SOL29: Zooming Poetry

            Yesterday  I was in my first Zoom gathering. The Women Writers in Bloom Poetry Salon, created and organized by the incomparable JP Howad, met on Zoom for three hours, and it was amazing. More than 60 people were online and in the room, with JP, and her experienced Zoomer, Cynthia Matick, hosting. We didn’t have the usual check-in, where we go around the table, ID ourselves, and say what kind of writing we do, because when we meet in person there are usually 15 to 25 people. But via Zoom, we could have participants who are far-flung.

            The Salon had a short workshop, in which we wrote to a prompt, then went into breakout groups to share what we wrote and speak to each other. JP also gave us a second prompt to do on our own time. Then we had three featured poets reading from their new work: Rosebud Ben-Oni, turn around, BRXGHT XYXS; Roya Marsh, dayliGht; and DaMaris Hill, A Bound Woman Is a Dangerous Thing . Their work is powerful and moving. And following the features, we had a brief open mic. All in all, it was an energizing and moving afternoon, not as good as if we’d met face to face, but way better than sitting alone in our homes.

            The first prompt was to write a autobiographical praise poem by completing each of the following lines:

first name

who is

daughter/son of

who loves

who can’t stand

who needs

who feels

who fears

who would like to see

who/how I live

last name

            Here’s what I wrote:

Sonia;

who is old (in the best sense);

daughter of Leah;

who loves her friends and family, the world, my music, books,  and dancing, and baseball;

who can’t stand my country’s “leader” who is incapable of leading;

who needs contact with other people;

who feels optimistic and pessimistic at the same time;

who fears the effects of this pandemicon everyone, every way in which all people on this earth live;

who would like to see common sense and rationality and humility and tolerance overcome fear and hate;

who lives in the moment while connecte to the the past and hopeful for the future;

Robbins

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I’m participating in the 13th annual Slice of Life Challenge over at Two Writing Teachers. This is day 29 of the 31-day challenge.  It’s not too late to make space for daily writing in a community that is encouraging, enthusiastic, and eager to read what you have to slice about.  Join in!

SOL2: Small World

            A week ago I was at a writing community I’m part of, Women Writers in Bloom Poetry Salon. Every month, the organizer, JP Howard, brings a published writer to the salon for a workshop, then to read her (usually, though sometimes the feature has been a man) work and to answer questions, about writing, about being published, etc.

           A week ago, the featured writer was DaMaris Hill. Her workshop was about revision, how to take a poem, or any piece of writing, that is or has become lifeless and wake it up. Partly, she suggested doing this through using methods from hip-hop, like remixing and sampling. (I won’t go into any detail, since this is her work, and I don’t want to be appropriating it.) The book she read from is her most recent, A Bound Woman Is a Dangerous Thing, in which she writes persona poems for African-American women, from Harriet Tubman to Sandra Bland, some of whom have been incarcerated. As Publishers Weekly wrote, “Hill's poems illustrate how oppression can summon inner strength, resistance, and revolution.”

            A few days later, on Facebook, I saw a post by a friend from my college days about his being in a conference and meeting a couple of his former students—one of whom turned out to be DaMaris Hill.

            Two people, from vastly different times in my life, who know each other, and know me. I love these small world stories.

            What was your last small world story?

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I’m participating in the 12th annual Slice of Life Challenge over at Two Writing Teachers. This is day 1 of the 31-day challenge.  It’s not too late to make space for daily writing in a community that is encouraging, enthusiastic, and eager to read what you have to slice about.  Join in!