Poetry Friday, Week 21: May Poetry Challenge

5/27/2022

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

Carol Varsalona link

5/27/2022 10:32:59 am

These are powerful small poems, Jone. I especially like: "you
watch the floor vanish into your past and you follow"
I also wrote about the thread of life and Uvalde for May #PoetryPals challenge.

Carol J. Labuzzetta link

5/27/2022 02:13:19 pm

I agree with Carol V., Jone, these are powerful poems. I think we are all processing what happened in similar ways - by using words. My words today reflected a need to escape from reality while others, like you are facing reality, head on. Thank you for sharing. I do hope reform occurs. We certainly need it. The killing of innocent school children and teachers, grocery store shoppers, and church goers must stop. There can be no excuses anymore. Doing nothing is not acceptable because the violence will obviously continue. Thanks for sharing your thoughts.

Linda Mitchell

5/27/2022 03:01:16 pm

Beautiful use of repetition, Jone. I love how the poem paces itself and slows me down.

Mary Lee

5/29/2022 05:02:15 am

Two powerful poems. Thank you.

Heidi Mordhorst link

5/29/2022 07:17:40 pm

I love them both, Jone, and somehow I think the first one also addresses this awful event. I like its mysterious unraveling of the past, and I think about the unraveling, by red thread, of their future.

PATRICIA J FRANZ link

5/30/2022 07:34:48 am

Resting with that red thread this weekend, praying it leads to mending.

Gail Aldous

6/1/2022 07:22:45 pm

Jone, I love both of your powerful poems and I hope they are therapeutic for you. When I am upset about something, it always feels good to write about it. In your first poem, I like your use of 2nd POV and how we can all relate to it. In your second poem I like how you use repetition to connect the two poems. These lines "a moment in which a/classroom doesn’t know their threads/of life will unravel," I can't get those lines out of my head. I did start my own poem about the shootings, but I need to go back to finish it. Maybe I'm not ready to finish it or maybe I need to start over and use the words in the Poetry Sisters' challenge. Thank you so much for sharing your poems and inspiration.

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Poetry Friday, Week 21: May Poetry Challenge

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