Happy Poetry Friday! It's so great to be visiting the round up. I'm grateful that our sweet friend, Carol is hosting this week at her space, Beyond LiteracyLink. 

Throughout the month of November, I have taken some time to consider the simple things in my life and my gratefulness for them. I need only step out into nature, and I am reminded of the blissful way it calls to me. These days it is one of the things that is always sure to fill my cup. This old elm tree is one such majestic being that brings joy time and time again. It is particularly lovely in the autumn as it turns, and when there is also a full harvest moon on the rise, a poem is destined to emerge. For this poem, the words came to me in threes. Soon, images began to form and words tumbled on the page.

I invite you to be inspired by the "power of threes" strategy in my invitation below. May it stir your poetry spirit! 

As it so often happens in fairy tales. many things happen in threes. For this poem, I brainstormed a list of strong verbs. I arranged them and re-arranged them until I found my perfect combination of three. Afterward, I stepped out on my back porch and let nature do the rest! I focused in on the sights, sounds, and smells around me. I invite you to try out your own  "power of three" poem as well. Once you have your three, allow yourself to immerse into your senses. Retreat to your own oasis for inspiration and let the pen carry you to wherever it may.

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! Thanks for joining me this week. Donna is hosting our first round-up for February at her space mainelywrite.blogspot.com/.

This time of year, I love to walk into the woods and hear the joyful noise of winter birds. Their chatter and songs in unison, are music to my ears! I especially enjoy the whistling notes and repeated syllables of the Robins. If you listen closely, it almost sounds like, "cheerily, cheer up, cheer up, cheerily, cheer up!" I wondered if I could write a poem in metrical verse that created a rhythmic pattern that sounded very much like the repetitive tunes of the Robins. It was certainly worth a shot, and I had a lot of fun trying it out! The result is the poem I am sharing today, written in tetrameter couplets (for the most part I think)! I love that poems offer us so much grace to try new things.    

One of the wonderful things about poetry is the freedom and space it invites us to explore with. I like to study and learn about the different technical elements of poetry. Learning the craft of writing poems is an important task, but sometimes it's easy to get bogged down in the technicalities. That's when I remember the words of Mary Oliver, "Poems must, of course, be written in emotional freedom." So whenever you feel yourself getting wrapped up in formalities, take back your freedom, and write from your heart.   

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, 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. 

Let the Poetry Friday Celebrations begin! Violet is hosting the round-up today, so don't miss all the fun over at her space HERE.

Friends, I am really happy that I am able to share this week. I have been feeling a bit under the weather for a few weeks, but thankfully I am getting much better each day. So today's poem is really short and sweet. It's really about clinging to sounds in our memory that soothe and comfort us. Whenever I am not feeling well, I tend to reach for things that will give me some ease. For instance, I like to cozy up in my bed with a good book and a soft blanket. I remember when I was little, my mother used to rock me and sing me lullabies whenever I was sick. The sound of her voice always made me feel so much better. This memory encouraged me to think about other sounds that are soothing to me, and from that my poem was born. 

Perhaps you have sounds that calm your spirit as well when you are not feeling your best. These soothing sounds might be hiding in memory somewhere or they might turn up often in your every day life. Take a moment to reflect on those sounds. You never know what connections might bubble up and settle in to your notebooks.

Think about the sounds around you that provide a sense of calmness and peace to your mind. Reach into memory. Are there any sounds that stir feelings of comfort or relief? Try making a list of these soothing sounds in your notebook. Allow your thoughts and reflections to lead you as you write within the safety of your notebook.