Tra-la-la, Please, Oh Pooh!

Forget Disney. Pooh (or Edward Bear) is a character in a book by A.A. Milne that is now one hundred years old. A hundred years of the Hundred Acre Woods. I inherited my family's 1957 copy of The World of Pooh which lives in my library. Here's a sample: 

I emulate Pooh's ability for "tra-la-la"... and offer this as an antidote for the funk of focusing on the state of the world and humanity. Please, this is not a head in the sand moment. This is a little more desperate than that. Maybe you, also, want to be present with more than what's horrible. Hmm? 

Ron Charles, former book critic for The Washington Post, has devoted a marvelous article to Pooh on his Substack. View it here: https://roncharles.substack.com/p/in-which-winnie-the-pooh-turns-100?r=e43y8&utm_medium=ios&shareImageVariant=overlay&triedRedirect=true 

Be wowed by his closing statement. And, tra-la-la, carry on.

Cheers,
Charise

A Page We Can Not Turn

It's 2026, and we can not turn the page. This poem, "Lost," was written in 2018 and appeared in Tuck Magazine. In 2025, I added it to my collection Inheritance of Flowers. Bless the women who speak out... then, before, and now. 

~Charise M. Hoge

So, How Did It Go?

Well, now that you ask, or are curious about this question, let's be effusive about it. Let's bank on heightened interest. This is what writers do all the time. We write for our supposed audience, as well as some known fans. We imagine our audience is massive, "contains multitude(s)," as Whitman says. We're thinking of  you, whether you know it or not. We rarely hear applause. So, when we gathered for our virtual book launch of Serious Fun: Poets of "Next Line, Please," I was beaming like a proud parent. Emoji applause was rising up my laptop screen. I said, "I could do this all day." Thank you to Bruce Isaacson of "Yes, Poetry, YES!" and Zeitgeist Press for hosting. There are too many good poems and poets in the book to miss out on if you're without a copy. Here's a sample: 

https://bruceisaacson.substack.com/p/yes-poetry-yes-f88

And, if you missed the event, check out the Saturday Series for their regular poetry readings.

Cheers,
Charise

Hang Out With the Authors of Serious Fun

Join me September 19, 5:00 pm ET, for the virtual book launch of Serious Fun: Poets of "Next Line, Please"! That's correct, you can hang out at home, like Freya pictured here, while we regale you with poetry.

Our poets are located in different U.S. states, as well as internationally, so this is how we gather together to celebrate with you and each other. The "Next Line, Please" poetry community is dear to my heart… it got me started on sharing my writing publicly in 2014. 

Save the date! Link will be posted here a few days prior.  Update: Link is by invitation. Comment here with your request to join or

email host: events@poetrypromise.org.

 

Cheers,
Charise 

Light, Light

Paris gave me more than pigeons. (If this statement befuddles, see previous post!) Early August affords this view of sunset, perfectly aligned with the center of the Arc de Triomphe.

I leave you facing the light… 

Warmly,

Charise 

"Sightseeing"

  

Sightseeing

 

While

Paris

romantic

may be renown––

discourse of pigeons is her sovereign sound.

 

Around this city I hear soothsayers,

stray messengers,

love letters

––oohs and

aahs.

 

by yours truly,

Charise

[Note: this layout is a double tetractys.]

 

 

 

"Bygone"

A cento is a poem built of lines by other poets, with surprising results. My effort, "Bygone," has multiple voices but one source: an anthology I've kept since high school, New Voices in American Poetry. Poets include Alice Walker (who I studied with one summer at Sarah Lawrence College), Thomas Lux (professor at SLC who I did not study with, sadly), Louise Glück, Charles Simic, and others. See how a new poem is born from these greats: 

https://theamericanscholar.org/come-live-with-me-and-be-my-love-2/

P.S. I'm thrilled to be given the title "NLP all-star" by the master of poetry prompts, David Lehman. 

Cheers,

Charise