My #NaPoWriMo Poem-A-Day project is Playing With Poetry. I am tagging along with Margaret Simon, Jone MacCulloch, Molly Hogan, and Mary Lee Hahn. We will be playing with Haikubes, Magnetic Poetry, Metaphor Dice, and Paint Chip Poetry (I raided Home Depot). I’m even throwing in nail polish color names as inspiration, just for fun! Play along, if you’d like! We are using the Twitter hashtag #playwithpoetryNPM to see what poetic mischief everyone is getting into.
A peek into my poem and process:
- The world watched with horror and sadness yesterday as the magnificent and beloved Cathedrale Notre-Dame de Paris burned for hours on end. I visited there in January 1986 while studying abroad my junior year in college. While that was 33 years ago, and I have not managed to track down my photos as of yet, the memory of that cold winter day, with the wind blowing off the Seine, will linger indelibly in my memory.
- I again turned to Word Swag to create my final poetic image. There were many photos of Notre Dame to select from. I opted for a calm, peaceful, and contemplative indoor image rather than an iconic outdoor shot of the now painfully disfigured grand dame.
- When rolling the dice to select a text layout, the final selection appeared to show my words drifting upwards to the heavens, sadly reminiscent of the history that drifted upwards with the flames.
- My poem is in the skinny form — 11 lines, 1st and 11th identical phrases, 2nd, 6th, and 10th repeating, all lines apart from 1 and 11 individual words. More details about this form can be found here.
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And now for….
On April 1, the Poetry Friday family launched the 7th annual Kidlitosphere Progressive Poem organized by author/poet, Irene Latham. (Click here to learn more.) Many of us have signed up to provide a line for the 2019 poem. Author/poet Matt Forrest Esenwine kicked things off with some familiar “found” phrases merged to get us going. Today’s line comes from my Wonderopolis Wonder Buddy, Carol Varsalona. You may find her line here. Our little poem is now waltzing in the waves. Participants are having fun song lyrics. I was excited to provide the 14th line on April 14th. You can read it here. I hope you’ll join us to see what happens next! Here’s the itinerary for the rest of the poem.
April
1 Matt @Radio, Rhythm and Rhyme
2 Kat @Kathryn Apel
3 Kimberly @KimberlyHutmacherWrites
4 Jone @DeoWriter
5 Linda @TeacherDance
6 Tara @Going to Walden
7 Ruth @thereisnosuchthingasagodforsakentown
8 Mary Lee @A Year of Reading
9 Rebecca @Rebecca Herzog
10 Janet F. @Live Your Poem
11 Dani @Doing the Work that Matters
12 Margaret @Reflections on the Teche
13 Doraine @Dori Reads
14 Christie @Wondering and Wandering
15 Robyn @Life on the Deckle Edge
16 Carol @Beyond LiteracyLink
17 Amy @The Poem Farm
18 Linda @A Word Edgewise
19 Heidi @my juicy little universe
20 Buffy @Buffy’s Blog
21 Michelle @Michelle Kogan
22 Catherine @Reading to the Core
23 Penny @a penny and her jots
24 Tabatha @The Opposite of Indifference
25 Jan @Bookseestudio
26 Linda @Write Time
27 Sheila @Sheila Renfro
28 Liz @Elizabeth Steinglass
29 Irene @Live Your Poem
30 Donna @Mainely Write
Wondering and Wandering 
It is so interesting to hear about your process of writing the poem. I agree that the format of this poem does a great job of mirroring the topic. The weaving of the lines is beautiful.
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You chose a lovely photo that reminds me of my visit to Notre Dame in 2015. Beginning w/ French and incorporating English underscores the loss the world feels at seeing Notre Dame burn.
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Your writing, though skinny, speaks volumes. First I used Google translate to understand the 1st and last line. It is the perfect phrase and more powerful being in French. I found myself reading your poem down the page and then I scrolled up and it reads well going from last line to first line too. Poetry is fascinating. And the perfect form to try to write about such a sad day yesterday. I too have been to Paris years ago and then last Spring break. Your poem captures my feeling about the fire so well. Thanks for sharing your writing and your process.
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So many of us have special memories of standing inside of Notre Dame earlier in our lives. It was horrible to watch such a treasured place burning yesterday. It seemed unreal.
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I have not tried a skinny poem, but just added that to my notebook. Your words captured the feelings, especially “mon coeur se brise.” That is how I felt as I watched the coverage last night and I didn’t have the words to express how heartbreaking those images were.
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Oh, Christie. I was in an airport, looking at those images and wanting to grab everyone who walked by, to talk and weep together. There are so many sad moments, losses, aches, and the fall of this great lady seemed impossible. You have captured the hearbreak well with so few words. xx
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