Reflections on the Teche

You Can’t Have It All

but as light is to a star
you can have this dandelion–

Every flower is a good flower to see.

These domes of ghost stars
Astonish the grass–so much deliciousness.

Dazzle me, little sun-of-the-grass.
You can still summon the summer day
when you blew your wishes
to the wind.

(line sources: Barbara Ras, Robert MacFarlane, Amy Tan, Jean Nordhaus, Emily Dickinson, Aimee Nezhukumatathal)

Jennifer Jowett encouraged us to gather a list of lines from other poets, authors, to create a cento poem. My process began with the books I had on my coffee table. Lost Words by Robert MacFarlane and Jackie Morris was there because I used a model poem from the book for my students today. This is a gorgeously illustrated book of acrostic poems. There is one using the word Dandelion.

I was reminded of a prompt from Georgia Heard using Barbara Ras’s poem You Can’t Have it All.

I enjoyed this creative exercise of gathering beautiful lines and adding form and my own words to create something entirely new. That’s what the creative process is.

Today is the release of my new book that doesn’t feel new to me. I’ve been writing and editing this book since 2018. Finally, you can read it, too. My co-author Phebe Hayes did all of the historical research on Emma Wakefield Paillet, the first African American woman to get a medical degree in the state of Louisiana. I wrote poems in Emma’s voice. Linda Mitchell, fellow Inkling and librarian from Virginia, wrote the educational guide. I am proud of this important work to connect to our past and forge a new future for women, for people of color, and for poetry that speaks the truth.