes and ears as to what is coming out in the poetry world in 2027. If so, please fill out this form (Name and Email). We'll be in contact with you. Save the DateThe next Poetry Pop-Up Writing Salon will be on Saturday, April 11, 2026. It will be at 11 AM EST. It's going to be a busy weekend for me as I am hosting on Friday, April 10. Perfect way to celebrity National Poetry Month. My life has been tinkering and working on Tilt. This weekend my brother turns 70. I can't believe five years ago I wrote this poem to celebrate him
I Never Regretted Not Having a Sister Sixty-five year ago, I informed our grandmother about babies. Showed her Mom’s nursing book. Clearly a stork was not involved. Right after that Mom and Dad brought Jon Robert home. Not the cowboy I was expecting, A pink, wiggly creature who made a lot of noise. We negotiated a peace but when on road trips foot fights reigned supreme in the backseat. Summer of ‘61, our grandmother sat between us across the US. I pestered and threatened his blue bellied lizards, captured and maintained in an old coffee can. Squirted lotion on me just before school. Parents showed no sympathy. Summers were adventures in the park, a mud-quick-sand sinking, me defending him by punching the next door neighbor boy. He carried my violin case and spied on my boyfriends. I left for college, left my only brother behind. Had our own paths to follow. Stayed in the northwest. Jon was there for the first marriage, when we had to clear pot smoke before the parents arrived. He was there when the marriage ended and I needed an ear. Worked his way up in Rocketdyne from custodian to a travelling consultant. Jon has incredible knack of reinvention so when the consulting days ended, he went to massage school, graduate with honors, (Something he did better than me). And then life took another turn, retiring-ish to the Oregon Coast. Paths have criss-crossed, parents are gone. We are the head of clan, eligible for Medicare. Brother, I love you. © jone rush macculloch, 2021 draft Still holds true five years later. |
AuthorAll photos and poems in these blog posts are copyrighted to Jone Rush MacCulloch 2006- Present. Please do not copy, reprint or reproduce without written permission from me. 
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