#verselove - 14: hope

For the month of April, I am participating in 30 days of #verselove poetry writing with Dr. Sarah J. Donovan's Ethical ELA. 

Today's poetry inspiration was by Dr. Padma Venkatraman, who encouraged us to write about hope. I spent the morning at some beautiful gardens with my granddaughter, and throughout our adventure, I kept note of things that gave me hope. As I tried to piece my thoughts into a poem, I decided to try to write it in a "Duplex format" (a poetry form created by Jericho Brown) which I had learned about through a May OpenWrite with Ethical ELA. Here's where I landed:

hope

renewal and innocence in the garden
water reflects trees, shimmering rainbow koi 

rainbow koi shimmer a tree’s soft reflection
young children alongside loving caregivers

loving caregivers alongside young children
courage is her hand curled around my thumb

she holds courage in the curl of her hand 
question, wonder, imagine, all are hope

hope questions, wonders, imagines more
roots work invisibly before blooming

blooms need the invisible work of roots
the joy within a single fallen petal 

joy at holding a single fallen petal
this renewal and innocence is hope

Let me also include a photo of those shimmering koi with the gorgeous reflection of trees -

Bud to blossom

I'm participating in a 5-day "Open Write" on Sarah Donovan's Ethical ELA.  

Today,  Kimberly Johnson inspires us to channel Jericho Brown and his invention of a poetry form he calls "Duplex." I found his poetry writing to be extraordinary - and the prompt to be extremely challenging...which he describes as follows:

Here are the boundaries:
Write a ghazal that is also a sonnet that is also a blues poem of 14 lines, giving each line 9 to 11 syllables.
The first line is echoed in the last line.
The second line of the poem should change our impression of the first line in an unexpected way.
The second line is echoed and becomes the third line.
The fourth line of the poem should change our impression of the third line in an unexpected way.
This continues until the penultimate line becomes the first line of the couplet that leads to the final (and first) line.
For the variations of repeated lines, it is useful to think of the a a’ b scheme of the blues form.   

So, here goes...my first attempt at a "Duplex." I don't believe this will be my last...I found this form to be truly inspiring.

Bud to Blossom

Time is to life as bud is to blossom,
with possible wither or grow.

Is it possible to grow while withering?
Her gentle kiss, while I read, told me so.

Her gentle kiss, while I read, made me glow.
This toddler seeks only our love and laughter.

This toddler knows only our love and laughter,
though we feel loss, walls, and isolation.

Through our loss, walls, and isolation,
this sense that time has been stolen from us.

While we know that time has been stolen,
she's outside, picking flowers in the grass.

Outside, holding flowers from grass, I know
time is to life as bud is to blossom.