books and such

Nonets with Irene Latham

16 April 2021 by Kortney 17 Comments

This week I spent a morning learning about nonets with Irene Latham. The nonet is a syllabic, 9-line form with each line’s syllable count ascending or descending. Irene’s book Nine: A Book of Nonet Poems is a collection that shows just how thoughtful and sophisticated poetry for children can be.

Here’s one of the poems that came out of the workshop. I was thinking about the revision history of a haiku that will be published next month. I was also playing with the title of Natalie Goldberg’s Three Simple Lines: A Writer’s Pilgrimage Into the Heart and Homeland of Haiku. Melissa Wiley said this may be her favorite Goldberg, and I agree! Part travelogue, part historical notes on haiku, altogether enchanting.

Three
simple
lines become
a rectangle.
Doorway, gate, portal,
a pair of slim couplets.
Mirrors, twins, both like and unlike,
still holding the turn, the surprise,
the way through the open door to God.

Here’s one more found poem built from my notes during Irene’s workshop, including the title of one of her forthcoming books!

Visit Jama’s Alphabet Soup for all the Poetry Friday goodness!

Poetry All Month

1 April 2021 by Kortney

You’ve got to laugh, right? That the first day of National Poetry Month is April Fool’s Day! The foolishness of waking early, pouring coffee, and sitting down to write. But before I could sit down this morning, I had to unearth the food coloring so that I could make some blue Bantha Milk for the Star Wars fans who live at my house!

I’ve got some plans for this month. Writing and reading poems is nothing new though, so I’m adding a few extras to sweeten the month. Because really, where you find sweetness is where you’ll find the poems.

I’ll be meeting the morning with prompts from the 30 Day Haiku Challenge hosted by The Wild Words. Haiku is accessible enough and the prompts are expansive enough that there’s really no reason not to join in! I have been writing poems about Penelope and Demeter. So I will be writing the morning haiku from their perspective.

I’m also going to post a few poetry oracle poems in the Stories on my Instagram. Those are the cards above. They’ve got lines from Basho via Robert Hass on one side. Flip over three…or sometimes four…and you’ve got a poem! It works because the source material is so rich!

Tania Runyan is leading a reading and writing book group through The Great Gatsby. I read the novel as a high school senior, but haven’t returned since. I am utterly intrigued by Tania’s assertion that “writing poetry as we read will help us better understand the novel and reading the novel as we write will help us create inspired poems.” I don’t know quite what to expect, but this could prove a rich vein.

On April 13th Irene Latham is coming to Read-Aloud Revival to teach a workshop on writing nonets based on her lovely book Nine: A Book of Nonet Poems! It’s the generative kind of book–you finish reading and immediately head to the page. I can’t wait to spend time with Irene! You can sign up just for the month–it’s a full one with art and stories!

And I’ll be visiting with Poetry Friday peeps because they are some of the most careful readers + writers around!

How are you celebrating this month?

Here’s a great collection of posts from the archives about celebrating Poetry Every Day if you need some inspiration!

Poet as Citizen

28 September 2020 by Kortney

“Political” poetry by men remains stranded…the enemy is always outside the self, the struggle somewhere else. –Adrienne Rich

Open the body to grief, turning your face to your own life, absorbing the failures your parents and your country have suffered. –Robert Bly

The thing to do is grab the broom of anger and drive off the beast of fear. –Zora Neale Hurston

One of the most subversive things you can do is spend as much time as possible nurturing what is not machine-like. –Austin Kleon

Hard times are coming when we’ll be wanting the voices of writers who can see alternatives to how we live now, can see through our fear-stricken society and its obsessive technologies to other ways of being, and even imagine real grounds for hope. We’ll need writers who can remember freedom–poets, visionaries–realists of a larger reality. –Ursula K. LeGuin

Be joyful
though you have considered all the options.
–Wendell Berry

God bless the Ground! I shall walk softly there,
And learn by going where I have to go.
–Theodore Roethke

{An accidental collection winnowed out of my journal from the last two months that feels like a reliable pattern to follow for the next two months.}

Reading in Quarantine

24 May 2020 by Kortney

Day 73.

Oddly enough, my last post about daily poetry practice was the first day of our family’s quarantine. On March 12, I went to the library and the grocery store–essential services in these parts. Since then, we haven’t ventured far from home.

But we’ve been fine. We have a yard and a small garden, a basketball hoop and a swing, a grill, a hammock, a freezer in the basement, vibrant faith, fine friends, remote work, internet, good health, and deep bookshelves.

Because we homeschool there wasn’t much disruption to our daily routine. We kept on with our school work finishing out our year of Greek Myths and Homer. And of course there were plenty of read-alouds! Here’s what we’ve read during quarantine.

Last Archer and First Fowler by S.D. Smith

The last Green Ember book came out during quarantine. Nicolas and Mabel read and listened to the whole series again and then read the final book, Ember’s End. We read Last Archer and First Fowler aloud together. Last Archer might be my favorite Smith book yet! Now Joseph is listening to Green Ember on audiobook. The entire series is available via Hoopla if your local library subscribes to that service.

Prairie Thief by Melissa Wiley

We listened live to Melissa Wiley read this aloud. What a treat!! Her voices are just out of this world. We first read this in the late Summer that Joseph was born. So it was high time we returned to this gem.

Call of the Wild by Jack London

We went to see Little Women in the theater this Winter. One of the previews was for the new movie version of Call of the Wild starring Harrison Ford. The preview starts with narration by Ford. Joseph leaned over and whispered, That sounds like Old Han! Of course he was right. We liked the book and the movie though they are different creatures.

Wizard of Earthsea by Ursula K LeGuin

Andy read this aloud to the kids at bedtime. This is not their first LeGuin. They are big fans of Catwings and the her picture book called Cat Dreams. I’m excited for the kids to read more of the Earthsea books–the later ones are my favorites.

The Pope’s Cat and Margaret’s First Holy Week by Jon M. Sweeney

We read Pope’s Cat on Kindle. That’s been a new addition to our reading scheme. Our library has access to many, many books via Kindle. So we have taken advantage of that resource during quarantine.

Charlatan’s Boy by Jonathan Rogers

This was another read-aloud by the author. I don’t know how much longer these will be available, but it’s so worthwhile. I don’t know if I would have fallen so thoroughly in love with Grady if I didn’t have Jonathan Rogers to read to me.

Animal Farm by George Orwell

Another nighttime read aloud by Andy. So much good discussion came out of this book. I’m glad we have it’s characters and metaphors as a part of our shared vocabulary.

Farmer Giles of Ham by J.R.R. Tolkien

We haven’t read much Tolkien. I much prefer these short, funny novellas to his longer work. I’m working through his introduction to Beowulf on Kindle right now in preparation for our Medieval Studies next year.

Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry by Mildred Taylor

I remember finishing this book while on a school trip to a reservoir where we camped and water skied. Our kids may be a little young for this one, but I got it out from the library before quarantine to read myself. And new read-aloud choices are getting thin!

Swallows + Amazons: Secret Water by Arthur Ransome

For many years we have read a Swallows book during the Summer. When we finished Tolkien, we started Ransome though our Summer proper won’t begin until the end of the week. The books are long, but there’s nothing beats these stories of adventure and friendship between siblings. Bridget, the baby called Vicki in the first novels, is old enough to come along this year!

Rikki Tikki Tavi by Rudyard Kipling

We read this in our co-op. Hearing it on audio, I was struck by how absolutely funny the story is. This would be a great story to read outside in the overgrown garden if you happen to have one nearby!

The Children’s Homer by Padraic Colum

This was a part of our ancients study this year. We have one final chapter to read on Tuesday. I love Colum’s work and want to read more. I am a fan of Willy Pogany’s illustrations, but the kids prefer reading along with the graphic novel by Gareth Hinds.

Nonets with Irene Latham

Poetry All Month

Poet as Citizen