Whoa,
Taking a breath from this past week,
and sending out healing prayers…
I scribbled away a few poems in response to the shooting at the Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, TX. I like so many others are still taking this horrific tragedy in. I offer my sketch and haiku above as a prayer for the children and teachers… and all the lives they connect with.
buttercups,
sunbeams of love with leaf-filled
feathery support…
© 2022 Michelle Kogan
This month the Poetry Sister’s prompt was to write a poem on string, rope, or chain. Thanks to all Tanita, Mary Lee, Laura, Liz, Andi, Sara, and Tricia. And to find more of these poems look for them tagged with #PoetryPals. Twine reached out to me and I followed her lead…
IMAGINATION
Meander garden twine
twist and wind
like a silent serpent
sleuthing by.
Watch it climb
high toward sky
wrapping vines
guiding vines
over and around
as they rise.
Meander garden twine
twist and wind
create contour
levitating lines.
Let twine lead you
off your line
into a new
imagine-filled
time…
©2022 Michelle Kogan
draft
Another poem/draft on the shooting…
NOT JUST ANOTHER MORNING…
While the world turned itself upside down again, and the U.S. has another elementary school mass shooting, now in Uvalde, Texas–leaving so many of us shaken and wondering when this will stop—My college daughter gets Covid, and my out-of-college son talks with his girlfriend of moving to Canada…
I scan my phone emails and skim over the NYT’s The Morning recap on why the U.S. is an outlier for mass shootings, and read poem-a-day Terisa Siagatonu’s probing poem, THE ONLY PLACE IN THE U.S. WITH ZERO COVID DEATHS…
I try meditating but my focus falls short …
change u.s. gun laws
place children before profit
make schools safe NOW
© 2022 Michelle Kogan
draft
I also want to share Terisa Siagatonu’s poem, The Only Place in the U.S. with Zero COVID Deaths, from the Academy of American Poets poem-a-day. Take a minute to listen to her reading and the “About this Poem,” all moved me.
Read the rest of the poem here
Linda Mitchell at her blog A Word Edgewise is hosting this week’s Poetry Friday Roundup, thanks Linda! She has a powerful poem about the School Shooting, be sure to stop by.
Michelle Kogan Illustration, Painting, & Writing 
I wish I could take that breath…still too much going on before we can wrap up this year. Like so many educators, I’m putting off taking a breath. However, I decided to travel to see family this weekend. So, I guess I am taking a breath. Time with my sisters and cousins will be healing. Thank you for the buttercups. They are lovely. I read the poem about the only place in the world without a covid death. It’s a good poem. Thanks for so many offerings of positive this week. They are all wonderful.
I’m glad you are able to take a break with supportive family Linda. I hope the time brings you some small sense of solace to carry through your closing school year. Safe travels and thanks!
I don’t know what it will take to bring about this necessary change, Michelle, but I will be praying it happens soon – and not at the awful cost of many more lives. It is beyond comprehension (and bearing) that these tragedies are allowed to go unchecked.
Thank you, Michelle for your buttercups bound with twine…a comforting bouquet. xo
I’m all over the board in my brain, trying to come up with a poetic response to… everything. Thank you for beginning; even something about your twine guiding is grounding and comforting.
Boy, the posts are potent, Michelle. To say we are reeling is clear understatement. Thank you for your art. Art, outdoors – seem to be the only truths I can manage right now.
Love your buttercups and twine, but the other two poems are gut punches…in a good way…making me pay more attention.
I missed replying to your blog last week although I read it. It is wonderful, especially the buttercup image poem. Your offering for #PoetryPals is very clever the way you tied it up in a nature-related way.