If you wish to attend the read around (t’s free, fun, a great way to share, and reading a poem is optional). Note: If you registered already, you do not need to register again, simply use the link sent to you in your confirmation email. Register Here:

Next Read-Around is 4/10/25 at 5:00 PM PST

How It Works:

  1. Read the poem 

  2. Do your own reflection on it, noting what it inspires in you

  3. Feel free to use your own reflection as your prompt or…

  4. Use the selection of prompts below

  5. Pick one that inspires you and write (feel free to use only one or write several poems using different prompts) or…

  6. Don’t use any of the provided prompts and follow your inspiration from wherever it comes

My Thoughts

Lists. We love our lists. To do list, grocery list, shopping list, packing list, bucket, list, Top 5/10 list, etc. Lists are both a blessing and a curse. It’s a blessings when a list reminds us of important things and helps us to stay on track in life. Lists can help keep things from falling through the cracks.  It’s a curse when lists take over our lives driving us away from our ourselves and what really matters. Scottie McKenzie Frasier takes the blessing side in her list poem, The Things I Love. Similarly, I have given my clients and students the assignment of creating a “Bliss List:” a list of things that bring you joy in life. Fraser’s list, and my Bliss List, remind us of simple, often costless, activities that serve as counterweights to traditional to-do lists that are often driven by obligation and duty. We need these kinds of lists to keep us sane in an insane world. What’s on your list of things you love or your Bliss list? What list might you create that serves to keep you sane, happy, and connected to yourself?

The Things I Love

A butterfly dancing in the sunlight.
A bird singing to his mate,
The whispering pines,
The restless sea,
The gigantic mountains,
A stately tree,
The rain upon the roof,
The sun at early Dawn,
A boy with Rod and Hook,
The babble of a shady brook,
A woman with her smiling babe,
A man whose eyes are kind and wise,
Youth, that is eager and unafraid –
When all is said, I do love best.
A little home where love abides,
And where there’s kindness, peace, and rest.

Scottie McKenzie Frasier
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scottie_McKenzie_Frasier

Prompt Ideas

  1. Journal or write a list poem of the things you love

  2. Take any single line from Frasier‘s poem and use it as your prompt

  3. Create your own Bliss List

  4. Journal or write a list poem on any topic you choose

  5. Go on a walk outside and make a list of things you see, things you hear, and things you feel. Then write your composition out of those sensory impressions.

  6. As usual, write about anything else in the poem or in life that inspires you.