MONDAYS ARE FREE EXERCISES 181-185

[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 181-185

Image. Events. Freedom. Rhyme. Call.

EXERCISE 181: TEN BY TEN BY ONE

each line with

Write a poem ten lines long with ten syllables per line, each line with a concrete image (physical sensation), no adverbs, one continuous sentence.

The buds on my morning walk are fearless:/ magnolia — red, green, yellow, white, purple:/ perfect time, beauty unfolding, nature’s hope:/ they ask no questions: face-to-sun bloom:/ they know source and strength, they know root and stem,/ they paint pictures on branches: monuments/ to waking up, to grace, to courage, to/ permanent permission: the I am, the as if the/not yet ready before: they will be: dance/ sweet promise, sweet lover of all that is.

EXERCISE 182: WHERE IT HAPPENED

a poem that depicts

Write a narrative poem, that is, a poem that depicts a series of events. Every line (or almost all the lines) must begin with the phrase, “This is where…”

This is where

This is where fact meets fiction./ This is where dream holds memory./ This is where reality flirts with fairytale./ This is where storms roll and clouds part./ This is where suns rise and moons shine./ This is where lyrics echo and melodies move./ This is where life holds and hands release./ This is where minds change and firmament shifts./ This is where blink becomes nod./ This is where inhale releases exhale.

EXERCISE 183: VARIATIONS ON A THEME

a single image

Write three different poems, each titled ‘freedom.’ Each freedom poem must describe a single image. Each poem must be exactly five lines long and each line must be exactly five syllables, no more, no less.

Freedom

Beacon in back of/ church, votive rows hold/ fire, light, joy, concern,/ prayer, hope, fear, heart,/ move as one in ease.

Freedom

A march of flags, joy,/ and love beyond bounds/ and language and hate/ and fear. Above all cruelty./ Something more than song.

Freedom

Paint and brushstrokes./ Skill and creation./ Image made real./ Light between shadow./ Memory in moment.

EXERCISE 184: TRY A LITTLE TUMBLING

a Skeltonic poem

John Skelton (1460-1529) is known for tumbling verse, i.e. poems with short lines and a lot of consecutive rhyme. Write a Skeltonic poem by rhyming as many successive short lines as you can.

Art and Conversation

Magic, message, meaning,/ motion, meticulous, mechanics,/ mirrors, miracle, magnificence,/ Gentle like love letters lingering lusciously or sonnets singing sweetly or post-it notes pinging pithily./ Beautiful like butterflies batting brazenly, rosebuds resting ravishingly, chocolate chirping cheekily./ Exquisite like wine wafting wonderfully, silk softening sensuously, laughter lilting lovingly.

EXERCISE 185: WORKERS OF THE WORLD UNITE IN SONG!

Bopped a bit!

The earth is wobbling off its axis! Bopped a bit from its orbit! Scientists, dancers, and hummingbirds have collaborated on a massive study that shows we can get back on track if all the working people sing! Write a piece that summons every person from every walk of life all over the globe to sing. Use “Calling all…” as anaphora.

Calling the sun that courageously rises, Sing Along. Calling all mole rats that find warmth together, Sing Along./ Calling all tree roots that understand interdependence means survival, Sing Along./ Calling all wolves that travel in packs and howl truth, Sing Along./ Calling all irises that bloom in snow, Sing along./ Calling all stars that shine day and night, Sing Along./ Calling all beach glass that knows beauty in brokenness, Sing Along./ Calling all kaleidoscopes that celebrate shards and perspectives, Sing Along./ Calling all soil that nurtures life, Sing Along./ Calling all seeds that grow where they are planted, Sing Along./ Calling all candles that dance with flames, Sing Along./ Calling all diamonds, that alchemize strength, Sing Along./ Calling all poems that syllabize beauty, Sing Along./ Calling all balms that metabolize healing, Sing Along./ Calling all hymns that fill churches with hope, Sing Along.

Thank you for reading MONDAYS ARE FREE. These exercises are explorations of poetry and language and joy. Subscribe to the Wide-Awakeness Project to share this journey.

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MONDAYS ARE FREE EXERCISES 181-185

Image. Events. Freedom. Rhyme. Call.

EXERCISE 181: TEN BY TEN BY ONE

each line with

EXERCISE 182: WHERE IT HAPPENED

a poem that depicts

This is where

EXERCISE 183: VARIATIONS ON A THEME

a single image

Freedom

Freedom

Freedom

EXERCISE 184: TRY A LITTLE TUMBLING

a Skeltonic poem

Art and Conversation

EXERCISE 185: WORKERS OF THE WORLD UNITE IN SONG!

Bopped a bit!

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