Happy New Year! My Sunday Night Swaggers group challenge for January (thank you, Heidi, for this particular challenge) is to write about our One Little Word for 2020. I have been on the fence about even choosing a word. But over the past week, I’ve encountered the idea of perspective so often, I took it as a sign to consider this word. Without getting too political, it seems like perspective is in short supply these days. While I can’t change the willingness of others to see issues from a viewpoint other than their own, I can be more vigilant about being open to other perspectives myself.

To chose one word to guide my life over the coming year feels somewhat limiting, so it seems important that this word help me face challenges that will inevitably present themselves in the year ahead. Keeping these events in perspective may not be easy, but it will help me navigate them.

My mother once asked me why I write poetry. She thinks I have enough to do already. I thought about this as I tried to figure out how to write a poem about perspective. How on earth could I do this? The answer presented itself, as it usually does, while I was reading. In her essay, “The Mercies,” (which you can read in This is the Story of a Happy Marriage) Ann Patchett contemplates the life of the nun who taught her to read.  She writes “…when I can manage to see outside the limitations of my own life.” The perfect strike line for a golden shovel.

Be sure to see how my fellow Swaggers tackled this challenge by visiting their blogs.

Heidi at My Juicy Little Universe
Linda at A Word Edgewise
Margaret at Reflections on the Teche
Molly at Nix the Comfort Zone

And don’t forget to visit Carol at Carol’s Corner for the Poetry Friday Roundup.

“Memories are like a fountain no writer can live without.”
~ Ralph Fletcher ~

It’s the first Friday of the month, so that means it’s time for another Sunday Night Swaggers challenge. This month, Linda challenged us to

Find prose text or poetry you love from a published author and use it as a mentor text to write your poem. The poem doesn’t have to be about an author or authorship…but it could.

How could I possibly choose one piece of text that I love? That would be like picking a single shell out of the sea and declaring it to be the best shell. I also misunderstood exactly what I was supposed to do, so I did something a little different.

Patricia Polacco is one of my favorite authors, and I’ve used her books in my classroom for years. The loving grandmothers, the kids who, despite their good intentions, always find themselves in a muddle, the cats…I could go on and on. What’s not to love? I’ve written more than one picture book manuscript under the influence of Patricia’s warm and gentle style.

If I could write like Patricia Polacco,
I’d write a story about a girl and her grandmother
on a hot summer day.
A dog named Buster would lie
in the shade of big maple tree,
while a black cat named Inky
sat on the back step giving
himself a bath.

After lunch, the grandmother would
bring out an old basket filled with shells.
She and the girl would marvel over
the whorls and spirals,
the spikes and ridges.
The girl would run her finger
along the cool rim of
her favorite shimmering shell,
smooth as glass.
She’d hold it to her ear,
listen to the distant roar
of the pounding surf.
“How does it do that?”
the girl would ask.
Her grandmother would smile and say,
“Magic.”

© Catherine Flynn, 2019

Read how my marvelous writing partners responded to this challenge at their blogs:

Molly  @ https://nixthecomfortzone.com/
Heidi @ https://myjuicylittleuniverse.blogspot.com/
Linda @ https://awordedgewiselindamitchell.blogspot.com/
Margaret @ https://reflectionsontheteche.com/

Also, please be sure to visit Tabatha Yeatts at The Opposite of Indifference for the Poetry Friday Roundup.

I have been visiting the library in my town for over 54 years! My weekly visits began when I was in Kindergarten and lasted until I left home for college. Several years later, I moved back to the town where I grew up and began bringing my own children to Story Hour. Now I’m honored to serve on the Board of Trustees, which is truly a labor of love.

A major renovation to the Children’s library was recently completed, and we’ll soon be celebrating with a ribbon cutting ceremony. What would a library celebration be without a poem? We invited the children at the elementary school next door to write a “My Library” acrostic. Once we have all the poems, we’re going to choose lines to create a crowdsourced poem, similar to Kwame Alexander and NPR’s “Where I’m From” project. To give the kids a springboard, I wrote my own version. The kid’s poems aren’t finished yet, but here’s my version of “My Library.”

My Library

Magical books for
Young readers to share.

Long-ago tales
Invite readers to dream.
Books about planets,
Rhinos, and more
Await curious minds.
Ready when you are,
Your imagination’s the limit!

© Catherine Flynn, 2019

Please be sure to visit Karen Edmisten for the Poetry Friday Roundup.

Kudos to everyone who have been keeping up with the Poemtober/Inktober words! Your poems have all been impressive. My efforts haven’t been too successful. Last weekend, though, the word ash bumped into this tweet from Robert Macfarlane, author of The Lost Words.

Ash + venation = this draft

When leaves are burned and turn to ash
their venation disappears
just like the whorls on your fingertips
have disappeared from the world.
Fingertips that will never again
crimp a pie crust,
knit a sweater,
stroke the hair of a sobbing girl.

But your heart,
now turned to ash,
still beats
in the hearts
of those you loved.

Draft © Catherine Flynn, 2019

Congratulations Karen Eastlund!
You are the winner of Thanku: Poems of Gratitude!

Please be sure to visit Jama Rattigan at Jama’s Alphabet Soup for the Poetry Friday Roundup.

It’s the first Friday of the month, so it time for another Sunday Night Swaggers Challenge. This month, Margaret Simon challenged us to write zenos. Invented by J. Patrick Lewis, a zeno is a ten line form with a 8-4-2-1-4-2-1-4-2-1 syllable sequence an abcdefdghd rhyme scheme. Learn more about Pat and this form here. After a few false starts, I went for a walk to clear my head. As often happens, this poem was waiting for me.

Swirling, twirling like autumn leaves,
summer songbirds
flock, take
flight
toward steamy,
breezy
light
kaleidoscope
whirling
bright.

Draft © Catherine Flynn, 2019

Read more zenos by my Swagger friends on their blogs:

Heidi Mordhorst at My Juicy Little Universe
Linda Mitchell at A Word Edgewise
Margaret Simon at Reflections on the Teche
Molly Hogan at Nix the Comfort Zone

Please be sure to visit Cheriee Weichel at Library Matters for the Poetry Friday Roundup.