Poetry Friday: X is for Hope

May 19, 2023 Catherine Flynn8 Comments

I loved the A.P. Biology class I took in high school. Believe it or not, I remember much of what I learned all those years ago. So when I was planning this project, I didn’t have to think twice about the word I would use for x. Xylem was right there, just waiting to be celebrated in a poem. Fast forward to this week of testing, planning for next year, and caring for my family and you have…a very brief poem acknowledging the hard work xylem does.

X is for Hope

Why?

Because…

Water + xylem + sunlight =

GREEN

Vibrant or muted,
bursting from stems supported
by strong, thirsty straws

Draft, © Catherine Flynn, 2023

Xylem cells stained red
Nicholas.H.Hale, CC BY-SA 4.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Thank you to Laura Purdie Salas for her brilliant book, Snowman – Cold = Puddle, for the inspiration! Please be sure to visit Janice Scully at Salt City Verse for the Poetry Friday Roundup!

NPM & Poetry Friday: T is for Hope

April 28, 2023April 30, 2023 Catherine Flynn6 Comments

Here we are at the last Poetry Friday of National Poetry Month. I am in awe of everyone who shared a new poem daily. Congratulations! I have a few letters left to round out my alphabet of hope, which I’ll keep working on these into May. Why should April get all the fun?

T is for Hope

Why?

Because…

Taproots
sink
deep
into
the Earth,
soaking
up water,
anchoring
dandelions,
milkweeds,
and more.

Sustaining
life.

Draft, © Catherine Flynn, 2023

‘Wysauke’; known commonly as milkweed, pods at top and root cut off and drawn at side, 1906
John White, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Please be sure to visit Ruth at There is no such thing as a God-forsaken town for the Poetry Friday Roundup.

Previous NPM Posts:

Day 1: H is for…
Day 2: A is for Hope
Day 3: B is for Hope
Day 4: C is for Hope
Day 5: D is for Hope
Day 6: E is for Hope
Day 7: F is for Hope
Day 8: G is for Hope
Day 9: Hope is
Day 10: I is for Hope
Day 11: J is for Hope
Day 12: Hope is…
Day 13: L is for Hope
Day 14: M is for Hope
Day 15: N is for Hope
Day 16: More Poems of Hope
Day 17: Q is for Hope
Day 18: R is for Hope
Day 19: Hope is… Silvopastures

NPM & Poetry Friday More Poems of Hope

April 21, 2023 Catherine Flynn13 Comments

We are well past the halfway mark of National Poetry Month. I’ve missed a few days this week, so in an effort to post a poem for every letter this month, I’m doubling up today with poems for O and P. They were both inspired by Buffy Silverman’s post about nocturnes and aubades. As Buffy points out in her post, “the forms do not have any prescribed meter or rhyme scheme.” Also like Buffy, I’m not sure these follow the guidelines exactly, but I enjoyed the process.

O is for Hope

Why?

Because…

As dawn’s glow
spills over
the world’s brim,
a great horned owl,
well-sated after a
night spent hunting
mice and voles,
is ready to sleep,
hoo-hoo-hoo-hoooing
her good night
to the world.

Draft, © Catherine Flynn, 2023

P is for Hope

Why?

Because…

One warm afternoon in March,
a chorus of peeps bursts
forth from a woodland pond.

Peepers, waking from
their long winter nap,
flood the deepening
shadows with their joyous song.

Their celebration continues
long into the night,
heralding the arrival of spring.

Draft, © Catherine Flynn, 2023

Peter Wallack, CC BY-SA 3.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0, via Wikimedia Commons

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

Previous NPM Posts:

NPM & Poetry Friday: L is for Hope

April 14, 2023 Catherine Flynn12 Comments

Happy Friday, everyone! It doesn’t seem possible that we’re halfway through National Poetry Month already! Naomi Shihab Nye tells us that “poems hide.” I think that hope can be hidden, too. We just have to learn how to see it.

Today I’m sharing a slightly altered version of a poem that was recently published in The Birmingham Arts Journal. Thank you, Irene Latham, for encouraging me to submit my poems to BAJ! Although it was written long before I thought of this project, hope is woven into every line.

L is for Hope

Why?

Because…

a decaying leaf
stripped of its
lamina, transformed
into a transparent
filigree of fibers
is tucked into
a house finch’s nest
cushioning speckled
eggs, tiny as thimbles.

Drained of chlorophyll,
brown as the dirt
it will soon become, the leaf
tumbles on a gust of wind
to the ground
where earthworms
will burrow and nibble
away at the remnants
of once sturdy xylem,
casting its remains
aside.

Decomposed into soil,
it waits, silent and still,
for heart roots to
absorb its nutrients,
sustaining a stand of beeches,
powering hungry new leaves.

Please be sure to visit Jone Rush MacCulloch at her blog for the Poetry Friday Roundup.

Previous NPM Posts:

NPM & Poetry Friday: F is for…

April 6, 2023 Catherine Flynn25 Comments

Spring break has begun! The last few weeks have been a whirlwind, and I’m looking forward to having time to catch my breath. Somehow I have managed to keep up with my poetry project. Because it’s the first Friday of the month, it’s also the Inkling challenge. This month, Mary Lee randomly chose these words: knuckle, denial, turn, cautious, then asked us to “use three or more …in a poem.” At first, I had no idea how I was going to work these words into a poem about hope and keep the alphabet pattern I’m using. But I kept thinking. When I was scrolling through photos on my phone, looking for something else, I found this:

Problem solved! My plan for this project wasn’t completely clear when I began, but I have decided to try to write about plant or animal species native to my area. This picture was taken on a walk last spring. I also have been playing with different forms. A Fib seemed like a natural fit for a poem about ferns. Today’s poem is a variation, beginning with one syllable, building to eight, then working back to one syllable.

Ferns,
green
spirals,
uncurl like
a fist, cautiously
at first, one knuckle at a time,
then swiftly turning into a
wide sail, soaking up
sustaining
light from
the
sun

Draft © Catherine Flynn, 2023

Please be sure to visit my fellow Inkling, Margaret Simon at Reflections on the Teche, for this week’s Poetry Friday Roundup AND the next line in the Progressive Poem. Then check in with the rest of the Inklings to see how they responded to Mary Lee’s challenge.

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

Previous NPM Posts:

Day 1: H is for…
Day 2: A is for Hope
Day 3: B is for Hope
Day 4: C is for Hope
Day 5: D is for Hope
Day 6: E is for Hope

Poetry Friday/National Poetry Month: H is for …

April 1, 2023 Catherine Flynn29 Comments

Happy National Poetry Month! Spring is not completely sprung here in western Connecticut, but the Weather Channel assures me it’s coming. I’ve been preoccupied with many responsibilities over the past few months, which left me with very little time or energy to devote to writing. But while I was brainstorming ideas for our Read Across America celebration, I came across a reference to Q is for Duck, by Mary Elting and Michael Folsom. One thought led to another and my idea for NPM was hatched.

I don’t know about you, but I’ve had a difficult time wading through what seems to be an endless stream of bad news. It hasn’t been good for me and I’m working very hard to tune out much of the negativity. With this in mind, I decided to use Q is for Duck as a model and, during April, write short poems about different things that are hopeful. I may switch things up from time to time and use Natalie Babbitt’s The Search for Delicious format (Delicious is…). Right now I’m keeping my options open.

Although it’s Saturday, I’m sticking with the etheree I wrote for the Poetry Sister’s March Poetry Friday challenge as an introduction to my NPM project. Happy April, everyone!

I
am done
with despair.
Instead, I’ll kneel
in the softening
Earth, roused from winter’s deep
slumber by sun’s strong rays and
thirst-slaking showers; revel in
violets and clover, listen in
as robins chirp a melody of hope.

Draft, © Catherine Flynn, 2023

Please be sure to visit Mary Lee Hahn at A(nother) Year of Reading for the Poetry Friday Roundup and other NPM news.

Poetry Friday: Still

March 4, 2023 Catherine Flynn8 Comments

Like everything else this week, my Poetry Friday post is a day late. I had a minor medical procedure on Monday (everything is fine) that left me discombobulated all week. My posts have been few and far between lately, but it is the first of the month, which means…the Inkling challenge! Margaret asked us to “Explore the use of anaphora in a poem, how the repetition of a line or phrase can add depth to the theme.” She suggested Jericho Brown’s poem “Crossing” as a mentor text. Coincidentally, I had been captivated by “Landscape with Things,” by Alexandria Hall, after hearing it on The Slowdown recently and was already playing with Hall’s repetition of the phrase “and still…”

Still

smudges of clouds streak
across the brightening sky
as pricks of light
from distant stars fade away.

And still a fox creeps
along the frayed edges
of the field, hunting for voles.

Still juice is poured,
coffee brewed, eggs scrambled.
Children wait at the driveway’s edge
to be transported to their futures.

And still the spider spins
her web above the rhododendron,
invisible to unsuspecting gnats and flies.

Still mist rises from the pond
as trucks rumble past,
their drivers focused on
the end of the journey.

No one notices
the heron, silent and still,
until she lifts her great
blue wings and flies away.

Draft, © Catherine Flynn, 2023

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

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

Then head over to Tanita’s blog, {fiction, instead of lies}, for the Poetry Friday Roundup.

Poetry Friday: String Theory

February 2, 2023 Catherine Flynn21 Comments

The first Friday of the month means it’s time for another Inkling challenge. It was my turn to pose this month’s prompt, and I chose this “Invitation for Writing and Reflection” from How to Love the World: Poems of Gratitude and Hope, edited by James Crews. Inspired by Sally Bliumis-Dunn‘s poem, “Work,” Crews asks readers to consider

…a time when you felt so consumed with the act of making something that you lost all sense of time, and your mind seemed to clear? What allowed you to enter this mindful creative space?

As you may know, I have been knitting for many years, but the arrival of grandchildren has kicked my obsession into high gear. While I am knitting, I often run my hand across the fabric that is literally being created in my hands and marvel at how such a transformation is possible. Of course my poem had to be about knitting.

I also happen to love space and astronomy and am intrigued by physic topics I never felt smart enough to study in college. Thanks to Brian Greene and Lisa Randall, I was able to weave together my curiosity about the universe and my passion for knitting to create this poem:

String Theory

Careworn fingers,
calloused and crooked,
ply needles that vibrate
with quicksilver energy –

slide – wrap – glide –

intertwined geometry.

Gradually, a dancing filament
of yarn is transformed,
a new dimension created,
bound with invisible strands
of love and warmth,
connecting hearts.

by Anna Hrachovec – Creator of Mochimochi Land

Please be sure to visit my fellow Inklings to read their responses to this challenge, the head on over to Laura Shovan’s blog for the Poetry Friday Roundup

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

Poetry Friday: What Was the Question?

December 1, 2022 Catherine Flynn28 Comments

Welcome to the Poetry Friday Roundup! (To find out more about Poetry Friday, click here.) I’m pleased to welcome you this week! How did it get to be the first Friday in December?!? And how is it time for another Inkling challenge? This month, Molly challenged us to respond to Amy Ludwig VanDerwater‘s post, “Answer an Unasked Question.” Amy suggested that we

Think of something someone might wonder, real or pretend…and then write a poem answering this question.

Pretty straightforward, right? Right. Until you start considering all the wonderings in the world!

As usual, my draft is very drafty and feels quite unfinished to me. I blame turkey.

To disappear
into an emerald cloud,
listening while breezes
whisper their secrets.

To hide
for an afternoon,
watching
the comings and goings
of birds and squirrels,
spiders and beetles.

To stretch
and reach
toward the sky,
testing
strength,
building courage.

Please visit my fellow Inklings to read their answers to unasked questions, then leave your link below.

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

https://fresh.inlinkz.com/js/widget/load.js?id=c0efdbe6b4add43dd7ef

Poetry Friday: Hazel, Hawthorn, Oak, and Ash

November 3, 2022 Catherine Flynn13 Comments

This month’s Inkling challenge came from Linda. She suggested that we “find or write a poem in any form of any length for Folktale Week November 14-20, 2022.” Linda shared this explanation of Folktale Week, which is primarily for visual artists, from their Facebook page: “Folktale Week prompts artists to respond to folktales and share their work on instagram #folktaleweek! Use #folktaleweek2022. Prompts will be released by the hosts on October 17th. You will have over a month to search for your favorite folktales, discover new ones, work on your own amazing art, or even write your own tales! Be sure to follow #folktaleweek2022 to find others who are joining!”

I loved this idea immediately. This year’s prompts are fool, tree, star, rebel, costume, potion, and victory. If you’ve followed my blog for any length of time, you won’t be at all surprised to learn that I chose tree as my starting point. This lead me down several rabbit holes and false starts. Maple trees dominated my childhood yard, but my memories didn’t have a folktale feel to them. I turned to my Celtic heritage and came up with this very rough draft.

Hazel, Hawthorn, Oak, and Ash

In the before times,
when the world still fed on dreams,
forests filled with
hazel, hawthorn,
oak and ash
spread across the land,
sharing their gifts with all.

But dark clouds of greed
descended on the forest.

The timeless rhythms of
hazel, hawthorn,
oak and ash
were drowned out by the the
thwack, thwack, thwack,
of the axe.

The forest thinned
and wept.
And the world forgot
how to dream.

The forest remembers
those ancient dreams.
They whisper to us
on the wind
of hazel, hawthorn,
oak and ash.

Be still.
Listen.
They’re waiting for you.

Photo by Dave Hoefler on Unsplash

Please be sure to visit my fellow Inklings to read their responses to this challenge:

Heidi Mordhorst @ My Juicy Little Universe (Heidi is also hosting Poetry Friday this week. Thank you, Heidi!)
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

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Tag: Poetry Friday

Poetry Friday: X is for Hope

NPM & Poetry Friday: T is for Hope

NPM & Poetry Friday More Poems of Hope

NPM & Poetry Friday: L is for Hope

NPM & Poetry Friday: F is for…

Poetry Friday/National Poetry Month: H is for …

Poetry Friday: Still

Poetry Friday: String Theory

Poetry Friday: What Was the Question?

Poetry Friday: Hazel, Hawthorn, Oak, and Ash