Kortney Garrison

Homeschooling With Ease

Nonets with Irene Latham

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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

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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!

Entering Holy Week

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Usually I feel like I limp into Easter ready to put Lent behind me. This year feels different. Is it because we have lived a pandemic year? An entire Lenten year. Here are a few resources that I will be using to create a bit of spaciousness in my soul.

Laudate Omnes Gentes by the Taizé Community. This record is on almost every day during Holy Week. We first heard it on Pray As You Go!

Pray as You Go. A reliable guide with wonderful music (usually!). I am excited to try the Saturday Evening Examen–a new feature I think.

Reading the Passion with Albrecht Dürer. This resource was created by our pastor for use durning our Palm Sunday liturgy. It’s a wonderful collection of woodcuts and scripture with a hymn interspersed.

And finally, if you can’t get out to services, you can participate (live or recorded) with St Michael’s. Mabel carried the processional cross on Palm Sunday!

Nine Months Till Christmas

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Advent Reflection: The Annunciation through Mary's Eyes - Ascension Press Media
The Annunciation by John William Waterhouse

We are freshly back from the coast and celebrating the Feast of the Annunciation by making menu plans, doing laundry, pulling weeds, practicing piano. The house is blessedly clean and supporting all this work as we look forward to Holy Week.

Tonight we will make pizza together and maybe watch The Passion of Joan of Arc.

Utterly everyday. But that’s really the heart of the incarnation. God coming into our everyday. Startling!

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