It’s Poetry Friday!

I’ve been keeping up with my April Poetry Project of writing a tanka a day. Since I didn’t post last week, I’ll share two today. The first was inspired by the line “What is so utterly invisible as tomorrow?” in a poem from Little Alleluias by Mary Oliver, as well as my beautiful cherry tree currently in full bloom:

Time

Today there are buds
expecting to burst open
into tomorrow –
living all that can be lived
even for such a brief time.
Draft, 2026RoseCappelli

Most of the time my inspiration comes from poetry, but sometimes I pull from observations or events happening around me. I have a bird cam feeder, and while I enjoy watching the birds that visit, I also like to try to spot evening or night visitors. Sometimes I can make out deer crossing in front of the feeder, other times I use my imagination, like I did for this tanka that was also inspired by “Twenty Minutes in the Backyard” by Alberto Rios in You Are Here: Poetry in the Natural World edited by Ada Limón:

At Night

Something moved across
the landscape of the back yard
in the dark of night –
perhaps searching for shelter
or an end to loneliness.
Draft, 2026RoseCappelli

Heidi has the roundup today at My Juicy Little Universe. Be sure to stop by for a special treat – a conversation with Heidi, Margaret Simon, and Jone Rush MacCulloch on all things poetry for kids and lots of other poetry goodness.