by Blythe
It is once again that time when we come together to share our work from the week. I hope some of you tried some form of reflecting on your family’s ancestry, or studying a story from the past in some respect, but no matter what you’ve put together, please share it here!
Because of the prompt this week, I think it is a fitting time to announce that I will be stepping back from my role as contributor here at Read Write Poem. It is a decision that was not at all easy to come to, but restraints on my own life, as well as an ongoing struggle with writer’s block (and other writing issues) has made it necessary for me at this time. I have spent much of the week thinking back on the legacy here at RWP, and I am so thankful I’ve had a chance to be part of this hodge-podge family tree of sorts. Many thanks to Deb and the rest of the RWP team — it has been a pleasure and an honor working with you all.
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Thank you, Blythe, for your love of poetry, your friendship, for your unique and lovely voice. You’ll be missed.
Everyone: Because it is the holidays, we might not get to the spam filter very often (I won’t have internet access, for example, for several days) to fish you out if you get caught in it. Be patient, leave only one link per comment and, if you have extra time to spend online reading poetry, please do so. Not everyone celebrates this time of year and a blog visit or comment might do someone else some good.
Be well. Be at peace.
Deb for Read Write Poem
Please, link back here in your posts, either with a hyperlink to Read Write Poem or by using the badge in your post. Sidebar links are great but it helps our “internet health” when you link in every post you contribute to the project. And please add “Read Write Poem” in your tags, if you don’t mind.
For the new folks: Please take a few moments to read the About pages, including our Copyrights page. If you have any questions about the project after reading through those pages, email us at info (at) readwritepoem (dot) org.
by Blythe
I decided to do a little experiment a while back. Out of sheer curiosity, I signed up for a trial run at ancestry.com. Their commercials got the best of me, I admit it. I was not really expecting to find anyone famous or semi-famous (or even locally gossiped about) in my lineage, but I was curious. I did know that there are some tremendously impressive people in my family (both impressively wonderful and impressively strange) and I wanted to know what the site might come up with.
Ancestry.com has a sort of master family tree, which they call One World Tree. So as you enter information about your family, if the info matches up with their One World Tree, it grafts you into it, and can tell you your family history — or whatever it knows of it. You can also find more information about your ancestors from the family trees of other individuals on the site.
I have no idea how accurate the information is, but I do know quite a bit of my family’s history on my maternal grandmother’s side of the family, and it did align with their One World Tree, which gave me some faith in their information. I was completely shocked to find out how many well-known people it said I am (distantly) related to, though not all the surprises were pleasant.
Ancestry.com told me my closest famous relatives are the Wright brothers — fourth cousins four times removed. Georgia O’Keeffe was next, followed by Mary Cassatt and Edward Hopper (no wonder half my family has the innate ability to paint — I missed that gene when the handouts were done, though). Along those lines, Johannes Vermeer of Girl with a Pearl Earring fame is my second cousin — 38 times removed. Nothing cringe-worthy yet.
But then begins the string of subpar presidents, and it starts with a bang: I am related to Richard Nixon three times over. Also on my list: Andrew Johnson, Teddy Roosevelt, Gerald Ford, and as if that weren’t enough, I am 10th cousin to one George H. W. Bush, which means I am apparently (possibly) also related to our current Mr. President.
There are the writers — Louisa May Alcott and Aldous Huxley and the old-timey actors, including my father’s favorite actor of all time, Jimmy Stewart. And to counteract my link with W, Katherine Hepburn is also my 10th cousin once removed.
There are others — but enough about me, what about you? What do you know of your family history? As poets we often delve into the neuroses of our nuclear families, but what about our ancestors? What can they tell us about ourselves? If you don’t know much, you can try out a trial membership at ancestry.com for 14 days. The site does require that you give them credit card info, though they won’t charge the card until the 14 days are up, and you can cancel at any time. Maybe you want to explore the geographical area that part of your family originated from, or a specific piece of family lore handed down through generations. Or you may want to invent an ancestry of your own, or explore the meaning and importance of family lineage.
by Blythe and Cynthia Cox
This week’s prompt is a collaborative work between me (Blythe) and the fabulous blogger and guest contributor Twitches.
Twitches loves smell, and she’s written blog entries about her favorite perfume brands that are more sensual and evocative than most of my poetry. So when she suggested a prompt on smell, I was excited to work with her on it.
Smell has always been Twitches’ favorite sense (Blythe loves it too, and it might be her favorite, but she is terribly indecisive). Powerful scents evoke memories, stir up emotions, connect us to certain people and places, to certain moments in time. (Check out “A Few Lines from Rehoboth Beach“, by Fleda Brown, for a good example of the link between smell and place.)
We were both fascinated by scratch-and-sniff books as kids. Twitches really wanted Smell-o-Vision to become a reality (think about all the visuals you see on TV which would be that much more horrible could you SMELL them as well. Genius!)
William Carlos Williams wrote a great piece, addressed to his nose, about the powerful draw of smell – and how it sometimes causes trouble. Here’s a link to his poem, “Smell.” (Although you have to scroll down to the bottom of the page to read it, it’s worth the milliseconds it takes get there. If you have time, meander through his other works; a little extra quality time spent on poetry like his never hurt anyone!)
So. Walk around this week with your sniffer in high gear. Or take a moment right now to conjure up your favorite sense memories: Movie popcorn, gasoline, firewood, bed linens hung out on a washing line to dry – what is it that the sense of smell evokes for you? Be it positive, negative, or a little bit of both, put it into poetic form and share it with the rest of us.
Ideas for collaboration:
- Make a list of your favorite unusual smells, exchange it with someone, and write on what the other person’s smells mean to you.
- Write a descriptive poem that describes a specific smell — but without actually naming what the smell is. Exchange this with a partner (or you could work as a group and shuffle them around) and have someone write a second piece, one based off each original, that describes the smell, name and all. See how well you did at describing/guessing smells.
- Keep a list of smells you encounter over a day or two. Then pass them to a partner, who will write a narrative poem based on what your day(s) smelled like.
Come back Monday after midnight and find the get your poem on post to leave a comment for us, with a link to your poem the week, whether it’s fresh as a morning flower, foul as decaying fish or an entirely scentless piece.
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read write poem news- read write poem napowrimo anthology
June 20, 2010 | 1:36 pmThe Read Write Poem NaPoWriMo Anthology is still in production. Selection, placement, layout and copyediting are taking longer than anticipated. Thank you for your patience. I hope to have the piece completed in July. For those who have emailed asking if they can be included, the May 7 deadline for submission of work stands. Those who met that deadline will be included. Please check the post on this site listing who I received submissions from by that date. If you submitted your work by the May 7 deadline in accordance with our guidelines and your name is not listed, send an email to info (at) readwritepoem (dot) org.
- read write poem napowrimo anthology
May 5, 2010 | 3:09 pmRemember that Friday* is the deadline for submitting work to the Read Write Poem NaPoWriMo Anthology. Check out the guidelines for submission in the main column (to the left). On May 8, we’ll post a news item listing everyone we’ve received work from. If you submitted work and your name is not on that list, please let us know. Thanks!
*I initially said “tomorrow,” but I meant to say “Friday.”
- napowrimo congratulations, and a reminder
April 24, 2010 | 12:05 pmIt’s the final week of the Read Write Poem NaPoWriMo Challenge! Just 7 days left. With that, a reminder that Read Write Poem will culminate with the anthology featuring work from those who complete the challenge. A post with details for submitting to the anthology will be published May 1. Be sure you remove any information from the site that you want preserved — such as group content and personal messages. Those elements of the site will be removed May 1 as well. The main site will remain up as an archive.
- ‘underlife’ tour at january gill o’neil’s blog
April 20, 2010 | 8:11 pmJanuary Gill O’Neil’s virtual book tour has moved to her site and is underway now. Check out the lineup at Poet Mom.
 Archive for read write poem news »
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thank you and farewell As of May 1, 2010, Read Write Poem is no longer active.
In late May, an anthology featuring work from those who completed the Read Write Poem NaPoWriMo Challenge will be published here and on issuu.com.
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