Hooray for Poetry Friday! Thank you so much for dropping by the ridge for a visit. Our friend Tara, is hosting this week at her space, Going to Walden.

I have been spending a lot of time reflecting on change these past couple of weeks. Change is an interesting topic to explore. I've become rather fascinated with the nature of change and our relation to it. I think there can definitely be some validity in the idea that the magnitude of change lies in the eye of the beholder. We all perceive and react to change differently. I have noticed this quite often with fellow colleagues in education. I think the important thing is to reflect on the change both individually and with others who face the same challenge. It's a process that demands our attention, reflection, and understanding. Sometimes we choose change, and sometimes it's chosen for us. It can be both easy and hard. And depending on the change and the implications, we can find ourselves feeling really any place on the spectrum. Whatever change we may face, reflection through talk and writing can help. It has certainly helped me understand the impact that change has in my life. Change often invites me to grow and stretch myself. That's one invitation, I'm always willing to accept. 

Careful reflection can often lead to meaningful change in our lives. If you have discovered helpful ways to use reflection to create powerful change, I invite you to share your learning reflections with the #TeacherMyth followers on Twitter. This group is also thinking deeply about reflective practices. 

It's so great to be back with the Poetry Friday community this week! I welcome your words here at the ridge today. For more of the round-up, Liz is hosting today at her space, HERE. 

A few weeks back, when I was home sick, I stumbled across a film documentary of the legendary poet Robert Frost. I was so inspired and intrigued by his words, that I quickly pulled for my notebook to document the experience in some way. 

It all began with this poem he recited. The word "retreat" tugs at heart each time I read this poem. In his commentary, Frost spoke of his purposeful decision to use the word retreat, despite the fact that it rhymes with defeat. There is no shame in retreat. We don't escape, we retreat for reasons that are ours alone. In doing so, we regain our strength and fortify ourselves to reach those places we've not been. Following Frost's poem is my own poem, which was inspired by this remarkable man and poet. And to my incredible friends, who give me strength in my retreat. They let me know, I'm not alone.

In winter in the woods alone
Against the trees I go.
I mark a maple for my own
And lay the maple low.

At four o'clock I shoulder ax
And in the afterglow
I link a line of shadowy tracks
Across the tinted snow.

​I see for Nature no defeat
In one tree's overthrow
Or for myself in my retreat
For yet another blow.

-Robert Frost

​I would like to end with some of my favorite lines and speeches that Frost shared within the film. Perhaps some of the most cherished words I hung on, were his words on poetry.

"It starts with a mood. It's a curious state that takes over you...Every poem solved something for me in my life. Every poem is a momentary stay against the confusion of the world. Then so is making a basket or making a horseshoe. Giving anything form, gives you a confidence in the universe, that it has form. All you want to do is get a sense of form, makes you healthy and well, makes you feel like there is some sort of form to your business, your occupation."
-Robert Frost

I am often in awe of inspirational poets like Robert Frost, and I find that I have this same admiration for my dearest friends. I am grateful for courageous friends who challenge me every step of the way. I couldn't agree more with the words of Mr. Robert Frost, "The gamble of life takes bravery." I'm so glad to be able to boldly venture forward with my friends as we make our mark on this world.

Think about the notion of retreating and finding form. Where do you retreat for strength? What sense of form do you seek? Who or what inspires you to retreat in search of this form? Write down your thoughts for safe keeping!

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! Welcome to the ridge. Thanks for visiting, and for more of the round-up, stop over at Carol's space HERE.

This week I am sharing a poem about friendship. I think friendships are such a gift to our hearts and our words. It brings me joy to have friends who inspire me and help me grow. My friends are so important to me that I chose friendship as my #oneword for 2018. Friends invite us to think and dream. Friendships give us the promise of new hope and the courage to stretch ourselves. This poem is written for all of you, my friends! 

Writers lean on friends for support and inspiration all the time. Our friends can help us find our voice when it has grown quiet. Think of a friend who gives your voice wings to let your words fly. What are some of the ways your friends support you and inspire you? Make a list in your notebook. Try leaning on the ideas from your list to write a friendship poem of your own. Be sure to share it with a special friend if you do! 

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 last few days of the year Poetry Friday friends! It has been a year filled with unexpected twists and turns. I wish you all a marvelous new year filled with much laughter and writing! Don't miss stopping over at Heidi's space My Juicy Little Universe, for the last round-up of the year.

For me, this year has been filled with lingering happiness and unexpected sadness. As I look back on a year gone by, I remember all the opportunities and changes that were brought into my life. I think about what was gained and what was lost. I let go and let it pass. I say goodbye to all that must fall away, and hello to a year brimming with new hope on the rise. May the dawning of this new year bring you blessings of health and good cheer! 

New Year’s Tidings
The smell from the kitchen of fresh baked bread and black-eyed peas to ring in the new
year, a celebration of the old one as it passes, never to bring back the hours, those soon
to be forgotten. January winds will blow; now come the days by the fireplace glow and
days with the promise of snow. So tonight, tuck the memories away. Say goodbye to the
old year passing. Raise a glass and make a toast to all your dreams and hopes. Listen as
the chimes ring out: Here’s to a new year without any doubt and all the good things it
brings about.
© Kiesha Shepard

And because I follow the moon in all its glorious phases, I had to share this photo of a Wolf Moon over the ridge. A January full moon is known as a Wolf Moon for obvious reasons. Stand outside on some cold January night, and you can hear the wolves howling at the moon. This year, we're in for a real treat as we will see not one, but two full moons in January. When you have two full moons in one month, it's called a Blue Moon. That means the full moon on January 1st and January 31st will be both a Wolf Moon and a Blue Moon. You can bet I'll be writing a super-duper blue wolf moon poem in honor of this momentous occasion!

Spend some time thinking about the events in the past year. Reread some of your notebook entries across the span of the year. What do you notice? Write whatever thoughts come to my mind. Allow your thoughts to meander through the past and drift into the future. Many realizations can come to us when we write in this way. May you find the answers to many of your dreams and aspirations in your writing this year!

Welcome, Poetry Friday friends! For more invitations to read and write poetry, visit Lisa at Steps and Staircases. She's hosting the round-up party today.
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The snow we got here on the ridge last night certainly offered an enchanting yet unexpected invitation to write. In my part of Texas, a snowfall is a rare and blissful experience. It was a delightful invitation to change this poem's original repetitive refrain from "The cold is coming" to "The snow is coming."

Sometimes, invitations to write can surprise us by showing up in the most unlikely places or at times when we least expect it. Where do you find unexpected invitations to write? Take some time to make a list in your notebook. Pull it out some snowy day (if only in your imagination) and let its gentle invitation guide you to all kinds of unexpected writing possibilities.  

It's the eve of National Poetry Month! How exciting it is to have a whole month to celebrate poetry in all its glory. To kick it all off, our dear friend Amy is hosting the round-up today. You can find her at The Poem Farm where she is gathering and tending to all the poetry seedlings today.

The month of April will be filled with spring beginnings and blooming poetry. As winter bows to spring and ushers in a new season of change, I am reminded of what remains the same. There is such beauty in life's natural course. No matter the season, fulfilling a purpose-whatever that might be, is really the bones of it all.     

Today's poem sprouted from a single word. The word "bones" popped into my head as I sat outside admiring the winter trees one day. Maybe that happens to you sometimes. What do you do with words that pop into your head? Whenever this happens to me, I reach for my pen and immediately jot that word down. Then, I think of how I could use that word in a way that it is not normally thought of or used to describe something else. 

For example, when I was writing my poem, I thought about how the trees looked like bones without their summer leaves. I thought to myself, one does not typically think of trees as having bones. Yes, I was on the right track! This led me even further to thinking about how the word bones could be used to describe things in a different way other than the typical white pieces of skeleton in humans and animals. Can you find other words I used to describe or explain something in a different way other than the more common way the word is used?

So the next time a word pops into your head, be sure to write it down. Have some fun using the word in a different way than it is usually meant in order to describe something in a not so ordinary way!

Thank goodness for Poetry Friday! I look forward to this day all week long. It is a joy to read all of the poetic posts written by people I admire very much. So whether you are a regular traveler on the Poetry Friday train or you are climbing aboard for the first time, be sure to stop at the round-up station this week where Keri at Keri Recommends is our host!

When I was little, I remember my dad preparing the meat and readying the pump house for making sausage. First, he would grind the meat and put it into casings. Then, he would hang the links of sausage on the poles that hung in the rafters of the pump house. After that it was time to light a small fire underneath to smolder and create the most delicious smell of maple and oak. Some smells you never forget, and this is certainly one I am drawn back to every winter. So I was very excited one evening when I was taking a walk in the woods and got a whiff of that familiar scent in the air. I immediately whispered to myself, "It's sausage making time." From that one line, this poem emerged from deep within a treasured childhood moment with my father.

Writers often rely on their senses when they are reaching into memory as they write. Think about some of your most treasured memories. What are the sights, sounds, and smells that you associate with these memories? Jot down some of these sensory details and see what bubbles up. Now, stretch yourself reach even deeper into the details of this memory and think out loud about what you have to say about this moment. That's right, talk to yourself! Jot down a few lines as you talk your way through this responsive experience. It's sensory writing time!

Happy new year Poetry Friday friends! I am so excited to begin a fresh new year filled with poetry blessings. Linda at TeacherDance is hosting the very first round-up of 2017! Celebrate this special day with all of the PF community at her welcoming space.

I love the feeling of new beginnings and the chance to look upon the world with fresh eyes. Today, I am filled with gratitude and hope for a new year of opportunities to begin again. I have thought a lot about the power of perspective and the role it plays in how I view my world. By defintion the word perspective means the way we choose to regard something or a particular attitude we have toward it.

Since I choose my perspective, it is worth considering before I make many of the decisions I am faced with in my life. This year, I have committed myself to listening more and reflecting on the thoughts and feelings of others. We are all a small piece of this big wonderful world. I am ready to start a new year of celebrating the perspectives of this world we share.

As we begin a new journey in this new year, take a moment to consider your perspective on different things within your life. Ask yourself, "What do I think about this? How does this make me feel?" Perspectives can change as well. Think about those times your perspective was changed in one way or another. What brought about the change? How did it alter your point of view? It's also important to consider the perspectives of others. Try on a new pair of eyes this year, perhaps a grasshopper or maybe a bear! Big or small, we all have ideas and a voice to share. Who knows what's waiting to be explored with your new lenses!  

Happy Holidays Poetry Friday friends! Buffy Silverman is hosting today at her space Buffy's Blog. Be sure to drop by and join in the poetry cheer!

Today I am sharing a poem I wrote a year ago on Christmas Eve. As usual, I was sitting on my back porch thinking and writing. I thought about the sounds that ring so true on this special night. I had previously read Walt Whitman's "Sounds of the Winter" poem, so his words were swimming around in my head when my pen began to write. Here is my poem, inspired by an old poet's words and one truly miraculous night.

The holiday season can be an inspirational time to reflect on our connections to others and to this world. Take a moment at the end of this year to write from the sights and sounds of our world. Think about the ties that bind us all together in this life. Take a walk outside as the sun is going down. Turn your thoughts of this moment into words. Just write. Write from the sights and sounds of this night. 

Three cheers for Poetry Friday! I hope all of you in the Poetry Friday community are staying cozy and warm as we make our way into the thick of winter. I hope you all get a chance to visit Jone this week at her space Check It Out. 

This week I decided to write a companion poem to the poem I shared last week Still No Winter. I really love the idea of poems sharing a deep friendship. I was determined that the character in my first poem would have this sort of fellowship with my next character. I began to let my mind wander with possibilities. Who would the mysterious companion be? What connection would the two characters share? How could my second character bring balance to the character I described in my first poem? And after pondering these questions long and hard, a character did in fact emerge. Now when I read these two poems, I close my eyes and imagine these characters walking hand in hand in this winter world.   

Sometimes even a  poem needs a friend. Think about poems that you have read or maybe poems you have written that share a deep connection. What joins these poems together? Maybe they share the same ideas or perhaps the characters are very similar. Try reading my companion poems to find the relationship between them or have a go at writing your own companion piece.

Warmest wishes to all on this glorious Poetry Friday! Thanks for visiting today, and be sure to stop by Bridget's space at wee words for wee ones for more poetry tid-bits. Thanks for hosting, Bridget!

​Well, after many months of mild weather, it seems that winter has finally come to us here on the ridge. Like my Dragonfly Tree here in this photo, I can recall many times I have walked the earth-warm fields just waiting for winter to peel back the curtain and take center stage. I have often imagined winter itself as an ancient artist; one who could paint the most brilliant masterpiece from any stark-white canvas. The poem I am sharing today is my attempt to give praise to this magestic season and to its creator, whose work is never done. 

Writers will often put themselves in someone else's shoes in search of meaning and perspective. Try taking on the perspective and voice of someone or something else. Imagine what they might say and think. There are all sorts of paths your writing will lead you to!