Thursday, January 26, 2017

Poetry Friday- Inspired by Ferocious Women

        Poetry Friday is hosted by Carol Varsalona today at Beyond Literacy Link! Thanks, Carol! I'm sure it will be a wonderful time with you!

 Donna Smith of Mainely Write has lately issued a challenge to take lines offered by numerous "ferocious" women and craft them into a poem. You can find her challenge here. It wasn't easy! Here are the lines and their makers!
Buffy Silverman: "ferocious women who never bring you coffee" - refrigerator magnetic poetry
  1. Donna Smith: "always leave a wild song" - refrigerator magnetic poetry
  2. Linda Baie: "dreaming women do art in poetry" - from her pile of poetry blocks
  3. Buffy Silverman: "where wizards and wolves rush by in a blur of green and gold and gray" - patched together from Kate Dicamillo's Where Are You Going Baby Lincoln
  4. Kay McGriff: "ignore the awful times, and concentrate on the good ones" from Vonnegut's Slaughterhouse Five
  5. Linda Mitchell: "waking the world to a new day"
  6. Margaret Simon: "steam that climbs like smoke from a fire" - this was in the comments the first week, and I'm not sure if it is a comment or a line... but I'm using it! 
  7. Carol Varsalona: "fearless women reach out, connect, and find joy in life's intertwined moments" - Connecting the word "fearless" that April had used last week.
  8. Tabatha Yeatts: "little chest to put the Alive in" - Emily Dickinson
  9. Joy Acey: "wear loose clothing and a smile" - from a thought and some connections
  10. Jan Godown Annino:  "I feel like there should be more stories out there for girls, and I try to tell them" - a quote from Hope Larson from the book COMICS CONFIDENTIAL. 
  11. Mary Lee Hahn: "ferocious women do not exaggerate" - from Mary Oliver's UPSTREAM on page 109, "I do not exaggerate."
  12. Brenda Harsham: "make a ferocious dinner that eats masks, drips truth and saves softness for dessert"
  13. Keri Lewis: "radical at their core" from her husband's magazine, "Guns & Ammo"
  14. Kiesha Shepard: "ferocious women would rather drink the wind" - a line from Mary Oliver's (Why I Wake Early) titled "The Arrowhead"
  15. Diane Mayr: "out of endurance, exaltation" - a line from the poem "Monadnock" by Robert Francis.

Family and The Poets Inside The Poem
Found Definition In My Poet’s Dictionary

Ferocious women who never bring you coffee
always leave a wild song
where wizards and wolves rush by
in a blur of green and gold and gray.
If waking the world to a new day,
ferocious women do not exaggerate,
they are fearless women who reach out,
connect,
and find joy in life's intertwined moments.
They create steam that climbs like smoke from a fire
then ignore the awful times, and concentrate on the good ones.
They feel like there should be more stories out there for girls,
and try to tell them.
Ferocious women use a little chest to put the Alive in,
wear loose clothing and a smile.
They’re dreaming women who do art in poetry
Radical at their core, they make a ferocious dinner
that eats masks, drips truth and saves softness for dessert.
Those ferocious women would rather drink the wind
          out of endurance,
          exaltation.


Linda Baie © All Rights Reserved
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44 comments:

  1. KayJanuary 26, 2017 at 6:03 PM

    Wow! I want to spend time with the ferocious women in your poem. They sound like incredible people (just like all of us poets who took part in this challenge).

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    1. Linda BJanuary 26, 2017 at 8:46 PM

      Indeed! Thanks, Kay, it is a weekly pleasure to spend time with these "ferocious women"!

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  2. Donna SmithJanuary 26, 2017 at 7:38 PM

    wow! A dictionary poem. Love it! Well woven beauty! And I love your graphic! Nice touch! Have fun with that twinkly-eyed grand daughter!

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    1. Linda BJanuary 26, 2017 at 8:48 PM

      Thank you. We had a lovely afternoon and evening, Donna! This challenge all began with you and it was fun, and rather hard, too, a good thing! I look forward to reading others, too!

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  3. Brenda at FriendlyFairyTalesJanuary 26, 2017 at 10:00 PM

    Great job, Linda. My favorite are the arrangement of the last three lines. It echoes a long time.

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    1. Linda BJanuary 27, 2017 at 6:54 AM

      Thanks,Brenda. Donna and ALL the ferocious women gave us a wonderful set of phrases to use, didn't they?

      Delete
  4. Jane @ www.raincitylibrarian.caJanuary 27, 2017 at 1:03 AM

    It's been a wonderful week in the Poetry Friday community, filled with ferocious women! This line was a particular favourite: "find joy in life's intertwined moments" - a beautiful reminder.

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  5. Linda MitchellJanuary 27, 2017 at 4:59 AM

    OMG I love this! I want your word cloud as a flag! Really good word knitting, Linda B. Thanks for the crafting. I don't feel like I've got the chops to do as good a job as you did....but I'll give it a try. I am kinda new to being "ferocious" the men in my family don't really like it. But, they will learn to love the ferocious in me.

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    1. Linda BJanuary 27, 2017 at 6:56 AM

      If this gives strength to you and others, it's quite a wonderful thing, Linda. Thank you!

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  6. Matt Forrest EsenwineJanuary 27, 2017 at 6:36 AM

    Interesting idea for a challenge...love these lines!

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    1. Linda BJanuary 27, 2017 at 6:57 AM

      All unique, but holding on to that same strength, right? Thanks, Matt!

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  7. Amy LVJanuary 27, 2017 at 7:05 AM

    I adore this, Linda. You are a ferocious woman and I am grateful to have visited today, to have read these fortifying lines. xx

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    1. Linda BJanuary 27, 2017 at 7:55 AM

      Thanks, Amy, I'm guessing that many of us need to become stronger and stronger these days. Writing the poem was a joy.

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  8. JulieanneJanuary 27, 2017 at 7:20 AM

    I love your title, the graphic and the three last lines. FW take it all in and breathe out. Power is created through endurance.

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    1. Linda BJanuary 27, 2017 at 7:57 AM

      Thanks, Julieanne. I loved the writing, but also using the apple as our symbol!

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  9. Carol VarsalonaJanuary 27, 2017 at 7:56 AM

    Loving the way you arranged the poem to the very last words: Those ferocious women would rather drink the wind/out of endurance, exaltation. Praise to your ferocious women, Linda.

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    1. Linda BJanuary 27, 2017 at 8:08 AM

      Thanks, Carol. Each unique poem is a celebration for us all.

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    2. Carol VarsalonaJanuary 27, 2017 at 1:41 PM

      I love celebrating life with you, Linda. Happy Weekend.

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    3. Linda BJanuary 27, 2017 at 3:35 PM

      Thank you, hoping you continue to get some R & R!

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  10. jan godown anninoJanuary 27, 2017 at 8:33 AM

    The Goddess almighty, you are an alchemist, dear Linda.
    I LOVE what you have wrought.

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    1. Linda BJanuary 27, 2017 at 9:24 AM

      Thank you! Quite a challenge, yet I did not create all those lines, and that helped make it wonderful to write.

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  11. jamaJanuary 27, 2017 at 9:23 AM

    Wonderful, Linda! Love how you cast the poem as a definition. After all, women define truth, strength, and ferocity in the face of trial and oppression.

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  12. Liz SteinglassJanuary 27, 2017 at 9:32 AM

    This is so cool. I love that you pulled the lines from ferocious women's poems.

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  13. Bridget MageeJanuary 27, 2017 at 9:48 AM

    Holy wow, Linda! You are one ferocious woman and poet! Love the mashup of ferociousness to make something beautiful and inspiring! =)

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  14. author amokJanuary 27, 2017 at 11:27 AM

    The opening four lines are amazing, Linda. As I read the ferocious women poems today, I keep seeing the little chest. Do you also think of that version of the Pandora myth, where she keeps hope in the box -- a keepsake to help us cope with darkness.

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    1. Linda BJanuary 27, 2017 at 3:33 PM

      Thanks, Laura. Yes, I wondered about that box, perhaps allowing a bit to cloak us when needed?

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  15. michelle koganJanuary 27, 2017 at 12:19 PM

    Ferocious Women Live on, Wonderful Poem! Love the apple, Bravo!!! Glad we are all biting into it with words and visuals!

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    1. Linda BJanuary 27, 2017 at 3:34 PM

      Thanks, Michelle. Love your idea of "biting into the apple"!

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  16. Kortney GarrisonJanuary 27, 2017 at 4:46 PM

    Yes! Love the graphic + poem together--that art is INSIDE the ferocious women!

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  17. Margaret SimonJanuary 27, 2017 at 5:50 PM

    A powerful definition of ferocious women! I am proud to be one!

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  18. BJ LeeJanuary 27, 2017 at 6:09 PM

    As ferocious as they get! Wonderful poem, Linda!

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  19. Leigh Anne EckJanuary 27, 2017 at 6:32 PM

    What a wonderful challenge! You have done a marvelous job of crafting this poem about ferocious women! Definitely a rally cry.

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  20. Buffy SilvermanJanuary 27, 2017 at 7:19 PM

    Wonderful Linda--particularly love how you ended this.

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  21. Sally MurphyJanuary 27, 2017 at 10:27 PM

    Love your take on this challenge, especially the arrangement of your closing lines.

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  22. Mary LeeJanuary 28, 2017 at 6:23 AM

    Love it!

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  23. Irene LathamJanuary 28, 2017 at 6:32 AM

    Drinking the wind with you, my ferocious friend! Thank you.

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  24. Violet N.January 28, 2017 at 8:28 AM

    These are all so good! I love yours, Linda, especially what those ferocious women cook and eat:

    "Radical at their core, they make a ferocious dinner
    that eats masks, drips truth and saves softness for dessert."

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  25. Whispers from the RidgeJanuary 28, 2017 at 10:03 AM

    Fabulous job, Linda! Love the Wordle you created as well. Nice touch!

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  26. Michelle Heidenrich BarnesJanuary 29, 2017 at 2:18 PM

    I can tell you've been drinking the wind, Linda. This is a ferocious poem to be proud of!

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  27. Linda BJanuary 29, 2017 at 7:47 PM

    Thanks to everyone for your comments, all 'ferocious women" and I know we need to be. Hope there is some lighter moments this week!

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Thanks for visiting!

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