Irene Latham’s Nestlings

It’s Poetry Friday, this week Hosted by Jan Annino at Birdseed Studios. There, you will find links to information about poet Amanda Gorman, including info about her upcoming picture book CHANGE SINGS..

Today I tried writing a few nestlings. If you don’t know about Irene Latham’s book, THIS POEM IS A NEST, definitely check it out.

In this book, the author has written a long four part prose poem, each part about a season. This is the “nest.” Then, using only the words from that poem, she writes “nestlings.” A long poem is a good idea when composing your nest, as it gives you lots of word choices to write nestlings. And you want your nestlings to take you in different directions. Her nestlings cover topics such as time, colors, animals and much more.

Here is a poem I posted a while ago that I again revised. It’s my “nest.”

PLAY!
 

 Wind blows in from nowhere
 and the orchestra prepares.
 Leaves swirl on dry cracked dirt.
 Wind gusts louder and louder. 
 
 Pine trees sway to beckon 
 the dark clouds to play.
 Caterpillars hide. 
 Bees go away.
 
 All around, crows caw 
 like stage hands before the curtain.
 Fat drops dot the ground
 like tiny mirrors.. 
 
 Then . . . 
 Rain thumps.
 Leaves rattle like snare drums.
 Thunder booms!
 Cymbals clash!
 Lightening bolts flash.
 
 After, 
 the sun returns
 with the crows and bees.
 Maple trees bow, heavy with water
 
 And high in the balcony, 
 a rainbow applauds.
 

 © Janice Scully 2020
 

And below are my few nestlings. I found it challenging, but titles can be put to good use, and you can employ any word you like in a title.

 AUTUMN PLAY
 
 swirl and hide
 in rainbow 
 leaves—
 
 
 SUMMERTIME 
 
 dirt 
 on tiny hands
 

 OUTSIDE, IN WINTER
 
 sun flash
 in 
 mirrors
 

 IN SPRINGTIME WHAT TO LOOK OUT FOR
 
 On the ground-
 fat caterpillars.


 SOMETHING IMPOSSIBLE TO DO
 
 snare 
 rain 
 drops
 

 THE BEST THING TO DO IF YOU BOUGHT SOME:
 
 return
 cracked 
 cymbals
 

Writing nestlings gets you to think about words closely, a good thing for a poet. In Irene’s book you will find inspiration for all sorts of poems beyond nests and nestlings. It’s full of good ideas.

I just finished a three session workshop with Georgia Heard on revision. It was a wonderful group of poets, among them several Poetry Friday poets. Janet Wong attended one session adding her expertise. We spent much time discussing looking for places in a poem that are too abstract and replacing them with more evocative images. Georgia is a master at critiquing poems and is always kind and generous.

Have a good weekend and good luck as you try to get on the vaccine list. I am so happy scientists are front and center. Bless those working so hard to get the country going again. Yay science! Yay poetry!