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Sally Donnelly’s Book Club and Watercolor Haiku Weekends: Potted Cactus

I’m already dreaming of a summer of reading and all the books on my TBR list – – and I will begin with a collection of poetry. Sally Donnelly, a long-time writing buddy from Two Writing Teachers whom I’ve had the pleasure of meeting on more than one occasion in person at the National Council of Teachers of English Convention, is hosting a Summer Reading Club. You can check out her invitation to participate and her directions to her Padlet here, introducing her selections Dictionary for a Better World by Irene Latham and Charles Waters, and 44 Poems on Being with Each Other, an anthology curated by Padraig O’Tuama. I have had the opportunity of deeply engaging in Dictionary for a Better World a few years ago, so on Wednesday of last week while I was in Atlanta on a personal day to see the musical Six, I treated myself to the guilty pleasure of leisurely browsing a bookstore, where I picked up a copy of 44 Poems on Being With Each Other.

Yesterday, Wildflower Watercolor Week started, and I’m taking a class online to learn more about watercolor techniques. After March bloggers at Slice of Life shared their love of Emily Lex watercolor books when Leigh Anne Eck asked what everyone would bring to a party where technology was not allowed, it brought back memories of strolling through Woodstock, Vermont and seeing one of those themed watercolor books after NCTE was held in Boston a couple of years ago. Slicers resurrected that memory with their love of watercolor books. I picked up an off-brand at Hobby Lobby and shared a couple of my paintings with Glenda Funk, who then found a watercolor class on Facebook and encouraged me to sign up. So I did, and I look forward to learning new techniques from a real person, not a step-by-step book. On weekends throughout March, (and today) as we travel here and there, I’ll be painting and sharing Haiku Watercolors – the semi-good, the bad, and the ugly.

Here’s one of my daughters’ favorites, along with a haiku that mentions one of my favorite poetry collections I’ve read lately: Instructions for Traveling West by Joy Sullivan.

Cactus Coddiwomple

I read about you ~

Instructions for Traveling

West ~ Take me with you!

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A May Cento: Lucille Clifton

After an unseasonably chilly weekend with some misty drizzle and some sunshine while we were out gallivanting in Indian Springs State Park in Flovilla, Georgia and having shrimp and gouda grits at Yahola Creek for the Kentucky Derby party, we are back to the weekday work routine of a mundane Monday. I can’t help considering the similarities of the Derby for a horse to the impending retirement of everyday people everywhere, looking forward to grazing in the green pasture without running the race in all the trained and prescribed ways of riders jockeying them into position, running the never-ending course to finish first in their own Golden Tempo.

I was thrilled to see history made Saturday with the first female trainer of a Kentucky Derby winner wearing the color of the day – the hope for the run for the roses of red – as she tearfully approached the ring and took her place in the annals of time, celebrating her moment as the hearts of all women everywhere cheered her from the stands and living rooms throughout this great country and all around the world. Ada Limon’s famous poem How to Triumph Like a Girl is not lost on a day like this, the poem itself inspired by the running of the horses when the poet lived in Kentucky.

Ears up, girls, ears up! – Ada Limon

And for today, here is another favorite female poet – Lucille Clifton – whose poetry I’ve used to create a cento like those I wrote in March, using a line from different poems to form an entirely new one.

Wild Country

live where you can

be the one that understands

it is home and you know it

but listen

it is wild country here

there will be no peace

listening for the bang of the end

Taken from poems in this order: eyes; defending my tongue; ways you are not like Oedipus; to my friend, Jerina; eve thinking; lucifer understanding at last; the beginning of the end of the world

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Watercolor Haiku: True Leaves

We’re off on a Haiku Watercolor Weekend in The Next Chapter, our Wayfarer way of wandering the world and seeing all the beauty of different places from the above the rims of our coffee cups on a cool, misty morning as we gather our schnoodles, Boo Radley and Ollie, into our laps and give them tiny bites of powdered donuts on a Sunday morning in Indian Springs State Park in Flovilla, Georgia. And yes, we, too, are a little misty-eyed even without the weather, because we are missing our Schnauzery-Schnoodle Fitz, who was too miserable to go on living and had to be granted the perpetual nap last Wednesday afternoon as I held him for the last time, hugging him close as he drew his last breath in this world. He was a camping dog straight to his very core and took in the world through his nose the way we take it in through our eyes, only he made no effort to hide his animalistic wild passion to dig into it all while we sometimes take it for granted and try to keep ourselves contained. But he is here in his way, in spirit, for there is a little vial of clipped hair that sits in its place in the Wayfarer that he slept in only once before taking an exit the rest of us haven’t taken yet. And while he’s reached his final destination, he remains forever imprinted on our hearts for the rest of our journey because we are forever changed having been his people.

May is a month of Haiku Watercolor Weekends, and I’m sharing it all – the learning, the bad, the ugly, the once-in-a-million surprise of something turning out like there might be a cell of an artist in my blood somewhere. I’m even sharing the ones where the paper got too wet; but hey – it’s a leaf, and they get waterlogged in the rain, right?? I think what I’m learning most is how to look really closely at every detail, and to be more like Fitz was: to want to dig into the world and take it all in without taking anything for granted. I’m also learning that though artists often make things look easy, things aren’t always easy. Take leaves, for example…..

True Leaves

Here’s a memo: you’re

not fall leaves any more than

I’m a fall human

so I painted you

as the true leaves that you are

when you’re going gray

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Watercolor Haiku: Monstera

Throughout March, I had blogging friends in the Slice of Life Challenge who shared their love of the Emily Lex watercolor books that take you step by step through watercolor painting techniques. I found some off-brands in Hobby Lobby and picked up a book on Spring Break during a camping trip. It was so relaxing and stress-relieving for me! I am planning to make Haiku Watercolor Weekends happen in May as a tribute to Matsuo Basho, whose most well-known haiku poem is on my blog logo this month. I like setting up a table at a campsite and enjoying the sounds of nature as I paint and write. My friend Glenda Funk of Idaho signed up for a Watercolor Week class on Facebook, and I may do the same since it is ten dollars for the week and they offer the recordings of the live sessions since I’ll be working during those times.

Today, I’ll be on my first outing in the new motorhome, The Next Chapter, at Indian Springs State Park. We traded in the InTech for something I could drive, and I picked it up last Saturday. The retirement dreams are becoming actual plans – but first, I am using the last three months before retirement traveling locally to learn how everything works with setup and driving. I didn’t want to have to tow anything, so I won’t have to hook it up to the hitch, and all I have to do is mash a button for the self-leveling feature. It drives a lot like a large SUV, and because it has a great backup camera, I can back into campsites with fewer challenges. I may even find some time this weekend for painting – – but meanwhile, here is one of the very first attempts I made in April. It’s a Monstera plant, and the holes remind me of monster eyes.

Monstera Eyes

I see right through you ~

or are you looking at me?

those eyes have questions

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VerseLove Day 30: Closing Invitation

The final prompt for VerseLove 2026 yesterday was a touching invitation to write, sharing what our writing space has meant this month.

Sarah Donovan has a way of weaving community together like a cherished tapestry so that each voice and thought has a place, each poet shines. And I am in awe – of her, of her poetry, of every voice in my writing community that sustains me and brings joy to all my broken places. I can’t yet write or think or feel since Wednesday afternoon, when I had to hold my beloved Fitz for his last breath and release him…..but even without that little nose nudging me awake and those sweet little eyes staring into mine with full love, I’m better for having been Fitz’s person for the time we had him.

My buddy Fitz watching for deer

Celebrating Through The Tears: A Tribute to Poets in Community

my fingers won’t write
but one thing I know: poets
write hope in the grief

my heart won’t yet beat
but this I know: poets find
pulse in lifelessness

my breath won’t calm down
but what I know: poet friends
reach in, hold hands, sit

my eyes can’t see straight
but I know this: poet friends
jump in the tear pool 

my soul has a hole
and this I know: poet friends
share theirs to fill mine

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VerseLove Day 29: Making the Invisible Visible

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Barb Edler of Iowa and Glenda Funk of Idaho were our hosts yesterday for VerseLove. They brought us a thought provoking prompt (and the amazing Kate Baer as an inspirational poem) to start our midweek morning, thinking of all the ways we can make manifest the unseen in our world and lives, often in relationships and actions others can’t see – or refuse to see. I saw a musical last night – Six – that had me thanking writers who can raise voice and tell stories even ages after the living. 

Six – History or Herstory?

onto The Fox stage
Six voices raised: herstory
(why we need no kings)

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Kid Lit Progressive Poem

Yesterday, April 28, our KidLit Progressive Poem for 2026 was complete. Tabatha Yeatts added the starting and final lines, and also drew our map for the journey through the poem this month. As April comes to a close, we celebrate National Poetry Month and all the places it has taken us and will continue to take us. Tomorrow I will resume VerseLove blog posts and will delay by one day, but for today, come celebrate The Land of Poetry and take time to explore all of the poets who contributed lines to this poem…..

because there is no

place I’d rather be than The

Land of Poetry

Map by Tabatha Yeatts

The Land of Poetry

On my first trip to the Land of Poetry,
I saw anthologies of every color, tall as buildings.
A world of words, wonder on wings, waiting just for me!
Birding for words shimmering, flecked in golden gilding,

binoculars ready, I toured boulevards and side streets
exploring vibrant verses, verses so honest and tender,
feathery lyrics, bright flitting avian athletes
soaring ‘cross pages in rhythmic splendor.

In the Land of Poetry, I am the conductor
seeking oodles of poems that tug at my heart–
a musical medley of sound and structure
An open mic in Frost Forest! Wonder who’ll take part?

There’s a pause in the program; no one takes the stage.
The trees quiver, the audience looks up. Raven lands,
singing Earth’s message of the sage.
“Poetry in motion will be forevermore, from forests to sands.”

“Scatter,” she croaked. “Beyond Wilde Pond, to each and every beach.”
Meek Dove mustered courage and sang, “Instill humanity with compassion & peace.
Let Thackeray’s middle name, from this thicket, hearts reach!”
Her gentle coo-ooo-ooos reverberate, soft as fleece.

Words dart, dimple—Do I dare warble what’s in my soul?
I’ve inhaled inspiration…yes, I’ll risk my refrain.
I fly to the mic, chanting “Tadpole, mole and oriole!
Come all living beings from water, land, air; come high and low terrains!

Come, living your poems, hearts open, ablaze,
Sing out your noise, adding to our forest-filling chorus!”
Together. Empowered. Our choir conveys,
“Why poetry? Words transform and restore us!”


April 1 Tabatha Yeatts at The Opposite of Indifference
April 2 Cathy Stenquist at A Little Bit of This and That
April 3 Patricia Franz at Reverie
April 4 Donna Smith at Mainely Write
April 5 Janice Scully at Salt City Verse
April 6 Denise Krebs at Dare to Care
April 7 Ruth Hersey at There is no such thing as a God-forsaken town
April 8 Rose Cappelli at Imagine the Possibilities
April 9 Margaret Simon at Reflections on the Teche
April 10 Janet Clare Fagel at Reflections on the Teche
April 11 Diane Davis at Starting Again in Poetry
April 12 Linda Baie at Teacher Dance
April 13 Linda Mitchell at Another Word Edgewise
April 14 Jone Rush MacCulloch
April 15 Joyce Uglow at Storied Ink
April 16 Carol Varsalona at Beyond Literacy Link
April 17 Robyn Hood Black at Life on the Deckle Edge
April 18 Michele Kogan at More Art for All
April 19 Kim Johnson at Common Threads
April 20 Buffy Silverman
April 21 Irene Latham at Live Your Poem
April 22 Karen Edmisten
April 23 Heidi Mordhorst at my juicy little universe
April 24 Mary Lee Hahn at A(nother) Year of Reading
April 25 Tanita Davis at Fiction, instead of Lies
April 26 Sharon Roy at Pedaling Poet
April 27 Tracey Kiff-Judson at Tangles and Tails
April 28 Tabatha Yeatts at The Opposite of Indifference

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VerseLove Day 28: Instructions

Our host, Jessica, lives in Chicago, Illinois where she teaches English. She is currently a teacher-consultant with the Chicago Area Writing Project.

Jessica offers these words of inspiration: “This winter, I was fortunate to see the Yoko Ono: Music of the Mind exhibit at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Chicago. ” She was inspired by the lyrics of Grapefruit, in which a poem takes the form of instructions. Today, she inspires us to write poems on how to do something. You can read her full prompt here.

Lately, I’ve returned to the interlibrary loan system I used when I was in college to get books I want to read in my rural county in middle Georgia. I log in to my account, search the shelves across all the state libraries, and place holds on the ones I want in hard copy with my Pines System Library card. One simple click brings them across the miles to me – for free – where I pick them up and return them right across the street when I’m finished. It’s a frugal way to read anytime, but especially with retirement and a more limited budget as the next chapter. Also, our library offers free state park and zoo passes and theater tickets. If I want to listen, I can log in to Libby and get audiobooks too. This is the way to live, laugh, and read.

Librarian scanning books while woman shows library card at checkout desk
A librarian helps a smiling patron check out books at the library counter.

How To Enter The Next Chapter

get a library

card ~ reserve your books online

check out locally

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VerseLove Day 27: Poem, Interrupted

Dave Wooley is our host today at http://www.ethicalela.com for the 27th day of April, where he inspires us to write poems of interruptions. You can read his full prompt here, but I had a message for Dave this morning as I started to thank him for hosting us today:

Dave, what a prompt
~an apt and timely prompt~
with all the distractions in our world today
it’s a blustery morning, Pooh ~
windier than I’d thought
but no weather warnings and
I know because I checked
to see what shoes to wear
because if it’s cold my feet have
to be covered
and there are certain things I
can only wear with covered toes
and I’m worried, so worried
about that car under the last tree
we have because they cut all the rest down
for telephone poles
telephone poles!!! who even uses
telephone poles anymore??
well, it shocked me, I’ll tell you
but apparently our loblollies made the cut
for straight trees when they did
the tree assessment like some sort of
sorting hat for which fate the pines follow
speaking of Harry Potter, I need
to throw out the Butterbeer coffee creamer
I think it went bad
but none of my son’s friends got sick
on the way to Talladega
so maybe it’s good, I don’t know
but I do need to grocery shop
and did you see that kid???
when he won?
Carson Hocevar all the way
and I think it was okay with my son
that Number 9 came in only fourth if
a 23-year old won his first race
….AT TALLADEGA….
because as Ricky Bobby says
if you ain’t first, you’re last
and so Carson turned it up
on that last lap and Chase Elliott
can be first another time
…oops, time…..gotta go to work

thanks for hosting today, Dave!

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VerseLove Day 26: Poetic Cartography

Clayton Moon of Thomaston, Georgia is our host today for the 26th day of VerseLove at http://www.ethicalela.com, inspiring us to write poems as cartographers capturing the essence of place through the five senses. You can read his full prompt here.

Hands holding steaming coffee cup on porch railing with sunrise over rolling hills and mist
Enjoying a hot cup of coffee on a rustic porch overlooking a misty sunrise landscape.

Sipping Home

come sit by me

on my front porch

first light rouses, groggy

from the dark of night

into the glorious morning skies

over rolling hills

winking at morning songbirds

praising their Maker

in the misty morning breeze

even as wildfires rage

come sit beside me

raise your coffee to your lips

take the lid off

breathe deeply

in /out/ in/ out

because just like any place

you must take it all in

to experience the rich flavor ~

hear its drip

taste its roasted bean

smell its trademark aroma

feel its piping warmth

see its dark awakenings

against the light of the eastern sky

come sit with me

let’s sip home

together