Someday I hope I’ll be able to get back to posting more often, but for now, I’m happy to keep up with the Inklings monthly challenges. This month, Linda challenged us to use “Fall Song” by Joy Harjo “as a mentor text in any way that makes your heart happy.”

This gorgeous poem could have taken me in many directions, but I kept coming back to this line: “Forever will be a day like this.” Since shorter is much more manageable for me these days, I decided to write a Golden Shovel using Harjo’s words as a strike line. Here is my “Fall Song”

Please be sure to visit my fellow Inklings to read their responses to Linda’s challenge:

Heidi Mordhorst @My Juicy Little Universe
Linda Mitchell @A Word Edgewise
Margaret Simon @Reflections on the Teche
Mary Lee Hahn @A(nother) Year of Reading
Molly Hogan @Nix the Comfort Zone

Then head over to Patricia Franz’s blog, Reverie, for the Poetry Friday Roundup.

“I’m so glad I live in a world where there are Octobers.”
~ L.M. Montgomery ~

How is it October already? Life is a whirlwind these days, but I couldn’t miss our monthly Inkling challenge. This month, Margaret challenged us to write Pythagorean poems. What on earth?! Here’s the lowdown (thank you, Linda!):

A Pythagorean Poem
created by Shari Green

The math background:
Pythagoras’ theorem is a2 x b2 = c2
One possible triple is 3,4,5.

3×3 + 4×4 = 5×5

 9     +  16.  = 25

Using the triple, the poetic form works like this:
1st stanza: 3 lines of 3 words each
2nd stanza: 4 lines of 4 words each
3rd stanza: 5 lines of 5 words each*

*The third stanza must be composed of all the words found in stanzas one and two (in any order; variations okay).

The third stanza should also be a progression of sorts, a product of the first two in thought or theme or meaning.

I love writing Fibonacci poems and pi poems, so this appealed to that part of my brain. What I found most challenging was using all the words in the last stanza. As already mentioned, life is a bit hectic these days, so I cheated just a bit and swapped she for the in the last stanza. Poetic license and all that.

Just before dawn,
a barred owl
calls his mate.

Perched in a pine
she responds, her hoot
echoing through the trees
seeping into my dreams.

Through the pines, a barred
owl’s hoot echoes. His mate,
perched in a tree, calls 
her response just before the
dawn seeps into my dreams.

Draft, © Catherine Flynn, 2024

Please be sure to visit all the Inklings to see how they responded to this challenging challenge:

Mary Lee Hahn @ A(nother) Year of Reading
Heidi Mordhorst @ My Juicy Little Universe
Molly Hogan @ Nix the Comfort Zone
Linda Mitchell @ A Word Edgewise
Margaret Simon @ Reflections on the Teche

Then head over to visit Tabatha for the Poetry Friday Roundup.