April 30
Write a short poem (rhyming not necessary) that includes each of the following 5 words (anywhere and in any order). Poems should not exceed 7 or 8 lines. Submit your poem at
this link.
edifice
blue
glassy
tender
flow
Today’s words were contributed by your Life/Lines project team: Jean Allman, the J.H. Hexter Professor in the Humanities and director of the Center for the Humanities at Washington University; Ignacio Infante, associate professor of comparative literature and the center’s associate director; and Kathleen Fields, the center’s publications and communications editor.
Send us your poem via our Submissions page or post on Twitter or Facebook using the hashtag #lifelines.
Poems submitted for April 30
April 29
Write a short poem (rhyming not necessary) that includes each of the following 5 words (anywhere and in any order). Poems should not exceed 7 or 8 lines. Submit your poem at
this link.
reservation
shine
triangulation
electrify
exploration
Today's words were contributed by guest curators at Missouri Eastern Correctional Center, who are students in the Washington University Prison Education Project.
Send us your poem via our Submissions page or post on Twitter or Facebook using the hashtag #lifelines.
Poems submitted for April 29
April 28
Write a short poem (rhyming not necessary) that includes each of the following 5 words (anywhere and in any order). Poems should not exceed 7 or 8 lines. Submit your poem at
this link.
raccoon
skyscraper
tablet
dining
record
Today’s words were contributed by guest curator Jo Schaper, who has been writing poems on her own since she was 10 years old. She earned a BA in writing from Missouri State University. After a lifetime in printing, publishing and nonfiction writing, she currently runs Geo Communications Services and Paw Paw Poets Publishing, LP, and is an associate of St. Louis Poetry Center and the St. Louis Publishers Association. Her published work includes WAM&T: Tracks Back to Tranquility, Texas; Riding the Twister; The Kansas Cowboy Blueberry Angel; and most recently The Paw Paw Almanac and Reader (2019), with another collection, River Songs and Wayfaring Sagas, currently in process.
Send us your poem via our Submissions page or post on Twitter or Facebook using the hashtag #lifelines.
Poems submitted for April 28
April 27
Write a short poem (rhyming not necessary) that includes each of the following 5 words (anywhere and in any order). Poems should not exceed 7 or 8 lines. Submit your poem at
this link.
crow
swallows
moan
lavender
dive
Today’s words were contributed by guest curator January Kiefer, who has long been involved with the St. Louis arts community as a teacher, writer, artist, storyteller and workshop leader, and who has carried her work across the nation. She is as inspired by the headline images of Life/Lines as she is by the contributed words themselves and sometimes uses them as a sixth “visual word” to spark a poem.
Send us your poem via our Submissions page or post on Twitter or Facebook using the hashtag #lifelines.
Poems submitted for April 27
April 26
Write a short poem (rhyming not necessary) that includes each of the following 5 words (anywhere and in any order). Poems should not exceed 7 or 8 lines. Submit your poem at
this link.
caramel
delight
slither
glistening
hope
Today’s words were contributed by guest curator Blake Strode, executive director of Arch City Defenders.
Send us your poem via our Submissions page or post on Twitter or Facebook using the hashtag #lifelines.
Poems submitted for April 26
April 23
Write a short poem (rhyming not necessary) that includes each of the following 5 words (anywhere and in any order). Poems should not exceed 7 or 8 lines. Submit your poem at
this link.
otherwise
intimacy
archives
structural
grief
Today’s words were contributed by guest curator Bethany Nowviskie, Dean of Libraries, Senior Academic Technology Officer, and Professor of English at James Madison University. This afternoon, she will give the James E. McLeod Memorial Lecture on Higher Education, “Cultural Memory and the Peri-Pandemic Library” (free and open to all; registrations welcome through start time at 2 pm).
Send us your poem via our Submissions page or post on Twitter or Facebook using the hashtag #lifelines.
Poems submitted for April 23
April 22
Write a short poem (rhyming not necessary) that includes each of the following 5 words (anywhere and in any order). Poems should not exceed 7 or 8 lines. Submit your poem at
this link.
improv
solo
heart
song
unison
Today’s words were contributed by guest curator Peter Martin, an acclaimed jazz pianist and entrepreneur. Over the past 25 years he has performed at most of the major venues and jazz festivals on six continents, including twice at the White House for President Obama. He is the founder of Open Studio, pioneering in the field of online jazz education. (Check out Connected in Place, a live stream concert from Open Studio every Friday at 8 pm ET.) Peter was recently featured in the New York Times for his groundbreaking work.
Send us your poem via our Submissions page or post on Twitter or Facebook using the hashtag #lifelines.
Poems submitted for April 22
April 21
Write a short poem (rhyming not necessary) that includes each of the following 5 words (anywhere and in any order). Poems should not exceed 7 or 8 lines. Submit your poem at
this link.
tremble
filament
ember
arc
reconcile
Today’s words were contributed by guest curators Robert Henke (father) and Gwyneth Henke (daughter), both regular participants in Life/Lines. Robert is professor of drama and comparative literature at Washington University, and director of the Prison Education Project. Gwyneth graduated from Washington University in May 2020, with a major in religious studies and a minor in creative writing, and is now the executive administrator at Interfaith Partnership of Greater St. Louis.
Send us your poem via our Submissions page or post on Twitter or Facebook using the hashtag #lifelines.
Poems submitted for April 21
April 20
Write a short poem (rhyming not necessary) that includes each of the following 5 words (anywhere and in any order). Poems should not exceed 7 or 8 lines. Submit your poem at
this link.
learn
listen
build
flow
community
Today’s words were contributed by guest curators Faith Sandler and Félipe Martínez, who work together at The Scholarship Foundation of St. Louis. They collaborated with nine artists to compose Know Us, a digital exhibit in celebration of the many students who’ve come aboard along the way to the organization’s recent centennial year.
Send us your poem via our Submissions page or post on Twitter or Facebook using the hashtag #lifelines.
Poems submitted for April 20
April 19
Write a short poem (rhyming not necessary) that includes each of the following 5 words (anywhere and in any order). Poems should not exceed 7 or 8 lines. Submit your poem at
this link.
liquefy
peach
ruse
buck
radiant
Send us your poem via our Submissions page or post on Twitter or Facebook using the hashtag #lifelines.
Today’s words were contributed by guest curator Aditi Machado, a poet, translator and essayist. Her second book of poems Emporium (Nightboat, 2020) received the James Laughlin Award. Her other works include the poetry collection Some Beheadings (Nightboat, 2017), an essay pamphlet titled The End (Ugly Duckling Presse, 2020), and a translation from the French of Farid Tali’s Prosopopoeia (Action, 2016). Her writing appears in journals like The Chicago Review, Lana Turner, The Rumpus, Volt and Western Humanities Review, among others. She works as an assistant professor of poetry at the University of Cincinnati.
Poems submitted for April 19
April 16
Write a short poem (rhyming not necessary) that includes each of the following 5 words (anywhere and in any order). Poems should not exceed 7 or 8 lines. Submit your poem at
this link.
dog-eared
politicians
jest
purple
sync
Send us your poem via our Submissions page or post on Twitter or Facebook using the hashtag #lifelines.
Today’s words were contributed by Jeannette Cooperman, writer for The Common Reader, WashU’s journal of the essay. You can read more of her work here.
Poems submitted for April 16
April 15
Write a short poem (rhyming not necessary) that includes each of the following 5 words (anywhere and in any order). Poems should not exceed 7 or 8 lines. Submit your poem at
this link.
un ange (“angel”)
une glace (“a mirror,” “an ice-cream”)
fier (“proud”)
un enchevêtrement (“entanglement”)
une saison (“a season”)
Send us your poem via our Submissions page or post on Twitter or Facebook using the hashtag #lifelines.
Today’s words were contributed by guest curator Lionel Cuillé and the students enrolled in FREN 325 “Defining Difference.” Cuillé is founding director of the French Connexions Cultural Center at Washington University, which was recently elected to the Centers of Excellence of the Embassy of France.
Poems submitted for April 15
April 14
Write a short poem (rhyming not necessary) that includes each of the following 5 words (anywhere and in any order). Poems should not exceed 7 or 8 lines. Submit your poem at
this link.
fray
error
buttermilk
glass
precedent
Send us your poem via our Submissions page or post on Twitter or Facebook using the hashtag #lifelines.
Today’s words were contributed by guest curator Ted Mathys, author of Gold Cure (Coffee House Press, 2020) and three previous books. He teaches at Saint Louis University and serves as president of the board of directors of the Saint Louis Poetry Center.
Poems submitted for April 14
April 13
Write a short poem (rhyming not necessary) that includes each of the following 5 words (anywhere and in any order). Poems should not exceed 7 or 8 lines. Submit your poem at
this link.
process
preposterous
belief
human
fatigue
Send us your poem via our Submissions page or post on Twitter or Facebook using the hashtag #lifelines.
Today’s words were contributed by the Kling Undergraduate Honors Fellows at Washington University.
Poems submitted for April 13
April 12
Write a short poem (rhyming not necessary) that includes each of the following 5 words (anywhere and in any order). Poems should not exceed 7 or 8 lines. Submit your poem at
this link.
aroma
sizzle
crisp
satisfied
sharing
Send us your poem via our Submissions page or post on Twitter or Facebook using the hashtag #lifelines.
Today’s words were contributed by guest curator Beverly Wendland, provost and executive vice chancellor for academic affairs at Washington University in St. Louis.
Poems submitted for April 12
April 9
Write a short poem (rhyming not necessary) that includes each of the following 5 words (anywhere and in any order). Poems should not exceed 7 or 8 lines. Submit your poem at
this link.
spirit
galaxy
blue
fire
moon
Send us your poem via our Submissions page or post on Twitter or Facebook using the hashtag #lifelines.
Today’s words were contributed by guest curator Jane Ellen Ibur, Poet Laureate for the City of St. Louis. She frequently posts poems on this Facebook page.
Poems submitted for April 9
April 8
Write a short poem (rhyming not necessary) that includes each of the following 5 words (anywhere and in any order). Poems should not exceed 7 or 8 lines. Submit your poem at this link.
mother
sister
slumber
mushroom
handle
Send us your poem via our Submissions page or post on Twitter or Facebook using the hashtag #lifelines.
Today’s words were contributed by guest curator Jae Kim, translator of Cold Candies and current PhD student in the Comparative Literature program at Washington University.
Poems submitted for April 8
April 7
Write a short poem (rhyming not necessary) that includes each of the following 5 words (anywhere and in any order). Poems should not exceed 7 or 8 lines. Submit your poem at
this link.
behind
days
stone
light
begin
Send us your poem via our Submissions page or post on Twitter or Facebook using the hashtag #lifelines.
Today’s words were contributed by guest curator Abram Van Engen, associate professor of English at Washington University and co-host of the Poetry for All podcast.
Poems submitted for April 7
April 6
Write a short poem (rhyming not necessary) that includes each of the following 5 words (anywhere and in any order). Poems should not exceed 7 or 8 lines. Submit your poem at
this link.
write
beat
nerve
sound
cry
Send us your poem via our Submissions page or post on Twitter or Facebook using the hashtag #lifelines.
Today’s words were contributed by guest curator Olivia Lott, translator of Lucía Estrada’s Katabasis and finalist for the PEN Award for Poetry in Translation. She is a PhD candidate in the Department of Romance Languages & Literatures at Washington University and a Graduate Student Fellow in the Center for the Humanities.
Poems submitted for April 6
April 5
Write a short poem (rhyming not necessary) that includes each of the following 5 words (anywhere and in any order). Poems should not exceed 7 or 8 lines. Submit your poem at
this link.
healing
humane
hopeful
heterogeneous
harmonious
Send us your poem via our Submissions page or post on Twitter or Facebook using the hashtag #lifelines.
Today’s words were contributed by guest curator Feng Sheng Hu, dean of the Faculty of Arts & Sciences and the Lucille P. Markey Distinguished Professor at Washington University in St. Louis.
Poems submitted for April 5
April 2
Write a short poem (rhyming not necessary) that includes each of the following 5 words (anywhere and in any order). Poems should not exceed 7 or 8 lines. Submit your poem at
this link.
burgundy
river
doorway
footstep
decision
Send us your poem via our Submissions page or post on Twitter or Facebook using the hashtag #lifelines.
Today’s words were contributed by guest curator Aaron Coleman, a recipient of a 2021 National Endowment for the Arts Creative Writing Fellowship. He will graduate with his PhD from the Comparative Literature Program’s International Writers Track this spring. For more information on his poetry, research and translations, click here.
Poems submitted for April 2
April 1
Write a short poem (rhyming not necessary) that includes each of the following 5 words (anywhere and in any order). Poems should not exceed 7 or 8 lines. Submit your poem at
this link.
mercy
hilarity
gathering
child
deviltry
Send us your poem via our Submissions page or post on Twitter or Facebook using the hashtag #lifelines.
Today’s words were contributed by Walter Johnson, the Winthrop Professor of History and professor of African and African American studies at Harvard University. He is author of The Broken Heart of America: St. Louis and the Violent History of the United States and the keynote speaker for today’s Faculty Book Celebration (4 pm) and Panel Discussion (12 pm).
Poems submitted for April 1
Headline image: NASA via Unsplash
