Poem #30- People

Woooo Hoooo! 

Poem #30! 

Poem the Last! 

Poem We Did It! 

If you have been following my blog this month, you know I've spent the past 30 days writing poetry with Mary Lee Hahn and Kevin Hodgson. Mary Lee dreamed up this crazy poetry challenge, "Our Wonderful World" and the three of us have wandered the world writing poems about wonders old and new.

The past few days, Mary Lee has focused us to think about the small wonders in our daily lives and we have written about sunrises, chocolate, and imagination. Today's wonder is people and I actually wrote two poems.

The first is about writing poetry with Mary Lee and Kevin. This is our second year together-- Mary Lee organizes the whole shebang on her blog and then Kevin and I just sort of show up clutching our poems every morning.

This morning, as I was thinking about our month, the image that occurred to me was the clubs that we used to have when we were kids. Someone's family would get a new refrigerator or washing machine and we'd spend days building a club house out of the box. We'd cut out windows and doors,  gather rugs and curtains and pillows and somehow, there was always a vase of plastic flowers. Then we'd forage for food- peanut butter sandwiches and koolaid and cookies, and settle in for long afternoons of reading or playing games. Did anyone else have those cardboard box clubs? That's my first poem…


 "Poetry Club"

And so
three of us
(and an occasional passerby)

found an old refrigerator box
cut out a door
and a couple
crooked windows

dragged in a rug
a few pillows
and a vase of plastic flowers

foraged for peanut butter sandwiches
and grape koolaid
apples and of course
a little chocolate

then crawled inside
with notebooks
and pencils

and had ourselves
a poetry club.

(c) Carol Wilcox, 2014


And then a couple of weeks ago, Mary Lee organized a tribute for Franki's birthday. Franki is another fabulous friend and I was delighted to honor her on her special day. At the same time, I kept thinking that we also needed to honor her co-blogger, Mary Lee. And so I've decided to write about one of the most wonderful people I know-- Mary Lee!


"You Were There"

Decided to start a blog
Didn't know anything
Couldn't add book covers or links
Had never heard of CYBILS or Poetry Friday
And you were there
Patiently coaching
a total stranger

Solitary confinement
for twenty days
banished and
even my family didn't know
where I was
you were there
sending notes of encouragement
and upbeat DVD's.

"I'm coming to Denver.
Let's go to Tattered Cover"
you were there
with a box of red velvet cupcakes
(that even now, years later,
my boys still talk about)
and we wandered the aisles
talking books
and teaching
and life.

Writing poetry
every Friday
an entire month in April
you were there
setting up the calendar
choosing a theme
doing all the grunt work
so the rest of us could enjoy
a community
of poets

Amazing teacher
brilliant poet
heart-giving friend
How grateful I am
for your "thereness"
in my life.

Hugs and poems,
Carol