MONDAYS ARE FREE EXERCISES 246-250

[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 246-250

Wolves. Guardian Angels. Records. Collaboration. Hands.

EXERCISE 246: WRITE FOR AN OCCASION LIKE LIMÓN & FINNEY

our communities call on us

Nikky Finney’s Love Child’s Hot Bed of Occasional Poetry (2020) and the new poems in Ada Limón’s Startlement (2025) both center the moments that our communities call on us as poets. Look to your local news for an event in need of commemoration—a mural unveiling, the fiftieth anniversary of that one mom & pop shop, the rare migration cycle of an insect, a vigil. Imagine you’ve been invited to stand before an audience to read a poem marking the occasion.

I am going to call into being a moment when the Red Wolf is no longer an endangered species. The event will occur at Canis Rufus, a sculpture honoring the Red Wolf.

Feeding the Good Wolf

The wolf we feed survives. The grandfather said.// We are given choices./ A choice to notice./ A choice to protect./ A choice to steward./ A choice to conserve./ A choice to defend.// The wolf we feed survives. The grandfather said.// Feed awe./ Feed health./ Feed beauty./ Feed the future./ Feed the pack.// The wolf we feed survives. The grandfather said.// Call on connection./ Call on compassion./ Call on courage./ Call on community.// The wolf we feed survives. The grandfather said.// Bricks and ties. Cement and wildflowers. Story and survival. Attention and art. Care and empathy.// The wolf we feed survives. The grandfather said.// Interdependence. Oneness. Safety. Story. Strength.

EXERCISE 247: INCORPORATE SYMBOLS LIKE CALVOCORESSI

the same note inside you.

In Gabrielle Calvocoressi’s Rocket Fantastic (2017), the dal segno is used as a pronoun for a beloved, pronounced “with an intake of breath.” Choose a symbol that either aesthetically or conceptually pleases you. Now, think of a person or thing that hits the same note inside you. Write a piece in which your beloved (person or thing) is represented as the symbol.

Dear Katie,/ At this time when fear abounds. At this time when the cruelty of the world has been laid bare. At this time, tears have flowed in search of soft hearts that will not abide violence. At this time, lies have rolled from the lips of the most powerful. At this time when abuses of power has made you question decency, morality, and love itself./ I want you to be still and know.

Be still and know that love wins./ Always. Love wins. Always. Lies and terror and pain do not win. Injustice and hatred and evil do not win. Cynicism and greed and sadness do not win./ Be still and know that your light makes a difference./ You must not be silent. Your voice has never been more important. Your hands must do their vital work. Your heart must not grow numb. Your mind must maintain its imagination. Health, peace, and justice are born there. Your soul must not yield to chaos. At these times, your soul must be on slow and steady fire./ Be still and know the power of connection./ We are all connected. There is strength in reaching out. Remember, there are many ways to reach out. Remember serving. Remember teaching. Remember reaching out begins with reaching in. Therein lies the power of the most sacred and right and loving force.

Read entire post here.

EXERCISE 248: RECORD LIKE JESS & GAY

fits the flow

Do you have a piece that begs to be performed? Record yourself reading it aloud, then listen back. Take notes on where you stumbled and where you might want to tap into a lower register of your voice, etc., etc., then record again until it sounds the way you want it to.

Strength. Courage. Wisdom.

a nod to India Arie

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. 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 249: CREATE A LITERARY EXERCISE LIKE LAUX & GAY

try your hand

We’re 249 days into Mondays Are Free! Why don’t you try your hand at creating an exercise? You could focus on a literary device you’re particularly drawn to or a topic. Pull an example from a book you’ve recently read, if that feels right. — Consider picking up Dorianne Laux’s Finger Exercises for Poets (2024) if you’re looking for more practice when MAF wraps!

Think about something you can make/have made/might make with your hands. [A meal. A scarf. A still life. A table. A bowl. A garden. A teddy bear.] Tell the story of the making. Describe the why, the context, the process, the product, the result. Consider how it feels to use your hands and get out of your head, to create something, to build something. What did you learn in the process?

The Delight of Golden Joinery

My childhood bedroom walls were adorned with beautiful china plates carefully curated by the women in my family — my mother, grandmother, and great-grandmother. Kittens, butterflies, and flowers, mainly, watched over my comings and goings well into my adulthood. Gradually, several broke during moves and time and my need to keep them with me as I grew up. In their gifting and their breaking, they are a delight. In their gifting and their breaking, they tell a story. They tell the story of loving and growing. They tell a story about cherishing and changing. They tell a story of beauty and brokenness. The plates have been with me my entire life. I wrapped them in bubble wrap and kept them safe, always intending to do something with them.

Read the entire post here.

EXERCISE 250: COLLABORATE LIKE MATEJKA

within eight panels

Adrian Matejka collaborated for several years with artist Youssef Daoudi on Last on His Feet (2023). Ask an artist friend to collaborate with you for just today on a comic. Choose a topic together, then, work to balance both of your styles within eight panels.

My take on collaborative art.

Several years ago, I sat with an artist friend to create two mixed-media collages. (Let me preface this story by saying I am not a visual artist, and my long-time friend who invited me to create together is a talented visual artist.) The collages were to be entered into a competition sponsored by a local gallery focused on collaborative art making. Sadly, the jurying never occurred.

Read entire post here.

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.