[The Stage is on Fire] is a page-turner in which, much like life, there are no easy answers and yet each step of the journey yields insight and hope. This work of heart must not be missed!
Melanie Faith
Creative Writing Teacher, Essayist & Poet.
Katie Steedly’s first-person piece [The Unspeakable Gift] is a riveting retelling of her participation in a National Institutes of Health study that aided her quest to come to grips with her life of living with a rare genetic disorder. Her writing is superb.
The Society of Professional Journalists
In recognition of receiving the Dateline Award for the Washingtonian Magazine essay, The Unspeakable Gift.
I thank you … It is the authenticity of your “class notes”; and it is the delicacy and skill with which you present the nuances of classroom life and the actuality of your students’ and fellow teachers’ lives.
Maxine Greene
Philosopher and Education Scholar
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MONDAYS ARE FREE EXERCISES 166 — 170
Collage. Bureaucracy. Riff. Image. Form.
EXERCISE 166: THE ART OF COLLAGE
this and that
Collage is a writing technique, taken (I think) from the artistic technique, whereby disparate pieces of this and that are put together to form a composition. … Write a poem that uses the techniques of collage—tearing, arranging and rearranging, jarring and unexpected juxtaposition; if you have old notes for poems or pages of scribbles you want to repurpose and knit together; etc.!
It seems to me an archive of the 21st century must record that nature is still nature, perfect time is still perfect time, and sweetness is still sweetness. Today, when so much is upside down and sideways — and just plain painful — seasons are still seasons, trees are still trees, and peaches are still peaches.
Sitting with rain means sitting with clouds. The Cloud Appreciation Society manifesto explains: “We believe that clouds are for dreamers and their contemplation benefits the soul”. In that way, rain and clouds benefit the soul. Rain is cloud song. Rain is mind juice. Rain is earth blood. Rain is liquid promise. Rain is stone caress.
I was given a passport. I was given permission. I was given words. I was given language. I was given imagination. I was given exploration. I was given joy. I was given wings. I was given soft landing. I was given gentle nudging. I was given breath. I was given tears. I was given comfort. I was given connection. I was given conversation.
Shining was my rhythm and the window framed my shine. The window framed my shine, connecting me to generations. The window framed my shine, telling my story. The window framed my shine, letting me see light and dark, kindness and cruelty, faith and fear, grace and terror.
She laughs like fudge on ice cream. She laughs like butter on egg noodles. She laughs like sun melting snow. Laughter as medicine for wounds, balm for souls, lens for comfort. Laughter as glasses clinking, clouds floating, joy breathing.
I want to give back fear of all types — Fear kills empathy. Fear kills imagination. Fear kills creativity. Fear kills breath. Fear kills story. Fear kills faith. Fear kills I am. Fear kills not yet. Fear kills yes.
To cry gently while holding my heart feeling safe enough to break and bend and move. To sing the song I have known since before I was born. To travel to shipwrecks where coral reefs thrive on steel.
You tell me, “Bring only/what you must carry—tome of memory/ its random blank pages.” That feels important in the way that healing is important. That feels important in the way that clocks mark time. That feels important in the way that blank pages scare and invite, tremble and breathe, tense and release. A Balinese healer once told me, “You don’t have to carry that weight.” He must have understood about weight, too. We can never really go back.
Say I won the MacArthur. I am standing on the stage at an event where each MacArthur winner for that year gives a speech. I would start by thanking the Foundation for the award. I would thank the other award winners — past, present, and future — for their work and for their commitment to sharing their genius with the world. Because genius — what makes us each flesh and bone miracles — must be shared. Our lights must shine so all lights can shine.
It’s been inside of me all along, the quiet voice that knows, the abiding hands that hold, the fearless heart that breaks — in the cracks and crevasses of a body seeking to breathe in peace, breathe out love, breathe in peace, breathe out love, breathe in peace, breathe in love — we know what it means to break, we know what it means to cry tears flowing deep through yesterdays, todays, and tomorrows and all that was, is, or ever will be, we know what it means to be hungry, angry, lonely and tired and keep going: that is the delight, the delight is that strength, courage, and wisdom find me, shake me to the core when I am standing at the edge, hitting a wall, building monuments to doubt, burning everything down to escape pain (or maybe to sit in pain longer because chaos is comfortable): They find me in a corner paralyzed, doubled down in all that is, not seeing anything beyond fear’s horizon: strength, courage, and wisdom are all about perpetual morning, dawn is in me, So let it be, So let it be, So let it be.
EXERCISE 167: AGAINST BUREAUCRACY
in the manner of its use critiques
Write a poem which uses and in the manner of its use critiques some kind of official language—perhaps state or state-adjacent language; something a judge or a governor or an edict or a law might say; a deposition or a report or a citation; something from an educational or medical authority; etc.
The AmeriCorps Pledge
I will get things done for America – to make our people safer, smarter, and healthier./ I will bring Americans together to strengthen our communities./ Faced with apathy, I will take action./ Faced with conflict, I will seek common ground. Faced with adversity, I will persevere.
I will carry this commitment with me this year and beyond. I am an AmeriCorps member, and I will get things done.
September 1997. We took the Pledge. 25,000. The first year. All fifty states. Rural, urban, and everything in between. Every age. Every color. Every love. Paying education forward. Holding communities close. Steeping dreams like tea. The best of us for all of us.
Today, it is personal.
It’s personal. Our government killing us. It’s personal. Corruption breaks our back. It’s personal. Our healthcare system gutted by billionaires. It’s personal. The rule of law shaken to its core. It’s personal. Courts overruled in the shadows. It’s personal. Immunity. It’s personal. Corporations are people. It’s personal. Books burned. It’s personal. The earth burned. It’s personal. Our vote stolen. It’s personal.
Singing to the choir makes beautiful music. It’s personal. Holding hands forms a strong chain. It’s personal. The sea is so big and our boat is so small. It’s personal. Sí se puede. It’s personal. Hope and Change. It’s personal. Love bends the moral arc of the universe. It’s personal. There is more love somewhere. It’s personal. Love is. Love is. Love is. It’s personal. We stand and put our hand over our heart. It’s personal. Our children weep. It’s personal.
EXERCISE 168: RIFF ON A SONG YOU LOVE
a song that means
Write a piece that takes some kind of cue—formal, rhythmic, melodic, harmonic, word choices, rhyme schemes, subject, etc.—from a song that means a lot to you. Additionally, if it is a song with lyrics, use at least a snatch or snippet of the lyrics, as you remember them. If there are no lyrics in your song, use a snippet of the melody. This is less a piece about a song than a piece in the manner of a song.
Love’s in need of love today/ Don’t delay/ Send yours in right away/ Right away/ You know that hate’s/ Hate’s goin’ ‘round/ Breaking many hearts/ Stop it please/ Before it’s gone too far
Sway back-and-forth. Close your eyes. Breathe. Sway back-and-forth. Close your eyes. Breathe. Sway back-and-forth. Close your eyes. Breathe. Hold this prayer close. Hold this prayer close. Hold this prayer close. Be love in action. Be love in action. Be love in action.
Love’s in need of love today/ Don’t delay/ Send yours in right away/ Right away/ You know that hate’s/ Hate’s goin’ ‘round/ Breaking many hearts/ Stop it please/ Before it’s gone too far
Lift your eyes. Raise your hands. Mark your steps. Lift your eyes. Raise your hands. Mark your steps. Lift your eyes. Raise your hands. Mark your steps. Hold this prayer close. Hold this prayer close. Hold this prayer close. Be love in action. Be love in action. Be love in action.
Love’s in need of love today/ Don’t delay/ Send yours in right away/ Right away/ You know that hate’s/ Hate’s goin’ ‘round/ Breaking many hearts/ Stop it please/ Before it’s gone too far
Let hearts break. Let tears shed. Let love love reign. Let hearts break. Let tears shed. Love love reign. Let hearts break. Let tears shed. Let love reign. Hold this prayer close. Hold this prayer close. Hold this prayer close. Be love in action. Be love in action. Be love in action.
EXERCISE 169: TEXT AND IMAGE
Write a poem that takes its formal cues—rhythm or pacing; colors; dynamics; spacing of marks; depth; texture; etc.—from an abstract painting.
Women, Samia Halaby, 2014
Fire. Thread. Dance./ Courage. Color. Wave./ Story. Presence. Freedom./ Truth. Clarity. Power./ Peace. Life. Imagination./ History. Poetry. Rhyme./ Sound. Syllable. Word./ Heart. Mind. Soul./ Light. Resistance. Fuel./ Dawn. Horizon. Hope.
EXERCISE 170: DREAM UP A NEW FORM
inherited forms
We all mostly know and have written in some inherited forms: sonnet, ghazal, pantoum, sestina, villanelle, etc. These forms all have their very specific rules, and on account of those rules they seem to invite certain kinds of subjects. …Think about what kind of form you might invent: Would it have a given number of lines? Would it have repetition? Would it rhyme or have other sonic elements/requirements? Invent a form and write three poems in that form.
Foot Steps
Foot steps crack like dawn. Five toes grasping earth’s comfort. Heel swish toe.
Tears
Vulnerability taps tears like ancient oak. Emotion sweetly oozes. Courage roots in soil, tears water earth.
Heart Break
Two sides waking./ Empathy as superpower./ Compassion radiates inside.
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About Katie
From Louisville. Live in Atlanta. Curious by nature. Researcher by education. Writer by practice. Grateful heart by desire.
Buy the Book!
The Stage Is On Fire, a memoir about hope and change, reasons for voyaging, and dreams burning down can be purchased on Amazon.
