I've Written Many "Where I'm From" Poems (Thanks, George Ella Lyons), So Took the Day 6 Challenge to Alter Towards How Have I Arrived at This Point

Definitely tree-blooming sneezing. Ha-choo. Yikes. Pollen everywhere. I also cooked for the week and baked a cake for the neighbor who lost his brother to cancer (the same neighbor who lost his mother on January 2nd). It's a lot of heavy. 

Otherwise, it was back to grading, planning, and prepping for the week, with one nice walk, a visit to see Will & Jess (and the babies), and laundry. 

And here we are with another Monday in April (VerseLove25 #7, but I'll offer VerseLove25 #6 here). Meanwhile, back to the longer days now.  Jeepers.

Honored to, Once Again, Host a Session of @EthicalEla #Verselove and to Share a Prompt & Poem To Get the Phalanges Thinking

 I sketched a poem soon after #Verelove '24 in hopes of chiseling it throughout the year for this year's verse love. Early in my teaching career I read an article written by Sara Corbett that introduced me to the historical experiences of children uprooted by war in Sudan. The story redirected all I hoped to achieve as an educator, including how I might use the power of words to change the world for the better. Katherine Applegate’s middle-grade verse-novel, Home of the Brave, details the story of Kek, a Sudanese child relocated to the U.S. as a refugee-background  youth.  One of the poems in the book, Scars, details a  remorse felt  for not having a gaar ceremony , the Dinka tradition of scarring a young boy’s forehead as an initiation into adulthood.

You’re lucky, Ganwar says.
Why would you want such scars?
Here they mean nothing.

There they meant everything, I say. (p. 175) I like to  pair Applegate’s “Scar” with a song by Emmanuel Jal, author of War Child: A Child Soldier’s Story. The  song, “Scars” features Nelly Furtado, and has helped me to get students and teachers  writing for years. The refrain, My scars are what got me this far / And now I can touch the stars / Coz it don’t matter who you are (who you are) / We all got scars allows me to ask others: What scars do you have? Where are they? What stories do they tell?

Then, while editing it one night while my father was watching me do as I do on my computer, the poem twisted in a different direction. Always on the road to find out, and Cat Stevens singing in my error. It's one of those full-circle moments and from it, I find serenity.

Loved Dave Wooley's 4th Day Poetry Prompt to Travel a Little and to Write From What We've Seen (I Miss My Neighbors and Friends, Immensely) #VerseLove25

I have to head to campus. Yes, I know it's a Saturday, but the high school hours have slowly crept into higher education and the demands continue to grow on faculty to do more, give more, and be more. We do what we have to do.

On #VerseLove '25, day 4, the brilliant Dave Wooley offered the challenge to write a travel poem and capture the moment, which I tried to do with numerous places I've seen (with a vision to see my dear friends once again). I'm hosting day 5, today, but need to get to campus for representing our school (slim pickings for them to have faculty representation). So, I got it once again..

Here's to our Saturdays!

And On The Third Day of #VerseLove25, the Challenge Was to Steal the Rhyme Scheme & Words of Another. I Also Lied. I Labored Yesterday, So No Day Off.

The poetry challenge of VerseLove, Day 3, was to locate a poem (I chose a Ruth Stone poem) and to put the rhyme scheme and last words onto the page, and write with what you have to work with. I'll forever be thankful to Ruth Stone's mentorship, and I remember so many of her strong women poems she taught to me, ages 18-22 in Binghamton, New York. I wanted to honor her work by alluding to the Gorillas at the diner, one of her award-winning poems.

I also laugh, because at 9 a.m. there was a knock on my door yesterday, as I was contemplating what to do with a day without a schedule. It was my neighbor's son, inviting me out back because their fencing

company was coming and they needed me to take down my fence (which was the makeshift fence created from Pam's pool in Monroe that I took down. 

Long story short, I spent four hours taking down he back fence and helping them to take down a few trees and bushes, so their 6 foot fence could be put up. I was drenched, but I was glad they involved me because Karal and I both benefit from the new fence (more privacy, better quality, and more restrictions for the dog...she won't jump over this one).

The new fence will look like the white one and will run in front of their shed and before the Connecticut potatoes (rocks) that used to be used as dividers between lawns). Poor Abu will no longer have his shade for the summer afternoon naps. Ah, but I'm banging my chest. It felt good to get outdoors to do physical work rather than the cerebral. 

Now, Off to campus for today and tomorrow. They keep finding new ways to make us work even harder on the days where we should have time to work on our own projects.

3x3x3. Thankful of Leilya Pitre for her 2nd Day Prompt of Tricubes (for Spring). I Love the Brevity, Rhythm, and Precision of this Poetic Style

It's cold, but the sneezing season is upon us. I went to campus and attended a dis/ability simulation hosted by a junior. Trip, who created the program to help students and professors to experience what it's like to a student with a dis/ability on Fairfield University's campus (a conversation that many of us in K-12 educational settings have often, but I've not seen so much in higher education. He, and the program, were brilliant and having a conversation with his parents was very educational and motivating. 

It's Day 2 of VerseLove and the assignment was to write a Tricube: a three stanza poem, with three lines a piece, and 3 syllables per line.

I think because of the temperature, I went with the allergy part of the year. Lucky for me, I have Flonase in the house for my nasal mayonnaise. I also have plenty of tissues.

AND TODAY, I have space to actually think. After this post, I am going to make a plan to make the best use of a day without meetings, school visits, classes, or deadlines. I am also caught up with grading (which is odd), so I'm going to use the day to strategize the remainder of the semester.

Ah, but verse to the Day 3 poem.

April Brings Tremendous Firsts, Including Day One of Poetry with #VerseLove25, and a Wonderful Opportunity to Be a Student Summit Keynote

I have only a few brain cells left this morning and I'm using them to write a post.

Dear Shaun,

I knew in 2011 when you arrived to the summer teacher institute, you were an educator destined for greatness. We have so many memories of building youth communities together through CWP, and I was thrilled to see you continuing your excellence with the Greater Hartford Arts Academy yesterday at Rentschler Field. What a wonderful day to work with sophomores, meet senior leaders, and launch the day's work to empower young people and their visions for the world. I haven't felt such love for diversity, inclusivity, and individuality in a very long time. That is a special school. A wonderful mission. An incredible opportunity for the kids fortunate to attend.

It was also wonderful to see Nick Chanese again, to meet your superintendent Dr. Sasha Douglas, members of Capitol Region Education Council, and to have an opportunity to be at the stadium where UCONN plays football.. How amazing is it that schools, educators, and administrators are still giving their all to support the excellence of young people.

I was totally honored to be asked to speak and get the student voices going. Ha, fortunate for them I backed my remarks with the research of so many giants whose shoulders I stand upon. When you know, you know. 

Here's to you, Sir. Always.Amazing.

Bryan

And now time to spend 30 days doing what I love...working with the poetic prompts of teachers and writers from around the world with Ethical ELA's VerseLove. I went with rhyme on day one as the prompt was to take lines from other writers, but all I had was a sheet of Latin phrases, so I did what I could.

Ready for more space to think this Wednesday (it's garbage day, too, so time to take that out and begin anew). Sometimes I simply thankful to have the luck and chances that I have. 

And now to get today's day going by posting yesterday's 1st poem. 

Nital Noisufni (that's Latin Infusion spelled backwards)

Back again, creating poetic monsters, are we?

Ready to see and conquer (with chance to be free).

Time to turn V-words: Veni, vidi,, vici

(oh, gosh, another school day & I still need to pee).

But I’m here to be versed, ready for the long haul,

thankful for some time to write some life with ‘y’all.

Ars longa, vita brevis.

Yes, there another pain in my pelvis.

And shoot. I had to teach (these hips aren’t from Elvis)

Illegitimi non carborundum,

We need this month (to counter the dumb)…

We don’t need bastards to take our spirits down.

I’m here for 30 days -- the wonky way for this clown.

We language lovers here, thinking ourselves into existence, 

(shouting out to J.G. Jowett with love…1st day, her brilliance).

Cogito ergo sum. 

I can’t afford eggs or ham.

& I’m not sure how poetic my Latin is,

but they’re from a book I have (which one? none of your biz).

Ah, it’s good to be back here, typing from this April chair.

Hello, Verse Lovers…glad to return for another year.

I Get to Start My Day in Harford, Connecticut, with Student Leaders at Rentschler Field. Let's Go, Greater Hartford Academy of the Arts!

Every now and again, I'm invited to speak and event that really gets my juices blended. Shaun Mitchell, a CWP favorite, has been working as an administrator for several years north of Bridgeport, and his school got funding to bring student leaders together for a day of sharing, planning, voicing, collaborating, and building a school culture they'd like to see.

The planners asked me to rev up the students before they break out in well-organized sessions for kids to share with kids what they'd like to see in their school, not only for their generation, but for many generations ahead. 

This is such a Brown School task (and one that was carried over into my doctoral work and CWP-Director leadership...listening to kids! What a great way to launch a day of exciting conversations). Google says it is just a 50-minute drive so I have to factor in the fact that I'm not a morning person and I need to travel to give opening remarks. Exciting for me is I get to be at the stadium where the UCONN Huskies play. This is a childhood dream, as I remember always loving the rivalries of Syracuse and UCONN teams. It's the same excitement I had when visiting Gampel Pavillion

It's an easy talk to give, as I'm always building my thinking on so many giants before me, including all the students I listened to and learned from in my decade of teaching in Louisville. It's also a shout out to the 8 young men who helped me with a responsibility to speak out about their relocation stories from refugee camps in Africa, to classrooms of the United States. It is listening to youth that brought forward the Writing Our Lives conferences and Young Adult Literacy Labs that have been part of the work I now do at Fairfield University.

Now, if only I can find the right gate to enter and the right location to be introduced to the microphone and technology. Yes, I know it is the first of April, but I'm used to being the fool and that is the them for my talk (dad jokes and all, 100% 4th grade approved). 

And with that, I must hit the road. 

It's also the launch of #VerseLove '25. Hope to see you for the next 30 days of April writing poetry with incredible writers, teachers, scholars, and students. I love all the challenges that come our way.