Early this month, I had the good fortune to attend a Zoom session hosted by Georgia Heard, with George Ella Lyon as the special guest. I jotted PAGES of “George Ella Gems,” then typed them up and cut them apart. I had a draft I liked, but then this morning, I didn’t like it. Easy enough to create a new draft! An unspoken sub-challenge this month was to put your poem into Canva. Here’s my draft for now:
Here’s what the rest of the Poetry Sisters came up with:
Tricia @ The Miss Rumphius Effect
Tanita @ {fiction, instead of lies}
Sara @ Read Write Believe
Laura @ Laura Purdie Salas
Liz @ Liz Garton Scanlon
Kelly @ Kelly Ramsdell
Andi @ A Wrung Sponge
Irene has this week’s Poetry Friday Roundup at Live Your Poem, where you can “overhear” lots of poetry talk!
In February, the Poetry Sisters are going to try one or more Exquisite Corpse poems. We’re not sure exactly how we’re going to do them, and there’s a lot of wiggle room. Read about them, and then figure out how YOU’D like to use or be inspired by the game. We’ll share our poems on Feb. 25th, and you can, too! If you share on social media, use the hashtag #PoetryPals. We can’t wait to see what you (and we?) do with this! Have fun!
A(nother) Year of Reading 
What a great idea, Mary Lee! Thanks for sharing all these gems of wisdom from George Ella Lyon. I especially love the last line. Giving Canva a try is on my list of goals for 2022. Thanks for the inspiration. It’s beautiful.
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Collapsing—indeed! I adore this picture of the process. And knowing that each draft, each poem, each attempt revises ME—well, that is enough reason to keep at it. This is a keeper. I’m going to print it out for my desk.
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This is wonderful Mary Lee! So much truth in this poem. Sounds like it was an amazing program to participate in.
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Love that window-portal in there and your ending line with “poets get revised.” Sounds like a wonderfully rich workshop! I like exquisite corps drawings, I’m looking forward to this poem prompt, thanks Mary Lee!
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Mary Lee, your idea of cutting up lines and rearranging them is wonderful. I will add that to my ideas’ list. It reminds me of the cards you made for me. I still get a lot of mileage out of that small package that sits on my desk. Your poem’s last line is noteworthy.
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“how close that came to collapsing” oh, sigh, yes — this poem (and this process!) are divine!
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Oh, cool, and you saved and cut up all of your phrases! That’s something that’d be fun to do collaboratively – everyone has different takeaways from a talk, and then sitting down to share what hit you hardest in this way would be fun. I liked your original one, but this one comes at overhearing from a whole new direction.
And well done on that Canva! ☺
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That is so beautiful. Thank you for sharing all that wisdom and shaping it into its own lovely poem. Extra kudos for the Canva choice!
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Nice! I really do like poems about writing.
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Great choice of “overheard” words and wise methodology. Being able to change things around = joy!
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You’re my favorite recent retiree mentor! Love this poem and wow! that last line!
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That collapsing line! And the poets getting revised. This is genius, and I know the lines might be made of George Ella gems, but they’re pure Mary Lee in this form. And thank you for the postcard! What a day brightener it was :>)
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Those final lines on both the second and third stanzas. Yes!
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What a final line…so true and such a hopeful promise. I love cutting up papers and rearranging for poems. So fun!
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Amazing job of arranging Lyon’s gems. Wisdom begets wisdom. You had me at “I know poems are magical.” 🙂
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Somewhere between the “impulse” and “just a bunch of words”, but thankfully shy of “collapsing” the magic happens. Thanks of overhearing these pearls and stringing them into this magical necklace. 🙂
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Yes! Poets get revised by the act of writing their poems. What a great insight, Mary Lee.
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I am loving this communion of George Ella and Mary Lee! Keep rearranging ourselves is about the best thing we can do for the world. co
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“You just never know when a window is going to open.” – how very hopeful this is.
Lovely!
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