Happy Poetry Friday!
A couple of weeks ago I stopped at a small independent bookstore in search of a journal I was giving as a gift. Of course, I was also checking out the books, and quickly found myself in the poetry section where a slim volume caught my eye:
I was not familiar with the poet, Marie Ponsot, but I loved the image. Marie Ponsot put her career on hold to raise seven children as a single mother. During that time, she continued to write. She stashed away notebooks filled with her words, and once said ” There is always time to write one line of poetry.” Much of Marie Ponsot’s poetry did not emerge until her later years of life (she died in 2019 at the age of 98), but she published seven volumes, won many awards, and served as a chancellor of the Academy of American Poets.
There are several poems in Easy that explore clouds. I couldn’t find these works online, but here is an excerpt from “This Bridge, Like Poetry, Is Vertigo”:
Describing the wind that drives it, cloud
rides between earth and space. Cloud
shields earth from sun-scorch. Cloud
bursts to cure earth’s thirst. Cloud
– airy, wet, photogenic –
is a bridge or go-between;
it does as it is done by.
It condenses. It evaporates.
It draws seas up, rains down.
I do love the drift of clouds.
Cloud-love is irresistible,
untypical, uninfinite.
I decided, after reading Marie Ponsot’s cloud poems, to spend some time focusing on clouds myself. Here are a few short poems that emerged:
Clouds
i
tracks from dancing stars
criss-cross the sky in white wisps
of cotton-gauze
ii
white is white
unless it’s a cloud-filled sky
sown with shadows—
colors waiting to
break out
break through
break into
a rainbow
iii
clouds plump
ready to perform
when air is muggy
damp
cold
take a whiff –
smells like snow
iv
as if signaled by a higher power
storm clouds part
letting in the light
the calm
of day’s end
Draft, 2023RoseCappelli
Carol has the roundup today at Beyond Literacy Link where she bids farewell to summer and extends an invitation to add to her Summer’s End padlet. Be sure check out her blog for lots of poetry goodness.
Imagine the Possibilities 
Rose, I have spent some time lately looking at the clouds. I saw one while my husband drove a few days ago. We were surprised by an enormous cloud in the sky that was turning gray. It was so large that it must have been the sign that it was ready to burst open. I enjoyed reading your small poems. #1 was a standout for me.
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Thanks, Carol. Clouds are fascinating!
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I love that idea, Rose, of a higher power signeling the clouds to move for the light. So many wonderful cloud poems today. Clouds are one of those things, always changing, that continually grab our attention. As your post today does too.
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Thanks, Denise.
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Rose thank you for introducing me to Ponsot’s work, which I’m unfamiliar with.
Thanks too for your own cloudy musing. I especially loved the imagery of ‘tracks from dancing stars’
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Thanks so much!
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Hi Cloud Appreciator, Rose!
I’m grateful to learn of the amazing Marie Ponsot.
It feels as if you were led to her.
This first line of yours is fetching me to go out & look up at the sky:
“tracks fom dancing stars”
Appreciations for this post from Above.
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I don’t think I’m ready, yet, to ‘take a whiff’, Rose, but I love that ending anyway & your other musings, too. I do love looking at clouds & imagining what they look like. What an interesting story about Marie Ponsot. “Cloud-love is irresistible.”
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Oh, love your cloud poems (and thanks for sharing Ponsot’s)! Didn’t realize she raised 7 children on her own. Quite a feat in itself, and then to find the time to keep writing poems. Amazing.
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Rose, what wonderful images! Even the shape of your poems look like little cloud puffs!
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Thanks, Tracey. I wasn’t thinking about the shape.
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Rose, I love discovering new-to-me poets. Especially ones that inspire more poetry. Your cluster of cloud poems is delightful, with beautiful word choice and imagery.
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Rose, I love your opening… the words sound especially beautiful when read aloud. And I’m delighting in the SHAPE – looks vaguely like a thunderhead building up
🙂
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Thanks! I must have had shapes on the mind.
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Much of Marie Ponsot’s poetry did not emerge until her later years of life (she died in 2019 at the age of 98), but she published seven volumes, won many awards, and served as a chancellor of the Academy of American Poets.
What hope those words hold! I will look for more of her poetry.
And so much to love in your collection of cloud poems. I love “cotton-gauze” and “cloud-filled sky sown with shadows” and then colors breaking out, through, and into rainbow. Your words brought to mind images of clouds I have seen, even years ago, that I can still find in my mind’s eye.
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Thanks Diane!
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What an interesting discovery, Marie Ponsot. The cover of the book is startling and reminds me of you second little poem and use of the word “break.” Nice job. It’s nice to know the work of this woman poet was recognized in her nineties!
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“sown with shadows” what a great line, Rose!
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I will definitely have to check out these poems. I’ve been trying to change my sit spot routine to a sky routine and the clouds have been lovely lately. I love your cloud poem too!
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Wow what an inspiration Marie Ponsot is–time can be so elusive… Love your last stanza in “Clouds” it’s very uplifting, no pun intended, thanks Rose!
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there’s something specially delightful about discovering a poet/poem that inspires us to write. loved the cloud collection here, one of the things that I will never tire of us gazing at the clouds. these poems really brought out the meditative feeling clouds induce
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