Naked Reflections: Shameless and Sensual

Today’s prompt, “Creativity Connective” from Anna J. Small Roseboro, asked us to think about a minor character in a text we’ve read and write a poem from that character’s point of view to respond to something happening in the news or the world today. My character (Coach Otis Brody) is from Jason Reynolds’ book, Ghost. My topic is the profoundly disturbing number of unhoused people residing in Los…

Today’s prompt was to write about something I’ve been wanting to write about but let my heart be my guide. I’ve longed to return to my mom’s house, our family home, and just sit at the kitchen table. The family that moved in has no idea how much my mom’s house means to my family and even my friends. Maybe one day I will sit at our old kitchen table again.

No One Knows No hot water anywhere in the school And the soap we don’t bring ourselves A diluted, suds-less, skin-drying potion No red “stand here” circles or blue taped lines To give little humans six feet of safe distancing No way to believe in this “Safe Return to Schools”   No one knows what no one knows.   Families informed that their children will be safe Teachers advised to get fully…

Prompt for April 1st: Rosamond S. King writes poetry using a form called “Shadow Poem.” This form asks you to write a shadow poem of a previously written poem. Today, I offered this prompt to my writers’ community. I suggested they write about shadows or try writing a new poem from one they’ve already written. My poem below was originally written as an acrostic “ABUSEDWOMAN.” I divorced the form…

Today’s Prompt was a picture of a sculpture in the snowy woods. I focused on the slow process of death. Transitions   She begins transitioning From life to death The process creeps Like a slow morphine drip   Sentences shorten To phrases Phrases to mumbles Mumbles to silence   Movement loses fluidity Like a toddler’s first steps No muscles pulling and pushing Only bruised flaccid flesh   Until…

Today’s Prompt: What thoughts do you have about hands? Hands I Miss Zoom’s hand-raise feature No substitute for dirty pink palms For the bobbing up and down In the middle of my lesson   Zoom’s hand-raise feature Some use it sparingly, like salt Others keep it up constantly Like my pressure after lunch   Zoom’s hand-raise feature No substitute for sweaty smudgy skin Or the open hand in the…

Prompt: Write a poem about bodies dancing. I watched a clip of Gregory Hines from White Knights to inspire my poem. I used the form “abacadaba” also known as the Magic 9 poem. To the Beat of Unity Grooving to the same song inside Arms and legs sync tight and smooth One clap, one tap, glide One sound, two bodies in love Come, world let music be your guide Reflecting each other in unison Stomp…

©Glenn Carstenns-Peters

All The Things Left Behind

We saw their mail Piling on the table by the door Like if it didn’t Make it into the living room It wouldn’t have life

We knew he couldn’t manage Living in empty rooms Where memories floated On dust particles caught On sun rays That never touched his skin again

We waited for that day Like waiting for the elevator light to blink And doors opening T…

Black Skin

  Standing in the mirror where age confronts memory

Beauty hides deep within the stories of my skin

  Sunscreens and night creams slathered with care

Melanin needs help to protect a woman’s brown skin

  Finding shades of caramel without greens and yellows

In makeup never mixed for the depth of Black skin

  Shea butter and coconut oil line her shelves

Natural soothing salves bear the…

Ode to Teaching and Learning Online

  If teaching online

Could enrich young minds

I’d front line it

If Zoom morning meetings

Could beat in-person greetings

I’d co-sign it

If novel studies in G-Suite

Could light mind fires like Hot Seat

I’d design it

If blurry faces in gallery view

Could bring joy and love like hugs do

I’d refine it.

If “3 Quick Tips” in weekly office hours 

Could beat a…

Photo courtesy of Jon Tyson

Day 1 of 5: Today’s prompt was to write a rondeau.

The After-Life?

What if teachers never go back

Parents and tech pick up the slack

Students learn at their own fair pace

Resources and time laced with grace

Everyone wins on the same track.

  What if schools gave out lunch and snack

Souls were fed, kept free from attack

Not harmed, murdered or judged on race

Will this…

June’s Prompt for Day 4 of 5: Write your destiny. I imagined a world different from the world I live in today.

  The Privilege To Be

What if we attack hatred

With the same fire that we attack love?

No one policing the thickness of 

Our manes and braids, 

Crowns of grandma’s love

And great-grandpa’s strength.

They wouldn’t murder the souls of

Children whose parents cross borders to

Cater to…

The prompt: Write a List Poem; June’s Day 1 of 5

photo by: Kon Karampelas

My list came from various notes I’ve taken in response to the ways I live as a Black woman:

Adjust to make you more comfortable

Choose a gentler phrase

Smile to mask anger

De-center my voice from our conversation

Wait to see if you will move over

Move over first because you never do

Search online for images like me that I…

Daughter of…

By Stacey L. Joy, © May 10, 2020

I am Stacey Lorinn Johnson Joy

I am the daughter of

Gloria Lee McPherson Johnson Cooper

Adored as Mommie

Purest of people

Pristine and popular

Someone everyone admired 

Connoisseur of words and puzzles

Follower of rules and righteousness

Smoker, Bowler, Badminton Champ, Legacy Delta

I am the daughter of

Mrs. Cooper

Neighborhood Mom

P.E. teacher

Car…

Day 17 of 30 Write Your Own Lines for Fortune Cookies

Fortunes for Survivors of Misfortune

For those of us who have survived abuse…

  Survivors of abuse have an automatic angel of protection installed in every scar.

When you can’t sleep, the angels are busy around you.

Your abuser never sleeps soundly.

Your abuser suffers from IBS and incontinence.

Your nightmares mirror your abuser’s reality.

Your abuser has no friends, no joy, and no money.

If…

Today’s Prompt: Write a poem related to the passing of time or life’s cycles.

  Golden Mornings

In my childhood during spring

the morning sun’s golden rods

barged past my thin curtains

to awaken sparks of hope

that summer days

inching around the corner

would arrive

FINALLY

no more school

no more homework

no more schedules

time to be unaccountable

  Today, a month into spring

the morning sun’s…