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 8/7/25 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

It has been a long time since I walked willingly with bare feet on frosty grass, a long time since I let the steam of my breath bless the morning air, a long time since I turned my ear to the Earth to hear her cry with sorrow and gratitude for what has fallen. The poem, Thank You, by Ross Gay, reminds me of late fall in the mountains, when the mornings are cold enough to snap me to attention but still friendly enough to walk in (although I would not likely choose to do so half naked as the narrator does). I think fall is my favorite season because it is such a great teacher for letting go. we can watch beautiful blossoms wilt, unpicked fruit fall to rot, trees strip themselves bare of leaves. And, as Ross Gay points our, so it will go with all we love. Loss may be inevitable, but loss of our capacity to love is not. Love is our true nature. When we remember this, we will find blessings even in the dormant garden after the fall.

Thank You

If you find yourself half naked
and barefoot in the frosty grass, hearing,
again, the earth’s great, sonorous moan that says
you are the air of the now and gone, that says
all you love will turn to dust,
and will meet you there, do not
raise your fist. Do not raise
your small voice against it. And do not
take cover. Instead, curl your toes
into the grass, watch the cloud
ascending from your lips. Walk
through the garden’s dormant splendor.
Say only, thank you.
Thank you.

—Ross Gay
From :Poetry Is Not a Luxury: Poems For All Seasons (Kindle version
https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poets/ross-gay

Prompt Ideas

  1. Journal write a poem about walking barefoot in nature.

  2. Journal or write a poem about time you enjoyed a morning cold enough to steam your breath.

  3. What does the great sonorous moan of the Earth say to you? Moan is an interesting choice of words because it a moan can be sorrowful or blissful, trivial or profound.

  4. Use those two words, sonorous moan, and journal or write a poem about what it reminds you of or means to you; perhaps expressing the sonorous moan of your heart or your soul.

  5. Journal or write a poem about what you raise your fist or raise your small voice against. What does it take for you to do so, and what does it take out of you when you do?

  6. Journal or write a poem about what you take cover from or hide behind.

  7. Journal or write a poem about what you inspires you to give double thanks. A reprieve after a difficulty? An unexpected delight? An undeserved kindness?

  8. Write about anything in the poem or in life that inspires you.