Happy National Poetry Month, everyone! The first Friday of each month is the Inklings challenge, and Linda gave us an appropriate one this month: write an “Ars Poetica.” The challenge of this particular form is that there are so many superb examples of poems that are “a meditation on poetry using the form and techniques of a poem” that it’s hard to come up with an original idea.
My attempt is a reflection of both the Northeast’s seemingly endless winter and the challenges I have faced trying to get back to a regular writing life. (BTW, I wrote this a few weeks ago, and those lilac buds are now green!)
Ars Poetica
Outside, buds on the lilacs are clenched
tight against the lingering cold,
yet their red tinge holds hope for spring;
a few brave peepers start to sing
on a warm afternoon, urging
others to join in their chorus.
Meanwhile, words ricochet around
my brain, trying to coalesce
into something meaningful,
something worthwhile.
Each day the sun creeps northward,
lengthening the light,
enlivening dormant dreams.
Draft © Catherine Flynn, 2026
Please be sure to visit my fellow Inklings to read their responses to Linda’s challenge:
Heidi @my juicy little universe
Margaret @Reflections on the Teche
Molly @Nix the Comfort Zone
Linda @A Word Edgewise
Mary Lee @ Another Year of Reading
Then stop by Radio, Rhythm, and Rhyme, where Matt has the Poetry Friday Roundup.
Reading to the Core 
Nice thoughts after being much too cold for much too long in Michigan too!
Alice Horning
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[…] Catherine at Reading to the Core shares her ars poetica, which is inspired by personal as well as meteorological […]
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I know how you feel about the weather and trying to get into a rhythm of writing!
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Catherine, I can imagine those clenched lilacs. We have a cherry tree with a pretty tight grip right now too! : )
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The clenching buds are a good metaphor for a writing slump. I hope you can find space as spring comes to open up and welcome the words.
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I’m glad the clenched lilacs have unclenched into purple flowers.
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Lovely poem–lilac buds, spring peepers, longer days. This: “… the sun creeps northward, / lengthening the light, / enlivening dormant dreams.” That is one of my favorite things about this time of the year, especially living north of the 45th.
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Here everything is flopping open with abandon here and making me forget hour by hour what there is to mourn. I’ll take it! Your “clench/tight/tinge/urge” really gives the feeling of effort, desire, and also of inevitability. You’re getting there!
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Ooooh – that last stanza is perfectly dreamy, Catherine. Yay to all of you for another terrific challenge!
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It’s been a hard hard winter, but hope will win, and you’ll write regularly again.
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Oh, Catherine, beautiful metaphor of the coming spring for how poetry comes. So true. I seem to have had mostly winter the last couple of years. I’m glad you getting back to a regular writing life.
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