April 2023 - National Poetry Month - Encouragers and Mentors

Saint Catherine of Siena by Lo Spagna (Giovanni di Pietro), c. 1512
Public domain; Art Institute of Chicago

 

Saint Catherine of Siena is a patron saint of nurses. I’m not a Roman Catholic, but I admire St. Catherine for her ministry to people who were sick, as well as those in poverty. I also admire nurses who offer loving care to their patients, often bringing some cheer into the room. Good nurses work hard and show a lot of love. The following poem honors a nurse who encouraged a young girl to write poetry. The following two poems honor poet mentors—both Wisconsin poets.

 

“Write Some Poetry”

Another hospital stay and more surgeries.
My parents visit me sometimes
But it is not enough.
I’d rather be at home.

Not here, with all of these
Doctors and nurses
And all of these other kids
Who must stay in the Burn Unit of the hospital.

But I need to be here.
My parents tell me that I need surgery.
My doctor tells me this
And so do the nurses.

One nurse is always so kind and smiling,
Always so happy to see me each time I’m here.
One day, she gives me a book of paper and says,
“Write some poetry.”

Does she see a poet within my young body?
I’m not even ten years old yet
But my favorite nurse encourages me to write poetry.

I have never written poetry before.
What is poetry? I take it upon myself to find out.
My soul screams “Challenge accepted!” and I begin to write.
I learn how to write poetry, and the pain and loneliness that I feel
Fade away into the words that I put onto the pages.

What a blessing poetry brings! What an escape from my misery!
I wrote poetry when I was sad, lonely, angry or scared.
I wrote poetry when I was happy, in love, grateful and strong.
Thank you, wonderful nurse, for coaxing poetry into my life.

~ Dawn Colclasure

 

Peggy Trojan, whose work has been published several times on The Poetry Challenge, wrote to honor her mentor.

Mentor

 

Seventy-seven, I enrolled
in a poetry class for seniors.
Jan Chronister, the instructor, told me
I needed to send in my work.

One assignment, “A Day I Will Remember.”
I wrote about the end of World War II,
submitted “August 1945,”
became a published poet.

 

For the past thirteen years,
Jan has continued to teach me
as a friend and fellow poet.
We attend conferences together,

often present joint readings,
edit each other’s work,
applaud publications and awards. 

 

When she talks, I hear:
     Be honest and brave.
     Get to the point.
     Cut unnecessary words.
     Write what you know and feel.
     Don’t get cute. Keep it simple.
     Send it in. 

 

It’s working for me.
I think in poetry.

- Peggy Trojan

 

The following poem, honoring Ellen Kort, the first Poet Laureate of Wisconsin, brought back wonderful memories. Ellen was a fine poet and a very special human being. She was also one of my mentors.

Waiting for Poems

Ellen covers the table with an Indian blanket
and a few sacred items from home.
Believing there is a poet's voice in each of us,
she lights a candle, then smiles
with quiet expectation.

When we read our “spillings” out loud,
Ellen honors us with attentive listening.
Ah! she says, in appreciation
we are not sure we deserve,
then invites us, Read it again.

Ellen has faith — 
faith in the creative force within us
faith in the poems themselves.
They will wait for us, she says,
and when we are ready to claim them
they will emerge.

~ Marjorie Pagel

This poem originally appeared in the 2019 Wisconsin Poet's Calendar, honoring Ellen Kort, Wisconsin's first Poet Laureate.

 

I also wrote a poem in honor of Ellen. It was published in Quill and Parchment in 2014. I attended her workshops at the Green Lake Writers Conference (which, alas, is no more) and several at The Clearing in Door County, Wisconsin (which still offers wonderful poetry workshops each year).

 

In Ellen’s Poetry Class
        for Ellen Kort

Ellen really believes
when she turns
holding the lit candle
we will receive light

Even if today
I doubt the power
of symbol
of ceremony

my pen
catches the spark

~ Wilda Morris

 

Hopefully you will find a way to honor those who have encouraged you to write and mentored you as a poet. Check back on May 1 to see what the next poetry challenge will be.

These poets retain copyright over their own poems.

 

Bios:

Ever since Dawn Colclasure was told to "write some poetry" at a young age, she got started scribbling poems and hasn't looked back. Her first poem was published when she was 11 and her first poetry book was published as a college student. She has authored several poetry books and her poems have appeared in PANIC! Poetry & Arts, Happy Insomniac, EOTU E-Zine of Fiction, Art and Poetry, and The Front Porch Review, among others. Dawn also enjoys hiking, exploring, baking and creating art. She loves to read, which is helpful as a book reviewer, and her experiences as a Deaf burn survivor continues to inspire her work. Her website is at https://dawnsbooks.com/ and she's on Twitter @dawncolclasure.

Wilda Morris, Workshop Chair of Poets and Patrons of Chicago and a past President of both the Illinois State Poetry Society and Poets and Patrons, has published numerous in anthologies, webzines, and print publications. She has won awards for formal and free verse and haiku. Recently she has written more haiku, senryu and rengay. Wilda has published two books of poetry, Szechwan Shrimp and Fortune Cookies: Poems from a Chinese Restaurant (RWG Press) and Pequod Poems: Gamming with Moby-Dick (Kelsay Books). Her third book, At Goat Hollow and other Poems, is scheduled for publication this spring.

Marjorie Pagel, a retired English teacher living in Franklin, Wisconsin, enjoys practicing the craft of writing poetry and short prose. She has two published collections: The Romance of Anna Smith and other stories and Where I'm From. Ellen Kort was one of her earliest mentors.

Peggy Trojan's new release, a collection about her father, titled PA, won second in the Wisconsin Fellowship of Poets Chapbook contest in 2022. It won Honorable Mention for the Northeastern Minnesota Book Award for 2022.  Her previous release, River, won second in the Wisconsin Fellowship of Poets Chapbook contest in 2021. It also won an award of Outstanding Achievement from the Wisconsin Library Association. She is the author of two full collections and five chapbooks. Her books are available on Amazon. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

National Poetry Month Post #2

Dr. Carolyn Kreiter-Foronda

 

Poetry With Dr. Foronda

by Clarissa Adkins

Picture the late 80s. I would say it was 10th grade when I took Creative Writing I with Dr. Carolyn Kreiter-Foronda at West Springfield High School in Northern Virginia because I remember her bringing in her published poetry book, Contrary Visions (Scripta Humanistica), which was published in 1988. Our jaws dropped when we held the book in our hands. We had a real-life, published poet as a teacher! 

 

Her buttery Virginia drawl welcomed us to class. Between that and her waist-length dark brown hair, graceful mannerisms, and flowing dresses, I was enchanted. She made everyone in the room feel safe. I was definitely open to whatever the first assignment was. She gave us a prompt that consisted of a list of opening lines. There were no rules other than we were to pick one sentence and use it in some way. It didn’t even have to show up in what we wrote. To paraphrase the prompt: “She was afraid of what would happen when the egg cracked open,” and I swear to this day, I could feel my brain opening up just like the egg. I remember thinking, “She’s going to teach us how to be unique in our writing, AND it’s going to be fun.” 

By senior year, I was a big fan of Dr. Foronda (or “Doc” as many of her former students address her). I got into her English class, Creative Writing II, and for one more block, became her aide. She knocked us out of our seats by bringing US Poet Laureate Mark Strand into the classroom to read poems and take questions. My mind took another blow when she showed us a documentary about Sylvia Plath, which I hunted down a couple of years ago to rewatch. Since then Doc’s published eight more poetry books, co-authored a poem play, and has co-edited four anthologies. She is also an accomplished painter. Did I mention that she was Poet Laureate of Virginia from 2006 to 2008? 

Doc’s poetry is similar to her paintings–vibrant, luscious, and bursting with color. She has been a teacher, mentor, and friend my entire life. In 2019 we were published in the same book: Lingering in the Margins: A River City Poets Anthology, published by Chop Suey Books, and in 2020, she was kind enough to do the blurb for my first poetry book. Thank you, Doc!

 

Bios:

Clarissa Adkins published her first poetry book, Building Alexandria, with Lily Poetry Review Books in April of 2021. Her work also appears in The Pinch, Whurk Magazine, River City Poets’ anthology: Lingering in the Margins, and more. She enjoys reading for Sugar House Review and received her MFA in poetry from Lesley University in 2018. When she’s not writing, you can usually find her teaching high school English.

Dr. Carolyn Kreiter-Foronda served as Poet Laureate of Virginia from 2006-2008. She has co-edited three anthologies, co-authored a poem-play, and published three chapbooks and seven books of poetry, including The Embrace: Diego Rivera and Frida Kahlo, winner of the international Art in Literature: The Mary Lynn Kotz Award. She is the recipient of five grants from the Virginia Commission for the Arts and has won the Ellen Anderson Award, a Virginia Cultural Laureate Award, multiple first place awards from the Chesapeake Bay Branch of the National League of American Pen Women, a resolution of appreciation from the Virginia Board of Education for her service as poet laureate, an Edgar Allan Poe Poetry Award, six Pushcart Prize nominations, as well as other awards.  Her poems, along with those of other Virginia poets laureate, are featured in two permanent art installations in Northern Virginia as part of the Washington Metropolitan Area Authority, Art in Transit.  She currently serves as an adjunct faculty member for the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts Statewide Program. [www.carolynforonda.com]

 

Clarissa Adkins retains copyright of her submission.