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By: Andromeda Jazmon Sibley,
on 12/2/2016
This month, in our year of writing poetry together, my Poetry Sisters have called on me to supply the art for our ekphrasic poems. I've chosen to share my photos of the cloisters of Glencairn Museum, a place I love to visit. You can read about the cloister here. The mansion was built as a family home for Raymond Pitcairn and his family in the 1930s, and later turned into a museum for
By: Andromeda Jazmon Sibley,
on 9/2/2016
My Poetry Sisters and I are trying out a new-to-me form this month, something I have found quite tricky. I only just pulled something out that I am willing to share. I need to work on this one a bit more; it's a challenge! Trisha had posted about the Clogyrnach form on her Monday Poetry Challenge last year, explaining it this way: Clogyrnach is a Welsh poetic meter that falls under the
By: Andromeda Jazmon Sibley,
on 8/5/2016
You know how much I love house plants and greenery of all kinds. I don't have a green thumb, and my plants don't always do well, but I am stubborn and don't give up easily. My office is full of plants. sometimes they get those really annoying fungus gnats, so I am continually in a battle of control. There was an outbreak the same week that my Poetry Sister Sara shared her photos of the art
By: Andromeda Jazmon Sibley,
on 7/1/2016
Every so often the Poetry Sisters and I like to try writing In the Style of... a poet whose skill we admire. In the past we looked at e.e. cummings and wrote poems somewhat like his. This month we are echoing Kay Ryan, US Poet Laureate from 2008 -10 and Pulitzer Prize winner in 2011. Ryan is known for short lines, brevity, alliteration and internal rhyme, or what she calls "recombinant rhyme". I
By: Andromeda Jazmon Sibley,
on 4/1/2016
This month my poetry sisters and I are experimenting with Ekphrastic poems. Laura Purdie Salas chose the image for us and we all went off in different directions, responding to the images as we were called. Ekphrasitc poems are written in response to visual art; an image, a painting or a sculpture. The images we are working with this month are photographs of the ceiling frescos of Mark Balma (
By: Andromeda Jazmon Sibley,
on 1/8/2016
For the past several months my Poetry Sisters have been working madly behind the scenes, creating a Crown of Sonnets. That's seven linked sonnets, each one starting with the ending line of the one that came before, the last one ending with the first line of the first, in a wonderful circle. Wow. We did it once before, several years ago, and were just crazy enough to try it again, after a full
By: Andromeda Jazmon Sibley,
on 11/6/2015
This month my Poetry Sisters and I decided to try Ekphrastic poetry, which is simple poetry written in response to an image or work of art. Laura found this amazing image, and we all wrote about it in whatever form we chose. I reverted to blank verse, having defaulted to my old favorite. The image is taken from a tumblr blog linked here. The original blog posting (Carnival of Dogs) gave this
By: Andromeda Jazmon Sibley,
on 10/2/2015
This month the Poetry Sisters have been working on producing Etheree poems. This form consists of ten lines; and the poems grow by add one syllable to each line. There are no rhymes. Trisha got us started early in the month by posting about the form on here Monday Poetry Stretch. I submitted my first poem there, and then later worked on a few others. You might be able to tell I am in the fall
By: Andromeda Jazmon Sibley,
on 9/4/2015
Our poetry project for this month, cats and kittens, is to create a "Found Poem". This type of poem is drawn from text you find, or stumble over, in any context, that strikes you as rich in potential. Sometimes one can find irony, or humor, or surprising wisdom. Sometimes it's just fun. I happened to run across an old copy of Norton's Anthology of American Literature, vol. 1 on the library Free
By: Andromeda Jazmon Sibley,
on 8/7/2015
Mid-August. When the crickets sing all day in the long grass and the sky invents blue every morning. A lovely time to savor the moments with small bites of haiku, no? That's what I was thinking when we made the proposed schedule for a year of playing with poetic forms, my Poetry Sisters and I. Then someone threw a wrench in it last month, and suggested we try writing haiku in the form of
By: Andromeda Jazmon Sibley,
on 7/10/2015
For the past month my Poetry Sisters and I have been working on writing poems modeled after poems written by e. e. cummings. He is one of my favorite poets, so when we were throwing around names trying to chose a focus for our work I was delighted when everyone jumped on his. Something about his mix of irreverent, unconventional diction and grammar built on top of an exceptionally sharp wit and
By: Andromeda Jazmon Sibley,
on 6/5/2015
My Poetry Sisters and I have been scribbling down Odes all through the past month. Every month this year we are working on writing different forms of poetry in a group challenge. It's been both fun and frustrating at times! But Odes are pure fun. We agreed to take a light-hearted look at things this month, and some of these are downright funny! Check out my compatriot's Odes at these links:
By: Andromeda Jazmon Sibley,
on 5/1/2015
This month my Poetry Sisters and I are working on writing Pantoums. Pantoums are an old form of poetry with four line stanzas, where the second and fourth line of each stanza is repeated as the first and third lines of the next stanza. They can be any length, and don't have a set rhyme scheme. The last stanza reapeats the third and first lines of the first as the second and fourth lines. The
By: Andromeda Jazmon Sibley,
on 4/3/2015
My online poetry group is working our way through the year by exploring a new poetic form each month. In April we are posting a form called "Raccontino". My friend Trisha explains: Here are the requirements of the form. composed of couplets (any number) even number lines share the same end rhyme the title and last words of the odd numbered lines tell a story I love a poem that tells a story
By: Andromeda Jazmon Sibley,
on 3/6/2015
This month my poetry sisters and I are working on writing Sestinas. It's a very difficult form to get the knack for, partly because the end words are extremely restricted. Each of the six-line stanzas use the same words in a spiral repetition. The best sestinas, IMO, tell a story. My favorite one is this by Elizabeth Bishop. Kelly has a wonderful explanation with tips on how to write one here.
By: Andromeda Jazmon Sibley,
on 2/12/2015
I found this lovely old gem on my shelf today. Here are a few pages in honor of Valentine's Day: Is t that delightful? Now be sure to visit Merely Day by Day today for the Friday Poetry Roundup!
By: Andromeda Jazmon Sibley,
on 2/6/2015
At the start of the year my online group of poetry sisters decided to challenge ourselves with writing and posting poems all year with a different form for each month. January was triolets, and February has been all about Villanelles. I have to confess I have really struggled with this one! I had a story I wanted to tell about my young son and his first taste of hot peppers, but try as I
By: Andromeda Jazmon Sibley,
on 1/1/2015
Happy New Year! 2015 is off to a great start already. Here is my brand new Poetry Journal for 2015. I need this journal because... It's time for the Poetry Seven to swing into action once again! This year we have set ourselves up to meet a huge challenge. We are going to work on a different poetry form every month, and post original poems on the last Friday of each month. I am excited
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By: Andromeda Jazmon Sibley,
on 10/24/2014
by Russel Freedman. Chinese poems translated by Evans Chan. Clarion Books, 2014. (Library copy). This nonfiction text for young people covers the west coast immigration center Angel Island in San Fransisco Bay. Between 1910 and 1940 more than half a million people from 80 countries passed through this station. After being examined medically and interrogated, they often waited weeks or months in
By: Andromeda Jazmon Sibley,
on 10/10/2014
by Patricia Hruby Powell, pictures by Christian Robinson. Chronicle books, 2014. Review copy. This adorable 8" x 10" full color hardback book is a treasure trove of inspiration and information on the glorious life of Josephine Baker. Baker was born in a hard scrabble life in East St. Louis in 1906. Growing up with poverty, discrimination, race riots, and a family that loved ragtime music and
By: Andromeda Jazmon Sibley,
on 4/18/2013
Today is that rollicking good time day when you are encouraged to carry a poem and share it with friends, family, strangers - pass it around like a smile! It started in NYC several years ago and now is celebrated all over. Go to poets.org for ideas of how to celebrate and poems you can print to carry or share. At my library I am postings and passing out some of my favorites by Langston
By: Andromeda Jazmon Sibley,
on 4/12/2013
I am continuing to post haiga on my Instagram account every day in April, as an exercise for National Poetry Month. The whole collection is gathered here on this post. You can follow me on Twitter or Instagram also. I am experimenting with using Phonto and the Flickr photo editor Aviary to add text so the haiku is directly on the photo. So far I like what I am getting. I wish my iPod
By: Andromeda Jazmon Sibley,
on 3/29/2013
I had to clear out the text messages in my cell phone this week. I found a poem there! You know how disjointed a text conversations can be, and reading it over you are going backward in time? There is something about the layers of meaning and the unique undercurrents in a conversation between familiars. There is no body language like f2f but there is a flavor, a vibe. It calls to the heart.
By: Andromeda Jazmon Sibley,
on 3/22/2013
by Carl Sandburg, illustrated by William A. Smith. (First published by Curtis Publishing Co., 1936). Harcourt, Brace & World, 1960 edition. Library discard. I found this sweet little volume titled Wind Song in a pile of library discards once upon a time. In the front is a note in his own handwriting from Mr. Sandburg: "Dear Young Folks, Some poems may please you for half a minute and you
By: Andromeda Jazmon Sibley,
on 3/15/2013
Last week I posted a Haibun focused on my Clivia plants. Haibun is a Japanese haiku form made famous by Basho's 17c. book A Narrow Road to Deep North, a travel journal filled with haiku. Haibun combined prose writing with poetry; it is haiku wrapped in story. I'd like to continue the story of our Clivia plants in another haibun this week and share what happened at the Longwood Gardens Clivia show
I cannot imagine the privilege of growing up with something SO beautiful and gracious. My favorite lines remain, <i>nothing is heavy that sings</i>, which leads me today right into the James Weldon Johnson poem "The Gift to Sing" (which Karen Edmisten posted this morning) --<br /><br />The Gift to Sing<br />James Weldon Johnson<br /><br />Sometimes the mist overhangs my path,<br />And
Oh, Andi. <br /><br /> Where cool breezes<br />find and lift<br />sweaty smocks,<br />limp locks,<br />sometimes torn knees<br />or slight limps.<br /><br />And <br /><br />"nothing is heavy that sings"<br /><br />What a glorious scene you've created. Love how your stone retreat has lightened my heart!
OH, Andi. I love this. You've made subtle changes to the version I read, and this radiates calm and peace and beauty. I wouldn't have imagined that eleven children could produce such a thing, haha! But you've put in the real world, too, the sweat and the skinned knees and the dad who must be away and the mother who must preserve her own thoughts as she mothers. Brava. So
" Above the shushing<br />fountain catching<br />peace as it rises<br />off the star lit <br />magnolias."<br />*sigh* So beautiful. =)
"nothing is heavy that sings"<br /><br />Thank you for the whole poem, but especially for this line.
Andi, I LOVE that you gave us a full narrative this time -- people we know now, hearts we understand. This is a lovely, lovely piece -- thank you for it -- and for all of the beautiful images, too...
I love the story you've told with this poem ... of the people in this place. I love that you call the children "the littles." I love the lines:<br />laughter rising<br />on the cool evening<br />air. Light soft, stone hard.<br /><br />And as others have pointed out, I adore the notion that "nothing is heavy that sings."<br /><br />Thank you for this vision of the family.
Wonderful.....the idea of a sleeping porch. The unadulterated luxury even now.
Beautiful poetry! And now I have to visit this museum & gardens when I go to Philly again! I didn't even know this place existed. Fascinating!
I love how you used photographs to spark poetic ruminations in this little project of yours. Lovely poem.