At the beginning of the year, I began teaching a section of 6th grade in addition to my literacy specialist role. Then, just as I was finally feeling comfortable with my new routine, two sections of 7th grade were added to my schedule. Suffice it to say, I didn’t have a lot of bandwidth left for writing poetry. Still, I’ve tried to keep up with our Inkling challenges. This month, Mary Lee asked us to “write a haiku sequence that talks about poetry without mentioning it by name.”
I wasn’t sure how to approach this challenge, but as usual, a walk helped me find a place to begin.
a woolly bear
stirs, stretches, slips from her bed
hungry for spring sun
her inner compass
steers her toward delicate greens
transformation fuel
suddenly our paths
cross; I swerve and stumble
she keeps inching along
Draft © Catherine Flynn, 2024
Be sure to visit my fellow Inklings to read their haiku, then visit Irene Latham at Live Your Poem for the Poetry Friday Roundup.
Heidi @my juicy little universe
Linda @A Word Edgewise
Molly @Nix the Comfort Zone
Margaret @Reflections on the Teche
Mary Lee @ Another Year of Reading
Reading to the Core 
Catherine, it’s wonderful while you were walking you saw a wooly bear and it inspired you. I love your haikus and how they tell a story reading like a PB. “Slips from her bed” is lovely personification. I love hearing all the /s/ sounds in your first stanza and your short /u/ rhyme in hungry and sun. Again, I love hearing all the /s/ sounds in the rest of your poem. “Transformation fuel” is a great surprise ending in stanza 2. In your third stanza, I love your juxtaposition of “I swerve and stumble / she keeps inching along. Beautiful images and poetry, Catherine. Thank you for your inspiration. I hope you continue to find time to walk and write poetry with your busy day.
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Catherine, your trio of haikus is captivating! Your evasive maneuver was impressive, and it is amazing that you have time to write at all with your hectic schedule! : )
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“but as usual, a walk helped me find a place to begin.” This is the exact advice I need–even though I know it to be true. Even though I give this advice to others, I find that I forget it! It’s so good to see this wooly bear get some poetry love from you. And, I’m so glad she will get to transform even though it caused you to stumble.
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The alliteration in that first haiku is just lovely, evoking that sleeping, slumbrous mood. I love how your three haiku unite to tell a story. The final line “she keeps inching along” is perfect–a reminder of how much can be accomplished by moving forward one inch at a time. Hang in there!
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Catherine, thinking of you as you move through this demanding time…and I must say what joy it is whenever our paths cross. Such beautiful words! Thank you! xo
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Oh, how I love dear Wooly Bear — such a wise and determined critter, such a perfectly personified poem!
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That wooly bear grabs your attention and won’t let go until you get it written down. Just like the nag of poetry prompts.
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I love woolly bears… and love the progression in your haiku-ode!
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As I said before, I read the “delicate greens” precisely as the pursuit of poetry, and the way that you and the woolly bear become one as your paths cross, and you are both the swerver-stumbler and the one who inches along beautifully towards towards writing. Brava, Catherine.
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Wow, Catherine. That is a lot. This is lovely, and I’ve enjoyed seeing how differently you’ve all approached the same prompt!
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