Happy Poetry Friday! I am excited to be back in the roundup this week. Thanks for visiting the ridge. You can find lots more of the poetry fun happening at Sally's space HERE!

From now on, I choose brave. It was the one word destined to be my focus for the new year. It kept bubbling up in poems and books that I had been reading. Many of my friends and colleagues even started calling me brave. It's interesting because I never would have described myself as brave. I would call myself a risk-taker. I often seek out opportunities to stretch beyond my comfort level. But to me, being brave goes even deeper than that. The dictionary defines brave as:

By that definition, I realize I really am brave. I have had to show courage, and I have had to endure many emotional hardships this past year. But somehow, I found my voice. I found my brave. It comes from a deep urge inside of me to speak, to share, to witness, and to question. I am better for it. I will always choose brave. 

Now is the time to be brave for ourselves, for each other, for our world. We must be brave together. As I gaze up at the full January Wolf moon, I am reminded of the courage that it takes to be truly brave.

What is your brave? How would you define it? What does it look like, feel like, sound like? Brave heart, write! You have a courageous story to tell.

Happy Poetry Friday! I'm excited to be back in the round up this week. Thank you to my sweet friend, Carol for the invitation to join in the fun this week! She's hosting for us at her space at Beyond LiteracyLink.

Today, my heart sings. For the past couple of days, I have had a young Purple Martin swallow circling the skies above my yard singing the most beautiful notes I have ever heard. He sings and churtles, hoping to make a friend. His heart song is love. It comes from deep within, as it does from all of us. He shares his song with an open heart for all the world to hear. My hope is that we all continue singing our heart song to share the love within. When we do, we spread the pure joy that lives inside of us.

Heart Song
gladness fills the soul
sing of love and hope once more
a heart song of joy

Our heart speaks to us. Sometimes it's a whisper, and sometimes it's loud and clear! Think about the song of your heart. What does it say to you? Perhaps you can hear it's refrain. Listen closely. Describe what you hear. Have fun writing a heart song poem of your own!

Happy Poetry Friday! Thank you for visiting the ridge. Be sure to stop by Karen's space HERE for more of the round up!

As I continue to embrace the power of hope, I also remind myself of my dreams and vision for the future. It's important for me to lean into these thoughts and reflections. I invite you to think about your hopes and aspirations as well. Wherever they may lead, dreams and hopes are always a path worth following.

Dreams and wishes make great incentives to write. What are some of the things you dream of? Find some time throughout the coming weeks to write about your dreams and hopes. Sometimes, the simple act of capturing them in words can help make them come true.

Happy Poetry Friday! It's great to be back in the round up this week. Thank you for visiting the ridge, and please stop by Carol's Corner for more of this week's collection of poetry!

Hope is a beautiful thing, especially when it has wings. It's just the kind of hope I needed after experiencing a difficult time. I remember feeling so lost and detached from a path I wanted to take very much. As humans, we have a yearning to belong, to feel a part of something bigger. We are driven to connect, and remembering connects us to our identity. When I lost sight of my goal and the realization that I might not achieve it, I returned to my memories of hope. It turns out, I had many of them waiting for me in my notebooks to remind me of hope.

While this poem is about waiting with silent hope for my dear Purple Martin swallows to return to the skies, it's more about returning to myself. I needed to remember the things that are most important to me. I needed to find a new hope. And with this new hope, I have found delight in the peaceful way in which it has arrived.

How does remembering help you connect to your identity? Where do you find new hope?

Happy Poetry Friday, friends! It's a great week to celebrate poetry and friendship! Head over to Jone's space HERE for more poetry celebrations!

This week, I'm sharing a friendship poem about my very special friend, who happens to be a  tree. Yes, that's right! Even trees can be friends! In fact, I have many tree friends on the ridge. I love to gaze up at them and walk beneath their sturdy branches. They are very wise and have many stories to tell. Trees are one of nature's friends that I connect with just like a friend. What objects do you consider friends? I invite you to think about the friends in your life. They might be a person, place, or thing. What makes these friends special? Consider your friendships. What makes those connections valuable and important to you? Try writing a friendship poem to one of your favorite friends!

People and pets are often thought of as friends, but objects can be friends, too! Sometimes, we can develop a very special feeling or connection to an object. This object can be a companion of sorts. We can spend lots of time with our special object and even talk to it! In this way, our object becomes well loved, like a dear friend. Think of objects that are special to you. Make a list and jot down reasons why you connect to the object. You're sure to find a friendship poem hiding inside your writing about your very special friend!  

Happy New Year Poetry Friday friends! Thanks for visiting the first post of the year here on the ridge. Catherine is hosting the first poetry round-up of 2018 at her space, Reading to the Core. Be sure to ring in the new year by stopping by!

On New Year's day, there was a super-blue-wolf-full moon! I hope you had a chance to see it rising in the night sky. Not to worry though if you missed it because there will be another super-blue-wolf moon on January 31st. I read that it will also be a super-blue-blood lunar eclipse moon. Wow! We are certainly experiencing some spectacular astronomical events this year already. 

I always find writing inspiration from my favorite magnet topics like the stars and the moon! In this image, I put two photos of the full moon side by side to give the effect of the eyes of the wolf moon on the rise. The poem this image inspired turned out to be a little sadder than many of the poems I write, but I think poems must be written as we feel them. I was also trying to play with line breaks in a way that allowed the poem to be read as one voice or two voices. The two italicized lines can either be read as the first voice or the moon's echo in response. Try reading it with a friend in this way. I'm not sure if there is a technical poetry term for this strategy, but it was fun to fiddle with anyway! And if you prefer to read something not quite so full of sadness, I have included a haiku in honor of the wolf moon as well. Happy moon watching in 2018!    

A poet can express a wide range of emotions throughout a single poem or focus intently on one. A writer can invite the reader to feel whatever they choose, and sometimes the writer hopes to elicit a certain response from the reader. Think about poems or other pieces of literature that you have read with expressive emotions. In what way or ways did the writer invite you to feel or decide something on your own? Maybe it was the word choice or the use of line breaks to create "rooms" throughout the poem. Take note of this and try it out in your own writing., staying true to the feeling in your words. 

Happy Poetry Friday, friends! I appreciate your visit, and for more poetry, stop by Mary Lee's space HERE.

I hope everyone had an amazing Thanksgiving holiday! I am so grateful for the time spent with family, nature, and my trusty notebook. I took some time throughout the holiday to walk-about my yard, listening to the sounds of Thanksgiving. After I had gathered some descriptions and noticings in my notebook, I reread them out loud. My words reminded me of a poem I had read sometime before. Does that ever happen to you? You can be reading something you wrote and suddenly you realize it sounds so familiar, like maybe you had heard it before or even written something sort of like it in the past. I love when this happens! It's a wonderful reminder to a writer that topics and words are never used up. We can always lean on earlier entries and pieces we have written. 

The poem I am sharing today is a spin-off of a previous poem I had written titled, Sounds of Christmas, which itself was modeled after Walt Whitman's poem, Sounds of the Winter. You can find his poem HERE.

So remember writers, read widely and write often. Those words will become a part of your memory and will inspire many more pieces to come.

Think about all the different pieces of literature and texts that you have read. What are the ones that stick with you? Make a list of those titles in your notebook. Now take it a step further. Write down the words, phrases or lines that you can remember by heart. Reread your writing out loud when you're done. How will you let these familiar words spark new ideas for writing? Happy writing!

Welcome to the ridge! Join the November Poetry Friday kick-off with Linda at her space, ​TeacherDance.

Did you know that this weekend there will be a hunter's moon? A Hunter's Moon or "blood moon" is the name given to a full moon when it falls in the month of October, except for every four years (which is this year) when it appears in November instead. It was dubbed the Hunter's Moon by the Native American's who would track and kill prey during the light of the full autumn moon. Besides being the subject of folklore and legends, it is an occurrence of significance for astronomers and moon enthusiasts like me! 

So what makes the Hunter's moon different from a typical full moon? Well, this moon rises 30 minutes later each successive night which makes the sunset and moonrise really close together. This leads to longer periods of light during this harvest time of year. See for yourself! Step outside tonight and throughout the weekend to gaze at the incredible Hunter's Moon. 

Writing about topics we care about never loses its luster. These are those magnet topics that we are "over the moon" about. As we begin a new month, take some time to sift back through your writer's notebook. Are there entries or pieces of writing that could could be sorted into a particular collection? Read through your writing pieces. Does your collection feel complete? What other types of entries  could you add to your collection? Perhaps you'll discover a collection of essays based on a particular theme or maybe a poem anthology about the moon, like me!

Welcome, friends! Thank you for joining me here on the ridge this week. for more Poetry Friday fun, visit Leigh Ann at her space A Day in the Life.

​I have been relying on my magnet topics for writing starters lately. Trains are certainly a magnet topic for me that I write about often in my notebook. I can always find new ways to write about them.

There's just something about a train lumbering down a track, far off in the distance, that makes me pause in my busy track of life. It seems I move full speed ahead these days, and yet somehow, a familiar sound will blow the horn in my head. It's the horn that says, "Stop, slow down, let out the steam." I need to hear that, and when I do, I feel safe. So safe that I am eager to step up on the platform and board the train, wherever it may be going. The destination becomes very unimportant. What matters is that the train's familiar sound was enough to slow me down and pick me back up. 

Often a familiar sound can slow us down and make us think about why it's so easy to recognize. It could be a memory from our childhood or something we hear everyday at school, work, or at home. What are the sounds that you are most familiar with. Make a list in your notebook. Think about how these sounds make you feel or what they remind you of. Writing about a sound we connect with can lead us down all kinds of writing tracks. 

Happy Poetry Friday! Our friend Margaret is hosting today at her space Reflections on the Teche. Don't miss out on the poetry fun!

This week, I am back at the ridge with my friend, the moon. Yes, that's right, the moon again. I never grow tired of giving the moon  praise for my writing inspiration. The moon is one of those magnetic topics for me. I feel drawn to write about it whenever I might feel a little empty. Thanks to the moon, my writing can always fill itself full. 

Writers have different ways of filling their writing life with an abundance of words. What strategies do you have for bringing fullness to your writing?

Happy Poetry Friday and July full moon week! On the ridge this week I am sharing a poem in honor of my friend, the moon. For more Poetry Friday friends and offerings, visit Carol at Beyond LiteracyLink.

There's just something about a full moon that really helps ignite my writing ideas. It's fun to watch the moon grow and rise. My writing seems to grow more full and heavy with emotions the more time I spend under the moonlight. Perhaps that's why the moon is one of my favorite magnet topics. I can always find inspiration from its glow. In this way, I consider the moon as one of my "topic friends."

As a writer, I think it's so important to have topic friends to count on as well as people in your life that you consider writing friends. These might be members of a writing group, colleagues, or even members of your family. 

If you would like to see the full moon this week, be sure to look to the sky on Sunday July 9th. My dear friend, moon, will  be there waiting to light the way to many new words and writing ideas for you!  

Make a list of your "topic friends" and other writing friends. Think about one of your topics and spend a little time collecting ideas around this friend. Sometimes having a conversation with your topic and listening to your topic speak to you is helpful, too! After you have collected around your "topic friend", choose a writing friend from your other list as someone you can talk to about your writing. Writing with friends can be a rewarding and joyful experience!

Welcome to the ridge! Thanks for stopping by this week. For more of the Poetry Friday collection, visit Carol at Carol's Corner.

I am back this week from my relaxing trip to the beach. I took advantage of the ocean's poetic whispers while I was there. As I sat on the shoreline, I started generating a list in my notebook. I used my five senses and the imagery of this coastal scene to get some words onto the page. Then, I started playing with the words and phrases from my list. The result is my "Ocean Scene" poem. Working from a list is a quick strategy I use often to get my ideas flowing.

Try creating a word list in your notebook. Once you have your list, try putting words and phrases together. Play with different combinations until you find one you like. Collecting lists can be great fun!

Happy Poetry Friday! I'm away from the ridge this week, so thanks for visiting my home while I am at the beach this week. For more PF posts visit Mary Lee at A Year of Reading.

In honor of my trip to the coast of Texas this week, I decided to try a beach haiku. I am so grateful to our Poetry Friday host this week, Mary Lee, who gave me a helpful tip to consider when writing a haiku. This week, you'll notice that my form is a little more "loose". It definitely works. Thanks again for the advice, Mary Lee!

You can try Mary Lee's invitation as well! Take any piece you are working on, and see how you might break "loose" from the traditional form or structure. Allow yourself some wiggle room. Have fun loosening the reigns with your poetry writing this week!

Happy Poetry Friday! Thanks for stopping by this week. After your visit here on the ridge, be sure to make Jama's Alphabet Soup your next stop on the Poetry Friday trail!

It's hard to believe another school year is coming to an end. The month of May has a way of sweeping in unexpectedly. It closes out the school season and opens the door to another.

Soon, I will open the door to a summer season filled with writing and rewriting. I can't help but look forward to the many blissful hours I will spend on the ridge, just listening to the whispers. So many whispers have found their way into my notebook since I began my writing journey in this place I call home. I am so grateful to have this space to write and rewrite these whispers in my writing life.

I remember introducing my writing space here on the ridge during my very first blog post. I am including the poem from that first blog entry below. So much time has passed since it was written. And there is much that is still left unwritten. I am certain that more whispers will find their way into my writing life, but until they do, there are those that magically seek to be rewritten. They whisper to my mind, and I begin to write.

Rewriting can be a beautiful thing. Just like rereading, we tend to notice things that we didn't pick up on the first time around. Writing about topics we love over and over again is like reading our favorite books over and over again. Our writing becomes well worn and loved, just like our most treasured stories. 

Welcome, Poetry Friday visitors! This week I am taking a break from my bird waiting and sharing a poem of... Be sure to squeeze by Heidi's space My Juicy Little Universe, where she is hosting today's round-up.

They're here! The Purple Martins have returned to the ridge at last. Mama and Papa Martin arrived this evening just before sunset. Words can't express how excited I am to have these purple-winged beauties back. Of course, I had to give it a go by drafting a little tribute poem to this traveling pair.

Writers, I do hope each of you continue to live, dream, and write with all your heart. Hopes and dreams do come true when you write. Your words matter. There is hope, still. 

Writers live, dream, and write. I remind myself of this quite often, especially when I am in a slump. It helps me remember that my dreams in this life can come true through words.

​Words matter.
Words are hope.
So Live. Dream. Write.

Howdy, Poetry Friday friends! Thanks for stopping by and visiting me at the ridge where I am writing up a storm about birds while I wait for my favorite spring birds, the Purple Martins, to arrive. While I'm rounding up poems about birds, our friend Karen Edmisten is rounding up words for our round up today. Thanks for hosting, Karen!

Waiting sure is hard sometimes, especially when you want something really bad. For the past couple of weeks, I have been patiently waiting for my Purple Martin bird friends to return. With each passing day, my mind becomes and more consumed with worry that they might not return. Lucky for me, I know what to do while I'm waiting. I write! I write about other bird friends and animal friends that I love. I write about hopes, fears, and things I hold dear. I write about lots of things. Words can be great friends that help to pass the time away through all that waiting.

I have hope that the Martins will arrive, but until they do, I keep writing! After all, I have so many words that want to sprout wings and fly out into the world each day.   

There are times and even places where we tend to spend a lot of time waiting. You might wait in line at a grocery store or at a drive through restaurant. You might even spend time waiting at an airport, subway station, or a doctor's office. So what do you do while you are waiting? Perhaps you read a book or spend time on your phone. Do you write? Writers, my hope for you today and everyday is that you find those spaces in the seams of your life to write. Think of all the words that are waiting to be written!  

Happy Poetry Friday! This week I am full of hope as I wait for my bird friends, the Purple Martins, to return to the ridge for the nesting season. I do hope that you enjoy your visit and that you will mosey over to Check it Out where Jone is hosting today's round-up. 

Every year in late February, I sit on my front porch with my eyes to the sky. I listen, and I wait for the Purple Martins to return to their summer home here on the ridge. These magnificent birds return to North America each year from their winter homes in South America. They are brilliant acrobats in flight who often depend on humans to provide housing throughout the nesting season.

As a bird enthusiast, I have always had a fascination with these enchanting birds. My grandfather always put up houses for them, and after he passed away, I decided to become a Martin landlord myself. Something about their song and general presence gives me hope. The kind of hope that returns again and again without fail. The kind of hope that endures.

I think that this poem by Emily Dickinson speaks of such hope. I just love the way this poem immediately pulls me in because of its reference to a bird, which is a recurring magnet topic for me as writer, and then within those first few lines, totally flips the way I typically think about writing about the birds I love. There is much that we can learn as writers when we flip our magnet topics over and write from the other side.     

Hope is the thing with feathers
by Emily Dickinson

Hope is the thing with feathers
That perches in the soul,
And sings the tune without the words,
And never stops at all,

And sweetest in the gale is heard;
And sore must be the storm
That could abash the little bird
That kept so many warm.

I've heard it in the chillest land,
And on the strangest sea;
Yet, never, in extremity,
It asked a crumb from me.

Here are a few poems that I have written about the Purple Martins. I will continue to write about them in hopes of their swift return. 

Writers write a lot about the magnet topics they feel drawn to. Once these topics find their way into a writer's heart, they tend to stick around in the writer's thoughts for safe keeping. Then, just when a writer needs them the most, they flip themselves over to reveal another side or another way of thinking about the topic. Take a moment to think about a magnet topic that sticks with you always. What might be on the other side of this magnet? Now flip your magnet topic over. What do you see? Are there other sides of this topic to explore?

Oh, happy day! It's Poetry Friday! Find more Poetry Friday goodies at Katie's space The Logonauts. Thanks for hosting, Katie!

This week I am sharing a poem about a topic that I am drawn to and write often about. Having a list of magnet topics can be a great tool to help you jump start your writing. It can also serve as a sounding board to help you figure out what you really want to say.

​Birds are a magnet topic for me because I find myself writing about them over and over again in different ways. All sorts of birds live in my notebook, but one of my very favorites is the chickadee.

Writers often return to topics they care about again and again. Topics are never used up. We can always find something new to say about our magnet topics. Often times, we can count on these go-to topics whenever we feel stuck and can't decide what to write about. Try using one of your magnet topics as a spring board to get your writing flowing today. Stretch yourself to write about your topic in a way you have not done before. Magnet topics can help you attract all kinds of new words and ideas down on paper!