Naomi Shihab Nye has famously said that “poems hide…What we have to do is live in a way that lets us find them.” I often find inspiration in images, and when I saw this photo on Twitter recently, I knew a poem was hidden within:
At a bend in the trail
I freeze, startled
by an upturned mushroom.
Suddenly,
I’m at your kitchen table,
wisps of morning breeze,
rich with melodies of songbirds,
drifting in through wide-open windows
as you set an ancient flow-blue
bowl before me.
Nestled within its chipped rim
are glistening blueberries,
which you rose at dawn
to pick,
making sure to leave a few
for the birds.
© Catherine Flynn, 2018
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Reading to the Core 
I love how you time traveled in your poem to such a sensory-rich moment. Beautiful! Your ending is inspired and that mushroom cap is crazy wonderful!
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I love, love nature and this poem really spoke to me. It took you to a wonderful place.
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What a picture, and it is often a surprise when writing. I love that you found that wonderful memory.
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What a lovely morning poem! It’s a beautiful summer morning. I love the juxtaposition picture of freshly picked blueberries in a “flow-blue bowl” with a “chipped rim” … makes me think that this “ancient” bowl has had much loving use, has a special value because it is a thread that ties the present morning to many mornings past — mine and those of women from who I come. And I see my grandmother’s hand placing the bowl before me. I hear her soft voice as she offers me a bit of fresh, thick cream from a blue-flow creamer.
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I love how you carried the “blue” color theme throughout the poem, making the reader form clear mind movies of the images you were lucky to notice on your journey.
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I love how we can follow the thread of a poem and find a sweet memory waiting there.
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Beautifully written. It happens to me , unexpected things take me to different places 🙂
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