Category: Poetry Friday

Poetry Friday, Week 19: Mother's Day Edition

5/8/2026

I think there may be a Mother's Day theme throughout the Poetry Friday crowd. Cathy at Cathy Stenquist is hosting with a beautiful reflection about that first Mother's Day without your mom.

I originally planned to share kinder poems and process this week. Then the teacher I was subbing for as if I could do some Mother's Day poetry with her fourth graders. So we wrote odes. I shared "French Twist" , "A Letter to Mom", and some student written odes to set the stage.

Then we created a word bank for reference. This is a chatty group but as they wrote their poems, you could her a pin drop. They really dug in. The love for their moms is evident. I left the job with my heart full. Some days there is just magic in the moment.

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Poetry Friday, Week 18: Now the Hard Work Begins

5/1/2026

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Rose at Imagine the Possibilities is hosting Poetry Friday today. She shares some of her poetry project for April.

I'm sharing some photos o my book launch. It was a wonderful evening and well attended. My friend, Susan Blackaby, asked questions, some that were hard! Two of my college friends surprised me and I'm difficult to surprise. I was touched that the mother of the boy who tragically died in second grade (the inspiration for the book) and his siblings were in attendance. Later, the Mom said it was perfect.
On Sunday, we went to the coast for three nights. I wanted some time to decompress and walk on the beach.

Top: Moi, Johnny's mom and siblings, Needed a stool to see everyone. Middle: Susan and me, my college pals, Chuck and I. Bottom: Writing critique group, flowers, tea.

So now the hard work begins. Making sure that the Tilt gets into the hands of readers. It's a powerful story. I'm looking for ways to get readings and talk to groups. I'm preparing a press sheet to send to schools and groups. I'm hoping to find some podcasts that talk about books.
This week, Carol Labuzzetta has a thorough and thoughtful review of my book. I appreciate this poetry community supporting one another. If you would like to write a blog post about Tilt, ask some questions or know a posdcaster, I'd like to offer you a Review PDF of Tilt. Please let me know in the comments. You can purchase a copy through Amazon or contact me via email for a signed copy.

Finally, How I Closed the Book Launch

I wrote it last Saturday morning. I surprised myself.

April 25, 2026
Dear Darrah, Jackson, and Lily,
Tonight I launch my book, Tilt into the world. For twenty years I have carried you in my heart, head, and hand. Always writing, revising, getting feedback. Once I stepped away for almost a year so it could all simmer in a word soup.
Darrah, do you remember I first had you in a swing, “Whoosh up, down splat! Whoosh up, down splat!” I wrote it in prose and there were hardly enough pages that said book. I had these images in my head that needed to find their way to the page. I didn’t know at the time that you were a fifth grader reflecting on what happened in second grade.

Jackson, you were there but as Stevie. You’d become a Grant for a while. But returned to Jackson as it also spells mischief and a bright flame. Lily, you were in the background and not in the first draft. You were waiting for the changes I would make.

It was getting the words down, the images, the emotions, and the impact of Johnny’s life on our school community. It’s how I processed the trauma and the grief I felt of losing a student so tragically. It’s how I processed the conversations with the students in the library. I didn’t know it would take me almost twenty years to publish.
For starters, what did I know about writing a book? My first pages lacked the tension and the and the answer to “So what? Why as a reader do I care?” Thus, I began taking classes, going to conferences, and reading more books. I held written conversations between Darrah and I to figure out what she needed. How she needed to learn to speak up, how she wasn’t responsible for Jackson’s death.
It took awhile to figure out how to create a space for the topic of childhood death and how children cope with grief. The shift to writing in poems created the white space for the grief, loss, and forgiveness to come through.
Lily, I’m so glad that you arrived in the story. You were the third leg I needed for the three legged stool. I know I spent a long time writing your character arc and am sorry that in the end I cut it out. However, that process was key in helping me to understand Darrah’s pain with such clarity.
So now you are in the world. I hope you’ll reach many readers. That they will pick up the book and spend an afternoon under a tree, preferably an oak tree to read. I hope they will remember what elementary school was like. That sometimes just being a kid has unseen consequences and we need to be able to tilt.
You three have given me a community of writers and supportive readers. I would not have stumbled into the rich poetry community that has supported me. You three have given me a voice. I am forever grateful to you.
Love always,
Jone

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Poetry Friday, Week 17: Twenty-Two Years Ago

4/23/2026

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Here we are the last Friday of April. Irene at Live Your Poem.

Twenty-two years ago, I woke to the news that a second grader from my school had be mauled by dogs and died. I didn't know it that day but in the coming weeks and talking to his classmates, a seed was planted for a story.
On Saturday, I'll be doing my book launch for Tilt. I'm excited and nervous. I'm also deeply moved that the real Jackson's family members will be in attendance. It seems fitting to be reading poetry the last Saturday of the month.

2026 Midterm Videos from Texas Women's University

The midterms from my TWU students are finished and I'll be sharing them over the next few weeks. The poems are made available from Heidi Bee Roemer and STEAM Powered Poetry Contest. I highly encourage the students to submit to the contest.
My Shadow video by Carrie Brown
Welcome to the Science Lab video by Jennifer Davman
Wash You Hands video by Danette Diaz
Moon Faces and Phases by Sallie Wolf, video by Talia Sifuentes
Farmer’s Market by Heidi Bee Roemer, video by Katherine Sullivan
Mew for Milk by Heidi Bee Roemer, video by Zayde Ortiz
Art Smart by Ravel Howell, video by Isabel Valderas
Moving Art by Heidi Bee Roemer, video by Amy Mihok
The International Space Station by Linda Kulp Trout, video by Lauren Vincent

2026 Kidlit Progressive Poem

Tabatha Yeats started us off not only with a first line, but also with a beautiful map. People have added place names to the map. I'm writing on Thursday, April 23rd, so the poem is updated with Heidi Mordhost's inviting line.

The Land of Poetry
On my first trip to the Land of Poetry,
I saw anthologies of every color, tall as buildings.
A world of words, wonder on wings, waiting just for me!
Birding for words shimmering, flecked in golden gilding.

Binoculars ready, I toured boulevards and side streets
exploring vibrant verses, verses so honest and tender,
feathery lyrics, bright flitting avian athletes
soaring ‘cross pages in rhythmic splendor.

In the Land of Poetry, I am the conductor,
seeking oodles of poems that tug at my heart,
a musical medley of sound and structure,
An open mic in Frost Forest! Wonder who’ll take part?

There’s a pause in the program; no one takes the stage
the trees quiver, the audience looks up. Raven lands,
singing Earth’s message of the sage.
“Poetry in motion will be forevermore, from forests to sands.”

“Scatter,” she croaked. “Beyond Wilde Pond, to each and every beach.”
Meek Dove mustered courage and sang, “Instill humanity with compassion and peace.
Let Thackeray’s middle name, from this thicket, hearts reach!”
Her gentle coo-ooo-ooos reverberate, soft as fleece.

Words dart, dimple—Do I dare warble what's in my soul?
I’ve inhaled inspiration…yes, I’ll risk my refrain.
I fly to the mic, chanting "Tadpole, mole and oriole!

Check out Mary Lee Hahn at A(nother) Year of Reading tomorrow for the next post.

April 1 Tabatha Yeatts at The Opposite of Indifference
April 2 Cathy Stenquist at A Little Bit of This and That
April 3 Patricia Franz at Reverie
April 4 Donna Smith at Mainely Write
April 5 Janice Scully at Salt City Verse
April 6 Denise Krebs at Dare to Care
April 7 Ruth Hersey at There is no such thing as a God-forsaken town
April 8 Rose Cappelli at Imagine the Possibilities
April 9 Margaret Simon at Reflections on the Teche
April 10 Janet Clare Fagel at Reflections on the Teche
April 11 Diane Davis at Starting Again in Poetry
April 12 Linda Baie at Teacher Dance
April 13 Linda Mitchell at Another Word Edgewise
April 14 Jone MacCulloch at Jone Rush MacCulloch
April 15 Joyce Uglow at Storied Ink
April 16 Carol Varsalona at Beyond Literacy Link
April 17 Robyn Hood Black at Life on the Deckle Edge
April 18 Michele Kogan at More Art for All
April 19 Kim Johnson at Common Threads
April 20 Buffy Silverman
April 21 Irene Latham at Live Your Poem
April 22 Karen Edmisten
April 23 Heidi Mordhorst at my juicy little universe
April 24 Mary Lee Hahn at A(nother) Year of Reading
April 25 Tanita Davis at Fiction, instead of Lies
April 26 Sharon Roy at Pedaling Poet
April 27 Tracey Kiff-Judson at Tangles and Tails

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Poetry Friday, Week 16: What a Week!

4/16/2026

Heidi at my juicy little universe is hosting this week. I'm happy to say that she's has an informative video, "We Teach Poetry". She invited Margaret Simon and me to share our thoughts. It was a lively discussion.

Happy Book Birthday! Tilt is in the world.

It's here. In the world. Twenty years of work with the bulk of it done these last five years after I retired. Born out of tragedy that impacted the lives of many, I have made good on a promise made to fifth graders who lost their classmate in second grade.
The hard cover and Kindle are available now. The soft cover will be available April 18th.
On Saturday, April 25, I'll launch the book.
It means so much to me to have this debut book finally out.

My Poem from the Pop-Up Poetry Salon, April 11th.

Poetry Pop Up, April 11 was a lively gathering,
It probably had the most participants yet.

The prompt/invitation was "quake" from the Oregon Writer's Colony.

On Friday, I had a day that seemed so unfocused. I suspect that it was the anxiety that was bubbling about the return of the Artemis II thus this tricube.

2026 Midterm Videos from Texas Women's University

The midterms from my TWU students are finished and I'll be sharing them over the next few weeks. The poems are made available from Heidi Bee Roemer and STEAM Powered Poetry Contest. I highly encourage the students to submit to the contest.

My Shadow video by Carrie Brown
Welcome to the Science Lab video by Jennifer Davman
Wash You Hands video by Danette Diaz
Moon Faces and Phases by Sallie Wolf, video by Talia Sifuentes
Farmer’s Market by Heidi Bee Roemer, video by Katherine Sullivan
Mew for Milk by Heidi Bee Roemer, video by Zayde Ortiz

2026 Kidlit Progressive Poem

Tabatha Yeats started us off not only with a first line, but also with a beautiful map. People have added place names to the map.
April 1 Tabatha Yeatts at The Opposite of Indifference
April 2 Cathy Stenquist at A Little Bit of This and That
April 3 Patricia Franz at Reverie
April 4 Donna Smith at Mainely Write
April 5 Janice Scully at Salt City Verse
April 6 Denise Krebs at Dare to Care
April 7 Ruth Hersey at There is no such thing as a God-forsaken town
April 8 Rose Cappelli at Imagine the Possibilities
April 9 Margaret Simon at Reflections on the Teche
April 10 Janet Clare Fagel at Reflections on the Teche
April 11 Diane Davis at Starting Again in Poetry
April 12 Linda Baie at Teacher Dance
April 13 Linda Mitchell at Another Word Edgewise
April 14 Jone MacCulloch at Jone Rush MacCulloch
April 15 Joyce Uglow at Storied Ink
April 16 Carol Varsalona at Beyond Literacy Link
April 17 Robyn Hood Black at Life on the Deckle Edge
April 18 Michele Kogan at More Art for All
April 19 Kim Johnson at Common Threads
April 20 Buffy Silverman
April 21 Irene Latham at Live Your Poem
April 22 Karen Edmisten
April 23 Heidi Mordhorst at my juicy little universe
April 24 Mary Lee Hahn at A(nother) Year of Reading
April 25 Tanita Davis at Fiction, instead of Lies
April 26 Sharon Roy at Pedaling Poet
April 27 Tracey Kiff-Judson at Tangles and Tails
Also, there are still 3 days left to participate. If we don’t fill those last three days, we will end the poem on April 27th.

The Land of Poetry
On my first trip to the Land of Poetry,
I saw anthologies of every color, tall as buildings.
A world of words, wonder on wings, waiting just for me!
Birding for words shimmering, flecked in golden gilding.

Binoculars ready, I toured boulevards and side streets
exploring vibrant verses, verses so honest and tender,
feathery lyrics, bright flitting avian athletes
soaring ‘cross pages in rhythmic splendor.

In the Land of Poetry, I am the conductor.
the trees quiver, the audience looks up. Raven lands,
singing Earth's message of the sage.
"Poetry" Poetry in motion will be forevermore, from forests to sands."

Visit Robyn Hood Black at Life on the Deckle Edge Friday, April 17, to see where Robyn takes us..

Poetry Friday, Week 15: Thankful for Poetry

4/9/2026

Welcome to Poetry Friday. I am so glad you are visiting and leaving your links today.

It's National Poetry Month! There's so many writing opportunities and celebrations for poetry.

The Inklings have offered up the challenge of writing an ars poetica poem, “A poem that explains the ‘art of poetry,’ or a meditation on poetry using the form and techniques of a poem. I wrote the following years ago. I think it counts as an art poetic. Today seemed like a great day to share (or maybe reshare).

How to Write a Poem

Rise before dawn gathering words
those juicy, succulent images.
The aromatic ones which crinkle your nose
returning you to the shadow places.

Those juicy, succulent images
found in the crevices of remembering,
returning you to the shadow places.
Throwing the words into a lavender-blue sky.

Found in the crevices of remembering
an unexpected arrangement for early morning.
Throwing the words into a lavender-blue sky,
watching them flitter-flutter, landing on prayer flags.

An unexpected arrangement for early morning.
Waking before sunrise, scattering words,
watching them flitter-flutter, landing on prayer flags
as the night watchers slip away.

Waking before sunrise, scattering words,
the aromatic ones which crinkle your nose.
As the night watchers slip away,
rise before dawn, gathering words.

~ ©Jone Rush MacCulloch

2026 Kidlit Progressive Poem

Tabatha Yeats started us off not only with a first line, but also with a beautiful map. Donna added place names to the map.

April 1 Tabatha Yeatts at The Opposite of Indifference
April 2 Cathy Stenquist at A Little Bit of This and That
April 3 Patricia Franz at Reverie
April 4 Donna Smith at Mainely Write
April 5 Janice Scully at Salt City Verse
April 6 Denise Krebs at Dare to Care
April 7 Ruth Hersey at There is no such thing as a God-forsaken town
April 8 Rose Cappelli at Imagine the Possibilities
April 9 Margaret Simon at Reflections on the Teche
April 10 Janet Clare Fagel at Reflections on the Teche
April 11 Diane Davis at Starting Again in Poetry
April 12 Linda Baie at Teacher Dance
April 13 Linda Mitchell at Another Word Edgewise
April 14 Jone MacCulloch at Jone Rush MacCulloch
April 15 Joyce Uglow at Storied Ink
April 16 Carol Varsalona at Beyond Literacy Link
April 17 Robyn Hood Black at Life on the Deckle Edge
April 18 Michele Kogan at More Art for All
April 19 Kim Johnson at Common Threads
April 20 Buffy Silverman
April 21 Irene Latham at Live Your Poem
April 22 Karen Edmisten
April 23 Heidi Mordhorst at my juicy little universe
April 24 Mary Lee Hahn at A(nother) Year of Reading
April 25 Tanita Davis at Fiction, instead of Lies
April 26 Sharon Roy at Pedaling Poet
April 27 Tracey Kiff-Judson at Tangles and Tails

Also, there are still 3 days left to participate. If we don’t fill those last three days, we will end the poem on April 27th.
The Land of Poetry
On my first trip to the Land of Poetry,
I saw anthologies of every color, tall as buildings.
A world of words, wonder on wings, waiting just for me!
Birding for words shimmering, flecked in golden gilding.
Binoculars ready, I toured boulevards and side streets
exploring vibrant verses, verses so honest and tender,
feathery lyrics, bright flitting avian athletes
soaring ‘cross pages in rhythmic splendor.
In the Land of Poetry, I am the conductor.

Visit Reflections on the Teche for Janet Clare Fagel's line, Friday, April 10.

2026 Midterm Videos from Texas Women's University

Tomorrow, Saturday, April 11, 2026 @
11 AM EST, 10 AM CST, 9 MST, and 8 PST

Saturday, April 11, I'll be hosting my quarterly Poetry Pop-up at 11 AM EST. Are you curious about this gathering?
What happens at a Pop-Up Poetry Salon?

It’s a time to gather with other poets and write for about an hour. I typically plan a couple of prompts or invitations to spark ideas for writing. We write for about 20-ish minutes. Then we have the opportunity to share and give positive feedback.
Frequency of the Salons
I like to hold pop-ups about once a season.
Why I Hold the Pop-ups
I feel more than ever we are needing community and time to write. For me, writing is art. I want a safe space to try out ideas. There’s a creative spark when we gather, write, and share. It's great to have something to come back to later or say that’s enough for now.
If you'd like the link, please let me know in the comments or shoot me an email. (macrush53 (at) yahoo (dot) com.

Two Weeks Until My Book Launch

I'll be launching my book baby at my favorite local tea place, Cup of Tea. The owner is so supportive and had made it her mission to foster community. It's going to be the perfect place.

I'm in the process of getting the files loaded. Found a last minute spelling error that needed correcting.

“Tilt by Jone Rush MacCulloch deals with tough subject matter in an appropriate, child-centered way. Darrah’s journey through change and loss ultimately ends in joyful reconnection and acceptance. Poems from a tree’s perspective ground the lyricism in this intentional, thoughtful, vivid novel in verse.”

I love this quote from Cordelia Jensen, author of Lilac and the Switchback. She is also a book coach. I hired her to work with me last year.

Poetry Friday, Week 14: Happy National Poetry Month

4/2/2026

Matt at Radio, Rhythm & Rhyme is hosting Poetry Friday today.

It's National Poetry Month and I couldn't be happier. There's so much happening this month.

First up is the 2026 Kidlit Progressive Poem. It's a poem party and each week the poem builds a line by a different poet. Here's this year's line up.

April 1 Tabatha Yeatts at The Opposite of Indifference
April 2 Cathy Stenquist at A Little Bit of This and That
April 3 Patricia Franz at Reverie
April 4 Donna Smith at Mainely Write
April 5 Janice Scully at Salt City Verse
April 6 Denise Krebs at Dare to Care
April 7 Ruth Hersey at There is no such thing as a God-forsaken town
April 8 Rose Cappelli at Imagine the Possibilities
April 9 Margaret Simon at Reflections on the Teche
April 10 Janet Clare Fagel at Reflections on the Teche
April 11 Diane Davis at Starting Again in Poetry
April 12 Linda Baie at Teacher Dance
April 13 Linda Mitchell at Another Word Edgewise
April 14 Jone MacCulloch at Jone Rush MacCulloch
April 15 Joyce Uglow at Storied Ink
April 16 Carol Varsalona at Beyond Literacy Link
April 17 Robyn Hood Black at Life on the Deckle Edge
April 18 Michele Kogan at More Art for All
April 19 Kim Johnson at Common Threads
April 20 Buffy Silverman
April 21 Irene Latham at Live Your Poem
April 22 Karen Edmisten
April 23 Heidi Mordhorst at my juicy little universe
April 24 Mary Lee Hahn at A(nother) Year of Reading
April 25 Tanita Davis at Fiction, instead of Lies
April 26 Sharon Roy at Pedaling Poet
April 27 Tracey Kiff-Judson at Tangles and Tails

Next Saturday, April 11, I'll be hosting my quarterly Poetry Pop-up at 11 AM EST. Are you curious about this gathering?
What happens at a Pop-Up Poetry Salon?

It’s a time to gather with other poets and write for about an hour. I typically plan a couple of prompts or invitations to spark ideas for writing. We write for about 20-ish minutes. Then we have the opportunity to share and give positive feedback.
Frequency of the Salons
I like to hold pop-ups about once a season.
Why I Hold the Pop-ups
I feel more than ever we are needing community and time to write. For me, writing is art. I want a safe space to try out ideas. There’s a creative spark when we gather, write, and share. It's great to have something to come back to later or say that’s enough for now.
If you'd like the link, please let me know in the comments or shoot me an email.

Student Work

One of the things I love about teaching poetry when I’m subbing is providing students a way to express themselves. I also stay curious with how I’m presenting and teaching. Recently, I figured out how to draw out similes and metaphors from students by rephrasing. For example, instead of asking for colors, I asked for “the color of…”

Something I noticed with the poems I’m sharing today is how students played with the animal sounds
Cheep, peep, cheep

Peep, cheep, peep
Peep, cheep, cheep

Wo-of, wo-of, wo-of
Wo-o-f, wo--of, woo--f
W-o-of, w-o-of, w-oo-f

Me-ow, me-oow,meo-w
Me-ow. Me-oow, meo-w
Me-ow, me-oow, meo-w

Squawk, squawk, squawk
Nan, nan, nan
Flap, flap, flap
I just love their playfulness

I'm Hosting Next Week. Looking Forward to the Party

Poetry Friday, Week 13: A Family Literacy Event and Getting Ready for National Poetry Month

3/27/2026

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 Night

I 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:

Use the word-of-the-day in a poem.
Free associate to see where the word takes you.
Build a web of connected ideas and images to add to your quiver.
Change the word’s part of speech.
Use the word to build a compound word.
Brainstorm a list of rhyming words, slant rhymes, words that repeat the consonant sounds, words that repeat the vowel sounds.
Explore the word’s synonyms and antonyms.
Dig through a Thesaurus or mine the adjacent words in a dictionary.
Combine words on consecutive days and work them into a single poem.
Short or long; formal, blank, or free verse; topical or fanciful or anything in between—your choice. Wind up your imagination and let it spin.

Save the Date

The 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.

Poetry Friday, Week 12: Daily Haiku and An Invitation

3/19/2026

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 Date

Poetry Friday, Week 11: Sneak Peek Invitation and Poetry Pop-up Invite

3/13/2026

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 Date

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.

Poetry Friday, Week 10: Celebrating Twenty Years

3/6/2026

Karen at Karen Edmisten* is hosting Poetry Friday this week. She wrote a poem in the style of U.S. Poet Laureate Arthur Sze as suggested by the Poetry Peeps.
This will be something I will try later this month.

Happy Blog Anniversary to Me

In about 2006, I started a blog. Before Solace in Nature, I had a blog on libblog.net and that is now longer viable. I was excited to showcase the library happenings in that blog. It let to me have a personal blog at blogspot. I ran out of space for photos, moved to Wordpress until 2020 until I moved to Weebly. And during Wordpress days, I had Check It Out for all the library happenings.

I was looking at stats and roughly I have 0ver 2500 posts. I am terrible at stats and it's hard to comprehend that I write that much.

The Poetry Friday Community is a safe haven for me. I have met so many people through connecting with poetry each week. Thank you for always stopping by.

As a thank you, drop a comment. I'll put your name in a winner generator app and select someone to receive a copy of Tilt when it publishes and a small heart from my "Love, Always, 2026" project.

A tiny update on Tilt. I gave corrections to the book designer on stanza and line spacing alone with some minor editing. We have chatted about font choices and formatting. It's fascinating. I will need to go through again for any errors. It's one of my fears about getting the book into the world. I want it to be error free.

What I Found Digging Around the Archives

I was looking through the old blog posts. I totally forgot that I was a guest blogger at Author Amok
As Spring is approaching and really we're in meteorological spring now, it's the perfect poem.
Spring
By Jone MacCulloch

Our time will come again,
say the emerging daffodils
in the dazzle of the sun
as pink calypso tulips bloom.

Say the emerging daffodils:
Our time is brief
as pink calypso tulips bloom
during spring's first rain.

Our time is brief,
sing the robins
during spring's first rain
while worms wriggle in the grass.

Sing the robins,
We'll be back
while worms wriggle in the grass
nectar awaits the first arrival of bees.

We'll be back
in the dazzle of the sun
nectar awaits the first arrival of bees.
Our time will come.

© 2014 Jone Rush MacCulloch

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What I Found Digging Around the Archives

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