Jone Rush MacCulloch
  • Blog
  • About
  • Poetry Friday Details and Hosts
  • Children's Books
  • Journals and Chapbooks
  • Blog
  • About
  • Poetry Friday Details and Hosts
  • Children's Books
  • Journals and Chapbooks

​

Monday Musing,Week 47: A Thread

11/21/2022

 
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

​

Poetry Friday, Week 21: May Poetry Challenge

5/27/2022

 
Picture
 Linda at A Word Edgewise has an unexpected post today as she hosts Poetry Friday
It was not the week anyone expected with the tragedy in Texas. Another shooting. Another elementary school. It hits hard.  I've checked in with my teacher friends this week. There are no words. And yet I hunker down into poetry.  I was thankful for Amanda Gorman's book, Call Us What We Carry. I am working on a project and am using her book.
This line resonated with me after Tuesday:

So on this meaningful morn, we mourn and we mend ~ “The Miracle of Morning”
I wonder how many more shootings will it take, how many more times do we need to mourn and mend?



The Poetry Sisters suggested for May's challenge  to write a poem using the words string, thread, rope and/or chain.  I immediately thought of William Stafford's poem, “The Way It Is".
I wrote one earlier in the month. But in response to Tuesday's news, I wrote another.
Earlier in May
There’s a thread you follow
~ William Stafford ~
​

In the middle of the night, there’s
​
a moment in a dream a
startling discovery, as you pull a red thread
unraveling at the bed’s edge you
watch the floor vanish into your past and you follow

©jone rush macculloch, 2022


In response to the Texas tragedy.
There’s a thread you follow
~ William Stafford ~

In the middle of the day, there’s
a moment in which a
classroom doesn’t know their threads
of life will unravel. And again, you
yell out in anger, asking, when gun safety reform will  follow

©jone rush macculloch, 2022


Poetry Friday, Week 50: Ring the Bells, The Round Up is Here Plus Winter Poetry Swap Goodness

12/16/2021

 
Picture
Welcome.  I am so happy to be hosting today.  I am looking forward to reading all the fabulous posts that our community shares. 
Did you write a Cento poem for the Inklings?
Did you write to the #PoetryPals prompt about that includes bells?

​Do you have happy news or the sharing of poems or poets.  No matter what, you are welcomed here.

The #PoetryPals challenge this month is  writing a poem about bells. It instantly made me think of a couple of bell poem ideas.  However, the one that most resonated with me was one from my childhood.  It must have been when I was in third or fourth grade.  Late at night I heard the jingling of sleigh bells from outside when I was supposed to be asleep.  It was most likely Christmas Eve.  I grew up in a house that until seventh grade, the tree (one from a SoCal tree lot) was not put up until after my brother and I went to bed on Christmas Eve when Santa brought it and the presents.
I recently wrote what I call the “Double Golden Shovel” for my winter poetry swap person using two of their poetry lines to bookend the lines. I borrowed some words from the poems that spoke to me.
This week, I found Edgar Allan Poe’s poem, The Bells to select lines from. Confession: I slightly altered two of the words for a better fit in the lines.


From the poem, The Bells by Edgar Allan Poe
On Christmas Eve
​
To the tintinnabulation that so musically wells
By the side of the pale-faced moon

To wake at midnight by
the faint jingling and tinkling of bells. The
tintinnabulation from the rooftop out-side
that tells me of Santa’s arrival. His boots of 
so much magic-the secret for walking in silence. The
musically clanging and twanging of reindeer, careful not to disturb pale-faced
Well tucked-in dreamers who slumber in Runic rhyme by the moon.
©Jone Rush MacCulloch ​

Winter Poem Swap

I was so fortunate to get Linda Baie as my swap part for winter. She knows me well.  I can't wait to dig into the books. I adore Alligator Pie and it will go into my sub bag. And her poem is so thoughtful.

What Jone Knows

A starfish to send home.
Calm ripples of the sea.
Pine needle drips reflect.

Sea glass walk for you and me.

Her postcards send us smiles  

when the winter closes in.
Poetry fills her plate.
Each tree becomes a friend.

 The photos that she shares
fill us weekly with a ploy.
She adds no words for them
only Wordless Wednesday joy.

Jone’s grateful heart is evident.
She lives her life as one content. 

​
 Linda Baie ©



Picture
Picture

Last Call to Join the New Year Poetry Postcards Event

Picture
Won't you join us? We have about 10 at the party so far and there's room for more. Sign up for the 2022 New Year Postcard Exchange.  Send five, send ten or send to all.

Did you know there are 15 days until 2021 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, 2022 (beginning of Chinese New Years)
  • If you choose, you can work in the Chinese animal for 2022: The year of the Tiger. It is not required.
SIGN UP HERE

ClarePoetry Friday, Week 31: Guest Blog Post with Janet Clare Fagel

8/26/2021

 
Picture
Elisabeth at Unexpected Intersections
​
is hosting Poetry Friday today.  It's going to be a fun party as she and others celebrate Jane Yolen's 400th book, Bear Outside.  Poets in the community are writing after the style of Yolen's eight line, rhyming poem, “What the Bear Knows”.

 Join the party, the topic is What the ____ Knows. 



Last week I shared my Poetry Swap from Janet ClareFagel . This week, Janet is my guest blogger.  And it's an honor to share her Summer Swap treasures from Margaret Simon and myself.

​Summer Poem Swap 
By guest blogger Janet Clare Fagal aka Janet F.  August 13, 2021

Picture
For my first foray into Tabatha Yeatts Lonske’s Summer Poem Swap I was lucky to pair up with two wonderful poetry friends, Jone MacCulloch and Margaret Simon. Jone and I have communicated via email and online regularly since we connected years ago. Some day we are planning to meet in person. My first stay at Highlights with Rebecca Kai Dotlitch found me in the cabin Jone had used a few weeks earlier. Reading her entry in the cabin journal made me happy. She was there for a class on verse novels.  I felt right at home. Later Jone started an after school poetry club in her library and I helped her with information from my Poetry on Parade program. She dubbed hers, “Poetry Rocks” and it did.
 When Jone’s envelope arrived I found 3 gems: an erasure poem using the Zentangle format, a beautiful art piece with Jone’s poem and a lovely notebook with a handmade cover, perfect for pocket or purse and collecting idea for new poems. The collaged trio of birds on the cover reminded me that birds of a feather do indeed flock together. Here are some photos of the treasures from Jone.  I have a special spot chosen to place the vibrant plaque, a starburst of color and hydrangea petals accompanied by this poem by Jone: 
                                                                                                                                                     


the sandman
 collects dreaming dust
 from grandma’s
 hollyhock
 burgandy velvet star
 childhood memories
​

© Jone Rush MacCulloch
 


Picture

 
How perfect for the grandma of self-named Superhero, Dazzle Girl and her sidekick Superhero brother, Dragonfly. Thank you so much Jone for these treats!

Picture
Picture
My second super Swap with Margaret Simon arrived and in it was a notebook with covers that Margaret painted in an abstract paint, print, and collage design.  I noted sponges, dots from perhaps wide pencils, circles from the bottom of lids or bowls and some feathery strokes in deep green. Atop the initial layers of this work were green crisscross pieces that reminded me of lovely grasses. Its bright yellow, white and greens cheered me and made me want to write in it immediately! The border had these words: “oh happy day “repeating along the edge.
 


Picture
She included a copy of the poem Tonight I am In Love by Dorianne Laux. She said when she read the poem she thought of me as one who supports poetry as literature. From it she created a Golden Shovel poem for me. Here is Dorianne’s poem followed by Margaret’s.  How lucky am I.















This poem sings my song for sure  And I want to shout, “oh happy day!” 

It begins
Tonight, I am in love with poetry, 
with the good words that saved me, 
with the men and women who
uncapped their pens and laid the ink
on the blank canvas of the page.
 
I am shameless in my love; their faces
rising on the smoke and dust at the end
of day, their sullen eyes and crusty hearts,
the murky serum now turned to chalk
along the gone cords of their spines. 
 
And it ends:
They could not have known how I would love them,
worlds fallen from their mortal fingers.
When I cannot see to read or walk alone
along the slough, I will hear you, I will
bring the longing in your voices to rest
against my old, tired heart and call you back.
 
You can find the entire poem here   
From Facts About the Moon ©W.W. Norton & Company, 2006. Reprinted with permission.
Here is Margaret’s Golden Shovel poem:
 
                                                                               Tonight I Write
                                                                a Golden Shovel for Janet
striking line from Dorianne Laux “Tonight I am in love with poetry.”
 
 I stained my arm tonight
 with ink spots from fingers I
drew across a blank page. I am
 falling into the words in
 this poem, in love
with how sounds sing with
harmony and make poetry.
 
© 2021 Margaret Simon

How much do I love this idea of my fingers full of ink spots from caressing all the poems I love? And indeed how the words and sounds sing with harmony and make poetry.  A blessing, this poem and poetry.
 
Also in the envelope were two magnet photos of my grandgirl aka Dazzle Girl and my grandson aka Dragonfly Superhero. They have taken prime position on my fridge holding up artwork. Again, oh happy day!!! Thank you Margaret.
And thank you Tabatha for organizing this. I am so glad I took this plunge! I loved writing for Margaret and Jone and gathering some poetry I felt each would like. I am still smiling about it all.
 

Poetry Friday, Week 30:  A Swap from Janet Clare Fagal

8/20/2021

 
Picture
Thanks to Carol at Apples in My Orchard for hosting today. She's talk about important poets.

Picture


​


Next week, Janet will be guest posting about what I sent to her for the Summer Poetry Swap.  It's her first time swapping and so glad she did.

​
Janet wrote a poem  inspired by Fran Haley's blog. She participates in a group's prompts and this one is the decima from Spain.
There are 10 lines with 8 syllables per line.
The rhyme scheme is ABBAACCDDC.

While I will try the decimal, today's not the day.  Instead another Golden Shovel:

Things to Do At the Tidepools

When at the tidepools, look
under the water’s surface for
Starfish returned from the sky. Turn over the driftwood
washed ashore last night. You might spy

barnacles looking for food. Walk along the sand for sea-glass
scrubbed and polished by the waves that sparkle green.


​©jone rush macculloch, 2021
​(not quite happy with the last line)





Picture
Besides the gorgeous poem that Janet wrote for me, she sent these two things. 
​A wonderful chapbook that I am savoring and the broadside by Taylor Mali, creator of the Metaphor Dice (which I have used). His poem nails my teaching style.

Poetry Friday, Week 32: A Bonus Poetry Swap

8/12/2021

 
Picture
so glad to be here for Poetry Friday.  This week  Christie at Wondering and Wandering is hosting and she has a community poem, Poetry Is...

After Tabatha set up the Summer Poetry Swap, she offered an opportunity for an extra exchange.  I was glad to add Rebecca Herzog to the swap.  Her poetry package arrived late last week. It included an erasure poem which was so fun. I love the painted bookmark and the bracelet/anklet made by her daughter.
Picture
For a response, I decided to use the words for a Golden Shovel poem and use the final line as a final line as well.  I have been working on ancestry puzzles of late so the words spoke to me in that way.

Let’s unravel the mysteries of generations
working feverishly and wordlessly
finding kernels of information to console
those who believed the stories of the past. Love
guided the ancestors’ choices. I am grateful
to carry on the name.
©jone rush macculloch, 2021
Thank you, Rebecca for a wonderful swap that sparked this response.





Poetry Friday, Week 29: Summer Swap From Iphigene #seepoetryeverywhere

7/23/2021

 
Picture
Today, Poetry Friday is hosted Downunder at Kat at Kathryn Apel.   And she's shares her interesting pets.

Picture
This week I received this gorgeous painting and poem from Mary Iphigene. 
Do you know her work? She's an incredible artist and poet. 
And from the sounds of it life has been particularly challenging in the Philippines.
I love how she used mourning/morning in her poem.
I also love 'crows feet/gathering'.
Thank you for this treasure, Mary.

This is my response to Mary's poem.  I used the phrase "Waking Up to Sunlight" for a sort of Golden Shovel (added an extra line).
Waking Up to Sunlight
Dream clouds fade with songbirds waking
me. The dog jumps up
tail wagging, nose nudging me to
rise and greet the morning sunlight.
This is joy.


©jone rush macculloch(2021, draft)


    Author

    All 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.

    Subscribe
    Picture

    Categories

    All
    #2021NaPoWriMo
    2021 National Poetry Month
    #2021NPM
    2021 Progressive Poem
    2022
    2022 National Poetry Month
    2022 Progressive Poem
    2023 National Poetry Month
    2023 Progressive Poem
    Allan Wolf
    Amy Souza
    Animals
    Aquarium
    Art
    Astoria
    Author Lisa Fipps
    Autumn
    Awards
    Bees
    Bells
    Betsy Fanco
    Birds
    Black History Month
    Book Give Away
    Book Quotes
    Books
    Bridges
    Bridget Magee
    Brú Na Bóinne
    Buffy Silverman
    Calendar
    California
    Candlwick
    Cape Perpetua
    Carnivorous Plants
    Carrie Fountain
    Cascade Poem
    Catherine
    Cento
    Charles R Smith
    Charles Waters
    Chris Baron
    Classic Found Poetry Palooza
    Clouds
    Coast
    Collage
    Columbia Gorge
    Cosmos
    Curious
    Current Events
    Debut Book
    Denise Krebs
    Dodoitsu
    Earth Day
    Edgar Allan Poe
    Ekphrastic
    Ekphrastic Poetry
    Ekphratic Poetry
    Erasure Poetry
    Family
    #februllage2022
    Fernanda Valentino
    Ferns
    Fibonacci
    Flowers
    Flowers]
    Folk Tale Week
    Food
    #foundhearts
    Found Poems
    Free Verse
    Fundraiser
    Garden
    Gardens
    Georgia Heard
    Ginko
    Giveaway
    Goals
    Golden Shovel
    #gratiku
    Haiga
    Haiku
    #haiku
    #haikudiary
    Halloween
    Heart
    Heidi Mordhorst
    Helen Frost
    HOP TO IT
    IBBY
    Ice
    Imperfect II
    #Inktober
    Interviews
    Ireland
    Irene Latham
    Izchak Perlman
    Jama Alphabet Soup
    Janet Clare Fagal
    Janet Wong
    January 2023
    Joanne Fritz
    Joanne Rossmassler Fritz
    Johanna Wright
    Joyce Sidman
    Joy Harjo
    Jr.
    Kat Apel
    Laura Purdie Salas
    Laura Shovan
    Leaves
    Lee Bennett Hopkins
    Linda Mitchell
    Lita Judge
    Margaret Simon
    Marilyn Singer
    Mary Lee Hahn
    Michelle Barnes
    Michelle Kogan
    Mixed Media
    Moe Phillips
    Monday Musing
    Moon
    Morning
    Mud Puddle
    Mystery
    National Arbor Day
    National Poetry Month
    Native Plants
    Natural World
    New Growth
    New Year Postcards
    Notebooks
    Ocean
    Odell
    OLW
    One Little Word
    OR
    Oregon Writers' Colony
    Pacific Northwest
    Packard Group National Exhibition
    Painting
    Pamela Sue Johnson
    Pandemic
    Pantoum
    Pat Mora
    Patterns
    Paul B. Janeczko
    Peace
    Photography
    Plants
    #Poemtober
    Poetry
    Poetry Challenge
    #poetrycommunity
    Poetry Friday
    #poetrypals
    #poetryplayground
    Poetry Prompts
    Poetry Videos
    Pollinators
    Pomelo Books
    Portland Japanese Garden
    PreK
    Publishing News
    Queen Anne's Lace
    Rain
    Rainbows
    Rebecca Brock
    Rebecca Herzog
    Rebecca Kai Doltish
    Rebecca Kai Dotlich
    Recipe Poems
    Redwoods National And State Parks
    Reverso
    Revising
    Revision
    Rivers
    Robert Burns Day
    Robyn Hood Black
    Sally Walker
    Scotland
    Scottish Gaelic
    Sean Taylor
    Shadorma
    Shadows
    Shawn Aveningo Sanders
    Signs
    #smallpoemsdecember
    #smallpoemsjanuary
    Snow
    Snowman
    Snowmen
    South Carolina
    Spark
    Spiritual Journey Thursday
    Spiritual Thursday
    Sports
    Spring
    Spring Snow
    St Brighid's Cross
    St. Brigid
    #StopAsianHate
    Students
    Student Work
    Summer
    Summer Poetry Swap
    Sunday Solace
    Sunrise
    Sunset
    Super Bowl Sunday
    Sylvia Vardell
    Tabatha Yeatts
    Tanka
    Taylor Mali
    Teaching Poetry
    The Hill Of Tara
    #theinklings
    The Last Bookstore
    The Poeming Pigeon
    The Poetry Box
    The Poet's Studio
    This Poem Is A Nest\
    Tracks
    Trees
    Tritina
    Tualatin Wildlife Refuge
    Ukraine
    USBBY
    Verse Of Ages
    Water
    William Stafford
    Winners
    Winter
    Winter Poetry Swap
    Winter Solstice
    WIP
    Wnter
    Word;less Wednesday
    Wordless Wednesday
    Wordy 30
    Yosemite National Park

    Archives

    May 2023
    April 2023
    March 2023
    February 2023
    January 2023
    December 2022
    November 2022
    October 2022
    September 2022
    August 2022
    July 2022
    June 2022
    May 2022
    April 2022
    March 2022
    February 2022
    January 2022
    December 2021
    November 2021
    October 2021
    September 2021
    August 2021
    July 2021
    June 2021
    May 2021
    April 2021
    March 2021
    February 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020

    Picture
    2023 Progressive Poem

    ​April 1 Mary Lee Hahn, Another Year of Reading
    April 2 Heidi Mordhorst, My Juicy Little Universe
    April 3 Tabatha, The Opposite of Indifference
    April 4 Buffy Silverman
    April 5 Rose Cappelli, Imagine the Possibilities
    April 6 Donna Smith, Mainely Write
    April 7 Margaret Simon, Reflections on the Teche
    April 8 Leigh Anne, A Day in the Life
    April 9 Linda Mitchell, A Word Edgewise
    April 10 Denise Krebs, Dare to Care
    April 11 Emma Roller, Penguins and Poems
    April 12 Dave Roller, Leap Of Dave
    April 13 Irene Latham Live You Poem
    April 14 Janice Scully, Salt City Verse
    April 15 Jone Rush MacCulloch
    April 16 Linda Baie, TeacherDance
    April 17 Carol Varsalona, Beyond Literacy Link
    April 18 Marcie Atkins
    April 19 Carol Labuzzetta at The Apples in My Orchard 
    April 20 Cathy Hutter, Poeturescapes
    April 21 Sarah Grace Tuttle,  Sarah Grace Tuttle’s Blog,
    April 22 Marilyn Garcia
    April 23 Catherine,  Reading to the Core
    April 24 Janet Fagal, hosted by Tabatha, The Opposite of Indifference
    April 25 Ruth, There is no Such Thing as a God-Forsaken Town
    April 26 Patricia J. Franz, Reverie
    April 27 Theresa Gaughan, Theresa’s Teaching Tidbits
    April 28 Karin Fisher-Golton, Still in Awe Blog
    April 29 Karen Eastlund, Karen’s Got a Blog
    April 30 Michelle Kogan Illustration, Painting, and Writing



Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.