Tuesday Poem: Everything is going to be Amazing with Jo Bell's 52
Poet Jo Bell had the wonderful idea of running an online workshop that would get people writing a poem a week. 52 is the result and every week there's a new prompt. Jo herself is a fantastic poet who lives on a narrow boat (she's currently Britain's Canal Laureate) which - given the amount of rain that's falling in southern England at the moment is probably something we should all be considering.
The prompts are lively and perfect for sending you off in different directions. Have a look! Have a go!
Write a poem a week! Everything is going to be amazing, because this is the year of 'Quit the dumb shit'. Jo is sharing some wonderful poems, like this one .....
EVERYTHING IS GOING TO BE AMAZING
Lauren ZunigaPut on your knickers, girl. We gonna eat these heavy
decisions for breakfast. Smother ‘em in gravy, wash ‘em down
with Grown Ass Woman Soda.
We got this. This is the Big Girl Processing Plant.
Don’t nobody work through their issues like we do. We swallow
abandonment and cough up independence.
You wanna scream? You see that freight train coming at you?
You havin’ that lead-in-yo-legs dream again? Kick that
muthatruckin’ train in its teeth and do a jig.
That’s what you need. Some Mongolian Throat Singing action
and a can o’ Riverdance. Unwad your drawers, Little Mama.
Let’s go to the drag show.
Bust out yo corset, Sweet Ginger and show ‘em all that bouillon.
We were made for the stomp. We were made out of spoon
whittlin’ voodoo stew. Play those spoons, girl.
Don’t let ‘em take your dysfunction and turn it into a brothel.
That’s YOUR dysfunction. You chop that shit up and make it
into a masterpiece. This is the year of Quit the Dumb Shit.
So, you know what that means?
Quit the dumb shit. Stop washing your pearls down
with swine. Get up off your Cadillac britches and show them motor
mouth badgers how it’s done. Everything ain’t gonna be alright.
Everything is going to be amazing.
[From Lauren Zuniga, The Smell of Good Mud]
One of the most memorable poems I’ve heard at a slam thanks for posting it . I used it for my women’s group
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