Tweetspeak Poetry

  • Home
  • FREE prompts
  • Earth Song
  • Every Day Poems—Subscribe! ✨
  • Teaching Tools
  • Books, Etc.
  • Patron Love

A Live Tweetspeak Poetry Party with Sara Teasdale, Part 2

By Glynn Young Leave a Comment

She didn’t live here her entire life, but St. Louis claims poet Sara Teasdale (1884-1933) as one of its own.

The Teasdale family was well-to-do. Their first home was on Lindell Boulevard, in the area we call “midtown,” the intersection of Grand and Lindell boulevards. Today, the Grand Entertainment District is on the north side of Lindell and St Louis University is on the south. The Teasdale home was located on land now occupied by university buildings.

The family moved west to Kingsbury Place, a few blocks north of Forest Park. This area was being developed as an enclave of private streets before, during, and after the St. Louis World’s Fair. Teasdale’s house still stands; Kingsbury Place is still a beautiful street with large, well-maintained homes. (Not long ago, it was sold for $1.1 million.)

The Teasdale home at 38 Kingsbury Place, St. Louis

For a year, Teasdale attended Mary Institute, a girls’ school located at Locust Street and Jefferson Avenue. The principal was T.S. Eliot’s father; Eliot, four years younger than Teasdale, was known for antics and pranks to get the attention of the girls in the school. It’s intriguing to think of Sara Teasdale watching the young T.S. Eliot acting out. The school moved west, finally ending up in St. Louis County. Some years ago, it merged with St. Louis Country Day School for boys to become MICDS (Mary Institute and Saint Louis Country Day School), considered the most exclusive private school in St. Louis. After a year at Mary Institute, Teasdale transferred to Hosmer Hall School for Girls.

From 1904 to 1907, she was a member of a group called The Potters, young women who published an arts and literary magazine called The Potter’s Wheel. In 1907, her first poem was published by Reedy’s Mirror, a St. Louis newspaper. While living in St. Louis, she published her first three poetry collections, Sonnets to Duse (1907), Helen of Troy (1911), and Rivers to the Sea (1915), which became a national bestseller. Among her many suitors was the poet Vachel Lindsay, but she married Ernst Filsinger in 1914. Two years later, the Filsingers moved to New York City.

Sara Teasdale

For 32 years, Teasdale was a St. Louis girl, living a life of privilege in the city’s Central West End. It was a time when St. Louis was at the height of its wealth and importance, when young women of well-to-do families were expected to marry well and raise families. Teasdale almost fit that mold; she married well but had no children. Her life was poetry.

Teasdale’s collection Flame and Shadow (1920) provided the prompts for the recent “Twitter party without Twitter” at the Tweetspeak Poetry retreat at the Center at Mariandale in Ossining, New York. The participants may not have known all the details of Teasdale’s life in St. Louis, but they were carrying on the tradition and inspiration of The Potters. I think Teasdale might have smiled.

The first five poems were published last week; here are the final five.

Flame and Shadow

By Michelle Ortega, Rhonda Owen, Tania Runyan, Megan Willome, Sandra Heska King, Callie Feyen, Laura Brown, Sonia Joie, Sara Barkat, L.L. Barkat, and Will Willingham; edited by Glynn Young. Prompts courtesy of Sara Teasdale (Flame and Shadow, 1920).

Vacant fields

The detritus of a poetry weekend
comes back to me, here in vacant fields,
a Midwest skyline rising round
the south bend of a lake.
I forgot the name, my favorite canyon,
a mile of miracles, the scent of its soil
and the hips and shoulders of its hills,
inclines, really, less than hills,
sleeping in cobalt sleet,
sinking in cobalt flames.
You’re welcome to come back.

Every morning, not Paris

Every morning, not Paris,
in the wail of leaving,
a lonely turkey flies toward the moon.
Sleepless, longing for home,
land of alligators and pythons,
I want to ride my bicycle past an alligator,
humidity pods darkening the dawn.
Come back to me.

“Heaven is lighting star after star”

I didn’t say I had a hard time reading;
I said I had a hard time darkening stars,
dancing barefoot, healing trauma.
To catch a falling star, star after star
in the hush, in the wind, in the earth
is blow them out, making a wish for each,
while bees sleep in lightning stars
and poets name constellations.

The end of love

“Born on the hush of the wind,”
died in the howl of the storm,
love has left the station.
Love has left this memory, let it dream
finis, finis, finish. Its memory,
released, howls its first and last cry.
I pine for your loveliness;
I have loneliness to quell.
The cliff glistens in the rain.
The time to pet bees has arrived;
I will find these dreams, sweet
like honey, and save them like a hive.
I got hives from kissing you
in the warmth of the wind.
I wrap a snake around my wrist
to remember I’m alive.

Setting a table

Setting a table for white jasmine tea
and coffee, holding possibility like a spoon,
cupping joy, cupping hope, drowning
in the cup or swimming beside it.
The coffee quivers with the wind,
a golden measure in the wind,
with silver cups and silver pines
and lines of silver, soft as song.

Close this finished book, lay it in the fridge
With the blueberries in the dusty fridge.
Is there a reason you left your soup outside?
Were you ready for a surprise?
Let me throw chickpeas at your feet

Related:

A Live Tweetspeak Poetry Party (With Sara Teasdale), Part 1

Photo by Michael Leckman, Creative Commons, via Flickr. Post by Glynn Young.

Browse more book reviews

__________________________

How to Read a Poem by Tania Runyan How to Read a Poem uses images like the mouse, the hive, the switch (from the Billy Collins poem)—to guide readers into new ways of understanding poems. Anthology included.

“I require all our incoming poetry students—in the MFA I direct—to buy and read this book.”

—Jeanetta Calhoun Mish

Buy How to Read a Poem Now!

  • Author
  • Recent Posts
Glynn Young
Follow Glynn
Glynn Young
Editor and Twitter-Party-Cool-Poem-Weaver at Tweetspeak Poetry
Glynn Young lives in St. Louis where he retired as the team leader for Online Strategy & Communications for a Fortune 500 company. Glynn writes poetry, short stories and fiction, and he loves to bike. He is the author of Poetry at Work and the Dancing Priest Series. Find Glynn at Faith, Fiction, Friends.
Glynn Young
Follow Glynn
Latest posts by Glynn Young (see all)
  • Poetic Voices: Jessica Gigot and the Land - October 3, 2023
  • Do You Remember the First Poetry Book You Bought? - September 26, 2023
  • Poets and Poems: Yvor Winters and “Selected Poems” - September 19, 2023

Filed Under: article, Poems, poetry, Sara Teasdale

Get Every Day Poems...

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

For the Writer in You

Take How to Read a Poem

Get the Introduction, the Billy Collins poem, and Chapter 1

get the sample now

Welcome to Tweetspeak

New to Tweetspeak Poetry? Start here, in The Mischief Café. You're a regular? Check out our October Menu.

Patron Love

❤️

Welcome a little patron love, when you help keep the world poetic.

Your Comments

  • Lois Perch Villemaire on From A to Z, the Abecedarian Isn’t Just for Chaucer—Poetry Prompt!
  • L.L. Barkat on From A to Z, the Abecedarian Isn’t Just for Chaucer—Poetry Prompt!
  • L.L. Barkat on Poetry Club: Coffee Shop Collage—”Do the Shells Still Hear”
  • Bethany R. on Poetry Club: Coffee Shop Collage—”Do the Shells Still Hear”

Join the Year of the Monarch

How to Write Poetry

Featured In

We're happy to have been featured in...

The Huffington Post

The Paris Review

The New York Observer

Tumblr Book News

Stay in Touch With Us

Categories

Learn to Write Form Poems

How to Write an Acrostic

How to Write a Ballad

How to Write a Catalog Poem

How to Write a Ghazal

How to Write a Haiku

How to Write an Ode

How to Write a Pantoum

How to Write a Rondeau

How to Write a Sestina

How to Write a Sonnet

How to Write a Villanelle

5 FREE POETRY PROMPTS

Get 5 FREE inbox poetry prompts from the popular book How to Write a Poem

Shakespeare Resources

Poetry Classroom: Sonnet 18

Common Core Picture Poems: Sonnet 73

Sonnet 104 Annotated

Sonnet 116 Annotated

Character Analysis: Romeo and Juliet

Character Analysis: Was Hamlet Sane or Insane?

Why Does Hamlet Wait to Kill the King?

10 Fun Shakespeare Resources

About Shakespeare: Poet and Playwright

Top 10 Shakespeare Sonnets

See all 154 Shakespeare sonnets in our Shakespeare Library!

Explore Work From Black Poets

About Us

  • • A Blessing for Writers
  • • Annual Theme 2022: Perspective
  • • Annual Theme 2021: Generous
  • • Our Story
  • • Meet Our Team
  • • Literary Citizenship
  • • Poet Laura
  • • Poetry for Life: The 5 Vital Approaches
  • • T. S. Poetry Press – All Books
  • • Contact Us

Write With Us

  • • 5 FREE Poetry Prompts-Inbox Delivery
  • • 30 Days to Richer Writing Workshop
  • • Poetry Prompts
  • • Submissions
  • • The Write to Poetry

Read With Us

  • • All Our Books
  • • Book Club
  • • Every Day Poems—Subscribe! ✨
  • • Literacy Extras
  • • Poems to Listen By: Audio Series
  • • Poet-a-Day
  • • Poets and Poems
  • • 50 States Projects
  • • Charlotte Perkins Gilman Poems Library
  • • Edgar Allan Poe Poems Arts & Experience Library
  • • William Blake Poems Arts & Experience Library
  • • William Shakespeare Sonnet Library

Celebrate With Us

  • • Poem on Your Pillow Day
  • • Poetic Earth Month
  • • Poet in a Cupcake Day
  • • Poetry at Work Day
  • • Random Acts of Poetry Day
  • • Take Your Poet to School Week
  • • Take Your Poet to Work Day

Gift Ideas

  • • Every Day Poems
  • • Our Shop
  • • Everybody Loves a Book!

Connect

  • • Donate
  • • Blog Buttons
  • • By Heart
  • • Shop for Tweetspeak Fun Stuff

Copyright © 2023 Tweetspeak Poetry · FAQ, Disclosure & Privacy Policy

We serve poetry with our cookies. Because that's the way it should be.
We serve poetry with your cookies on our website to give you the most relevant experience by remembering your preferences and repeat visits. By clicking “Accept”, you... accept the cookies with a smile.
Do not sell my personal information.
Cookie SettingsAccept
update cookie prefs

Privacy Overview

This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. Out of these, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are essential for the working of basic functionalities of the website. We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent. You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. But opting out of some of these cookies may affect your browsing experience.
Necessary
Always Enabled
Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. These cookies ensure basic functionalities and security features of the website, anonymously.
CookieDurationDescription
cookielawinfo-checkbox-analytics11 monthsThis cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Analytics".
cookielawinfo-checkbox-functional11 monthsThe cookie is set by GDPR cookie consent to record the user consent for the cookies in the category "Functional".
cookielawinfo-checkbox-necessary11 monthsThis cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookies is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Necessary".
cookielawinfo-checkbox-others11 monthsThis cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Other.
cookielawinfo-checkbox-performance11 monthsThis cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Performance".
viewed_cookie_policy11 monthsThe cookie is set by the GDPR Cookie Consent plugin and is used to store whether or not user has consented to the use of cookies. It does not store any personal data.
Functional
Functional cookies help to perform certain functionalities like sharing the content of the website on social media platforms, collect feedbacks, and other third-party features.
Performance
Performance cookies are used to understand and analyze the key performance indexes of the website which helps in delivering a better user experience for the visitors.
Analytics
Analytical cookies are used to understand how visitors interact with the website. These cookies help provide information on metrics the number of visitors, bounce rate, traffic source, etc.
Advertisement
Advertisement cookies are used to provide visitors with relevant ads and marketing campaigns. These cookies track visitors across websites and collect information to provide customized ads.
Others
Other uncategorized cookies are those that are being analyzed and have not been classified into a category as yet.
SAVE & ACCEPT