“The world will freely offer itself to you unasked. It has no choice. It will roll in ecstasy at your feet.”
~ Franz Kafka ~
On Monday, I shared images and ideas I had gathered during a walk. Today I’m sharing a poem inspired by one of the sights nature offered to me.
A galaxy of seed pods,
barbed, earthy brown orbs,
shiver in the morning breeze.
© Catherine Flynn, 2016
In my notebook, I have two pages of drafts and lists of words about these sweet gum seed pods. Nothing was working until I asked myself what it was about this tree caught my attention in the first place. Although you can’t tell from the photo, it was quite breezy and these little balls were dancing in the wind. I immediately thought they looked like little suns, even though the color was wrong. Most of the drafts were much longer, but when I came back to them to write this post, these lines stood out. They captured the essence of that tree at that moment.
Thank you to Stacey, Tara, Dana, Betsy, Anna, Beth, Kathleen, and Deb for this space for teachers and others to share their stories each Tuesday throughout the year and every day during the month of March. Be sure to visit Two Writing Teachers to read more Slice of Life posts. Also be sure to visit Heidi Mordhorst at My Juicy Little Universe for the Poetry Friday Roundup.
Reading to the Core 
“Galaxy.”
PERFECT word for this!!
xo
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I love how you share your process as well as the result. “Orb” has the connotation of sun without forcing the yellow-shiny aspect on the seedpods.
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I am particularly caught by the shivering action in your poem, Catherine. We are still caught in-between seasons.
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I always love your poems, Catherine. “A galaxy of seed pods” is my favorite line. The photo is wonderful and your word choice here is stellar! 😉
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“A galaxy of seed pod” I love how you shared your process for this poem. Happy Poetry Day!
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Another perfect poem about a small thing, Catherine! There’s something about a galaxy shivering that sends chills up my spine. I think you’re well on your way to a whole book about small things. 🙂
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I loved seeing your process and how a photo led to this poem!
I am jotting down a note to share this next week with my 3rd graders as we start a Poetry Unit.
Know you will be teaching in my room next week!!
Thanks for sharing.
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Love hearing your ideas & how you worked through them, Catherine. I love the starry leaves of sweet gum trees, & those pods are special hanging on in your “galaxy”.
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Beautiful photo — love how you’ve captured its essence in just a few lines. “Galaxy” and “orb” are so evocative and suggest worlds beyond the confines of this poem. Lovely!
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The process, the poem and the picture are perfect. Thank you for all of it. Finding the essence of something is often what we capture at first glance.
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Waiting for the shooting stars from that galaxy.
🙂
Kevin
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Oooh, lovely! I especially like the “barbed orbs”–the photo does capture the galaxy effect very well against the blue.
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Trees do seem like the universe in microcosm. Wonderful poem!
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ooh, a galaxy of barbed orbs…love this, Catherine! xo
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At first I thought your ‘barbed earthy brown pods’ was referencing barbed wire – and from below, looking up, it is a lot like snarled strands of barbed wire, also. Love how the blue makes it all so stark.
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What a lovely way to capture the sweet gum. I don’t love them in my yard, though! They are nasty little buggers on the ground!
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As many others have said, the conceit of these pods being a ‘galaxy’ is perfect – and I love the photo!
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I have been thinking about what I want to do for Poetry Month. Do you think you could write a poem every day? I like to write about nature and also to images, so I am considering writing to photos that I have taken or that I take as the month progresses. Would you be interested in doing this, too? Last year I used the hashtag digitalpoetry. Maybe this year, #imagepoems?
I believe that using this image (and its unique view) gave you the word galaxy. Let me know your thoughts.
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