Chronic Joy® Contributing Writer
Megan is an editor at TS Poetry Press as well as the author of The Joy of Poetry and Rainbow Crow, a new picture book of poems written for children. Her day is incomplete without poetry, tea, and a walk in the dark.
Writing about pain is both necessary and difficult. Pain is eased by being moved and writing a poem about pain gets it moving. In Andrea Potos’ poem, we don’t know what her wounds are – only that the cello is speaking to those hurting places, encouraging them to become something beautiful.
Poetry written for children is like skipping straight to dessert. It’s often funny or nature-focused. Children’s poetry is usually short, and it often rhymes. It may make you feel nostalgic or turn your attention toward the small, holy thing in your midst, like autumn leaves.
Catherine of Sienna, a nun who lived in Italy in the 14th century, was also a poet. Many of her poems are love poems to God.
Abigail Carroll said these are poems of lament. In writing these “Make Me” poems, she began to lean into metaphor, changing not only how she wrote but also how she prayed.
