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.
Reading to the Core 
[…] Catherine FlynnMary Lee HahnHeidi MordhorstMargaret SimonLinda Mitchell […]
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[…] Catherine FlynnMary Lee HahnHeidi MordhorstMolly HoganLinda Mitchell […]
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Oh, that last line! Tears sprung into my eyes when I read it. Such truth.
Do you know Margaret Renkl’s THE COMFORT OF CROWS: A BACKYARD YEAR? If not, you would love it. And it’s short essays and prose poems, perfect for tucking in between lesson plans and grading.
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Mary Lee, I just bought that book this weekend!!!
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I have ‘The Comfort of Crows’ in my audible wish list. I might need to just go get that. And yet, I’m headed to conference and will soon be awash with books. So, I need to pace myself. I agree that the beauty brings me to weeping. The line that gets me is that ‘one luminous hour.’ That finite amount of time for such beauty. Aren’t we lucky that we get to enjoy that?
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Luminous. Serenity. Immense beauty. Perfectly chosen words, Catherine. I love your strike line (I may even need to use it for my own poetry prompt)…It evokes a “heaven-on-earth” feel. Thank you!
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Indeed, we cry tears of joy at the beauty, Catherine. I’m glad you’re writing and sharing. It’s a lovely, just-perfect response to our time now!
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One luminous hour, ahh! Thanks for sharing it with us, Catherine.
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Catherine, gorgeous! Wonderful choice for a golden shovel. Lingering on the phrase “afterglow of sunset” is so peaceful. I want to rest there for a while.
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“One luminous hour “ I love this image. Thanks for this beauty.
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ahhhhh…
which does not do it justice.
and the weeping is like the warmth and the dying of the tunneled photo that you chose, inviting us into an ending.
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ahhhhh…
which does not do it justice.
and the weeping is like the warmth and the dying of the tunneled photo that you chose, inviting us into an ending.
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Just beautiful! Thank goodness this time of year nature provides some peace because we sure aren’t getting it elsewhere.
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Oh, Catherine, this is so lovely. It’s like a meditation for the heart (and especially timely, with tomorrow’s election looming.) I want to linger in this luminous moment. Thank you so much for capturing and sharing it here. Gorgeous!
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