POETRY FROM THE LONG STORY SHORT SCHOOL OF WRITING - YOU, ME AND POETRY CLASS
WITH FLORIANA HALL:
CHANGING
Linda R. Cook
You are changing, changing
You feel enthused, confused, and nauseated too
You are frightened and brave
You race about or collapse in sleep
You are red, white, yellow, black or brown
You are Mary, Ruth, Sarah, Jane or Me
You are woman, petite or tall, plump or plain
And you are marching through your universe, eager to burst free
You do not walk upright anymore as you recline to read, absorbing every word, preparing mind and body
It is miraculous to move like this, so in sync, spiritual like an angel’s wing
You are with child.
In the past year, Linda has begun to seriously pursue her love of writing. In 2005, she had a nonfiction article published through Alive, A Magazine for Vibrant Christians. She also received Honorable Mention for a women's issues contest through Long Story Short and recently placed third for a personal memoir contest through Byline Magazine.
DIAMANTE:
by Ashley Cohen --fifth grade student
Serious
Determined, stern
Devoted, hardworking, purposeful
Smiles, laughter
Loony, humorous, delirious
Foolish
DIAMANTE:
By Annie Yungmeyer
fifth grade student
at Mission Trail School
Leawood, Kansas
Birth,
Petite, delicate
Teething, pubescent, maturing
Sophistication, wisdom, ache, decrepitude
Withering, fading, fermenting
Crumbling, extinction
Death
CINQUAIN:
By Karen Yungmeyer - Annie's Mother
Annie
Confident, dramatic,
Flourishing, overshadowing, all-embracing,
Jubilant, delightful, musical, magnanimous,
Daughter
SOLITUDE
By Suellen Wedmore
for a painting by Jack Richards - Into the Woods
of birch and beech,
the deeper I walk into this wood
the more I find of myself.
Leaves rustle, a whippoorwill calls;
on this dappled path
Gauguin's dream mellows
to a fairytale calm
where I could sleep
one-hundred years
in a quiet so complete
fear is erase
as I wait to be wakened
by a poet with words
as soft as his lips, a dulcet voice
praising this abundant
forest and gentle sky.
Suellen Wedmore, Poet Laureate for the small seaside town of Rockport, Massachusetts, has been published in Green Mountains Review, College English, Phoebe, Larcom Review, The Cancer Poetry Project, and others. Recently she won first place in the national Writer’s Digest rhyming poem contest, first place in the Byline Magazine annual literary contest, and first place in the George Bush Presidential Library and Museum annual writing competition. In 2003, she retired after 24 years working as a speech and language therapist to enter the MFA in Creative Writing program at New England College in Henniker, New Hampshire. Contact Suellen.
Poem
by Tracy Vogel for painting by Jack Richards:
'Painting From Within'
On top of creation, I see within
With eagle eyes, within I see,
Every motion, every detail
Soaring in, captivated, mesmerized with rays of light.
Vivid colors dark and light
On top, within me, I withdraw...
PAINTING (By Jack Richards)
By Piper Bold - fifth grade student
Pretty as a flower,
delicately painting by the hour.
Canvas covered in bamboo trees,
silently crouching on her knees.
Blissfully unaware the day's gone by,
it's hard for her to say good-bye.
Linda Cook has a poem published in a prior issue issue (which she created in her You, Me and Poetry class at LSS)
- see Seeking Self on the Poetry page. It was chosen a the best poem of the class.
Linda studied under Lea Schizas in her class, Writing Fiction Express at the Long Story Short School of Writing. Here's what she said about the class: " I enjoyed my class with Lea so much so that I signed up for her other one as well as an essay class with J. Brown. Can't wait. It's given me a much needed boost. I've been spreading the word about the classes at LSS - they are affordable and full of perks."
