Word Pool Poems
Throughout each workshop participants create a pool of words as a group. The challenge? After the session they are invited to write a poem using as many of these words as possible and to submit it for publication here. Enjoy!
From: Writing for Wellness: Poetry of the Ages, March 16, 2013
Found Poem
By Marg Wafer
I don’t want to lose death.
He shadows me like a cranky lover I try to shake off.
And I want him, just not now.
Because I am 5,
And I’ve barely begun to look over my shoulder.
I hope not to marry at the appropriate age.
Though I will eventually hold out
For love over approval.
I’m going to do it all.
The greater the age, the more freedom, right?
Just now I’m skipping rope with my sister Janet,
My Little Mermaid lunch box snapped shut.
I have to like her until I’m 12 at least, the mermaid.
After that I can entertain death again,
Those dented old bones, scavenging the universe.
From: Writing for Wellness: Poetry of the Everyday, January 19, 2013
Friends
Words are fragile.
One ear perched above roiling waters,
dip into the pool.
Pleasure too, is fragile. Breathing.
Noise outside reminds me that I am here.
The memory of good books, coffee.
There is nothing else to think about
when you read to me.
I listen, a tiny leaf alive beside
galloping horses.
In the morning, tell
a good story.Soothe,
warm the people around me.
Words are a basic necessity, that
and love. Once again,
I listen.
And thank God I do.
-- Marg
-----------------------------------
The Most Basic Necessity: Loving Friends
"Wake up you fool
Sounds like the
Horses are galloping
Away"...but he
Didn't hear the
Warning
No noise outside,
Nothing
Could bother him
In the morning.....
For he was
Warm inside
Laying under
All of the
Warm soft
Covers
In quiet bliss....
But something
Was amiss,
For he smelled
The coffee,
He looked up
And he was
Surrounded by books
With People
all around,
And he realized
That he had
Fallen asleep
In The Friendly Grounds
Book Store.....
His friends
Were telling
Good stories
And one said
"welcome back
Old snorry"
And he pulled
Himself out
From under
His jacket,
And thought
I thank God
I have friends
Who can make
All of that racket
--Steve
Upcoming Workshop
Long Days, Warm Nights; A poetry workshop inspired by summer
Saturday, July 30, 2016
12:30 pm-3:30 pm
General Gomez Arts and Events Center, Auburn, CA
Details and registration here.
Current 6 week Series
This is the Moment: Poetry of the Here and Now
Wednesdays, June 15th - July 20th 2016
Sierra College Roseville Gateway Campus: 10:00 am-12:00 pm
Sierra College Nevada County Campus: 2:00 pm-4:00 pm
Cover painting by Lin Max
"All that glimmers"
Well Water
by Randall Jarrell
What a girl called "the dailiness of life"
(Adding an errand to your errand. Saying,
"Since you're up . . ." Making you a means to
A means to a means to) is well water
Pumped from an old well at the bottom of the world.
The pump you pump the water from is rusty
And hard to move and absurd, a squirrel-wheel
A sick squirrel turns slowly, through the sunny
Inexorable hours. And yet sometimes
The wheel turns of its own weight, the rusty
Pump pumps over your sweating face the clear
Water, cold, so cold! you cup your hands
And gulp from them the dailiness of life.
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