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Celebrating Living Poets: Amy Nemecek

The third day of the 19th Annual Slice of Life Challenge is well underway at Two Writing Teachers’ website, and I invite you to visit and read the posts shared by writers across the globe, who give us a glimpse into their daily lives. This month, I’m featuring a living poet each day and creating a Cento poem from the poems in their collections. You can read more about Cento poetry here.

A few years ago, Fran Haley of North Carolina (blog: Lit Bits and Pieces) sent me a copy of The Language of the Birds by Amy Nemecek one spring when we were both participating in The Great Backyard Bird Count. I’m thanking Fran for this gift of poetry, and I’m celebrating Amy Nemecek today!

Amy Nemecek is a violinist and poet who lives in Michigan, and you can read more about her on this link that features a few other poets as well (scroll down on the post to read about Amy). Here is an additional link about Amy.

Choosing Tunes

Just when I think it’s over

I feed the jukebox quarters

As you slow dance around me

Lulled by the rhythm of pewter waves

I join you in its convex solitude

reminding you, reminding myself

our imperfect submission affords no rest.

My Cento lines are taken from these poems, in order: Larch Song; Acedia; Light Fantastic; Back to School; Companion; Beloved; and Vigil.

A sneak peek of the living poets featured the first ten days of March

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Celebrating Living Poets: Brian Rohr

Day 2 of the Slice of Life Challenge has me feeling energized with all of the fabulous writing that bloggers are sharing at Two Writing Teachers for the 2026 Slice of Life Challenge, where writers share daily snapshots of meaningful moments of their lives. You can check it out here.

My theme for this month was inspired by a friend who recently sent me a book she’d read (The Lion Women of Tehran by Marjan Kamali). Thanks, Glenda Funk! Glenda said that she passes most of her books on, but she keeps poetry. It got me thinking about the living poets who are part of The Stafford Challenge and other writing groups like Poetry Friday. Perhaps I could expand my own collection of living poets – and that became a mission.

And so I set out to take a hard look at a diverse range of living poets. I discovered that no matter who we are – male, female, of all ethnicities and heritages, of urban or rural settings, of all religions and ages and places in the world – we all need poetry. Especially now. Especially in these times. Some of us read it, some of us write it, and many of us read and write it.

I decided to feature a living poet each day, celebrating their work and using their poems to create Cento poetry by taking lines of their existing poems and weaving together a whole new poem. You can read more about Cento here.

Today, I celebrate Brian Rohr, author of Shaken To My Bones: A Poetic Midrash on the Torah.

Brian Rohr started The Stafford Challenge, now in its third year of inviting poets to come together and to write a poem every day for one year. You can read more about Brian at his website. I’ve taken his collection of poems and formed a Cento poem, and I’ve listed the names of the poems I used, in order, beneath the poem.

When God Speaks

A star shoots across the sky.

Blue and red birds appear in my birch tree.

A bird with a blue head and blue wings flies past my window.

There are ways God speaks to me.

We can see the breath.

Taken from: Before; My Longing; Outside it is Raining; I am Joseph; In the Cool Air of the Morning Mist.

The first ten days of March will feature these poets – this is a sneak peek photo!
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Celebrating Living Poets: Sophie Diener

This month’s Slices of Life are dedicated to the love of poetry. Each day of March, I’ll be celebrating a living poet by creating a Cento poem from the lines of their poetry, along with links to more information about each poet as three of my writing circles intersect this month: The Slice of Life Challenge with Two Writing Teachers, Open Write with EthicalELA, and The Stafford Challenge.

I’m kicking off the celebration with Sophie Diener, who wrote Someone Somewhere Maybe. She’s a poet who teaches and resides in Ohio, and she started writing in journals from the age of five or six. She’s the friend so many of us would have had in grade school and kept for life. She keeps a strong social media presence on Tik Tok and Instagram. You can follow her on Instagram: @sophiediener and on Tiktok: @sophiediener.

You can read more by and about Sophie here and here.

Cento poems feature lines of existing poetry that are put together in new ways to create a whole new poem, a lot like a quilt. Or Frankenstein. Or one of those photography montages where all the photos are put together to look like Abraham Lincoln or something. As I create a Cento from each collection of poetry this month, I’ll add the titles of each poem in line order beneath the poem. If you’ve never written a Cento, you may wish to challenge yourself to try this form this month and see how fun it is to write! Here is a Cento I’ve created from several of the poems in Sophie Diener’s book Someone Somewhere Maybe:

Becoming

Things take time to fall into place

in this precious part of your life.

There are parts of you that fade with time

But oh, how beautiful.

Recognize how far you’ve come.

Lines taken from these poems, in this order: Have Hope; Don’t be a Stranger; Blue; A Heart with Legs; You are Safe.

First Ten Days of Living Poets
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Chicken Little

My small group of Stafford Challenge writers meets in the evening on the first Monday of every month, and each of us has a copy of Write the Story (Piccadilly Press) for prompts that take us into the random word zone. Does this book recognize my life, or do the stories I find in it echo my life? It’s uncanny sometimes how I feel like the words are swirling in some sort of mystic veil, landing in the poem so….knowingly.

Today’s poem comes from the book Write The Story (Piccadilly, 2020), where a prompt is given with a scenario and words to be used in the writing.

Story: A Character with OCD in the Worst Possible Situation

words: monastery, chalkboard, elephant, coast, turmeric, poppy, defeat, chessboard, inhumane, search

Unmedicated

that twitching eye tips his hand

indicates defeat

his monastery invaded

by enemies

of Chicken Little

furry belly yellow as turmeric

and just as sour ~ for him,

the sky forever falls,

the elephant in the room

following him on his

chessboard moves of inhumanity

like nails on a chalkboard

as he seeks and blames traitors

coasts the world for incriminating evidence

his complex ripe as a poppy

ready to burst wide open

feathering the fields of Oz

with his next unmedicated tantrum

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High Roller!

She knows he loves lights – flashlights, landscape lights, Christmas lights, headlamps, city lights. And so on our first rainy night in “her city,” she took us on the High Roller. A surprise with him in mind. And we loved every minute of the half-hour spin seeing the city lights!

High Roller surprise

nighttime Vegas exclusive

the city lights up!

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Pink Flamingoes and Pink Box Donuts

Screaming Pink

it started with

her Barbie bike ~

pink seat

pink lights

pink frame

pink basket

then, of course,

her screaming

pink shoes~

“not approved by

World Athletics:

too much comfort“

we stayed at

The Flamingo

where the birds

and fixtures

were pink

lipstick, nail polish, hair

even the people

were pink

and we topped

it off with

a Pinky

a pink-iced

cream-filled dream

from Pink Box

Donuts

a true Vegas

experience!

Jackson strategically waited for his moment, and I’ve never seen a bite of a donut disappear so fast. This dog is faster than a pick-pocket.
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Open Write Day 3 of 3 February 2026

Our host for the Open Write at http://www.ethicalela.com this month was Stacey Joy, who inspired us to write poems honoring human emotions. Since I was traveling, I was off by a day, so I am posting the poem from one of those prompts today. You can click here to read the full prompt.

Emotions

I’ve had a few

severe ones came

on takeoff from

the Vegas airport

yesterday

My phone was in

airplane mode

with Delta wi-fi

but my soul wasn’t

it wasn’t the

proverbial placenta pulling

it was the heartstrings

as I watched my

daughter ping on

Find My Phone

our plane flying

away, away, away

so far home

my firstborn watching

planes from her window

beneath, asking

in her text

if the plane she saw

might be us

On Fremont Street
We saw The Wizard of Oz as a last-minute Sphere ticket, and what a show!
Mallory and I prefer the “original” style slots with the pull handle. You have to feel the vibe, and I was drawn to the Tabasco logo and won a few dollars on this one at The Golden Nugget!
My daughter, her partner, and their four-legged “son,” Jackson.
There was a hidden speakeasy at The Flamingo, and we found it!
Walking down Fremont Street, a/k/a “The Old Strip”
For a special surprise, my daughter took us to ride on The High Roller on our first night in Vegas
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Poetic Valentines…and a SOLC Plan

First, huge thanks and a hug. Second, I’m sharing my plan for March slicing.

I was sitting with my schnoodle Boo Radley in my favorite chair in the living room when the text notification came on Valentine’s Day. My friend, fellow Slice of Life blogger, travel advice guru, fellow Schnoodle Mom, and Stafford Challenge small group buddy Glenda Funk of Idaho sent a Valentine full of smiles and hugs to our writing group that meets the first of each month to catch up and write! One of the greatest blessings of a writing community is finding common interests among those with whom we share some of our deepest feelings and so much of our day-to-day lives. A huge thanks to Glenda today, to all the writers here at Slice of Life, and others in writing group crossroads for making life more friendly and for helping me find the smiles in unexpected places.

Valentine’s Day hugs

arrive from across the miles

arms wide as friendship!

A plan has been brewing. It’s been in my bones, and it has finally taken root. I find that if I have a plan for the Slice of Life Challenge, I’m more successful at completing the challenge ~ and not just finishing it, but actually enjoying it the same way some marathon runners are actually smiling when they cross the finish line.

My Plan

Living poets are near and dear to my heart. I want to not only read and celebrate them, but also have an opportunity to share their work. That will be my own personal March Slice of Life Challenge plan. Each day, I’ll feature a collection of poems by a living poet, and I’ll compose a short Cento poem each day from that collection. Cento poems are some of my favorites – they’re a form of found poetry where lines of existing poems are arranged to create new poems. I’m still curating my featured list, but I wanted to share this idea in case there is anyone reading who is struggling with an idea and needs a place to start. Perhaps there are seeds in this idea. Some of my favorite reading is about books and how they have changed lives – poetry collections included.

I’ll see you at the starting line on Sunday, ready for the journey!

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Open Write Day 2 of 3 February 2026

Stacey Joy of California was our host for the Open Write on its final day of the February writing invitation. Here is her prompt and invitation to write, below and linked. You can read the poems of others today and visit the tricube form.


Inspiration

In the spring of 2025, Leilya Pitre introduced me to the fun poetic form called a Tricube. I wrote a spring poem to her prompt and had been eager to write a tricube poem again. If you want to revisit Leilya’s prompt and responses, visit this link. 

Here we are in February with so much to celebrate: Black History Month, Snack Month, Library Lovers Month, American Heart Month, and Hot Breakfast Month. I’m inspired to write a tricube and I hope you are too. 

Process

A tricube has three stanzas containing three lines, and each line has three syllables (3/3/3). You might choose one of the February celebrations or something else that speaks to you. 

I’m reliving my visit to Las Vegas last week in my posts this week, and today’s tricube is about seeing The Wizard of Oz at the Sphere.

A 4-D Movie Experience at the Sphere

Dorothy

and Toto

a Wizard

a scarecrow

a tin man

a lion

in an orb!

L. Frank Baum

a classic!

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Open Write Day 1 of 3 February 2026

Our host for the first day of the February Open Write at http://www.ethicalela.com was Seana, who prompted us to write lines of verse about a special place. We were traveling and on Pacific Coast time in Las Vegas, visiting my daughter and seeing a show at the Sphere. I chose that venue for my special place haiku. You can read her full prompt here, along with the poems of others.

I’m also including some video clips from the concert so that you can share the fun – but the videos can’t capture the full stereo sound and the immensity of the Sphere in person. You’ll have to go experience it for yourself for that! Also, a word about sharing: recording is permitted in the Sphere, and as an additional disclaimer, this is not my music, my blog remains free, and I do not profit from sponsors or visit stats.

View of Sphere from The High Roller at night

You Can Check Out Anytime, But…

mesmerizing orb
Sphere, Las Vegas ~ The Eagles
“you can never leave…”

Yes, they OPENED with Hotel California. Seriously.
My second favorite Eagles Song: In the City
My favorite Eagles song, if that’s even possible : Take it To the Limit

This one got us ready to finish the second half of Route 66.

The one and only – Joe Walsh
They closed with Heartache Tonight

More about our trip to Las Vegas in the coming days~ please visit throughout the week!