My Poem Without a Heart

When The Wizard of Oz guided me through heartache and into a print anthology during my first year participating in an annual poetry challenge.

Jun 07, 2026

Hey y’all-- My name is Tabitha. And I believe everyone is a writer.
Especially when we show up for ourselves and each other.
Poetry prompt and Goal Guidance for Creatives follows this poem.
Join me!

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Made of Tin
I take responsibility.
I’ve
chopped away
my humanity,
replaced it with metal
and forgot to watch for storms.
Come near my
steam powered
heart, and hear
my rattle-echo
but let’s not bother
with making friends or a
song about what I’d do
if I only filled that cavity.
Don’t tell:
I don’t
believe
in technicolor.
Don’t remind me
of hopeful
melodies.
Don’t recruit me
for the journey towards the
single miracle
meant to set it right.
-From the Lexington Poetry Month anthology 2018

Write your own poem that Follows the Yellow Brick Road

The form you use doesn’t matter, but please share your poetry with us.

Consider any of the characters from “The Wizard of Oz”. Use their voice and write from their perspective. Or try to take a stance that's opposite theirs.

Try the Goal Guidance exercise below if you want a different starting point:

What’s one realistic goal meant for a character from The Wizard of Oz?

Write their To-Do List-

Imagine you're in the Land of Oz. Someone there needs a little help getting organized. This can be at any point in the story line, in any Oz Universe you choose. ⏰️ SET A THREE MINUTE TIMER. Write their To-Do List. Let one of their answers guide you to a simple goal you can complete this week.

Examples:
Writing a thank you card to your Auntie Em
Enrolling in a dog obedience course
Reading a good book on how to deal with stubborn people

What it’s like to make plans within this alternate reality? How do you accept these ideas and needs — making a simple goal of your own?

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Once a week, I share either inspiration for writers, a poem and its origin story, or Goal Guidance for Creatives, read by 160+ people.
As one reader put it: “The word play is thrilling. And I love the joy.”
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Upcoming Substack Live🔭

Mercury in Retrograde (Working Title) | June 23, 12pm ET

Upcoming Events📚🔮🫖

🫖Pride Lunar Faire Night Market at the Sussex County Fairgrounds,
June 20
Tarot and Tea Leaf Readings and book signing from 5pm-10pm
🫖90’s Lunar Faire Night Market at the Middlesex County Fairgrounds, June 27
Tarot and Tea Leaf Readings and book signing from 5pm-10pm
📚Poetry performance at the NYC Poetry Festival, with Jersey City Writers, White Horse Stage, Governor's Island, 2pm
July 19
📚Multi-part Publishing Poetry class for Jersey City Writers, beginning Aug 22.
🫖Third Annual MetaphysiFest™ in Gillette, NJ
Sept 27
Tarot and Tea Leaf Readings and book signing, and Tea Leaf Reading kits for sale from 12-5pm

Thank you for joining me on this journey as a Substack contributor.
Your support helps me give back to the stream of life.

Meet the Author

Tabitha believes that every season is your season. Creativity and maintaining smaller goals keep us from collapse.

Her gardening discipline is new. Her divination practice involves 15 years of professional Tarot and Tea Leaf Readings. She utilized her first Tarot deck to create a book-length collection of poems for her masters in poetry from Colorado State University.

Her communities include Lunar Faire (a statewide metaphysical night market), Jersey City Writers, and the Nottingham Garden Club. Her home garden is celebrating its third birthday.

She won the Penned Literary Contest for her poem “Green Soup” in 2021. She enjoys facilitating Affirmation Workshops, Writing Routines, and the occasional Tea Leaf Reading lesson.

🔮Her debut poetry collection,
“Alert the Oracle”, is due in 2027 with Accents Publishing.

📚Learn more about Tabitha’s books, “Creative Divination: Read Tea Leaves and Develop your Personal Code”(2018) and “Cheese Astrology: A Weekly Guide”(2025) at Dragonfly Press Publishing. 🎯Her 44 page Printable Weekly Planner is available here.