Saturday, November 14, 2020

Following a feather

Yay! It's Day ONE of the November 5 Day OpenWrite with Dr. Sarah J. Donovan's Ethical ELA! I love that this month's challenge surprised me in my email inbox this morning...so excited to write poetry with this lovely community again. Today, Dr. Donovan encourages us to think about thanks - and to write into this. After much thought, I centered on how much I enjoy my walks with my granddaughter. I am truly grateful for this time. Here's my poem about a recent walk together:


feather, small and gray

lying in our walking path

once seen cannot be unseen

get out!, you demand

so, the stroller’s belt I undo

together

we bend over 

looking closely

only to have the wind

lift it 

into the air

sending it forward

beckoning

you and I in pursuit

laughing

following a feather



I received these thoughtful comments on the Ethical ELA website:


Glenda M. Funk

Maureen, I’m feeling the joy in watching you and “Frog” chase a feather and can’t help but think of Emily Dickinson while reading your poem. The idea of “the wind lift[ing] it in the air” and “sending it forward” is filled w/ such hopeful movement.

Kim Johnson

There is such beauty here – it reminds me so much of the feather falling off the church steeple in Savannah in the movie Forrest Gump! I love the movement and the reactions.

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