We are standing on a threshold between 2021 and 2022. If you stand where one meets another room, that meeting place is called a threshold, and you can have one foot in each space. Today is kind of like that, with one foot in the old year and one in the new. As one old year meets and touches one new year, I will be making a box fort for cats. Simple. Joy.
What advice do you have for someone at this important time? You might consider beginning or titling a poem with the words, "Go Ahead" and then give a small or big direction to your readers, suggesting something to do or try or think about on this threshold between years. You might write a "Go Ahead" poem about another time of life. It is all up to you, as you are the writer.
Direction-giving poems give our readers something to consider. They can open up tiny and wide possibilities for ways to live. Writing helps me figure out how to live, and I hope it may do this for you too.
Thank you to author Jan Godown Annino. The other day I'd shared a photo of Winnie in this chairscarf fort, and Jan asked me about making a fort for a toy cat. That question stuck with me and led to today's "best stuffed bear" line!
Carol is hosting today's Poetry Friday roundup at Carol's Corner. Please know that all are welcome each Friday as folks share poems, poem books, poetry ideas, and friendship.
My goodness, this poem brought back such a memory of my daughter at age four in those bright rain boots made for kids, cradling a worm and singing away to it. Love the prompt, "go ahead." Wonderful and positive as 2022 approaches with it's suitcases.
ReplyDelete"Go ahead" is a great place to start a poem, Amy! Thank you. It's just another way to say "yes." Yes to forts of all kinds! Wishing you wonder and hope in 2022. xo
ReplyDeleteWonderful poem starter--and forts and nooks and hideaways...we all deserve safe places to wait and wonder. Happy New YEar!
ReplyDeleteCreating forts, a true part of childhood for so many, from your simple chair fort to the bigger ones that take over the dining room. Our beautiful granddog loves her creature comforts. She is an Aussie/Sheltie combo maybe some collie and full of love. When she climbs on the couch we bring her pillows and comfy, cozy blankets for her to snuggle in and she is so grateful for her couch forts. It is a treasure to love her. And when she needs something she asks, especially me. Those eyes tell me along with her whimpers. Her love is a fort that I can live inside, and am so grateful for. Love how your poem brought her right into my heart.
ReplyDeleteJanet Clare F.
I noted your "Go Ahead", Amy, prepping for a new journal with that seems very fun to ponder. Wishing you a grand 2022 with cats and forts and more than one threshold. (I shared a poem with 'threshold' in it today!
ReplyDeleteAmy, I love your second stanza and the end line. We are on a threshold and I hope that the world can benefit from lessons learned. In VA, not everyone wears a mask and we are getting outbreaks regularly. I, for one, can't wait to open the suitcase filled with mystery. Happy New Year.
ReplyDeleteYour poem about animal forts holds a particular poignancy for me tonight. Many of the families that lost their homes in the
ReplyDeleteColorado fire had pets. Some people took their pets with them. Others were working or away and weren't able to get their pets. First responders kicked open doors and left them so animals could escape. Tonight it's snowing and very cold. Some people have built little shelters close to their homes, or close to the borders of the fire. I can't stop thinking about all of the pets roaming around in the cold looking for their people. It breaks my heart!
Love reading "Go Ahead!," and especially your invitation to create "... a cozy place to wait, to wonder, to hope." And your very own fort of blankets and books is the best kind ever.
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