Spiritual Journey Thursday: 2025 One Little Word For the last thirteen years, I have chosen a One Little Word. My 2024 word was "Expand-take a Risk." It served me so well. From sharing art in the community to going to Japan, my world expanded. So in thinking for the word this, several came to mind. I've chosen DREAM for 2025. Langston Hughes' "Hold fast to dreams /For if dreams die/ Life is a broken-winged bird/That cannot fly. " has always resonated with me. Finding quotes that make me want to copy them down has been trickier. I found two that I used for golden shovels. A golden shovel, riffing on wilde. A dreamer is one who can only find his way by moonlight, and his punishment is that he sees the dawn before the rest of the world. ~Oscar Wilde I disagree with Wilde...it's never a punishment to see the sunrise. And this quote by Anaïs Nin: Dreams are necessary to life. ~Anaïs Nin Dreamers find their way by moonlight Consort with the dreamers the ones who find the tchotchkes and trinkets left on their deck by crows. The ones who know the way to the sea by their whimsy and moonlight ©jone rush macculloch, 2025 (draft) Dreams are necessary to life Anais Nin In my dreams the ravens are at the feeder. They’ve returned the necessary keys and word, I lost last decade to the divine chaos of life. ©jone rush macculloch, 2025 (draft) Invitation for Saturday, January 18, 2025What: "Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter." - Martin Luther King Jr. Let's create or write poems for persistence, for presence during the Martin Luther King, Jr. weekend. Let's share our work in community. If you are a writer, a poet, a slow stitcher, or artist, join us for a couple hours of creative community. 10-12 EST If you can only join us for an hour, great. Join us. Join here: Creating for Persistence.  WINTER POETRY SWAP JOY I'm always excited when Tabatha Yeatts puts out the call for poetry swaps. I love out poetry community, our connected collective. This year, Tanita Davis and l swapped. Her poetry rock will be on display with my other rock words, She's nudged me with some slow stitching with a little felt embroidery project and given me words for future poems. Thank you, Tanita. 
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 © Graphic by Amber Fleek 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  ©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:
©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:
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
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:
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? 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.
 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
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.  ©Art and poem by Jone Rush MacCulloch  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.
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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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