Firsts, Free Verse and Veteran's Day

Donna was having a free verse poetry contest (and no, I didn't win, but do go read the winning entry. It's wonderful.) and I entered three poems, all on firsts. Thought I'd share here. All true stories.


First Lie [or My Father's Thesis]

Paper airplanes
Go sailing in the sky.
Paper boats
Go floating in the sand.
A door opens.
Oh, no.
Daddy’s home.
Quick! Tell a lie.
“I saw my brother making those.”
Punishment for him
But I saved my skin.

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First Jobs

Babysitting
Pulling weeds
Shoveling snow
Telling fortunes
I don’t mind one bit.
With sound of money
Jingling in my pocket.

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First Pet

A tiny green grasshopper
with a string on one leg.
We don’t walk;
We hop down the street.

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Poems are what I write when I transition from nonfiction to fiction. Something about word-play frees me to be more imaginative. However, as I find myself writing mostly nonfiction poems, either little snippets of memory or facts I find fascinating. Many of these poems have been published, become seeds for short stories or even longer works.

Here is one that is even on King County buses. Check out the placard here:

So give poetry a whirl. You don't know where it might lead you. And it's fun and freeing.


A couple of novels in free verse that I have enjoyed:

Out of the Dust by Karen Hesse
One of Those Hideous Books Where the Mother Dies by Sonya Sones

And in honor of Veteran's Day, let me recommend these books I loved that show what honor and love and sacrifice is all about:

Heart of a Shepherd by Rosanne Parry (for MG+)
Bull Rider by Suzanne Morgan Williams (for YA)

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