Tweetspeak Poetry

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

Writing Prompt: December

By Callie Feyen 2 Comments

I’m writing this post while Nora Jones sings her song December.

“December, come to me,” she croons. She’s asking for snow and sun. She’s promising to carry December home, to take the month away from the loneliest place it’s known. She promises to do this if December reciprocates. “Take me from the loneliest place I’ve ever known,” she sings.

I’m wondering about this double negative of a lonely month and a lonely person helping each other home.

In junior high on the day winter break started, a group of us walked home exuberant from being let loose from school. The snow was falling and we wanted to do something, but this middle time of definitions being smashed and reconsidered, of no longer understanding everything to be black and white and instead standing, cowering, and sinking into the gray, made it hard to decide just what to do with ourselves.

“Sledding!” a boy yelled out.

“Sledding!” the rest of us cheered.

All of us ran home to put on snow pants that were too small, shove our feet into boots we told our parents we were too cool to wear, grab sleds from our garages, and bolt to the nearest hill.

It was just like kindergarten that afternoon-turned-evening. There were no cliques, no “who likes who.” We were all friends, laughing and holding out gloved hands to help each other so we could climb up the icy hill again.

It happened again in college, in the thick of finals and fighting the December gloom of going home to a place that we now understood wasn’t our only home anymore. Someone would tuck a cafeteria tray in her winter coat, a sly smile would form, and she’d wink to those of us who saw her. The rest of us would follow suit.

You can’t worry about core subjects or packing or even home while sliding down a steep hill. My memory is that all there is to do is laugh and scream and feel the December air, perhaps carrying you away from your lonely places.

Maybe December needs us to show all the beauty it holds in its 31 days. Maybe we need those 31 days to show us ours.

Ways In

Poetry: Write a poem about sledding or another December tradition.

List: What 31 beautiful December things can you write about?

Letter: Write a letter to December, the month that holds the longest night, but that hopes for all of us to watch for the light.

 

Photo by cotaro70s, Creative Commons, via Flickr. Post by Callie Feyen.

Browse more poetry prompts

A Writer’s Dream Book


“Callie Feyen has such a knack for telling personal stories that transcend her own life. In my years in publishing, I’ve seen how hard that is—but she makes it seem effortless, and her book is such a pleasure. It’s funny, it’s warm, it’s enlightening. Callie writes about two of the most important things in life—books and clothes—in utterly delightful and truly moving ways. I’m impressed by how non-gimmicky and fresh her writing is. I love this book.”

—Sarah Smith, Executive Editor Prevention magazine; former Executive Editor Redbook magazine

 

  • Author
  • Recent Posts
Callie Feyen
Callie Feyen
Callie Feyen likes Converse tennis shoes and colorful high heels, reading the poetry of Gerard Manley Hopkins, and the Twilight series. Her favorite outfit has always been a well-worn pair of jeans and a white T-shirt, but she wants hoop skirts with loads of tulle to come back into style. Her favorite line from literature comes from Sharon Creech’s Absolutely Normal Chaos: “I don’t know who I am yet. I’m still waiting to find out.” Feyen has served as the At-Risk Literacy Specialist in the Ypsilanti Public Schools and is the author of Twirl: my life with stories, writing & clothes and The Teacher Diaries: Romeo and Juliet.
Callie Feyen
Latest posts by Callie Feyen (see all)
  • Poetry Prompt: Courage to Follow - July 24, 2023
  • Poetry Prompt: Being a Pilgrim and a Martha Stewart Homemaker - July 10, 2023
  • Poetry Prompt: Monarch Butterfly’s Wildflower - June 19, 2023

Filed Under: Blog, Poems, poetry, poetry prompt, poetry teaching resources, writer's group resources, writing prompts

Get Every Day Poems...

About Callie Feyen

Callie Feyen likes Converse tennis shoes and colorful high heels, reading the poetry of Gerard Manley Hopkins, and the Twilight series. Her favorite outfit has always been a well-worn pair of jeans and a white T-shirt, but she wants hoop skirts with loads of tulle to come back into style. Her favorite line from literature comes from Sharon Creech’s Absolutely Normal Chaos: “I don’t know who I am yet. I’m still waiting to find out.” Feyen has served as the At-Risk Literacy Specialist in the Ypsilanti Public Schools and is the author of Twirl: my life with stories, writing & clothes and The Teacher Diaries: Romeo and Juliet.

Comments

  1. Megan Willome says

    December 9, 2019 at 8:15 am

    It doesn’t get better than Gary Johnson’s “December” (http://www.garrisonkeillor.com/radio/twa-the-writers-almanac-for-december-4-2019/) but here goes.

    December

    “You can’t kill them,” the young woman said as she sold
    us Boston ferns in the spring. She, who raised
    eight thousand poinsettias in a greenhouse
    with a dripline.

    But September happened
    and then November. Now the eight ferns
    are dead
    as December.

    We deplant them, load them in the truck,
    take them to the city’s brush recycling
    pile to be made mulch.

    We carry on, carry
    forward, carry tales
    step by step
    mile by blue mile.

    Reply
  2. Richard Maxson says

    December 9, 2019 at 11:06 am

    A Brief Enchantment

    There are many ways to enter
    a December wood or, forest,

    let it remain enchanted,
    no matter what words we use.

    The first of all attributes is magic:
    snow expanding the landscape,

    darkening the boles of trees
    splashed with bands of white,

    their lofty panniers of green
    now gelid umbrellas above you.

    This is the silence where worlds begin,
    a depth made deeper by multitudes.

    The vivid face in the sun’s mirror
    shows you the roundness of chaos.

    So much occurs in the in the quiet sky,
    in the vast everywhere you are not.

    These are the new woods we watch
    fill up with stars, knowing that snow

    is local. Let each morning sun be new
    and different, as when we danced for it.

    Reply

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 September Menu.

Patron Love

❤️

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

Your Comments

  • Bethany on Poetry Prompt: Back to School, in the Second Person
  • Megan Wheeler on Poetry Prompt: Back to School, in the Second Person
  • Bethany R. on Poetry Club: Coffee Shop Collage—”Do the Shells Still Hear”
  • Bethany R. on Poetry Prompt: Back to School, in the Second Person

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