A to Z Challenge

For the A-Z challenge, we decided to post a new and original poem every day (yipes!)  Today, inspired by a wonderful teacher and friend, Juliet tackles the letter "I."

Instructor: Laurie's Way

She drags a battered bag on wheels,

Entering the room with quiet purpose.

We read our words,

Pouring out our story-selves,

Their lumpy births

Uneven but,

Stained with specks of sunlight.

She decorates the room with soft edges,

To make us safe.

It’s all right, she says.

Go on.

Whisper-soft,

Her strength isn’t in the volume of her voice,

Or the swagger of her hips.

No, this teacher guides with,

Kindness and pearls of praise.

Under her direction,

Greening leaves sprout jeweled buds.

©2013 Juliet Bond all rights reserved

Hey!

We’ve just been nominated for a Liebster Blog award by the very kind, Michelle over at http://thingsiseeandknow.wordpress.com/  I had to explore what the heck that is but found the basics in Michelle’s blog post about her own nomination.

1.     Regina loves the great outdoors

2.     Juliet’s fantasy happy-place is a very clean room with extremely soft pillows and walls made of books.  If you know where that place is, I’d like to go to there.

3.     Regina and Juliet met at a founder’s workshop through Highlights.

4.     Both Regina and Juliet have three children.

5.     Regina loves poetry.

6.     Juliet also loves poetry but this is her first real attempt to write a lot of it and she is fully aware that some of it is total crappola.

7.     Juliet has published a picture book, stories in various short story collections, articles, blog posts and one children’s play.

8.     Regina is a published poet!

9.     Juliet works at Columbia College Chicago as an instructor in their Humanities Department.

10. Regina lives in the great state of Michigan way far, far away in the beautiful UP.

11. Regina and Juliet are new but enthusiastic bloggers, bravely and blindly feeling their way into the blogosphere.

Michelle’s Questions:

1.     Who is the most famous person you’ve ever met?

a.     Juliet: For one weird year, my husband and I lived in Hollywood.  We decided that we should attend the Oscars as they were basically taking place in our backyard (which is a total figure of speech - Hollywood has no actual backyards.)  So at six months pregnant, I climbed a tree to see over a huge wall onto the red carpet.  As I watched, Dennis Rodman walked by in some outrageous getup. Then, my husband demanded that I “get the hell down from that tree.” 

I don’t even like basketball. 

b.     Regina: Met Tori Amos and shared some poetry

2.     Why did you start blogging?

a.     Juliet: A woman we met at Highlights began a group blog after our second workshop together.  Regina and I later decided to try to learn how to do this all on our own.  How are we doing?

b.     Regina: Yeah, what she said.

3.     What is your most likeable quality?

a.     Juliet: Oh, I hate talking about myself.  I get on my nerves.  Is that likeable or totally annoying?

b.     Regina: I wear my heart on my sleeve.

4.     What is one item you should really throw away, but probably never will.

a.     Juliet: Love letters from an ex boyfriend (sigh)

b.     Regina: I have this t-shirt and pair of jeans that should be worn by no one.

5.     If you could be anywhere in the world this New Year’s Eve, where would you choose and why?

a.     Juliet: As long as I am with family and friends, the place doesn’t matter (though Paris is VERY nice.)

b.     Regina: On a beach with a bonfire and good friends

6.     Summarize your outlook on life in six words

a.     Juliet: Mixed up hues. Lemon, blue blessings.

b.     Regina: Persistence, Grace, Joy, Grief, Survival, Poetry

7.     What event in the next few months are you most looking forward to?

a.     Juliet: A Benefit concert for COPE where I will sing in public for the first time in twenty years (okay, twenty-five) with some favorite old friends.

b.     Regina: A summer of bliss and gardening

8.     If you had a $100 gift card to spend at any store, where would you choose to spend it?

a.     Juliet:  I could seriously use some new sheets.

b.     Regina: A new pair of jeans and a t-shirt

9.     What cheers you up when you are having a bad day?

a.     Juliet: My husband, he can always make me smile.

b.     Regina: Chocolate and a long walk outside

10. What piece of advice would you give to a new blogger?

a.     Juliet: Um, I had no idea there even were comments on blogs, much less knew to read or respond or to return the favor of a response. So yeah, read the comments and then visit the blogger who left them – blog courtesy 101.

b.     Regina: Yeah, what she said.

11. If you could create a memorial to yourself in a city park, what and where would the memorial be?

a.     Juliet:  This one makes me think of Jane Addams.  Though she changed the world through the reform movement and though she won the Nobel Peace Prize, she asked that her tombstone simply say that she was associated with Hull House and the Women’s International League of Peace and Freedom (an anti-war group that still exists today.)  So, along those lines, I think I’d want to be remembered for the groups I worked with rather than any one achievement (who achieves on their own anyway?)  And a statue or concrete memorial of some kind?   No, I’m sure that it would just make me look fat.

b.     Regina: A fountain would be nice. Oh a musical poetry fountain.

Next, we have to nominate bloggers who have less than 100 followers, for the Liebster Blog Award.   We have been hopping all over the place for the A-Z so this is a great chance to point out some good ones!  Here are our picks:

Ann Finklestein at Words and Pixels
Dani and Jax at Cover Girls
Amber Smith at The Furry Tales Chronicles
Dusty Drosche at Hoppy in First Grade
Grazona at Be Nice Follow Rules
The Ninja Librarian

Special Mention:  Juliet's favorite blog she's come across during the challenge?
What the F(eminist)

Last, these lucky winners have to respond to these

eleven questions.

1. Why write?

2. Favorite author and why?

3. Favorite book and why?

4. The meal you would eat while reading that book?

5. The question you would ask the author of that book?

6.  The way you might use that story in your own writing?

7. An excerpt from the book?

8. Favorite plot point in the book

9. Who you have recommended the book to?

10. The playlist you would create for this book?

11. The famous person you would like to give this book to and why?