I am determined to finish my National Poetry Month project, 26 poems of hope. I’m nearing the end of the alphabet and this week am sharing poems for v and w.
V is for Hope
Why?
Because…
Caterpillars that will soon
transform into fritillary butterflies
feast on the heart-shaped leaves
of meadow violets,
whose petals of vibrant
purple satin
are fit for a queen’s crown.
Draft © Catherine Flynn, 2023
A few weeks ago, I came across the last stanza of “Inversnaid,” by Gerard Manley Hopkins, the last line of which includes the word “weeds.” I originally thought I might write about a woodpecker for w, but decided a Golden Shovel using this line was more appropriate. Hopkins’s poem was inspired by a visit to the town and stream of Inversnaid on the bank of Loch Lomond, which appealed to my Scottish roots.
W is for Hope
Why?
Because…
Please be sure to visit Robyn Hood Black at Life on the Deckle Edge for the Poetry Friday Roundup.
Reading to the Core 
Just imagine being in that wilderness, and today even finding it! I have enjoyed the way you’ve started each post, Catherine, like “W is for hope/Why?/ Because” and then the poem. I can imagine it in a picture book with gorgeous illustrations! Today, I love “fit for a queen’s crown” & the Hopkins line you so deftly wrote from. Enjoy your Mother’s Day!
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We DO pine. Weeds, wilderness, all of it. Thanks, Catherine!
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You are an inspiration, my Friend. Good for you for continuing to answer the hopeful call of those letters. I’m crazy about that GMH poem you made your golden shovel with… I have those lines hanging in the house (from a pic I snapped of a plaque in Edinburgh back in 2018.) :0) Also, like Laura, I’m applauding the word ‘pine’!
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I am so enjoying your Hope poems, Catherine. Gerard Manley Hopkins is one of my faves. I love wondering about what lives in the memory of trees.
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Your determination inspires me…and your repeated line of hope and why? bring me back to your project and the gift it is to you and to us. Thank you! Happy Mother’s DAy.
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Thank you for the proof positive that NPM doesn’t need to be constrained by or contained in a single month. Thank you for every single one of your moments of hope and your glimpses of beauty and diversity in the natural world!
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I’m glad you have committed to finishing because these two poems deserved to be out in the world. Your poems offer me hope and help me to be more observant of nature which I’ve heard lately is a way to be embodied with the earth.
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I like both of these poems, Catherine. Golden Shovels are always so interesting and yours echos your hope project, too. Thanks for sharing.
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I love the word “fritillary”!
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More hope, more hope day by day! And long live the weeds.
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