Dear ,

Happy National Poetry Month! And Happy April Fool's Day, even if you, like me, may not feel very light-hearted.

 

It did make me smile, when I talked to my daughter today, to hear about the April Fool's jokes her son Rhys was playing on her all day.

"What kind of April Fool's jokes?" I asked.

 

"Like asking us if we want a piece of pizza," she said. "And when I say yes, he holds out his hand and it's empty. He's done it a bunch of times."

 

"Sounds like almost-seven-year-old humor to me," I said.

This is one of the ways I'm coping, my eighteenth day into social distancing—talking on the phone with my daughter while she's outside with her kids, one in a stroller, two on bikes, doing her own coping.

And I'm coping by reading my favorite poems. Like this perfect-for-April-Fool's-Day poem by Naomi Shihab Nye, from her book 19 Varieties of Gazelle: Poems of the Middle East.

WHAT KIND OF FOOL AM I?

He sang with abandon,
combing his black, black hair.
Each morning in the shower,
first in Arabic, rivery ripples
of song carrying him back
to his first beloved land,
then in English, where his repertoire
was short. No kind at all! we’d all shout,
throwing ourselves into the brisk arc
of his cologne for a morning kiss.
But he gave us freedom to be fools
if we needed to, which we certainly
would later, which we all do now and then,
perhaps a father’s greatest gift –
that blessing.

                              ~ Naomi Shihab Nye

A little foolishness is good for us, even—or perhaps especially—now, with the news getting more dire by the day. My foolishness today was taking a dance break from my hours at the computer to Ella Fitzgerald's rendition of "I Want to Be Happy."  Music (and dancing, no matter how badly) helps me to cope, too. 

But there are many moments when facing the grief I'm feeling is a pathway to coping with my tumultuous emotions. If you are feeling out-of-sorts, shaky, cranky, discombobulated, check out this wonderfully helpful article from Harvard Business Review shared with me by my friend and poet extraordinaire Irene Blair Honeycutt called "That Discomfort You're Feeling Is Grief." (Speaking of  the acknowledgment of grief as a way of coping, don't miss this wise, moving Charlotte Readers Podcast by Irene, "Beneath the Bamboo Sky.")

Scroll on down for my hands-down favorite poem on coping, "Cope, Hard C," from a book called Using Poetry in Therapeutic Settings: A Resource Manual & Poetry Collection by the Vital Signs Poetry Project of The Children's Inn at NIH. I was fortunate to attend a workshop with the editor, Davi Walders, at a conference on Poetry and Medicine held by Duke University some years ago, and was inspired, no, awed, by the work they do. at The Children's Inn. You can read about it in this article by The Washington Post called "Power of Poetry Helps Parents of Sick Children Cope."

And if you'd like to engage in some poetry-writing yourself this month, check out Poetry Rocks!, my online course, below or here.

Wishing you peace and grace, health and strength,

Online WordPlay

 

\POETRY ROCKS!

 

Would you like your writing — prose and/or poetry — to be more graceful, powerful, beautiful? Do you sometimes find poetry confusing or intimidating and wish you could “crack the code”? Or do you enjoy writing and reading poems, but want a more thorough understanding of what makes a poem good? Then this poetry extravaganza is for you.
Expect a good time exploring what makes a poem a poem, gaining the knowledge you need to confidently create and revise poetry, and strengthening your writing skills in all genres.

It would be a joy and an honor to share what rocks about poetry with you—especially in this challenging time.

And, hey, National Poetry Month is just around the corner!

HERE’S WHAT YOU GET:

• 23 poetry creation tools, delivered one per day (Monday through Friday) to your inbox — in honor of National Poetry month, which is right around the corner. Use them as you get them, use them when you can, use them over and over to create poems. Each tool zeroes in on one aspect of poetry and provides an innovative method to approach writing a poem. Many of them are great for creating prose, too. The tools include:
  *   a purpose, so you’re clear what you will learn
  *   background information when helpful
  *   “how-to” directions to create a poem
  *   an example that illustrates the poetry tool in action
  *   a short reflection to solidify the concepts covered
  *   “Hone Your Craft” suggestions for further exploration
  *   a short reflection to solidify the concepts covered
• A PDF document of each tool that you can print or save on your computer
• An audio recording of each tool, so you can learn by listening and/or reading
• Instruction on the role of audience, reading like a writer, and the process of revision, including a handy Revision Checkpoint Chart — this information can be applied to strengthen your prose as well as poetry
• Additional poetry resources
• An e-book that contains the information and resources covered, as well as your 23 poetry creation tools for ongoing use

WHERE: From the comfort of your own home, via the internet.
WHEN: Any time you want! And once you receive all 23 tools, they’re yours to keep, which means that you can keep using them for years to come.
COST: $45
TO REGISTER: To pay with a check via mail, email info@wordplaynow.com for instructions. To sign-up online for Poetry Rocks, click here.
 

WHAT PARTICIPANTS SAY ABOUT POETRY ROCKS

 

" . . . for letting me hear your voice in my head, for the gift of reading poetry every day and asking “how does she/he do this?”, for filling my tool box with a lifetime of just-the-right-tool (my husband says you can do any job if you have the right tool), and for being a writer whose work bubbles over with words that remind me of this great gift of humanness — thank you!

                                                                               ~ Linda Whitesitt

 

. . . a master class in creativity, writing and understanding poetry. It is exceptionally rewarding, educational, and enjoyable. It is a celebration of life. . . . each lesson includes a “what to do” section that directs the student to create a poem. . . . The Tools can be used again and again, long after the course has been completed, to create new poems. . . . Maureen takes a playful approach to writing and teaching that makes this course particularly enjoyable. 

                                                                                   ~ Bud Thomas