Welcome to the Poetry Friday Roundup! (Find our more about Poetry Friday in this post by Renée LaTulippe here.) I’m happy to welcome you all on this first day of one of the loveliest months. As Anne declares, in Lucy Maud Montgomery’s Anne of Green Gables, “I’m so glad I live in a world where there are Octobers.” It’s also time for another Inkling challenge. This month Mary Lee challenged the Inklings to
Explain a poetry term (simile, metaphor, allegory, allusion, etc) in a poem that makes use of that term. OR tell how to write a poetry form (ode, elegy, sonnet, limerick, etc) in that form.
As usual, I wrestled with choosing a topic/form for most of the month. Finally, I decided to write an abecedarian, a poem in which the first line begins with the letter A and the following lines begin with each successive letter of the alphabet. Although it can be tricky to get everything to make sense, these these poems are fun to write. Also as usual, my poem doesn’t follow Mary Lee’s instructions exactly, but I enjoyed the process. Because it’s a most magical month, and poetry is its own kind of magic, I tried to include as many magical words as I could without things feeling forced.
Poetry Primer–An Abecedarian
Assemble ingredients: feelings, ideas, words. Let them
Bubble and steep in the
Cauldron of your mind. Cultivate curiosity.
Delve deeply into subjects. Keep your
Eyes open for easily overlooked
Features, subtle details,
Gifts from the world for you to discover.
Hear the heartbeat of your poem.
Infuse each line with rhythm,
Jazzy words, quiet words,
Kernels of hard-won wisdom.
Listen.
Magic happens when we grow quiet.
Nature’s secrets whisper,
Open before us, like light
Passing through a prism,
Quintessence
Revealed.
Sing a celebratory incantation that
Transports us,
Uncovers, through
Verses luminous with
Wonder and memory, a place where we
eXperience
Yūgen, that elegant mystery, that elusive
Zone we’re constantly seeking.
Draft © 2021, Catherine Flynn
Please be sure to visit my fellow Inklings to read their responses to Mary Lee’s challenge. Then leave your link and enjoy a bounty of poetry!
Heidi @ My Juicy Little Universe
Linda @ A Word Edgewise
Margaret @ Reflections on the Teche
Mary Lee @ A(nother) Year of Reading
Molly @ Nix the Comfort Zone
Reading to the Core 
Catherine, this poem is exquisite. “Feel the heartbeat of your poem” is such a lovely line among all the lovely lines. This reads so smoothly. Not one forced or squeezed-into-a-tight-space word to be found. I adore that “listen” has it’s own line followed by magic. This is a poem that needs to be given to your grandchildren as a gift.
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Catherine, that’s a great poem! I really like it. I’ve never tried writing an abecedarian poem, but maybe I will! Thank you for rounding up, too.
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Love your abecedarian (one of my very favorite forms!). Love the theme of magic and wonder woven throughout. 🙂 Happy October and thanks so much for hosting this week. 🙂
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I like many of the verbs you’ve offered us in your abecedarian Catherine, “Bubble and steep,” listen, transport, uncover, seeking, thanks for inviting us into this “Yūgen” zone—sensitive use also. Gorgeous sunset/or rise too. Thanks for hosting the Roundup this week!
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“… Let them / Bubble and steep in the / Cauldron of your mind.”
A fabulous Abecedarian, Catherine. Words well wrought! Thank-you for hosting us this week, and getting us off to such a fine start!
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What a gorgeous poem about writing poetry, and the power of poetry in our lives. You absolutely knocked XYZ out of the ballpark (the trickiest part, right?), but my favorite letters are LMNOPQR. Thanks for hosting!!
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[…] Catherine has this week’s Poetry Friday roundup at Reading to the Core. […]
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Wow, Catherine! You are an abecedarian master. I love how your verse so naturally incorporates all that magical imagery and language. I also appreciate how you made the challenge work for you in such a beautiful way. Thanks for hosting this week!
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Ahhh – a perfect and magical way to usher in such a gem of a month! Thank you, Catherine, for this delicious post and for hosting this week. Quintessence indeed!
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Thanks for this terrific poem, Catherine. I love the suggestions to let ideas:
Bubble and steep in the
Cauldron of your mind. Cultivate curiosity.
And I was also struck by the line:
Magic happens when we grow quiet.
Funny, I knew nothing of the Inkling Challenge, but the poem I share in my PF post fits the bill–it’s a Snowball poem that describes how to write one. (Did Mary Lee have a post announcing the challenge? If so, I missed it.) I wonder–is there a name for a poem that defines the form it’s written in? I think there should be.
Anyway, my post will go live in a few hours, when Friday arrives here. Thanks so much for hosting the roundup!
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Ah. yes – we’re all constantly seeking the Zone! Love your poem, Catherine…and readily identify with it.Thanks for hosting!
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[…] I spent writing. For today’s complete Poetry Friday roundup, be sure to visit Catherine at Reading to the Core where she is sharing a poem – about […]
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This is brilliant, Catherine! I wrote one of these several years ago about poetry forms. I should dust it off. Yours really flowed and inspired me.
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This is amazing! I especially love Quintessence revealed’. Bravo! And thanks for hosting the round up. I’ve been absent for a while but glad to be back.
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Gosh, Chaterine. This is fabulous. What I love is that you teach us about writing poetry without drawing attention to the abecedarian form at all. I do not think I would have noticed had you not mentioned this is an abecedarian, and to me, that’s the best kind of natural. I also enjoyed the surprise of alliteration. Thank you for this and for hosting today’s roundup. Happy fall! xo, Amy
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ps – I am so sorry….Catherine! Catherine! xo, a.
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Thank you, Catherine, for hosting Poetry Friday. f really enjoyed your poem today that holds some interesting thoughts, especially the line of ending letters of the alphabet. You even taught me a new-to-me concept, Yugen. It is a place to reach.
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Well done, Catherine! I’m dazzled by 25 lines of your poem, but I don’t know Y. (literally and punnily 😉 ) Thanks for hosting!
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[…] lovely and talented Catherine Flynn is hosting the Roundup at Reading to the Core. Take her a few bugs and check out the full menu of poetic goodness being shared around the […]
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How delightful, how skillful, Catherine! I enjoyed how many reasons to write a poem you managed to squeeze in, elegantly, and I love “kernels of hard-won wisdom” plus learning about Yugen…an idea brand new to me. Most satisfactory!
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[…] @ My Juicy Little UniverseLinda @ A Word EdgewiseCatherine @ Reading to the CoreMary Lee @ A(nother) Year of ReadingMolly @ Nix the Comfort […]
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“Magic happens when we grow quiet.” I love this line as it describes exactly what happens every day with my students when we write together. I will be showing them this form and your wonderful model. Thanks for hosting today and inspiring more magic.
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Dear Catherine – this poem is gorgeous, and the form just kind of disappears, not a bit drawing attention to itself, which is beautiful! I love finding “Quintessence” and also “Listen” on a line by itself. Yugen is new to me. Thank you thank you! xo
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I really like thinking of the ways that my experience of making (and also reading) poetry is like light passing through a prism. Also, Yugen! How cool to find a perfect Y word! Thanks for hosting us, Catherine.
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Catherine,
Wow! Beautiful ABCdarian poem! I love these poem gifts. Thank you.
“Hear the heartbeat of your poem…
Magic happens when we grow quiet…”
And the new Japanese word Yugen is perfect.
Thank you for rounding up our links here today.
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I’ll join everyone else with writing WOW! You’ve written a beautiful and inspiring poem, full of juicy imaginative and, in some cases, mystical words! I will have to try this form. I can imagine writing it with students, as well! Thanks so much for sharing and for hosting Poetry Friday today!
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Oh, Catherine, so lovely.
Cultivate curiosity.
Listen.
And Yugen!
That’s everything I need today. 🙂
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[…] week’s Poetry Friday Roundup is hosted by Catherine Flynn at her blog, Reading to the Core. Make sure to check out her response to the […]
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Catherine, thanks for hosting. I always enjoy my stops by your blog. There were so many lines to love in your poem. I thought I’d bring a few of my favorites together….
Cultivate curiosity.
Hear the heartbeat of your poem.
Magic happens when we grow quiet.
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This is wonderful! I love these lines
“Listen.
Magic happens when we grow quiet.”
and the fact that they fall right in the middle of the poem, after we’ve built up some momentum reading, the one words makes us pause, so we can listen.
Thanks for hosting today!
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Thanks so much for hosting! I finally made it to everyone’s posts, and now back to yours, and your wonderful abecedarian. A bounty this week! Ruth, thereisnosuchthingasagodforsakentown.blogspot.com
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[…] has this week’s Poetry Friday roundup at Reading to the Core. Check out the other Inklings’ responses to the challenge […]
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