Welcome to Poetry Friday, this week hosted by Carol Labuzzeta at http://theapplesinmyorchard.com.
Thank you Carol for hosting. Carol has been busy at work collecting poems for her upcoming Ekphrastic anthology. Good luck to those who are writing and submitting.
Here’s a photo of a raven ready for Halloween.
A RAVEN
What will we all be doing to mark the day? Here are a few suggestions.
Welcome to Poetry Friday! Bridget is hosting today and she invites us to a dance party, acknowledging that all of us need occasional respite from the troubles and worry in the world. Check out her happy post and video:
https://weewordsforweeones.blogspot.com
Thank you Bridget, for hosting! It has been a tough week with war a constant preoccupation.
I spent the last three weeks with my son and his wife in Pacifica, California, so have been away from Poetry Friday. But I’ve been gathering photos and thinking about posts. I look forward to catching up on the poetry goodness this week that I know is waiting.
While on the west coast, My husband and I walked the quiet beach nearby almost daily to check out the wild life. Western squirrels were a little different.
This little friend doesn’t live in trees like the squirrels in New York State do. They live in burrows and we saw them darting into cracks between the boulders by the ocean. Ground squirrels have a less fluffy tail and are known for their strong hind legs that allows them, like this squirrel, to keep a sharp lookout for predators. My husband, quick with his phone, was lucky to snap this.
Welcome to Poetry Friday, this week hosted by photographer and poet, Carol, Here at her blog Beyond Literacy. Thank you for hosting, Carol.
I have been busy revising my novel in verse after a trusted friend read it. When I began writing, over twenty years ago, I had no idea how long it would take me to become a writer. But I’ve finally fictionalized members of my family and have enjoyed getting to know them and myself as characters.
Soon I’ll be traveling out west again to visit my son and I’ll be looking for pictures and poems to share. But today, I will share something beautiful in my yard. These flowers are fading, but that seems to add more beauty. There a diversity in color here, shades of brown against the yellow and green.
Welcome to Poetry Friday, this week hosted by Rose at Imagine the Possibilities. Thank you, Rose, for hosting here https://imaginethepossibilities.blog
On a road trip Delaware this summer, I bought this book. It’s a poetry anthology with useful insights on each poem by poet Pádraig Ó Tuama.
In Ó Tuama’s anthology, I discovered a poem by Gail O’Connell that expresses the gratitude I hope everyone might feel for the humble Earthworm. Some might find this subject creepy and the life of an earthworm not worth poetry. But that isn’t true, in my opinion.
When I was about ten, I used to go out in our yard after a summer rain with my brother and catch earthworms that were lounging on the grass. We sold them to a sports store across the street, never fully appreciating their genius.
WORM
BY GAIL McCONNELL
Burrowing in your allotted patch you
move through the dark, muscles contract one by one
in every part, lengthening and shortening
the slick segmented tube of you, furrows in your wake.
Devising passages for water, air,
you plot the gaps that keep the structure from collapse.
READ MORE HERE: https://onbeing.org/poetry/worm/
This poem made me wonder why we can be more like earthworms. We might think we are more advanced, but when it comes to the future, are we?
Welcome to Poetry Friday, this week hosted by poet Amy Ludwig Vanderwater at her blog The Poem Farm at http://thepoemfarm@amylv.com. Thank you, Amy for hosting!
Over the summer, Linda Baie sent me a packet of words. Today I spilled them out and chose one.
I often visit one of my favorite parks by Skaneateles Lake, a Finger Lakes here in Central New York. It was ninety degrees there this week, and I found a cool spot under a large tree. It is well known that lakes, the rivers and wetlands work as heat sinks. They cool the environment and make it possible for us to live on Earth.
Skaneateles Lake in New York
Recently, according to the Associated Press, the Supreme Court is removing some wetland protections from development and pollution. You can read it here: https://apnews.com/article/supreme-court-wetlands-development-biden-fe976e69bb24c937aabdf0e2868cb5f3
The decision will make it easier to develop wetlands that help protect us from the heat. There are those who are for and others against this. What do you think? It seems short sighted to see any wetland as dispensable.
So, I for my poem, from Linda’s packet of words, I chose the word “earth.” It’s simple but I don’t find taking sides on this issue difficult.
In my recent poetry swap gift, Tabatha responded to my poem, imagining what the visitors from other worlds might look like, how energy might “shape itself” in the alien world. It’s a wonderful poem, and we all might wonder if life on other planets are like us or “a new formulation, unrecognizable to us.”
VISITORS FROM OTHER WORLDS
by Tabatha Yeatts
They could be anything, couldn't they?
The possibility of cosmic life circles us like a comet,
leaves a trail of stardust we fall asleep beneath,
dreaming of creatures whose ship descends in our midst
like a ladder being lowered from the galactic attic.
They could be anything, couldn't they?
We know this because we see what's here–
long-necked, long-limbed spotted leaf-eaters,
underwater jelly dancers, nighttime light darters,
zipping sword beaks, round-tailed waterslappers.
Even wolves come in a thousand unlikely variants,
including ones we can carry with us like a yapping moon.
Energy shapes itself in startling ways– asserts itself–
is the recipe, the chef, and the waiting mouth.
What has it cooked up in other watery, windy worlds?
What life-forms are brewing, sloshing out of their primordial sea?
Are they primate-shaped, mammalian? Like us at all?
Or perhaps they are a new formulation, unrecognizable to us,
which treasures the atmosphere, the elements, the star-span
that cups the flame of their existence,
keeping it from blowing out.
Her poem arrived with a quote from Thoreau about gratitude that begins, “I am grateful for what I am and have.” I know I am grateful to Tabatha and the Poetry Friday community.
How shall I end this post? I’ll end with a haiku inspired about swimming and especially floating in a lake or a pool. For a few minutes I can make all external sounds go away and all is silent.
This week we are hosted by Linda Baie, book aficionado and poet. Thank you for hosting, Linda! Be sure to check out her post for today at her blog, Teacher Dance, http://teacherdance.org.
First, I want to recommend a new picture book.
I hope everyone will have a chance to read A BOOK FOR BEAR, written by Ellen Ramsey ( http://ellenramsey.com) and illustrated by MacKenzie Haley (http://mackenziehaley.com). Though Ellen is also a poet, this book is written in prose.
The book begins with the sentence, “Bear loved books.”
Bear, who has been listening to a girl named Ellen read stories out loud in the forest, has fallen in love with books. He loves books so much one day he says, “I want a book of my very own.”
For Bear to acquire a book of his own, will not be easy.
Together the bear and Ellen search and search for a book for Bear. They look in the obvious places, such as the library and in stores, where bears aren’t all that welcome. Still, they work hard at it, but he fails to find a book to call his very own.
Does Bear finally succeed?
Ellen’s storytelling and the colorful illustrations will keep you turning pages to discover what happens.
As a book lover, I could relate well to Ellen and Bear and loved these ardent characters. And I know there are many kids who will, too.
The back book cover.
This week, it just so happens to have just received a poetry swap gift from Linda Baie. Besides a lovely journal, a packet of words to prompt future poems, and a book of poems, she sent me an sweet and imaginative poem she wrote that she nestled in a scene she created with paper, cut-outs and a bit of cotton for clouds.
FOR WEAVING TOMORROWS
by Linda Baie
Remember gentle thoughts, when rising--
more comes with brainy exercising.
Your pen will sweep a nimbus cloud
over the waiting Gulf Stream sky.
Clouds will become the sky mail
sent from way up high.
Use them for your air-tales,
words parading by.
Now add a solar-powered smile.
Writing takes me places. I know that a pen can “sweep nimbus clouds” and become “sky mail” even if only for myself.
I read Linda’s poem as a reminder of what I have been missing this summer, that is, time with my pen poised, head in the clouds, thinking about words.
I’ll end with a haiku inspired by weather today here in Central New York.
Welcome to Poetry Friday, this week hosted by Molly at her blog: Nix the Comfort Zone.
I have been away from Poetry Friday for a while and found I missed, not surprisingly, this community and its celebration of words, writing, and all things artistic.
I want to thank Tabatha Yeatts for organizing the summer Poetry Swap. Patricia Franzen sent me an amazing poem about a sugar pine tree, which is a beloved Sierra species. The poem came just after I visited California and had seen a Redwood forest that was returning to life after a forest fire. Patricia’s gratitude for her beloved Sugar Pine tree, which she has been observing over time, resonated.
pinus lambertiana
In death as in life
you find your home in a mixed-conifer forest
a fallen sugar pine’s twisted remains
nestled between friends
generous to a fault
you sacrificed cone and seed
to feed the insatiable
pocket mouse or ground squirrel
benevolent ruler of this alpine slope
stripped bare, yet steadfast
cavity nesters find a home
in your heartwood
Patricia Franzen July 15, 2023
She also sent a card with one of her photos of Lake Tahoe and some whimsical stickers. It was wonderful to hear from her!
This week I’m sharing a series of haiku inspired by an August of summer vegetables, brought to me in abundance from a generous neighbor. These, of course, are leeks.
Welcome to Poetry Friday, this week hosted by poet Marcie Flinchum Atkins Here. Thank you Marcie for hosting.
I’ve been away for a couple of weeks. I traveled to California to see my son’s wedding. While there, I met and got to know Philip’s delightful new in-laws, who are from China. Phil arranged some pre-wedding activities that included some lovely Chinese food, a trip to a State Park, and a ferry to Alcatraz Prison! It was fun and I do love history and cool souvenirs.
Because of Meng and her parents, our small family is much bigger and my world is full of new things to learn, like Chinese for instance, (at least within my limited capability). Meng was an amazing translator. I also discovered the WeChat translation app and spoke to Meng’s Mom directly.
The wedding took place at the San Francisco City Hall. I figure that since I mentioned the wedding during my last post along with a haiku, I have to follow it up with a photo. Below is Phil and Meng.
Meng and Philip
Other brides and grooms waited their turn, all so different. It was a joyful, bustling place.
The next photo is my husband and I, me wearing an emerald green scarf that is a gift from Meng’s generous parents that displays a Chinese painting from the 1100’s. No, the scarf is not that old.
Besides the good news of the wedding, one of my poems was published this week.
Lost Trail, can be found this week in the Tiny Seed Literary Journal, and I’ve written it here:
It’s been a summer full of love, and hopefully I will have time to write more poems and work on revision in the coming months. I look forward to checking out the posts from the Poetry Friday community this week.
I wish everyone a leisurely summer with time off, and some shady cool places in which to hang out. (It’s 95 degrees here in Syracuse today! I know it’s not the only sweltering place. )
Welcome to Poetry Friday! This week Poetry Friday is hosted by poet and artist Michelle Kogan HERE. Thank you for hosting.
Today, I am beginning a brief couple of week’s break from posting on Salt City Verse. It’s because I’ll be with my family celebrating our oldest son’s wedding. It seems a long while since we’ve had an important momentous event, besides holidays, to bring us together. I am excited!!
Sometimes good things happen at once. That is the case with the Flowering Dogwood blooming outside my office window. The tree is right against my window so when it blooms, it fills the window and I imagine a forest of dogwoods, though it’s only one tree.
Flowering Dogwood.
Why the name Dogwood? According to Google, one theory on the tree’s name is: “The common name dogwood comes from one colonial description of the fruit as being edible but not fit for a dog.”
I have noticed each year the small very pretty knobby red round fruit that comes after the flowers are gone. I guess I will assume that things not fit for dogs are not fit for humans, and though edible are not very tasty.
