 ©Graphic by Amber Fleek Laura at Small Reads for Brighter Days is hosting Poetry. She is previewing her project for National Poetry Month. She's invited others to play along. It sounds fun and engaging. Speaking of National Poetry Month, I will be sharing poem videos written by poetry friends. These poems were donated to my students at Texas Women's University for a midterm project. I am very excited to see these poems come to life. Last month, I participated in another collaborative effort with Spark 54. This project is organized by the fabulous Amy Souza. She paired me with Bianca Schrader who shared the following poem: Temples By Bianca Schrader Inspiration piece All things beautiful All things sacred All things worshiped, holy in quiet spaces. Sun-dappled anything. Curls of steam out of a favorite cup. Piles of books, some to be read, some just hopefuls. Unfinished projects. Cards from close friends. All things ordinary. All things precious, placed with purpose. All stories to tell. Soft light, quiet mornings. Late for work, out the door. Company is coming, sweep the floor. So that they may take their shoes off. Make yourself at home in mine. I’ll make it comfortable. I’ll try to let you in once you’ve entered! This is my church. I’m the god worshiped here and so are you. we are the same, you just built your church a little differently. All things beautiful. we are the same, you just built your church a little differently. All things beautiful.  © "Temple", 2023 Jone Rush MacCulloch This is my response to Bianca's poem. Mixed media. To see my Inspiration piece, "Portals" and Bianca's response poem, "Windows", visit Spark. Only a Month Away, Invitation: April 14, 2023 Classic Found Poetry Palooza
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 Graphic design by Amber Fleek
Welcome to a cold and breezy Poetry Friday. I hope you have a warm fire or something warm to drink as you enter this special community. And thanks to Irene at Live Your Poem for hosting us all this Friday before Christmas Eve and Day.
May this weekend be filled with magic and mystery for all who celebrate. 
Besides collaborating with Linda Mitchell for Spark 53, I reached out to some new poetry friends. Fernanda Valentino shares a poem in What is a Friend edited by Sylvia Vardell and Janet Wong. She volunteered to write a response to this photo I took in Glencoe, Scotland. Fàilte Heavy clouds cascading Looming low, they skim And brush these emerald valleys With winter's thick, cold kiss. Laden with burdens The storm clouds linger, dense Their damp and dewy fingers Caress this desolate place. Melancholy mornings As sunlight struggles through Each day another battle For sunbeams, pale and new. What is this lonely, far-flung place? What does this small hut ponder? What secrets does it hide? What memories dwell inside? Let the clouds become nostalgic And the darkness dissipate To reveal the face of Spring Impart her warm embrace. This isolation's fleeting The time must surely come When the soothing voice of Spring Whispers “Welcome home”. ©Fernanda Valentino
Are you thinking of a One Little Word for 2023? I have been. Last Saturday, I met Pamela Sue Johnson, a local mixed media artist at The Procrastinator's Market (on of my favorite event in December) It turns out she's offering an online class to create an art piece with your2023 word. I've signed up. I also bought a journal with this art as it has my word, flourish, from 2021. Graphic by Amber Fleek
Welcome to Poetry Friday. Only Two more Fridays after today in 2022. Karen at Karen Edmisten*.
Today I have a collaboration with Linda Mitchell. We shared pieces with one another for Spark 53.  Dreams In Between mixed media by Linda Mitchell
Dreams In Between By Jone Rush MacCulloch Letters are small angels flying in between — Anne Wynne, from “Letters are Small Angels” The queen dreams of letters, written by cardinals in deep winter. Are words written by the divine lost? Small messages from everyday angels found tucked in each envelope. I am flying in the alleyways, a queen in rainbow wings, delivering letters and dreams in between. Last Call for 2023 New Year Postcards
Won't you join us? We have about 9 of us exchanging postcards. Sign up for the 2023 New Year Postcard Exchange. Send five, send ten or send to all. Did you know there are 17 days until 2022 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:
 Created for me by ©Amber Fleek Welcome from across the pond. I am currently in Ireland but planned this post in advance. I will most likely be on hiatus until July. Michelle at Michelle Kogan is hosting us today. I love Michelle's work. And I am tempted to take an online class from her. This week I am sharing the second of inspiration pieces that Linda Mitchell sent me. It is a poem, "Coda". It's fitting that next week we will move into summer and so this is our final "spring' Friday. Coda Noun MUSIC
scarred by ice, snow and wind. Scarred by ice, snow and wind red bud waves fuchsia with survival pride. Red bud bears notes from our sun Written in invisible ink. invisible ink revealed by rain Wintertime is done let us turn toward spring Spring reveals herself in rain soaked woods singing to herself. From woods to shore bluebells hum a rising chorus to answer Spring Spring responds – waits a beat for the trees Now green, these trees are winter wise. © 2022 Linda Mitchell inspiration piece  © 2022 Jone Rush MacCulloch response to "Coda" Created for me by ©Amber Fleek Buffy at Buffy Silverman is hosting Poetry Friday today. I was excited to see beautiful lady slipper s on her blog and notice of her new book this fall. How exciting. I recently had the fun opportunity to participate in Spark 51. I asked Linda Mitchell to partner with me on the project. Since we both wanted to send each other an art inspiration piece and a poem inspiration piece, we ended up with four projects. LOL! Today I'm sharing my response to Linda's art inspiration piece. It provided me with the opportunity to delve into Amanda Gorman's Call Us What We Carry for a cento poem. A cento, a poem created of lines and phrases from other previously written poems like a collage. Like a collage, perfect for the mixed media collage that Linda sent me.  Penning a Letter Penning a letter to the world as a daughter of it We are walking beside our ancestors Every time we fall heart-first into the news, Life is not what is promised The heart chambered by grief Life, a page, we are only legible when opened to another We rebuild, reconcile, and recover We cannot possess hope without practicing it Reading children’s books, dancing alone to a DJ music We shall only learn when we let this loss, like us sing on & on ~ Call us what we carry If only we’re brave enough to be it ©jone rush macculloch, 2022 The lines are from Call Us What We Carry by Amanda Gorman, 2021:
1. “Ship’s Manifest 2. ”School’s Out” 3. “Fugue” 4. “Life” 5. “Lighthouse” 6. “Compass” 7. “The Hill We Climb” 8. “Every Day We are Learning” 9. “The Miracle of Morning” 10. “Surviving” 11. “Call Up” 12. “The Hill We Climb”  Today Margaret at Reflections on the Teche is hosting Poetry Friday. And we are sharing collaborative posts.I decided to once again participate in SPARK, organized by Amy Souza. ( participated in SPARK 27 with an Inspiration piece and a Response piece). If you are not familiar with this creative community, please check it out. For times a year, writers, musicians, and visual artists are invited to participate in a 10-day project round. As a participant you create a new work by using someone’s art, writing or music as inspiration. And you have work with someone you know if you wish. I put the call out to the group of friends and Margaret responded. She sent me today’s poem and I created a mixed media response. I sent Margaret a photo from the California Redwoods and she wrote a poem for it. She's sharing her response on her blog today. This is the inspiration from Margaret: Notes in a Locker I forgot who she wanted to become. A note dropped into a locker scribbled in cursive, curly letters to sign her name. I forgot who she was. When notes became soggy tissue floating in the river buried beneath the flood, we climbed out on Easter morning. I forgot who she wanted to be. Her blonde Dorothy Hamill haircut flirted with the boys just wanting to be loved. I become who she is daily walking from cocoon of sleep into full moon rising, being fine being she being me. ©Margaret Simon This was great fun. I will admit to some anxiety of getting it perfect. But I went with my heart and gut. The funny thing is that after reading Margaret’s poem, an image of a red locker came to me. It surprised me upon re-reading her poem that while it said ‘locker’, the word red was nowhere in the poem. I noted these words in Margaret’s poem: Locker Note scribbled in cursive Floating on the river Dorothy Hamill haircut (those of us of a certain age had this haircut, “The Wedge”) Full moon rising Cocoon My process for the mixed media was to create some painted papers. I have my great-grandfather’s letters from the Civil War, 1863 in cursive. I printed them and added paint. The red frame is from a gardening book. While I didn’t have a magazine photo of Dorothy Hamill, I was able to find an image and hide it in the painted papers.  Through the Red Locker: Bayou Moon To see them on the SPARK website:
Jone MacCulloch, Inspiration piece and How Do We Stand? By Margaret Simon, Response Notes in a Locker By Margaret Simon, Inspiration piece and Jone MacCulloch SPARK 48 happens in August. It’s a great way to play in art. This is something that I am trying to do more of since retirement. Response |
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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