Blog Home
- Details
- Written by: Tracey Kiff-Judson
- Category: Blog
A huge thank you to the friend-of-every-poet, and a truly kind soul, Irene Latham for hosting this week! Please visit Live Your Poem to enjoy some of Irene’s gorgeous ArtSpeak poetry and the weekly roundup.
Thank you to Linda Baie for inviting us to join the #PoetryPals September Poetry Challenge. Here’s Linda’s description:
We’re wandering through Wallace Stevens’ “13 Different Ways of Looking…” at something. Maybe it’s not 13 ways – maybe it’s only seven. Maybe it’s not a blackbird or anything alive, but something inanimate. Whatever happens, your way of looking will be different than mine, and I’m here for it. Are you in? Good!
While sitting at my desk pondering this wonderful challenge, the first thing that caught my eye was my big toe!
88 Fashionable Toe Nail Designs to Try in 2024 in 2024 – NailDesignCode
Note: None of these are my toes. That felt too weird to post, although, posting other people’s toes is probably also rather weird…
Anywho, thirteen things! Well, there aren’t many similarities between my poem and “Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Blackbird” by Wallace Stevens. His poem was more insightful and poetic, more clearly formatted, and perhaps based upon a better topic! : /
But I had fun!
The Big Toe
I support this whole operation:
balance queen,
head of the household,
first in line for a swift kick.
You say I take more
than my share
of shoe space?
Maybe I am a
polish hog,
but I can’t help if I’m
big boned.
Besides, I’m only a
little piggy …
when I go to market.
Even though
my head
sticks out farthest,
I’m stubbed far less
than my smaller siblings.
They tend to
cut
corners.
I’m a born leader.
I move independently.
Sure, I’m a bit
calloused,
but who doesn’t
have a few
rough edges?
I work proficiently
and silently,
unlike that
high-and-mighty thumb.
What’s so great
about being opposable
anyway?
You can count on me.
I’m a steadfast,
often-neglected-yet-vital
phalange.
© Tracey Kiff-Judson, 2024
Wishing you a toe-tally Happy Poetry Friday!
- Details
- Written by: Tracey Kiff-Judson
- Category: Blog
Happy Poetry Friday!
Thank you to Linda for hosting this week’s roundup! Please visit her at Teacher Dance to check out her lovely summer look-back poem as well as all the other Poetry Friday posts.
Have you ever tasted a food and transported to another time and place? Just the thought of eating a candy apple takes me back to strolling around the county fair with sticky hands and red cheeks.
Yesterday, I was in a small market in Massachusetts with my son, and we came across baskets of wild black raspberries. Of course, I had to buy some. There were also boxes of Concord grapes. We needed some of those too.
As we were walking out of the store a couple berries fell on the ground. Not wanting to waste a memory, I scooped them up, dusted them off, and popped them into my mouth. My son and husband laughed when I said, “Tastes like being a kid.”
Growing up in Western NY State, I spent my summers with my cousin. An unruly, black raspberry patch sprawled behind my house. We hid in that berry patch for hours eating sun-warmed berries, getting scratched by inch-long prickers, and picking fruit for my older sister to bake us a pie.
If you’ve ever eaten wild black raspberries, you know that the seeds are disproportionally large and hard compared to blackberries, and the flavor is a bit … muskier? Black raspberry pies are dry and more seed than fruit ... but, I can’t get enough. Black raspberries are part of my soul.
The same goes for Concord grapes. We grew up in the NYS Finger Lake Region – wine country. Wine is fine, but … the grapes are where the magic lives. There is a technique to eating Concord grapes – if want a pleasant experience. I am going to share this technique with you, in confidence.
You pick a grape and squeeze it into your mouth until the pulp and juice empty from its skin. You let the clear, sweet juice trickle across your tongue and the pulp slide down your throat. Do not chew! If you bite down, very sour juice from inside the pulp will escape, and you will have to contend with two large, crunchy seeds.
What happens next is the subject of much controversy: eat or toss the skin? I toss ‘em, but my cousin always swore by eating the skins. They aren’t bad, just not as delicious as the sublime juice and slippery pulp. Nowadays, I bake the skins into quick bread where they masquerade as blueberries.
Concords
Sunbaked
grapes
plucked
and sucked
release
the
flavor
of
childhood.
© Tracey Kiff-Judson
If you can find Concord grapes – here is a recipe to try with the skins. It is rather dense, but quite tasty!
- Details
- Written by: Tracey Kiff-Judson
- Category: Blog
WHAT HAPPENED?! I hadn’t intended to take a summer hiatus from Poetry Friday, and yet, here we are with a red tinge on the tips of our dogwood leaves.
My unplanned break began at the end of June with a rush to prepare for a trip to Highlights, where, incidentally, I got to meet a Poetry Friday friend – Linda Mitchell! Woot! Woot! Linda is as kind, thoughtful, and creative in person as she is in her posts. I also had a chance to chat with another Poetry Friday friend – Marcie Flinchum Atkins! If you haven’t met Marcie in person, she is generous, funny, and more organized than a spreadsheet!
The Highlights retreat: Poetry & Poetry Anthologies, led by the magnificent Irene Latham and incomparable Charles Waters, inspired me to revise a couple picture books. I owe them both many thanks for their continued support and guidance. I am pretty sure Irene is a saint. THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU!
Here is a subset of The Irene & Charles Fan Club at Highlights!
Then came summer parties and various obligations, followed by a trip to Maine to help my dear friend, Kim, with harvest on her wild blueberry farm (wild-farm sounds like an oxymoron, but it’s true). Kim taught me how to rake berries, winnow chaff on a tractor, and cull berries on a conveyor belt (a la “I Love Lucy”). I also learned that I am surprisingly (or perhaps not surprisingly) well-suited for manual labor! : ) If you are ever in Maine, please take a trip to Harmon Mountain Farm for some of the best blueberries you will ever taste!
From there we took a road trip through Canada. We enjoyed the entertaining Canadian road signs! We toured Prince Edward Island, Nova Scotia, Old Quebec City, and Montreal. If you have a chance to travel through Nova Scotia, please take a drive to Peggy’s Cove – a quaint fishing village and lighthouse seated atop ocean-sprayed granite. The town of Peggy’s Cove is home to only 30 year-round residents!
If you travel in Quebec, you might enjoy a hike to Montmorency Falls for spectacular views, followed by a drive to L’Ile de Orleans for golf-ball sized blackberries and ice cream at the local chocolatier. Swoon!
… and that’s what I did on my summer vacation!
“What about the POETRY in Poetry Friday?” you ask. Well, I was pleased to make the long-list in Renee LaTulippe’s “Summer Snapshot” poetry contest with the following free verse poem:
Congratulations to Poetry Friday bloggers Linda Mitchell for her honorable mention, Heidi Mordhorst for taking third place, and a shoutout to a member of one of my critique groups, Korena Di Roma Howley, for taking second! Woohoo! If you’d like to see their poems, click here.
So happy to be back at Poetry Friday! Thank you to the talented and funny Buffy Silverman for hosting this week! Check out her post (also relating to animal music!) and the roundup at Buffy Silverman.
- Details
- Written by: Tracey Kiff-Judson
- Category: Blog
Poetry Friday is here!
“What is Poetry Friday?” you ask … please visit Renee LaTulippe for her thoughtful explanation. Connect using Mr. Linky at the bottom of this post.
One wonderful aspect of Poetry Friday is that you can write about virtually anything. Yet sometimes, finding inspiration can be a challenge, at least for me.
Image source: Canva
A few weeks ago, I attended the last CT Forum of the season. The topic was “Chefs.” The panelists included: Priya Krishna (NY Times Columnist and Cookbook Author), Marcus Samuelsson (Renowned Chef, Restauranteur, TV Personality), and Gail Simmons (Top Chef Judge, Culinary Expert, Cookbook Author). Sam Sifton (NY Times Editor and Writer, Cookbook Author) moderated the discussion.
Image source: The Connecticut Forum - The Connecticut Forum (ctforum.org)
To me, the most interesting part of the discussion centered around inspiration. An audience member asked the panelists where they find inspiration for their culinary creativity. Marcus Samuelsson answered that he collects colors and stories. “The clubs, the artistry, and the weirdness” of his Chelsea neighborhood in NY City inspire him. The moment that he finds a food “cravable” (when the first bite is so delicious that he wants to eat more) inspires him to experiment with that flavor profile.
Other panelists talked about the world as inspiration. Being out in the world, traveling, visiting new places, talking to a stranger at a wedding, and experiencing life were all sources of inspiration for their cooking. The panelists agreed that venturing out of their homes and diving into a new environment invigorated their creativity.
This sentiment rang true to me. Some poets find inspiration in the seemingly ordinary, perhaps Valerie Worth would be a worthy (tee hee) example. That works for me on occasion but venturing out in the world feels necessary. Pairing new experiences with my life-history library sometimes inspires a fresh idea.
I also left the forum thinking that great artwork, whether it be writing, painting, dance, theater, sculpting, music, or cooking, is at its core – storytelling. And storytelling is about human connection and understanding.
And that thought brought a wave of gratitude for the community of storytellers who are Poetry Friday. Thank you for bravely sharing your stories, your cultures, your observations, and your feelings and reaching out for human connection.
Please connect here!
If you have time to comment, I would love to hear about a source of your inspiration!
- Details
- Written by: Tracey Kiff-Judson
- Category: Blog
Do you ever wake up in the middle of the night with a flash of dream-brilliance and scratch something on a scrap of paper in the dark?
Image source: Canva
I do this occasionally, but in the cold reality of morning, I usually find … giBberiSh.
Here is one from a long time ago, that sounded oh, so poetic in the middle of the night:
Thrice before the double dawn,
the monkey … [indecipherable] gone.
Image source: Canva
Then there was this:
Toggle
Dazzle
Ice Cream
Soldier
Image source: Canva
My scribble from last Tuesday was marginally coherent, yet not the masterpiece imagined in my dream-brain:
My poor, miser-man,
you keep all you can –
bibbles and bobbles
you put in a can.
Not sure how you put a bobble in a can, and "can" can't rhyme with "can." Maybe that one could be improved with a little TLC…
You scrimp, and you cobble,
devout miser-man,
each bibble, each bauble –
tucked in a can.
Image source: Canva
Ah well, despite the futility, I continue to jot down pieces of dreams. Because …
Dreams
by Langston Hughes
Hold fast to dreams
For if dreams die
Life is a broken-winged bird
That cannot fly.
Hold fast to dreams
For when dreams go
… read the entire poem here.
Wishing you a happy Poetry Friday and sweet dreams! Please visit Janice at Salt City Verse to read about her impatience for impatiens and a review of Carol Labuzzetta's Picture Perfect Poetry.
- Details
- Written by: Tracey Kiff-Judson
- Category: Blog
Source: Canva
This week, while fine-tuning a couple manuscripts, I distracted myself by consolidating my various editing checklists into one comprehensive mega-list.
After a few hours of that, I was ready to rip my hair out, and of course, when hair is ripping, a poem is ripening.
Editing
My poem
contains, really and truly, just very, very few crutch words,
EXPLODES with active verbs!!!!
does not overuse exclamation points
OR CAPITALIZATION!!!!!!
carefully, meticulously, and precisely minimizes adverbs
maintains a catchy refrain,
uses it’s apostrophes correctly when its time,
let’s you here the creek of the creak,
shows the second hand ticking (rather than telling time),
is hysterical,
is knot full of linking verbs,
is cursedly age appropriate,
does not add filler just to rhyme –
this, I’ll tell you every time,
throws in a dash of emdash –
or two –
resists reiteration, repetition, and redundancy,
maintains a catchy refrain,
leverages
line
breaks
for
emphasis,
is devoid of typoes,
is POW! SWOOSH! CRACKING with onomatopoeia,
actively alliterates, undulates with assonance, and spills its consonance,
takes a hero on a journey to save the cat,
incorporates some
enjambment,
maintains a catchy refrain,
employs lusciously lyrical language,
sparce,
makes appropriate uses of ellipses, etc. …
has more layers than lasagna,
uses similes like an English teacher,
avoids cliches like the plague,
avoids mixing metaphors by getting its ducks on the same page,
maintains a catchy refrain,
and
has a Twist ending –
Oliver.
© Tracey Kiff-Judson, Draft 2024
For some well-edited poetry, visit this week’s Poetry Friday host, the amazingly artistic Michelle Kogan at MoreArt4All with this week's roundup and May birthday wishes.
- Details
- Written by: Tracey Kiff-Judson
- Category: Blog
There is a little "put-and-take" shed at our local transfer station. It usually contains an array of unwanted items, many in need of repair. I like to wander through and imagine people cleaning out closets, basements, and pantries. Are they moving to a new home, downsizing, or just a conducting thorough spring cleaning?
Occasionally, I drop off a few things, but I try to avoid bringing home items because I don't want to collect more stuff. Yet … I picked up this plate, and somehow its strangeness convinced me to bring it home.
The rim contains pictures of hinges and drawer handles. The center has a picture of a cheerful gentleman / pirate / town crier? His head is open on top, and his hat connects to his neck with a handle, leading me to believe that he is actually a mug. The pipe that lies in front of the mug is about the right size for the person on the mug to smoke. To whom does this pipe belong? I find the scene confusing. Maybe I am missing something that would have become clear in the context of an entire place setting.
Now that I have washed it and studied it, I will probably return it for the next passerby to ponder. A silly poem for a silly plate:
Gentleman with an Affable Grin
There once was a man with an affable grin
that stretched from his cheeks all the way to his chin.
We so loved his face that we made it a mug.
We passed him around, and we all took a chug.
We so loved the mug that we gave it a pipe.
The mug didn’t smoke – it wasn’t the type.
We so loved the pair that we made them a plate.
We ate every dinner straight off the man's pate.
It’s been many years since the man came and went.
Now no one recalls ever seeing that gent.
In other news, it was my pleasure read Carol Labuzzetta’s Picture Perfect Poetry: An Anthology of Ekphrastic Nature Poetry for Students. I want to offer a special thank you to Carol for her dedication and perseverance in creating this anthology. Incredibly, she completed this project over the course of several months!
I was overjoyed to see gorgeous photos and wonderful poems from so many Poetry Friday friends! I would like to share one of my poems that Carol selected:
Fiery Friend
I know you from
tigers and tangerines,
carrots and parrots,
saffron and sunsets.
You mingle with
goldfish and marigolds,
campfires and cantaloupe,
corals and orioles,
but I did not expect
to find you in forests
dressed down as
commonplace
fungus.
Happy Poetry Friday! Please visit the kind and wise Patricia Franz for this week's Poetry Friday gathering and to share her adventure planting seedlings with The Sugar Pine Foundation!
- Details
- Written by: Tracey Kiff-Judson
- Category: Blog
Have you ever fallen in love with a word at first sight? A word that leaps from the page or tickles your ear?
I must confess. I have a crush on the word “winklepicker.”
As if the word’s light-hearted clicking in your mouth were not enough, just take a gander at an actual winklepicker:
source: https://www.ancient-origins.net/news-history-archaeology/winklepickers-0015435
You can choose an old-school winklepicker:
source: https://gucinari.co.uk/shoes/boots/the-history-of-winklepickers/
To me, the winklepicker’s personality walks a fine line between comedian and villain.
source: https://www.gettyimages.ca/photos/winklepicker-shoes
How could you not be intrigued by a shoe with that imagination, that wit, that je ne sais quoi?
source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Renaud_de_montauban_banquet.jpg, public domain
Beyond its zany frivolity, the winklepicker serves a function as well. The name came from the notion that the winklepicker’s pointy toe might be used to pick a winkle (or periwinkle, a small mollusk) from its shell.
source: https://www.climatewatch.org.au/species/marine/blue-periwinkle
The highly-stylized curled winklepicker (as might be worn by a jester) nullifies function and embraces pure form.
source: https://www.istockphoto.com/photos/winklepicker
Of course, things can be taken to an extreme.
source: Mexican Pointy Boots - VICE Video: Documentaries, Films, News Videos
I leave you with a brief winklepicking poem …
Winklepicker
I wink. I pick.
I winklepick.
I kick a winkle with my toe.
He twinkles in the foamy flow.
I wink at him – he seems to know.
I’ll pick you, winkle, with my toe.
I winklepick, and I watch him go –
stolen by a stealthy crow.
(c) Tracey Kiff-Judson, 2024
Please visit the delightful Linda Mitchell at A Word Edgewise for some wonderful clunkers and this week's Poetry Friday fiesta! Want to learn more about Poetry Friday? Check out Renee LaTulippe's post.
- Details
- Written by: Tracey Kiff-Judson
- Category: Blog
Poetry Friday is sizzling! It feels like summer is just around the corner with the warm temps here earlier this week. Please visit our host, the amazingly talented Buffy Silverman to see what’s hot in this week’s Poetry Friday roundup!
This year, we have thousands and thousands of baby maple trees sprouting all over our yard. I spent a about six hours pulling spring weeds from our small garden this weekend.
I took a minute to marvel at this sprout's preprogrammed growth plan. It knew exactly what it needed to do. Basking in the sun, it raised its arms to its mother tree, as if to say, "Here I come!"
Maple Sprout (please read from the bottom up!)
yearning to be grown.
Origami leaves unfold, rosy-cheeked,
Tender wings fan.
BURSTS ABOVE!
s
e
h
c
t
e
r
t
s
Seedling
----------------------------------------
Maple Sprout (or read top to bottom…)
Seedling stretches –
BURSTS ABOVE!
Tender wings fan.
Origami leaves unfold,
rosy-cheeked,
yearning to be grown.
© Tracey Kiff-Judson, 2024