Poetry Honoring Matriarchs and Family Heroines

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 Celebrating the wisdom and courage of women who shaped our families.

Every family has an ancestral woman who was an expert at holding everything together. A mother, grandmothers, great-aunt, or sister...a figure whose influence still ripples through generations. These heroines may have carried traditions, told stories, or quietly kept families whole during hard times by taking in children, burying loved ones, or paying debts. Poetry gives us the chance to recognize their heroics, bringing their voices into a spotlight they may not have had in life.

📚Poems and Books Inspired by Mothers (and parents)

·         "Phenomenal Woman" by Maya Angelou

·         "To My Mother" by Edgar Allen Poe

·         "The Hand that Rocks the Cradle" by William Ross Wallace 1865

·         "This Be The Verse" by Philip Larkin (trigger alert: profanity. Some parents...).

🖋️ Poetry Form Spotlight

Let's try a Haiku Sonnet next week. Not as difficult as you might think, but you need to know how to write a haiku. So, haiku it is for this week! Haiku consists of three lines with syllable counts of 5-7-5. That's the Americanized version, and it's so wrong, but still right. If that's all the knowledge about haiku you want, then you're good to go. If you want to learn more about the subtleties of this poetic form, I've left you with a few links.

Note that many of these haiku examples are about nature. That's the key. However, you can write a haiku on any subject. Just keep it clear, concise, and clean. Haiku provides the bones for a thought.

✅Checklist:

·         ☐ Choose a matriarch (mother, grandmother, great-grandmother, or family heroine)

·         ☐ List her qualities (strength, resilience, nurturing, wisdom)

·         ☐ Recall one or two stories tied to her role in the family

·         ☐ Include sensory detail: foods she cooked, songs she sang, sayings she repeated

·         ☐ Shape these memories into a short poem, but save the details for a longer poem

✍️ Mini-Prompt:

Let's satisfy your possible craving for a longer poem. Write an elegy for a matriarch in your family, weaving in one tradition or saying she passed down.

💬 Call to Action:

Honor the women who shaped your family tree. Share your poem with younger relatives so her legacy continues.

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