on catching the day
on catching the day
a two-pass alchemy for Lisa Jensen
The invitation: Lisa Jensen asked “What Do You Make of This?”
The poem:
For more of her work, go to Wild Ground.
Author: Janie Braverman
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war and peace #7
war and peace #7
The inspiration: War Erasure #7, by Josh Datko , from his excellent series of War Erasures, where he takes “a Banksy-like spray can to war propaganda poems.”
The War Erasures also include War Erasure #4, the inspiration for war and peace, which I now wish I had titled “war and peace #4.”
Know that the poppies in “war and peace #7” are watered by singing and sunlight, not by the blood of soldiers.
As with the paired #4 poems, the paired #7 poems come from the same source material.
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low in the sky
low in the skyfor LeeAnn Pickrell and her sweetie
The poem:
Source material: LeeAnn Pickrell’s poem “Strawberry Moon”
“Strawberry Moon” appeared along with “Winter Moon” in the June 2026 issue of Verse-Virtual.
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bird head
bird headfor Jennifer Franklin
The poem:
Source: “Memento Mori: Bird Head” from If Some God Shakes Your House, poems by Jennifer Franklin.
Memento mori is Latin for remember that you have to die.
Poetry reminds us that we also have to live.
Life and Death Contrasted, circa 1770
Courtesy of Public Domain Review.
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how to human
how to humana five-pass alchemy with 120 possibilities
Here is one poem:
Here is another:
There are 118 more possiblities.
The text:
More on Walter Horatio Pater.
The entire text of The Renaissance: Studies in Art and Poetry.
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2nd
2ndanother 4 stanza choose-your-own-poem
The poem:
Other options for the poem:
There are at least thirteen more.
Source material: “The Gift”, a prose poem written by my friend, the poet and artist Celeste Pfister. Published in Pensive Journal.
Celeste also posts regularly on her excellent substack, Creative Inspiration.
Notes on “2nd”:
The source material offered me “no 2nd chances”.
It also offered me “no 2nd thoughts” and “no 2nd amendment”.
When you think about other ways to order the stanzas, you may or may not want to think about that.
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a total eclipse of the sun
a total eclipse of the suna slightly off-cycle post
We’re traveling to Iceland (via Scandanavia) to see the total eclipse of the sun.
Posts are scheduled for every Thursday. I’ll catch up on comments when we get back.
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aboard the beagle
aboard the beagle
The poem:
The source:
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Division of Birds
Division of Birdsan off-cycle celebration
Congratulations to Jessica Roeder – writer, teacher, friend extraordinaire – and now winner of the 2026 Big Moose Prize.
Her novel, Division of Birds, will be available from Black Lawrence Press in Spring 2028.
Read an excerpt here.
