For the month of April, I am participating in 30 days of #verselove poetry writing with Dr. Sarah J. Donovan's Ethical ELA.
I was away this weekend, hiking in the woods. I did participate each day with the poetry challenge, remembering to post a poem in response to the varied inspirations. Here are my three poems.
Friday, April 16th - the challenge was a question poem (Angie Braaten) There are so many serious and important questions to write about! I chose none of these - I could only think about our hiking day. Thus, this is a very light poem:
Question & Answer
Answer:
hiking together
just us two
in hemlocks and moss
with a creek at our side
it was so quiet
it was so wondrous
it was so ours
Question:
What makes a great day?
Saturday, April 17th - Gayle Sands and Annie Cumberland offered a fun inspiration, to write a personality for a trait! Are you familiar with the serenity prayer? This immediately came to mind, and I decided to write into this. I suspect I was influenced by my beautiful surroundings, the forest.
I don’t know Serenity well
but I’ll tell you what I do know.
Serenity has natural wavy hair
that goes with the flow.
They wear soft, stretchy clothes that
fit well in a variety of environments,
from informal to formal.
They tend to wear secondary colors or
blends, say, orange, green, or purple,
and they love the color grey
most of all.
Serenity is very flexible,
easy-going, and resourceful.
Their voice is kind, warm, reassuring,
though some find it distant, and
can’t quite grasp what they are
communicating.
I suspect they are an introvert -
they are particularly hard to find
in a crowd.
Lots of folks would love to have
them visit, and Serenity is the
ideal friend when hurting or in crisis,
though, time and again,
they are hard to find.
Serenity is nomadic,
at ease moving place to place,
though they are most at peace in nature,
especially near a water source -
how they love to hear this soft babble!
Everyone wonders where Serenity sleeps,
where their seemingly bottomless energy
comes from. Serenity would probably say
their love of nature gives energy,
and also their perspective on life:
they see the big picture,
recognizing so many things as
truly small, and they know
this, too, shall pass.
The love of their life is Courage, and
what a beautiful team these two make!
I once had the privilege of watching
them dance together - so fluid!
The dance was that of two strong soloists,
very distinct styles, working in tandem -
where one left off, the other stepped in,
absolutely enchanting! I heard their
good friend Wisdom did all the
choreography.
That’s all I know; I wish I knew
Serenity better. Trust me -
they are worth knowing!
Sunday, April 18th - Jennifer Guyor Jowett offered a very clever prompt, to write as if you were creating a wire sculpture of an idea - or drawing the contours of something.
hidden deep in the corner
by the rushing creek
those steadfast solitary stones
comfortably wedged
weighting, waiting, for what?
there are so many soft green pine needles
others ground to a fine brown grain
by some organic pestle
and these commingle with
wet worn waning leaves
creating a giving ground
sit and look
within and rising up
are several charcoal brown trees
resplendent with weeping feathery green branches
seemingly bowing to the water
others, gray and lined, stand tall with
miscellaneous spindly branches
poking out every which way,
perhaps pointing - look!
each tree deeply textured,
leathered really,
fortified, protective, strong
sit and look
one leans on others, needing to be held,
unable to support itself anymore
several others have given up entirely
their long bodies fallen over the creek,
laying down face down
to what have they surrendered?
what is the source of their giving way?
do trees hurt
when they fall in the forest?
these standing trees, are they
entreating us to see, to bear witness?
sit and look
the caregiver rhododendrons
with their long waxy leaf touch
and the soft green blankets
of their dear cousins moss
keep vigil at the creek bed
lending quiet and respect
bending, reaching, covering, weaving, tending
offering courage to the depleted
paying respect to the fallen
reminding us to soothe one another
with a loving embrace
a woods in mourning
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