Category: OLW

Poetry Fridsy, Week 4: An Elfchen Poem

1/25/2024

Susan at Chicken Spaghetti is hosting Poetry Friday and she's featuring a fun poem based on my father's birthplace, Passaic, NJ

I missed last week. We were on like day 8 of freezing temps, snow, and ice. Everyday the weather people said it would warm and it did.
I came up empty. But this week I finally was able to create an Elfchen poem. This is a German form that was the December poetry challenge among the Poetry Sisters. It is:
type of cinquain that uses word count instead of syllable count, and links together the lines with these prompts:
Line one=A thought, an object, a color, a smell or the like
Line two=What does the word from the first row do?
Line three=Where or how is the word of row 1?
Line four=What do you mean?
Line five=Conclusion: What results from all this? What is the outcome?
(This information via Wikipedia.)

I've been thinking about my OLW for the year: Expand.

Rockaway Beach, January 1, 2024

Poetry Friday, Week 2: One Little Word

1/11/2024

©Graphic by Amber Fleek

My winter swap partner, Tracey at Tangles and Tails , is hosting Poetry Friday this week. She's diving into a Monopoly Game find and an ode to the thimble.

Today, I am revealing my 2024 word for the year: Expand. There is a question that accompanies the word.
It's What have I risked? This is not my question but one that I heard from Kelli Russell Agodon who was the keynote speaker at the Oregon Poetry Association Fall Conference in October. She asks that of herself after she writes a poem. It really resonated with me. During that last months, I've been thinking about the opportunities that are coming up for me and the goals which led to my word.
Here's my past words:
2013 Mindful/2014 Believe
2015 Open /2016 Focus
2017 Hope /2018 Seek
2019 Imagine /2020 Joy
2021 Flourish /2022 Wonder
2023 Curious/ 2024 Expand

I took this workshop last Saturday with Pamela Sue Johnson. One thing I usually do is photograph the process so today, I created a short video about the process.

There's Still Time to submit a Poem for the Midterm Project.

Last spring, I had an incredible opportunity to teach a poetry course for librarians getting their master's degree at Texas Women's University. I had student create videos of poems from this Poetry Friday Community and beyond. Originally, I was teaching the class for just last spring. then this fall I was asked to teach again. So I am in need of poems again. I would love to have at least 30 for student choice. In April, I will post here. Look up April 2023 for examples. Please consider sharing a poem for student use:

Poems should be PreK through high school
And any topic that would be age appropriate. There are some people who will be public librarians
An original poem. If you have permissions on a published one and can provide the bibliographic information, published will work. Otherwise, unpublished.
Include the date written
Feel free to submit 2-3 poems
Poems should be between 5-12 lines
Need poems by January 15, 2024

Please use the Google for to submit the poems. It will help me stay organized.

Poetry Friday, Week 1: Reflecting on Last Year, Poetry Swap Gifts, and an Invite

1/4/2024

©Graphic by Amber Fleek

www.jonerushmacculloch.com/mixed-media-artMarcie at Marcie Flinchum Atkins has the round up this week. Her post is inspiring with the goals for 2024. I love her idea to visit 24 independent bookstores! And her word is perfect: GROW.

I was away last week, at the coast, so I missed.
My word for 2023 was CURIOUS. And is was a great year for that word.
Ways I was CURIOUS:

took art lessons in watercolor, Gelli plate printing, and mixed media
took poetry classed
read 113+ books.
submitted 10+ poems to a variety of publications
taught for Texas Women's University (and am teaching again this year more later in the post)
found a new natural place, Wildwood Recreation Area to hang out
tried my hand at selling pieces of art at the Oregon State Fair (and two sold, yay!)
created a page for my art on this blog: Mixed Media Art
tried vegetarian sushi

Next I will share my 2024 One Little Word. I'm going to a workshop Saturday to create a piece of art.

I am always excited when Tabatha at The Opposite of Indifference puts the call out for the poetry swaps.

This year, I exchanged with Tracey at Tangles and Tails. When her package arrived, I was in the process of finishing her swap to mail . So I made myself wait until I mailed hers.

What a delight! I should have photoed the wrapping which was so very precise and gorgeous (Wrapping gifts is not my jam). And this card! See the envelope? It's narrow. And then it opens up into this amazing piece of art. It's like the book, The Jolly Postman by Allan Ahlberg! Included were 2 books, fabulous chocolate from Connecticut, and Washi tape. These treats were so special. Thank you Tracey so much for your generosity.

An Invitation

Poems should be PreK through high school
And any topic that would be age appropriate. There are some people who will be public librarians
An original poem. If you have permissions on a published one and can provide the bibliographic information, published will work. Otherwise, unpublished.
Include the date written
Feel free to submit 2-3 poems
Poems should be between 5-12 lines
Need poems by January 15, 2024

Please use the Google for to submit the poems. It will help me stay organized.

Monday Musing, Week 12: Art W-I-P, Be Curious

3/27/2023

My One Little Word for 2023 is "Curious." I am most curious in my art and writing. I have been pushing my self to try that different aspects of art. I love creating in mixed media, have shied away from loose watercolors (It's a thing). So yesterday, I had an opportunity to take a Loose Watercolor Florals from Pamela Sue Johnson. There's a technique with holding the brush. There's a technique with paper towels, there's letting go and letting the colors bloom.

This is as far as we got in a three hour time. Time to let this set and give room for the next step to detail and finish. It's for of like writing. You write a draft and then let it sit, let it percolate. Yesterday, I was really pleased with one and not so much with the other. Now, I can see what comes next. I can be curious about the process.

I am loving my word, curious, for 2023. It makes me slow and wonder a bit. What makes you curious?

Poetry Friday, Week 6: Post Cards, Submitting Poetry, and A Love Poem for Valentine's Day

2/10/2023

Design: ©Amber Fleek

Carol at Beyond LiteracyLink is hosting Poetry Friday along with sharing the wonderful exchange of New Year Postcards. Which is a co-inky-dink as I am sharing as well. (Just as a poem sunburst)

2023 Poetry Postcard Exchange for the New Year

Something I am curious(my 2023 OLW) about this year is what it feels like to submit more poems with intention. I am trying to live by the idea that if you never submit, you'll never get published.

I discovered Southern Arizona Press recently which publishes several anthologies a year. They had a call for love poems and one of mine was accepted along with poetry friend, Moe Phillips.

I also found out that another poem and two photos will be in the upcoming volume 13 of the Poeming Pigeon in the fall, 2023,

And with submitting, you get those rejection notices. Which happened recently.

Keep submitting is my mantra. If you follow Jane Yolen on social media, she frequently speaks of wins and rejections.

I wrote the original draft in 2007 as a pantoum. Then within the past year or so, I discovered the quatern(it may have been a monthly challenge) and wondered about revision.

I like the quatern because it allows for more focus.

Spiritual Journey Thursday

2/2/2023

At the entrance of my home. St. Brigit's Cross and a reminder for how I lead my life.

This year, as part of my OLW, CURIOUS, I am exploring writing about my spiritual journey each month.
This month, Robert Hamera asks the question about what colors make up your life.

I have been thinking about colors a lot of late especially in creating a OLW art piece for curious.

Blues and greens are the colors of my life. The ocean, water, trees and plants are touchpoint for me. This past weekend, being at the coast is what I needed; to be surrounded by the vastness of the ocean.

I am a seeker and naturally curious. Once I had my aura photographed.(somewhere in my buried files I still have it) It was a turquoise blue. A color of calm and creativity. A color of compassion and listening. I identify with all of these.

ocean blue
between the storm clouds
bring calmness

©draft, jone rush macculloch

Nature always wears the colors of the spirit.
Ralph Waldo Emerson

I am planning of series of my previous One Little Words as collage. It is making me think about words as colors.

Poetry Friday, Week 2: My OLW Reveal

1/12/2023

Graphic design by Amber Fleek

Welcome to Poetry Friday. Susan at Chicken Spaghetti has hosting duties today.

In December my One Little Word came to me: CURIOUS.
It was right around when I met Pamela Sue Johnson, a local mixed media artist. I took her online class last Sunday to create an image with my OLW.
As I enter a new decade in sixteen days (or have I already entered it? A friend said when I turned 69, I entered my 7th decade) I have been thinking a lot of the importance of staying CURIOUS. Curious and asking the question: "What if" has me teaching an online class (I fell like I am facilitating it), submitting poems, and creating art.

Poetry Friday, Week 1: One Little Word

1/7/2022

It's the first Friday of the new year and 7 Carol at Beyond LiteracyLink is hosting us all.
Do you want some poetry challenges to start the year?

Heidi from the Inklings suggested that we using the “The Lost Lagoon ” by Mohawk poet, Emily Pauline Johnson (d. 1913) “to build your own poem FOR CHILDREN about a treasured place that you return to again and again (geographical or metaphorical).”
#PoetryPals challenges us to write a poem inspired by something overheard.

Last year, my One Little Word was FLOURISH.
It was a good word, helping me to thrive in my writing and in my art play by writing and art classes.

wandering
divergent paths
in wonder

WONDER is my 2022 OLW. It arrived late last year.