This week’s words were selected at random from your contributions, then I added one more for a baker’s dozen.  Some of you may recognize your words.  My own muse is wandering….but I’ll try to chase her down, then visit some of your work.

May your own muses whisper wisdom in your ears.

Brenda

Dear Wordlers,

My husband is a fan of the true crime genre.  He was reading on Thursday night, and I asked him for 12 random words.  The words above are the words he fed me.  Enjoy them.

Write in good health,

Brenda

I went back to the same poetry compilation from last week, I Go to the Ruined Place (see sidebar), and did a quick pick of words from the poem, Kalashnikov Staccato by Matthew Kaler. These words were difficult, it will be interesting to see how you weave them through your words.

Happy wordling,

Brenda

It’s Saturday night, and the Montana State Speech and Debate Tournament is finished. Three of my speech girls broke into semi finals. That means they placed among the top 16 in their events in the state of Montana. We had four debaters make the stage by placing in the top 8 in the state. It was a good meet for us, and I am proud to be affiliated with our team. They are an amazing group of young people, who give me hope for the future of our species.

This week’s words come from “One Day You Wake Up,” by Ann Hunkins. You can find the poem in I Go to the Ruined Place, a compilation of poems written “in defense of global human rights.” One of the editors of the compilation is M. L. Smoker, a Montana poet. A member of the Assiniboine and Sioux tribes, Smoker is a poet in her own right. For an excellent read check out Smoker’s first book of poetry, Another Attempt at Rescue.  A link to more information about both books is in the sidebar.

Preparing for the speech meet kept me away from many of your poems last week. Hopefully, I’ll make it to many pieces tomorrow. It tickles me to see that both Tilly Bud and Mr. Richard Walker came back to the Whirl in the same week. Welcome Back!

It’s nice to have a few newbies, too. Welcome.

Brenda

This week I pulled all of the words from one of my favorite Alice Hoffman books, The Story Sisters. The book stayed with me for months after I read it.

Brenda

Happy Sunday Wordlers,

This week’s words come to us from our own Barbara Yates Young. She pulled this baker’s dozen from Thoreau’s Walden. She pulled them from the “Pond in Winter” chapter. She had difficulty using the wordle generator, but I appreciate the new look for this wordle.  Thank you, Barbara for helping out this week.

Please stop and read the work of your fellow poets and writers if you post a link to your piece.  After all, we are all interested in feedback.  Make it a goal to visit the work of the writers who take the time to read and comment on your pieces.  It builds community, and that’s a good thing.

Walk in peace,

Brenda

Happy Sunday Wordlers,

This week’s words were inspired by the poem Butterflies over the Golden Mustard Fields, by Thich Nhat Hanh. As an both an advocate for peace and an avid reader of books on Buddhist philosophy, I began reading Thich Nhat Hanh’s Buddhist works many years ago. It was not until last year, that I found the book call me by my true names, a volume of his poetry. The book has historical significance as many of the poems were written during the Vietnam War. It has become a favorite tome.

The words surprised me with my piece this week. I hope some of you found a few surprises, as well.

Write in good health,

Brenda

Marianne from *elle ecrit* provided this week’s wordle words. She lifted them from Barabara Crooker’s poem, The Meteorology of Loss. Thank you for your commitment to the Whirl, Marianne, and all of you. You are a great bunch of people.

May 2012 keep you writing in good health,

Brenda

Two weeks ago, Magical Mystical Teacher sent me the words in this wordle. MMT lifted them from the biblical Christmas story in Luke 2. Enjoy them, savor them, take your time.  Thank you for the words, they are always appreciated.  I have three weeks ready to go, thanks to a few of you who sent me some words.  Look for them to show up next month.

My family is spending Christmas at my parents’ house nestled between two beautiful mountain ranges. I’ll post a piece today if their Internet is working, but I prescheduled this post, just in case. Rural Internet service in Montana has improved, but it does carry glitches.

The growth of the past couple weeks is exciting. Welcome all you newbies! Welcome.

Brenda

 Dear Wordlers,

This week I took the words from my students’ writing. They wrote about their hopes, wishes, goals or fears for 2012. I spent the week scoring them with our district’s new writing across the curriculum rubric, and kept a list, then Len scratched anything over twelve. My initial intent was to select words with multiple meanings or more than one syllable.

It didn’t dawn on me until I’d already sent out early words that it was the third Sunday of the month. Yes, already! Look for a baker’s dozen next week, instead. If I ever get it together, I’ll forget where I put it…so it’s best to leave things in shambles.

Good luck with the words,

Brenda