Imagine the Possibilities

I’m excited to be hosting Poetry Friday this week. If you don’t know what Poetry Friday is, check out this post from Renee LaTulippe.

Even though there are signs of fall in the air, I’m still basking in the warmth of summer sun, especially now that the temperatures are a bit cooler and the humidity is down. One of my favorite activities at the beach is getting up early to catch the first rays of sunshine. On my last morning, I was a bit late, but the sun was hiding, so I was able to catch it coming through the clouds. I started a poem, but it definitely needed more attention. I found some help from my poetry group, the Nevermores. We are studying line breaks, and Marcie suggested a revision exercise from Maggie Smith called “Make it and Break it.” (It appears in the book The Practicing Poet: Writing Beyond the Basics edited by Diane Lockward). The idea is to shift to prose to focus on the music of the poem, then when you are satisfied with how it sounds, returning to line breaks to decide how the poem will move. I did this and came up with a few different versions. Here’s one:

Catching the Sun in the Grey Fog of Morning

In the not-quite light
I stride to the edge of the sea
where tide meets moon-cooled sand.

Morning mist casts a shroud of uncertainty
over possibility
in a blue-grey sky above a hidden horizon.

Sand pipers and gulls
go about their business, undeterred.
It’s there, but where?

A pause to breathe, to set intentions,
to rekindle what we know to be true
before the ribbon of light rips through…

rising,
rising,
rising to begin.
Draft, 2024RoseCappelli

I know I used this picture in a previous post, but it’s from this experience.

Hope you will join us today. You can leave your link with Mister Linky.

Today is Poetry Friday and it snuck up on me! I wasn’t sure I would have anything to post, but then I thought about how I often get inspiration from other poets – a word or line can sometimes spark an idea.

I just finished rereading Lace and Pyrite by Ross Gay and Aimee Nezhukumatathil as part of my personal Sealy Challenge. It’s a series of epistolary poems the two poets exchanged about their gardens during the course of a year and is filled with delicious phrases. One in particular, “…the mysterious visitors arriving at night” reminded me of the curiosity I feel about the night visitors to my garden. One night last week when I ventured out to see if I could catch a shooting star, I wondered if I might encounter any mysterious visitors, and if so, just what would I do? So I borrowed Aimee’s line and got to work.

Hoping

to catch sight of a shooting star
darting through the midnight sky,
I step cautiously to the center of the yard,
past the three maples steadfastly standing guard
and the nest of sleeping finches.

I wonder if
the mysterious visitors arriving at night
will leap over,
scurry under,
wiggle through
to keep watch with me.

What a sight that would be­­­—
all of us, eyes toward the inky sky…

hoping
Draft, 2024RoseCappelli

Janice has the roundup today at Salt Verse City. Be sure to stop by for a wonderful review of A Walk in the Woods by Nikki Grimes and Jerry and Brian Pinkney, as well as lots more poetry goodness.

It’s Poetry Friday and I’m happy to be participating this week, back from a week of vacation at the beach with my family.

“Summer Snapshot” was the theme of the free verse poetry contest over at Renee LaTulippe’s Lyrical Language Lab. First of all, congratulations to Poetry Friday regulars Heidi Mordhorst on her third-place win and Linda Mitchell for her honorable mention. You can read their poems here.

I carried that theme around with me all summer and used it to capture a few snapshots in words while I was away. The ones I’m sharing all have to do with place and landscape. This month I’m finishing up several poetry books I started but didn’t complete, my own version of the Sealy Challenge. I just finished You Are Here: Poetry in the Natural World edited by Ada Limón. So everything seems to be fitting together well.

Snapshots from the Beach

i
seagull swoops
plucks treasure from the tide
early morning forager

ii
seaweed surprises
roll across the sandy shore
like tumbling tumbleweeds

iii
shades of blue
fade into aquamarine
sea-sky slow dance

Molly has the roundup today at Nix the Comfort Zone. Be sure to stop by and feel all the JOY she is spreading.

This summer I’m rereading Mary Oliver’s Devotions. Today I read a few poems originally published in her Owls and Other Fantasies collection. One poem, “The Dipper,” reminded me of an experience I had last week while starting my shift at Longwood Gardens. Before greeting guests at the Birdhouse Treehouse, I paused to hear the song of a wren rising urgently above the noisy cicadas. I wrote a short snippet in my notebook and returned to it today, inspired by Mary Oliver’s poem.

Excerpt from Mary Oliver’s “The Dipper”

Once I saw
in a quick-falling, white-veined stream,
among the leafed islands of the wet rocks,
a small bird, and knew it

from the pages of a book; it was
the dipper, and dipping he was,
as well as, sometimes, on a rock-peak, starting up
the clear, strong pipe of his voice; at this,
…

Photo from Pixabay.

Pausing to Listen
(after Mary Oliver)

Once,
in the quiet noise of the forest,
I heard a wren’s song
lift above the ebb and flow
of cicada chatter.

He would not give in
to insects
trying to usurp his job
of waking the world.

I listened to his song,
felt the urgency
of the message,
although I could not understand
the words.

I think of that wren now
in the quiet noise
of backyard birds and insects
that disturbs my reverie.
I pause to listen,
hoping to understand.
Draft, 2024RoseCappelli

Marcie has the roundup today here on her blog. Be sure to stop by to learn about her plans for the Sealy Challenge and lots more poetry goodness.

As always, thanks for reading.

It’s Poetry Friday!

This week has been a tough one for sad events. Two good friends both lost their husbands, one after a prolonged illness and the other after taking a sudden turn while healing. And, this weekend my husband and I are traveling to attend a celebration of life for one of our dearest college friends who we knew for over 50 years.

But in contrast to the sadness, two events reminded me of the joy we can experience if we take the time to notice – I spotted a monarch among the milkweed plants, and after filling the hummingbird feeders for a few weeks, one finally paid me a visit.

I wasn’t quick enough to grab a photo of either event, so the accompanying photos are courtesy of Pixabay.

Monarchs Mingle

monarchs mingle
sipping sweet milkweed nectar
the cycle begins
Draft, 2024Rose Cappelli

Enough 

it was just a few seconds, but
enough
for the hummingbird
to fly to the feeder—
enough
to remind me
that love and
joy and
healing
are within my grasp
Draft, 2024RoseCappelli

Margaret at Reflections on the Teche has the round-up today where she has a praise poem from her summer. Be sure to stop by for lots of poetry goodness.