LBI Poets Studio

Whether you are an accomplished poet or a new one, our monthly workshop will inspire you. To attend this event virtually please contact Sue Cummings via email scummings817@comcast.net.

This group meets the 1st Thursday of every month from 1:00 pm - 3:00 pm on Zoom. You may also join the program in-person at the LBI Library in the meeting room each month.

Our Prompt for December is to write a poem about a souvenir or souvenir(s).

Here is a wee bit of inspiration:

Souvenir by Jane Hirshfield

I would like
to take something with me

but even one chair
is too awkward
too heavy

peeling paint
falls off in a suitcase
hinge sounds betray a theft
cheeses won’t keep

the clothespin
without its surroundings
would be mediocre

the big thunder rolled elsewhere

the umbrella is for sale
but in a desert what you want is a soaking

the do not disturb sign is tattered

I have many times taken
some cafe’s small packets of sugar
so that in Turkey
I might sweeten my coffee with China,
and in Italy remember a Lithuanian pastry

but where is the coffee

hands left and right useless
knees clattery
heart finally calm
as some hero at the end of a movie
squinting silently into the sun

you can’t hold an umbrella there anyhow
and what would he hang from the clothespin

As a Bonus Challenge use three or more of the following words selected at random from the short story entitled Dachau, by Achy Obejas (One Story, Issue Number 324)

vivid, art, focused, abandoned, tree, bottom, light, droplets, passenger, maple syrup, scarf, circles, bronze, blurry, elementary, sculpture, puzzles, burden, narrative, mother, heart, queerness, craftspeople, monumental, red-eye, brochure, sticker, North Pole, absolute, futuristic, debris, edition, warm, tangy, whisper, decaying, window, mirror, chill, faceless, heated, brusquely, teeth, Spanish, tucking, officious, jerks, accented, pursuit, burka, whip, stalker, crackle, danke, ten, mojitos, bucket-sized, ornamentation, bag, palm trees, euros, mystery, crevice, pecking, dab, knuckles, grave, mist, clutch, thin, disbelief, folding, mimicry, facade, shadows, violet, ceiling

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