In July, the Poetry Sisters challenged one another and all Poetry Friday participants to write etherees. As Tricia Stohr-Hunt explained on her blog,
An etheree is a poem of ten lines in which each line contains one more syllable than the last. Beginning with one syllable and ending with ten, this unrhymed form is named for its creator, 20th century American poet Etheree Taylor Armstrong.
I’ve never tried to write an etheree, but the mathematical progression appealed to me. But what to write about?
Our house is surrounded by hay fields. At this time of year, each one is a glorious patch of wild flowers and grasses, birds, bees, and butterflies that deserve a poem that celebrates their beauty.
Queen Anne’s Lace Etheree
Queen
Anne’s lace
fills summer
fields, clusters of
lacy white haloes
soaking up bright sunshine,
hosting bees and butterflies–
a serve-yourself, all-day buffet,
soon to be transformed into silage,
live up to its other name: cow parsley.
Draft © Catherine Flynn, 2020
Please be sure to visit Ramona at Pleasures from the Page for the Poetry Friday Roundup!
Reading to the Core 
Cow’s parsley? I didn’t know that one. Ha! I love this flower…how pretty it is yet, it’s tough! Try to run through a patch barefoot and those stalks will get stuck between your toes! This is a lovely etheree…especially that turn at the end.
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“Lacy white haloes” we do not see here in the South. I love that the lovely wildflower becomes food for the cow pasture. Thanks for reminding me of this form.
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[…] writing partner Catherine Flynn wrote an etheree today on her site, Reading to the Core. Here is the definition of the […]
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I have such good memories of picking Queen Anne’s Lace to bring home after visiting family on farms. Now it’s not happening, but your beautiful poem brought it all back, Catherine. I love “a serve-yourself, all-day buffet” – yes!
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I love Queen Anne’s lace, and I love your etheree! I’ll have to try one of those myself…
Ruth, thereisnosuchthingasagodforsakentown.blogspot.com
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Lovely etheree, similar to the nonet I tried out recently. I like the line: “soaking up sunshine.”
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Queen Anne’s lace is forever entwined with memories of my grandmother. I suppose she named it for me long ago…. Your etheree is so cleverly constructed, leading us seamlessly from the Queen Anne’s lace to the cow parsley. Well done!
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Oh, I love this. We are surrounded by Queen Anne’s Lace, too – such a lovely sight.
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Catherine, I not only like the way you formatted this lovely poem but that you included information at the end to broaden my content knowledge.
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Love those lacy halos, Catherine! We have Queen Anne’s Lace all over the place here, as well – along with a yellow version (poison parsnip) that can cause severe rashes and burns!
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Catherine, your etheree has beautiful imagery, personification and alliteration! I especially love the lines “clusters of lacy white haloes.” A Queen Anne’s lace flower is art to me, too.
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Beautiful, Catherine – And I’m delighted to get to romp through your hayfields over here as well as in my blog comment section! :0)
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