musings, life lessons & poetry from Theresa Jarosz Alberti
When winter goes long, like it is this year here, it’s good to remember why I live here. I’m not that fond of snow and ice and freezing temperatures, but I don’t want to move away. For me, the pros outweigh the cons.
Today’s prompt was to read more about the history of haiku and then to write 3 of them. I ended up writing 4 just to say what I wanted to say. They’re short!
House in the city.
Wilderness is all around.
Urban meets forest. Continue reading
Welcome to April! It’s National Poetry Month, and I’ve decided to try another write-a-poem-a-day challenge like I did back in 2018. It really is a challenge for me but I could use a creative nudge these days. I aim to write a poem and post it here every day this month. I hope you’ll follow along, and please post any of your favorite poems in the comments.
It’s also the time when Minnesotans are yearning for signs of spring, especially after a long and extra-snowy winter like this one. Mother Nature decided to play an April Fool’s prank on us instead and add several more inches of snow to the crusty snow that was still on the ground. My social media feeds have been full of winter wonderland photos today. Beautiful, yes, but we are so over it now!
Today’s prompt from the London Writers’ Salon was based on the poem Having a Coke With You by Frank O’Hara: “use the wisdom of Frank O’Hara and write about how being in the presence of someone you love can turn an ordinary moment into a transcendent experience.” I didn’t quite do the prompt but it did inspire this:
“I’d like to buy the world a Coke
and keep it company.”
–1971 ad campaign commercial
Sometimes it’s hard to remember
the good in the world
when the shouting is so loud
and the gray tidal waves
never stop beating the shore
with their force. Continue reading
I started my quarantine one year ago today.
Bob and I had spent the weekend in an AirBnB near Eau Claire, Wisconsin, having a writing retreat with our writing buddy and her partner. It was a good time, fun and creative, working on our writing by day and going out to eat at night. The University of Minnesota had started shutting down to in-person classes a few days before, and the virus was becoming a reality.
But no one was sure of everything yet, so we ate in busy restaurants, just starting to feel a little creeped out but unsure of what we needed to do. By the time we got home, we knew the lockdown was on. Continue reading
Recently a poem that my son Leo wrote 10 years ago resurfaced in my Facebook Memories. He was a senior in high school and students were asked to write poetry about the islands of trash accumulating in the Pacific Ocean. I was blown away by his poem when he first showed it to us, and still impressed to reread it 10 years later. He uses potent language and imagery to call attention to this important and often-ignored issue. And I love the term “iLand,” as if Apple has taken over the world. Continue reading
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