When looking through some of the great projects that have recorded and revealed the “secret of poetry writing,” I found some favorite recordings that I passed on to family and friends.
Poetry Breaks, Academy of American Poets, “Eating Together” by Li Young Lee https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6F2SX2dePHQ
I ran across this poem in Many Waters from SUNY Empire State College 1996. It is cleverly written under a pseudonym of Tom Harmon, who “no longer exists.” The name is a pseudonym taken from a friend who died years ago.”
From a friend
I found the poem
Stuffed in the sleeve
Of a book not
Touched
Since the kids
Were born.
With every word
I could hear your voice.
Again the world
Opened.
Poetry in the Park, 2021
https://albanypoets.com/2021/06/poets-in-the-park-2021/
Amplified Voices
Jessica Grant
Aniya Merrit
Work in Progress 
I find that there are influences in my poetry over the years. At the time, I was moved to write the “Learning to Speak” (1990), perhaps, with the reading of Margaret Atwood’s poem “Spelling” (found at PoemHunter.com)
“Spelling” by Margaret Atwood
My daughter plays on the floor
with plastic letters,
red, blue & hard yellow,
learning how to spell,
spelling,
how to make spells.
I wonder how many women
denied themselves daughters,
closed themselves in rooms,
drew the curtains
so they could mainline words.
A child is not a poem,
a poem is not a child.
there is no either/or.
However.
I return to the story
of the woman caught in the war
& in labour, her thighs tied
together by the enemy
so she could not give birth.
Ancestress: the burning witch,
her mouth covered by leather
to strangle words.
A word after a word
after a word is power.
At the point where language falls away
from the hot bones, at the point
where the rock breaks open and darkness
flows out of it like blood, at
the melting point of granite
when the bones know
they are hollow & the word
splits & doubles & speaks
the truth & the body
itself becomes a mouth.
This is a metaphor.
How do you learn to spell?
Blood, sky & the sun,
your own name first,
your first naming, your first name,
your first word.
I remember my Women Writer’s teacher, Daphne Kutzer, reading this poem and completing a verbal analysis similar to the one found at Poemanalysis.com https://poemanalysis.com/spelling-by-margaret-atwood-poem-analysis/ The line by line analysis is typical for poetry and helps the reader to find meaning in the poem rather than just saying, “I like it.” Poemanalysis attributes this poem to True Stories published in 1981 by Simon and Schuster. I am sure my teacher was reading it from Norton Anthology Literature by Women edited by Sandra M. Gilbert and Susan Gubar. This edition had poems and other writings by Margaret Atwood including “You Fit into Me” which was most definitely a part of my syllabus!
“You Fit into Me” by Margaret Atwood
You fit into me
like a hook into an eye
a fish hook
an open eye
Of course, when you are completing a line by line analysis, a strategy may be to find the shortest poem as possible. What was Margaret Atwood thinking in this minimalist poem? A line by line analysis would really seem to be a page of chatter about fishing and rods and, oh my, maybe even relationships. There are many responses to such a short poem. Response writing can take many different forms. Social media platforms encourage responses using the comments, thumbs, and emojis. The following response to “You Fit into Me” really does bring prior knowledge, imagery, and, perhaps, a quick review of other analysis. I really like that a photograph was added to match the visual references of the fish hook.
https://sabrinasreads.wordpress.com/2015/01/15/you-fit-into-me-by-margaret-atwood-poetry-analysis/
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Another favorite original from my friend Sandra. I am publishing her poem in honor of the Woodstock 50th anniversary. She sent 3 poems to me on the birth of my child.
[Through Every Transformation]
Through every transformation
through every transmigration
nothing is anyway
but everyway
defining
keeping you true
The birthing room
daily
crowded with friends
relative
On the edge
act out your heart
THE DRUIDS REVENGE
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