Little things like a simple ‘Thank You,’ or a ‘Hi’ with a smile, and a little bit of Caring definitely help make wondrous life even more beautiful! I always am amazed at how wondrous life is, regardless of, or actually because of all its ups and downs, and its many withins. Life is something that we definitely need to treasure, everyday, and learn, experience all it offers.

We face so many situations at the most random of times, and wonder, “should this really have happened now?” Or maybe wonder, “wow! how cool that this happened now?” Of course, it depends on the events that happen or that we face, and the timing, the circumstances, the people, and the many other etcs as well surrounding it. In the end, each of us finds something from within that experience. What we find is up to us (kind of, almost, …..) Like those pictures with a jumble of words and the caption that reads – “the first three words you see here describe your day/week/year…”. That leads me to today’s poetic form – the nested poem, or the “nest” poem.

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Poetic Sundays: The Nested Poem

While this is not a form you are going to see if you look online, I got this form from Irene Latham’s brilliant and delightful poetry book titled “This Poem is a Nest” (reviewed here). It is actually found poetry with a twist. We use one larger poem to ‘find’ words for many smaller poems within it. Latham has a few rules she lists within the book, and in this handout for the book which has all the instructions needed to come up with “nestlings” – the perfect name for the tiny delightful found poems from the larger “nest” poem!.

The Nest/Nestling’s Characteristics

At its most basic, the characteristics are that it:

• is a compilation: of many short (or long) found poems – with words found in the “nest” poem
• has a specific word order within each “found”/”nestling” poem. Words in the nestlings should appear in the same order as in the original ‘nest’ poem.
• can include words which are fragments/pressed together words from the original poem. For example, words like ‘hope’ ‘full’ ‘if’ ‘this’ in the larger poem can be pressed together and/or broked apart to create words like ‘hopeful’ ‘lift’ ‘his’ in the new poem.
• has titled nestlings (while Latham doesn’t say titles are needed, she had titled all her nestlings from what I recall). One note about the titles for the nestlings – they do not need to include words found in the larger/nest poem and you can play with the titles to add to the poems themselves.
• free of other requirements: There are no specific requirements for rhyme or meter, allowing for freedom and creativity.

Tips and Notes (from Latham’s handout/book + my own twists)

• Latham challenged herself to use up all the words from her larger poem (or “nest” poem, as she called it) across the “found” poems (or “nestlings”) at least once. And remember, words in the nestlings should appear in the order they were found in the main poem. So you could do the same. Write a few nestlings or many, and ensure you use up all the words across those poems.
• Feel free to use the same words across different poems with different meanings (where possible)
• Try to incorporate rhyme and rhythm to add to the challenge.
• bonus challenge: Try to use each word only once across the nestlings but still use up all the words across them..

My Example Poems

Poem One

My “nestling” poem from Latham’s Nest poem

when you want to float and soar…

this poem has
wings of hope,
and happy flights!
~ vidya @ ladyinreadwrites

Poem Two

My “nestling” poem from Elizabeth Barrett Browning’s famous love poem How Do I Love Thee? (Sonnet 43) (for I and my DH are celebrating our silver wedding anniversary!). I have put the original poem after my “nestling” with the words I used in bold.

Loving You the Way You Love Me, Just a Little Better!
I love the way I feel loved..
quietly
purely
with passion
with faith
I love thee with all my life
I love thee better!
~ Vidya

How Do I Love Thee? by Elizabeth Barrett Browning

How do I love thee? Let me count the ways.
I love thee to the depth and breadth and height
My soul can reach, when feeling out of sight
For the ends of being and ideal grace.
I love thee to the level of every day’s
Most quiet need, by sun and candle-light.
I love thee freely, as men strive for right.
I love thee purely, as they turn from praise.
I love thee with the passion put to use
In my old griefs, and with my childhood’s faith.
I love thee with a love I seemed to lose
With my lost saints. I love thee with the breath,
Smiles, tears, of all my life; and, if God choose,
I shall but love thee better after death.

References, h/t, and Further Reading/Inspiration

• It’s time for you to find a poem! (Poems by Irene Latham for you to use as “nest” poems)
• How to Find Nestlings (from Irene Latham’s website – this is the handout mentioned earlier)

Recently

At Home and On My Blog

Not sure where the time went but it did fly… the weather, like typical of California, went from spring-y mornings to summery-afternoons and ended with cool fall evenings.

Just a couple of posts made their way here this past week, but in the spirit of my usual Sunday Scribblings post, here are the posts since and including my last scribblings

• Sunday Scribblings #147: Turn Beauty Inside Out In an Envelope
• Great Money Games and More at MortgageCalculator.org
• 10 Things That Will Make Me Want to Read a Book
• Five Literary Ways to Explore the Literally Great Outdoors
• Finding Friends Everywhere: Six Degrees of Strong Connections

Upcoming

On My Blog & Homefront

This week, my DH and I celebrate 25 years of our marriage! And I am like, wow, how?! But jokes apart, like life itself, our marriage has had its fair share of everything within it. And one of the best things out of it is of course our two wonderful kids. Plus, our marriage itself – with all its ups, downs, and the in-betweens too. It also happens to be Thank You Day on the same day so here is thanking my DH for 25 great years and more.

As for my blog, hope to get a couple of posts written at least.

Celebrations This Week For Us

Literary Celebrations (close-to-it also!)

• Birthdays this week include: Gayle Forman, Ken Follett, and Rick Riordan on the 5th; Alexander Pushkin, Sarah Dessen, and Thomas Mann on the 6th of June; Elizabeth Bowen, Gwendolyn Brooks, Louise Erdrich, and Nikki Giovanni on June 7th; Gillian Clarke on the 8th; Patricia Cornwell and Paul Beatty on the 9th of June; Maurice Sendak on June 10th; Ben Jonson on 11th of June
• The 9th of June is National Donald Duck Day
• National Ballpoint Pen Day is on the 10th
• It’s a bird! It’s a plane! It’s Superman …Week…. The NationalToday calendar says it is Superman Week from June 10th – June 13th.. that has left me a little confused for that is certainly a short week.. but I am all for celebrating by reading these comics anytime..

Foodie Celebrations

• June 5th is apparently National Gingerbread Day. Do you enjoy eating it? Making it? It is also the day for a veggie burger (National Veggie Burger Day)!
• The 6th is National Applesauce Cake Day
• June 7th is National Chocolate Ice Cream Day and it does seem like the weather is getting warmer so perfect ice cream weather.
• The 9th brings more sweet treats with National Strawberry Rhubarb Pie Day
• June 10th happens to be National Iced Tea Day and National Herbs and Spices Day
• End the week with more sweetness on the 11th with National German Chocolate Cake Day and for a little something more/else, it is also National Corn on the Cob Day

Other Celebrations

• The 5th of June is Thank You Day (like I mentioned earlier) and World Environment Day
• It is National Yo-Yo Day on the 6th
• World Caring Day is on the 7th of June
• and the 8th has a couple cool days like National Best Friends Day and National Upsy Daisy Day
• It is also World Brain Tumor Day and World Oceans Day on the 8th of June
• while the 10th is Abolition Day
• End the week on the 11th with National Making Life Beautiful Day and Say Hi Day

Related Reads

Wrapped Up: My Sunday Scribblings

So dear reader, you have reached the end of this Sunday Scribblings! As always, I welcome your thoughts, comments, and suggestions about this post. And do let me know if you plan to celebrate any of these mentioned celebrations this coming week/month? What is something you did today (or maybe something you do everyday) to make your own, or someone else’s life (be it loved ones, or even strangers)?

Linking this to the Sunday Post over at the Caffeinated Reviewer and the Sunday Salon