Dear readers: Before this week’s poem, two new projects with events this coming week: Fear of the Beast: Artist Troy Passey and I have created a new book together called Fear of the Beast, about the human relationship with animals—whether we are eating animals, keeping animals as pets, or telling stories about animals that we are too afraid…
Articles by Elisabeth Sharp McKetta
The word: Calibrated
Dear readers: greetings on this early October day. Poetry for Strangers and I are back from vacation. The summer of beautiful chaos and travel ended with a trip to Vancouver to visit my dear college roommate who was attending a sleep conference. I got predictably confused with the train ticket machines at the airport. There were…
The word: Freedom
“You don’t enter an open door but you enter an open face.” This Somalian proverb was shared with me by Mo, who does building maintenance in Boise and whose grandfather was a poet. I met Mo while standing at the base of a staircase downtown, writing down an idea; he walked by and smiled. …
The word: Cooperative
Today marks Poetry for Strangers’ 300th poem! Thank you, dear readers, both for reading and for your notes of appreciation over the years. This poem is part two from last week’s poem. Jacob was the producer of the youtube interview with Sohail. He has moved from LA, where he owns a production company, to Boise,…
The word: Peace
Elizabeth does make-up for television, is about to graduate from Boise State, and looks forward to traveling the world. I met her when I was filming a cool youtube interview with my friend Sohail, one of my earliest strangers for this project (his word: blessed). I was given words by two people on the film…
The word: Happiness
Quick fun news first: my TEDx talk, linking poetry to tiny house family life, went live! I hope you enjoy. Now onto this week’s stranger: I was at a café writing last week’s poem when a stranger stopped next to my table, phone in hand, to show me a photo. She said, “I had to show someone:…
The word: Phenomenal
I met Mike at a tapas bar where I was having a date with my person and he was having a goodbye dinner with a friend before moving away. We talked about what draws us to a place or away from it, and what we leave behind in a city. When I asked for a…
The word: Colibrí
I spent a dizzying, fun day at Disneyland with my almost five-year-old, who said of it all: “This is like one small busy world.” I had given him a little spending money, which he spent promptly on cotton candy. At the day’s end he saw a woman who painted faces and I could see his…
The word: Capture
What is the capital of Vermont? (guess, readers – don’t google!) I guessed wrong. It’s Montpelier. Aron, purveyor of random trivia, quizzed me on a Lyft ride about capital cities worldwide. We had a fun time talking about the things we insist our kids learn by heart—for Aron’s kids, capitals and geography. For mine, fairy…
The word: Resilience
At a café, a kind stranger named Ben swapped tables with me so I could plug in a computer. I learned that he is a studying for a degree in Construction Management, to build smart houses that will shape the future of how we live. His word, resilience, brings me to some news I want…