It’s #PoetryFriday!
Want to know more? Click here.
My Nevermores poetry partner, Rose Cappelli is hosting us this week. The Nevermores braved the reverso waters earlier this month, trying our hands at the form created by Marilyn Singer, Queen of Reversos. Rose’s reverso asks: are you Team Fall? Check it out, and all the other poetry goodness linked on her site: Imagine the Possibilities.
And then there’s this POETRY FRIDAY community! One of my FAVES!
I LOVE our Nevermores group! We have Inked Voices to thank for this. While there are many writing communities/platforms to join, writers need to find which of them fits best.
For me, IV is a favorite comfy sweater that I love to pull on first thing Thursday mornings (6:30am for me) for a weekly Writing Sprint –think: 4 to 8 or 10 of us log on and do three 25 minute writes with 5 minutes to chat in between each sprint.
It’s a feet-up-end-of-the-weekend re-group on Sunday afternoon when I open the Nevermore’s weekly poetry prompt and begin wondering about response poems.
It’s seasonal mojo for WIPs facilitated by various agents/editors with cohorts of 6-8 writing partners to read, critique, and work through revisions.
It’s webinar interviews with editors and authors; workshops and book studies on craft – across all genres.
And best of all, it’s community and support for those long days and weeks when all of us solo-flyers find ourselves in need of some cheerleading.
Below is my fledgling effort at a reverso… waaay harder than I thought!
Empty Nest: A Reverso
by Patricia J. Franz
Who’d have guessed!
No noise! No mess!
Ahh…
With time to rest, the stress is less.
Alone in my nest,
no fledglings left,
feelin’ blest.
Feelin’ blest?
No! Fledglings left!
Alone in my nest
with time to rest, the stress is less…
Ahh!
No noise? No mess?
Who’d have guessed?
What I’ve learned about myself and my writing since joining Inked Voices and Poetry Friday is that poetry is my happy place – even when I’m not happy. It’s my go-to, my mojo, my lens to the world. It’s how I translate…like a foreign language interpreter for my heart. And my heart often bursts with gratitude – as though it has received a most precious gift.
Patricia Franz is a kidlit writer and published poet. She believes children, dogs, and sourdough have a lot to teach us about life, joy, and wonder. She has raised two boys, four dogs, and holds a master’s degree in Theology with a focus on children’s spirituality. Patricia, her husband, her Bernese Mountain dog, Bonny, and her sourdough starter split their time between the Arizona desert and the Sierra Nevada mountains. 
Lovely!
I love your reverso with all of its assonance! I’m feeling blest!
Thanks, Tracey. Great to see you on zoom today!
Such a nice description of the Inked Voices community, Patricia. I love our poetry group, too. I’ve learned so much from all of you.
“Feelin’ blest!”
Patricia, it is wonderful that you have the Inked Voices community to discuss styles, formats and analyze personal poems. Your reverso poem is wonderful with its rhyming and flow. Feeling blest is a sincere ending and beginning depending on which direction you read.
Thanks, Carol. Inked Voices has been a real gift.
Wow! I love it! As Carol said, your poem just flows! Wonderful work with a very difficult form.
I had no idea when I suggested the prompt how difficult!
That’s how I feel about poetry, too, Patricia. Good job on your reverso. They are so hard!
Hoping it won’t be my last.
Kudos! Tough form to tackle, and your poem has a great voice. Makes me think of the ambiguity we human moms feel when those young ones jump off the nest to make their own ways in the world….
Loved your description of the group, too.
Exactly.
You nailed it! Great job with a tricky form!!
Thanks Mary Lee. It was fun; I’ll definitely keep trying.
Patricia, I always learn so much from you about writing communities. Thank you! I like the play on words of your “fledgling” reverso poem. Well done. It does look hard, and this weekend reading you all, I’m being inspired to give it a try.
Do, Denise! And share yours!
I love how you and Rose really made the punctuation work for you in the reverso! I am so, so grateful for our Nevermores group. It’s such an amazing group!
I think it didn’t occur to me how much discipline both PF and Nevermores helps me with, til Irene mentioned it this afternoon.
We watch them grow and then when it’s time. . . Your “feelin’ blest” sneaks in so wonderfully, Patricia. Reversos are tough & you’ve made it look easy! I enjoyed the love you shared about your group. You are indeed blessed!
Doubly!
Thanks for sharing about Inked Voices. Online writing communities can be so powerful! I also cherish the gifts of PF and all the on-line connections I’ve made there. Your reverso is great! This is such a tough form, and after reading yours and Rose’s, I’m inspired to try again. Having two great mentor poems should help!
Hope you’ll share yours!
Clever, concise, and absolutely adorable!
It took me numerous tries before I landed on this!
Feeling blest myself after reading your post Patricia. Thank you!
I’m missing Poetry Friday! And wow, Patricia, you nailed the empty nest. I’m exactly a month into the highs and lows of it myself.