Welcome to week 4. Will you share a highlight of your experience with Verselove so far: https://forms.gle/zwfo1EWhQjpYh6hEA ? And a warm welcome to our host for this week:
Our Host for Today
Donnetta Norris is a 2nd grade teacher in Arlington, TX. She has facilitated writing and blogging workshops with TeachWrite, LLC. She is one of the writing sessions for TeachWrite’s, Time To Write as well. She has been a guest blogger with Teach Better Team. You can read much of her writing on TeacherReaderWriter, The Rogue Scholar, and Writing Is A Journey. She is a published poet in Teacher-Poets Writing to Bridge the Distance: An Oral History of COVID-19 in Poems by Dr. Sarah J. Donovan. Follow her on Twitter at @NorrisDonnetta.
Inspiration
Today is April 22nd, and it’s Earth Day. I would venture to guess that depending upon the grade level you teach or taught, you have probably planned an Earth Day project or two or three with your students over the years. I am confidently certain that no matter how engaging and fun the activity, the desired outcome was that students understood how important it is to care for, show gratitude for, and honor all that Earth gives us. The most common way we show appreciation when someone does something nice is to say thank you.
Process
Make a list of all the gifts you have received from Mother Earth. If you are naturally a person who loves nature, making this list may be easy-peasy. For others of us who would prefer to stay indoors, do your best. (LOL!!) Use your list to write a Thank You poem to Earth or nature. Writing an ode to or about Earth is also another option. I recently learned about a Description Poem, so I’m giving it a try here. As always, you have the freedom to write any style of poetry of your choosing.
Earth Day by Jane Yolen
Earth Day Poems
Ode to Earth Poems
Thank You Poems
Donnetta’s Poem
Thank You Mother Earth
Earth – the planet on which we live
As in our entire world;
a world of possibilities,
but only if we nurture her nature.
As in the substance of the land surface;
that is constantly being raped and
modified for our own selfish pleasures.
As in soil;
nutrient-dense humus
bringing forth life and fertility.
Thank You Mother Earth!
As in you should be appreciated;
We can’t live without you.
Forgive for behaving like we can.
Your Turn
Now, scroll to the comment section below to write your own poem. (This is a public space, so you may use only your first name or initials depending on your privacy preferences.) Not ready? That’s okay. Read the poems already posted for more inspiration. Ponder your own throughout the day. Return later. And, if the prompt does not work for you, that is fine. All writing is welcome. Just write something. Also, please be sure to respond to at least three writers. Oh, and a note about drafting: Since we are writing in short bursts, we all understand (and even welcome) the typos and partial poems that remind us we are human and that writing is always becoming. If you’d like to invite other teachers to write with us, tell them to subscribe.
Oh Earth, so grand
Your beauty is beyond
What words can stand
We see your breath,
In the gentle breeze
We see your tears,
In the rivers that flow
You birth new life,
You protect the vulnerable,
You value the broken
You heal the hurting
With forest deep and oceans wide
In every sunrise
Your love shines bright
Gratitude for Gravity
Thank you for keeping
Me grounded, even as my
Heart explores galaxies.
Thank you for this post! I have spent my life marveling at the beauty of this world. I wanted to write this poem in a very sensory way, and these are some of my best experiences:
Beautiful Lady,
I thank you for
sweet trills and bird whistles greeting the day
orange and purple splashes across the sky
intoxicating scents of lilacs carried on the breeze
soft elegance of cat fur brushing my legs
sweetness exploding from a fresh-picked strawberry
claps of thunder and life-giving rain
cool setting in after hot summer days
I am one of those people who spend most of their time inside (especially these day), so I had to reach in deep to the times when I went outside often when I was younger.
Thank you Mother Earth,
Thank you for all of the beautiful sights,
That you have let me see and expereince.
Thank you for always being there,
Whenever I needed a breather.
Stepping outside and walking around you
Always helped me relieve whatever tension
That I was feeling at the time.
Thank you for still being there for me,
When I got older and my skin got paler,
Because I didn’t appreciate you as I used to.
It was only after college and I was home,
Bored and laying around the house,
that I began to appreciate you again
When I went on walks everyday,
Playing Pokemon Go,
Becuase it was one of the only ways
To make me addicted to going out
And appreciate your beauty.
From the bottom of my heart,
I want to thank you Mother Earth
For being the first second mom I ever had,
And for caring for me,
When I had trouble caring for myself.
Andrew, I really love the last 2 lines of the poem. Really profound and I relate. Walking outside is the break from stress and balm that allows me to deal with everything that life brings.
I appreciate how honest this poem is, and I love how this is a letter to Mother Earth. Keep trusting nature.
Happy Earth Day, Donetta!
From the top deck
of the home that we
hope to make our own
we look out upon a valley and
mountaintops in the distance.
A city boy, these vista views
are unfamiliar, and I work hard
towards noticings of the sights,
sounds, and smells surrounding
me.
I hear a horse in the field next door
before I see it. And I’m filled with
wonder.
This is unremarkable
But still
a horse grazes in the meadow
and I can’t look away.
Dave, you captured the experience of a city boy in the country. I love how the speaker has to put in the work.
Dave, I so get this. I’m a suburban girl who married a country boy and that’s where we’ve made our home. If this is a recent change, here’s hoping you love it–i do. Your poem captures the wonder of country living perfectly. ❤️
Seasons come and go like cars at a traffic light.
Pale,tiny greens of spring
Soon give way to the deeper, darker greens of summer.
Cool Mornings pass quietly
Into warm, windless nights.
The buzz of cicadas harmonizewith the
Hum of air conditioners.
Hot days march away like school bands
passing by.
Then green fades to yellow, orange and red.
Trees drop their leaves like colored garbage to blanket the ground.
Birds fly south to stay for winter
As autumn breezes envelope the days’ quickly fleeting light.
A sudden shift of wind,
A bit of moisture and
Magic overnight–
Snow silently shows it’s beautiful shimmery self–
Days, weeks, sometimes hours
The ground is covered.
Wrapped up as if in a handmade quilt
For the blessing of rest.
Jeania,
I love your images. As I read, I couldn’t wait to see how you’d describe the next season.
Especially love your final simile:
Thanks for a delightful trip through the seasons, ending in peaceful rest.
Jeania, how clever to use the extended metaphor of seasons and traffic light so smoothly.
I’m still smiling about the “pale, tiny greens of spring.” When I first read this, I thought of tin as metal on automobiles.. Then the image of days marching like a school band. Again, the image of my son playing the drums banging up a storm!
What fun, Jeania, to get to the blessing of rest. It’s late here in the midwest, and I’m turning of my computer to get just that … rest…while I visualize the poem you painted in my mind.
Jeania,
Your first line is a perfect segue into this tour of seasons. I love the comparison of seasons to cars coming and going, as well as the contrasts from one season to the next.
(I really thought I posted my poem a few minutes ago -but I did get distracted mid-post… so I’m sorry if this is a duplicate!)
I love this perfect prompt for today – and I didn’t mean to get sarcastic in my poem, but that’s what happened a little bit…
Lucky Earth!
earth is lucky to have this day
this let’s all celebrate earth today day
right here, in the month where words play
to praise the beauty, to worry and pray
earth doesn’t ask for much, you
can write a haiku if you’re the type who
likes to count 5-7-5…all the way to
17 while you vividly describe a view
earth breathes deeply, tries smiling, relaxing
knows your care is most likely just passing
why can’t she always have this much backing
most days she watches as we’re all trashing
I hear you, Ona. I was feeling a little sarcastic earlier, too. But I really think that’s okay. I kind of like you slamming the haiku writers, which is totally me when I’m stressed! But your last stanza really hits hard.
Ona, I think sarcasm is definitely in order. Poems can feel a bit inadequate when you think about the challenges of caring for the Earth and idea of one day in the year when we celebrate the Earth.
Ona, I love your line “to praise the beauty, to worry and pray” this beautifully captures the feelings of urgency and busyness that spring time brings! So beautiful!
Hi Donnetta. Thanks for an Earth Day prompt today. I combined your prompt with one from Abigail over at #writeout from the National Writing Project and ended up writing about the palm tree that stands tall on our playground.
Tree-by-the-Sea
Can you imagine
standing tall and still
a constant
playground companion
for generations of children
Watching wall ball games evolve
casting a skinny shadow
a line of shade
connecting
play and nature and trees and kids and learning
Can you imagine
the stories
our sentinel palm
can tell
of friendships forged
lives linked
in a school-by-the-sea
Toes tucked in deep
green crown with a priceless view
if you listen to the rustle
you might hear your childhood
in the leaves of a tall
tree-by-the-sea
Photograph on my blog: https://thinkingthroughmylens.com/2024/04/22/earth-day-npm24-day-22/
Kim,
What a beautiful tribute to your playground tree.
Love the visual and auditory imagery;
Thanks for sharing.
Kim, I really love this. I bet that tree has a lot of stories to tell. You remind me of a poem I wrote about a star magnolia in my yard that my sons used to jump over. It’s now over twelve feet tall. It has a lot of stories.
This is a really cool poem. I love the perspective from the tree’s point of view 🙂 It set me to start imagining all the stories trees witness. I like it that you included a picture.
Donnetta — Getting to this late tonight. It was a manic Monday. Thank you for your prompt and beautiful poem. This — “As in you should be appreciated;/We can’t live without you” — is truth!
Thank you Mother Earth
for sun that warms and stars that guide,
for the sweet music of songbirds,
on a summer night,
for the shaded canopies of trees,
and moonlight nights.
Thank you, Mother Earth
for glistening dew drops,
for rainbows reflected in burbling streams,
for wildflowers that dot mountain tops,
and early morning dreams.
Tammi,
Your poem warps me up in nature’s beauty and the imagery creates a peaceful and alluring tone. I want to rest near the “glistening dew drops” and “rainbows reflected in burbling streams’ and just be.
Tammi,
Manic Monday, I agree! I have felt like April is one long Manic Monday! LOL.
Your poem is a love offering, so tender. The images dance before me, the sounds, all the feels! I think what I love most is the gratitude!
Grateful for this poem, Tammi!
Thanks for this, Donnetta: loved your poem!
Beautiful moon tonight!
“Glow”
Goddess sheathed in white,
Shines down, full-figured tonight:
Velvet blue domain
Silent eyes apprise the skies
As, quietly, she rises.
What a beautifully romantic view of the sun and moon! The texture in this poem comes to life.
This is a beautiful glowing moment. I love “As, quietly, she rises” to end it – such a powerful quiet.
Wendy — It is a beautiful moon tonight and you’ve captured it fully with gorgeous lines “Goddess sheathed in white” and “Velvet blue domain”.
I love your “full-figured” moon in her “velvet blue domain.”
Oooh, love this from start to finish! I can hear Maya Angelou saying, “still I rise” in the midst of it all! That moon is a force like none other!
❤️❤️ Stacey, one of my favorite poems!
Your words make it a “glow”ing poem, Wendy! Just beautiful! Every. Single. Word!
Wendy,
You’ve crafted such a pretty poem. The metaphor of moon as goddess is regal. The assonance in all the long i bowels is a lovely quieting sound throughout.
Dear Mother Nature,
They named the four mile
Stretch of unadulterated sand
Playalinda—a pretty beach
My toes sink into the hot sand
Eyes dancing upon each wave
Cascading, folding, lying down
A gentle tide tickling children’s feet
My daughter runs and laughs
The water teases her but leans away
Giving her space to explore as
Brothers nearby build barriers
Fascinated by the demise of it
Quickly resetting their game
I lounge lazily, safely, and content
As strong legs run in the distance
We all have our part in this play
Thank you for family beach days
With love,
A former landlocked beach bum
Ashley – I feel that beach when I read your poem – and it really makes me wish I were lounging “lazily, safely, and content” on the sand!
Ashley — Love the picture you’ve painted. There is nothing better than a family day at the beach and I can see this “stretch of unadulterated sand” and feel the heat of that “toes sink into the hot sand.”
Ashley,
I want to frolic on this beach. I’m drawn to each image, from sinking toes in hot sand to building sandcastles the tide washes away. The final couplet is a perfect denouement for your poem:
“We all have our part in this play
Thank you for family beach days.”
Hi Donnetta,
Thank you for hosting us on Earth Day! Your poem resonates with care for our earth. On my way to work, I listened to a podcast and Dr. Gholdy Muhammad shared a quote that I knew I would need to use for my Golden Shovel poem’s striking line.
“How can we water an earth that systemic racism and oppresion have made dry?”
We Were Meant to Be the Water
Before we fuss about the air, let us ask How
did it get this way? Mother Earth can
tell us. She advises, we
are the sun, the moon, the stars. We are water
for a dying world, nourishment for an
insalubrious atmosphere. But we ignore earth
when she speaks in that
raucous voice rolling like thunder about systemic
sickness and bodacious racism
It’s time we listen and radiate our light and
love and joy instead of oppression
Mother Earth knows we have
all we need because we were made
in water. Nothing in us was meant to be dry
©Stacey L. Joy, April 22, 2024
Stacey — Wow! Just love, love, love this! You pose such a great question: “how did we get this way” ? And Mother Nature’s response is spot on. This line “we are water/for a dying world” and “we have all we need because we were made in water” — really struck me. And what a different world we’d live in if we all could “radiate our light and love and joy.”
You are so thoughtful and wise, Stacey! You begin with an important question: “How did we get this way” and bring us to the conclusion that “we have /all we need because we were made / in water. Nothing in us was meant to be dry.” Love it!
Stacey,
I saw your gorgeous Canva and knew I needed to read the poem that inspired it. I did not know I’d get the treat of a quote from the amazing Gholdy Muhammad. Love it and your poem. The word “insalubrious” is divine, so specific and atypical. I also love the Canva formatting,
This is a very well-crafted poem! Interesting how you use the last word of each line to construct your message, and so nicely formatted in Canva. I’ll admit, I had to look up insalubrious and noticed it’s usually used to refer to climate, so nice job.
I didn’t know what to write about for this prompt tonight, so I drew inspiration by looking outside my window!
A Mother’s Moon
The moon is full outside my window
And it brings to mind the recent solar eclipse –
When the moon did the miraculous, and blotted out the sun.
That day was wondrous, but all I remember is
the sound of my son’s exclamation at totality –
his sheer joy at the marvel.
My all-too-often sullen tween giggled like he was
a little boy again.
Now I look up at that same moon and recall that sound
and wonder if the two phenomena will be
forever linked in my memory.
Good. I hope to recall that sound over and over again,
even if I don’t get to hear it.
This is great, Sarah! Your “Mother’s Moon” will definitely cement this moment in your memory and you can return to it again and again: “the sound of my son’s exclamation at totality — / his sheer joy at the marvel. / My all-too-often sullen tween giggled like he was / a little boy again.” Thanks for capturing this and for sharing it!
Sarah,
The memory imprinted into the moon is such a lovely one to share today!
Sarah,
What a lovely memory. I can relate as I experienced the totality with my sixteen year old and her excitement was palpable. We talked about it for hours afterwards as it was such an amazing experience.
Thank you, Donnetta, for the prompt and reminder to thank our Mother Earth! I love the line in your poem, “but only if we nurture her nature.” The alliteration is great and the message!
Earth Day Gratitude
I’ve marched through castles of old
And seen the paintings of the greats
In museums across the globe.
But nothing beats
The howling of the wind
Rushing through the North Rim of the Grand Canyon
Like a steam train whistle blowing.
Or the sea sown to the sky by a thin
String of cloud
Blue on blue and endless.
No building or painting or word
Is more powerful
Than the grand snow-capped Rocky Mountain
The H’hoo of a Great Horned owl.
Emily, you are so right–no paintings can replace or outdo the nature. My favorite lines with the vivid imagery are:
“Or the sea sown to the sky by a thin
String of cloud
Blue on blue and endless.”
They sound so gorgeous! Thank you for sharing.
I’m with Leilya, Emily, I love your second stanza! So vivid and beautiful. The alliteration (and repetition) of those Ss and Bs work so well: “sea sown” and “sky” and “string” and “endless” with “blue on blue”!
Thank you for hosting on this day, Donnetta! I love the description poems, or I call them Definition poems (after K. Alexander’s “Crossover” poems). In your poem, the final two lines are so profound: “We can’t live without you. / Forgive for behaving like we can.”
I struggled to write today: too many meetings and too little poetry in them.
I did find some interesting facts about our planet Earth that I attempted to include int he poem, but this is what I call “a draft draft.”
Earth’s Marvels
Did you know Earth’s brisk pace,
Round the sun, like a cosmic race,
At 67,000 mph, it rapidly glides,
Once it was purple, and now it’s blue,
Named for the “ground” in German?
Our orb, though seemingly round,
In its sway, a waistline found,
At equator’s belt, and you too
May feel lighter, a pound or two.
Did you know the Moon, too, quakes,
Seasons change for Earth’s tilt wakes—
Twenty-three degrees its slope
Brings us yearly a spring hope?
Did you know that the age of Earth
Is about 4.54 billion years old,
And the ground you’re walking on
Is recycled from s-rocks
To m-rocks and back again?
Did you know the busiest city on Earth?
Tokyo visiting might be well worth,
And if you prefer a more tranquil place,
Head toward privacy of the Greenland’s peace.
Did you know oceans’ vast domain
Twenty million tons of gold they contain?
From mighty sequoias to bats so wee,
Earth’s wonders vast, for all to see.
In distant galaxies, the other planets roam,
But none like Earth, our precious home.
For being caring, so special, and dear,
I thank you for my life, year after year.
I love the cadence of this poem and the fact that I learned new things! I especially love the rhyming and words in these lines– Beautiful!
Did you know oceans’ vast domain
Twenty million tons of gold they contain?
From mighty sequoias to bats so wee,
Earth’s wonders vast, for all to see.
Thank you, Emily! You are so kind. And of course, I just noticed that the second “vast” didn’t change to “ample.” ))
Leilya,
I learned so much reading your poem, and I have to say, this does not seem like a draft. I did not know about s&m rocks. Sorry, I had to go there! I love all the details, from where to travel for a city vibe and where to go for quiet peace. Both are on my bucket list. Inspiring poem. Thank you.
Leilya, I’m so glad you came, even though you had such a busy day of meetings without poetry. We know those kinds of days! I like how you wrote s-rocks and m-rocks. This is impressive that you did this much in a draft draft, with all those rhymes. I like it, and it’s nice to learn so many new facts. Maybe you will work on it for a children’s book. That last stanza is precious.
Donnetta, thank you for encouraging us to write in honor of Earth Day.Here is my list poem.
A brief index of beautiful things
The pale blue half shell of a Robin’s egg
The intoxicating scent of honeysuckle
Clover teeming with honeybees
The whiter than bone bark of a birch tree
The shadowy outline of one oak leaf on another
The coo-ooo-woo-woo-woo of a mourning dove
I love how your poem addresses so many of the senses. I especially love “the whiter than bone bark of the birch tree.” I love birch trees!
Love your index of beautiful things, Katrina! My favorite is “the shadowy outline of one oak leaf on another.”
Katrina – What a beautiful list poem – I love the way you start: A Brief index of beautiful things. It just makes the reader NEED to read the list!
Karina,
Thank you for your
You engaged all my senses and brought back so many good memories of seeing and hearing such natural wonders.
Love this line especially:
Thanks for transporting me.
Don Etta— those last two lines say it all. What are we losing? Thank you for this Earth Day prompt.
I’m Sorry, Mother
We take our mothers for granted.
I know I did.
I grew up in the country
filled with bits and pieces of you all around me.
The pond in our backyard harrumphed with bullfrogs.
Dragonflies glinted as they swooped and hovered,
luminous among the cattails and reeds,
Birdsong lured me to sleep at night
and woke me in the morning.
I watched the sun set over a clear blue lake,
a watercolor horizon waiting for an artist,
and watched the sun rise
over the fields from my back porch.
The maple syrup for my pancakes came
from the tapped maple trees in my front yard.
Our milk came from the farm next door,
thick with cream on top.
We wandered aimless in the woods, read books in the shade,
picked dandelions for my grandfather’s wine in the summer
and fished for smelt through the ice in the depth of winter.
We didn’t know there was another way to live.
We fail to appreciate our mothers
until we are not with them any more..
Mother Earth, I’m sorry.
GJSands
4-22-24
I love how you write about Mothers and Mother Earth. This is a beautiful poem.
Gayle, oh my goodness, what a luscious poem! I adore the descriptions of how you were able to enjoy nature without even considering it when you were younger. Wow, I cannot even imagine how wonderful it would be to be able to get your maple syrup right from the tree or the cream on top of fresh milk! Plus, having homemade dandelion wine sounds fantastic! When you get to your closing lines, the emotions resonate. Stunning and beautiful poem!
“We fail to appreciate our mothers / until we are not with them anymore.” – What a strikingly beautiful, and true, line. Thank you for these words!
Gayle, the title and the first line drew my into your poem right away. “We take our mothers for granted” is a universal truth for me. So many lines are relatable here since I spent eleven years in the village using nature’s gifts daily. To this day, I enjoy to be lured to bed and wake up to bird songs. Thank you for your rich descriptions full of imagery!
Gayle, the opening line is true and so applicable for today. I love the aimless wandering in the woods and books in the shade. And dandelion wine…..oh, what a delightful place to be, right here celebrating with you on this Earth Day.
Gayle, wow. This is so beautiful. I can imagine through your writing how that would be to live with such a gorgeous Mother Earth. So many sensory details that make me right there. And that’s you are picking dandelions! Darling. And I have to say I had that same outfit in the city in California when I was a child.
Mother Nature
By Mo Daley 4/22/24
Gaia
Máttaráhkká
Pachamama
Jörð
It Bunoo
Papatūānuku
Mother Earth
Tellus
Akna
Tatei Yurianaka
Great Goddess
She belongs to all of us
And we must care for her
As if our lives depended on it
This is wonderful–all the words for our Mother Earth. And such truth at the end!
Mo, I can only assume, after being able to find the meaning of some and not of others, that these words mean Earth, Land, or some other close synonym. I love to the structure of your poem and the use of other languages.
Mo, this is brilliant! Again, I am amazed by creativity thinking why I didn’t think of it. I speak four languages, but it never crossed my mind ))) I do agree regardless of how we call it “we must care for her.”
Donnetta,
Thank you for hosting. Those last two lines of your poem should reverberate in our collective conscience before it’s too late to save our planet, to save ourselves.
Earthrise
is iconic 1968 photo where we see
our blue marble’s majesty
is Yosemite cascading sun
lava-fire Horsetail Falls illumination
is Yellowstone vast expanse
Grand Prismatic rainbow dance
is Grand Canyon Hualapai glass
skywalk view of river-carved crevasse
is Haleakalā sun rising from black night
captured in imagination dark sky light
is humans protecting our sphered home
on this date honoring earth rhizome
is written in poet’s words we sing,
the earth is a living thing
Glenda Funk
4-22-24
Inspiration: Lucille Clifton’s “the earth is a living thing”
Canva photo: “Earthrise, 1968 via Wikipedia
Glenda, I love how you capture so many scenic places in your poem. Your word choice throughout is sharp and vivid. I loved “river-carved crevasse” “rainbow dance” and “rhizome”. I know how passionate you are about conservation and the foolish ways we have destroyed our precious planet so when you end with “the earth is a living thing” I want to sing, “Amen!” That final line really resonates, and we must begin protecting “our sphered home”. Beautiful and striking poem!
Glenda, I read it as a part of your travel journal assuming you visited all these amazing places and witnessed the sunrises and sunsets. “The earth is a living thing” is just the needed final line in your poem. I like the sound of this couplet: “is Grand Canyon Hualapai glass /
skywalk view of river-carved crevasse.” The alliteration with /v/ creates a beautiful sound wave.
I’m liking the way the title is the beginning word of each stanza – – Earthrise is all of these, and you take us places and show us the beauty of so many points. I see your travels in here, these places of your experiences and journeys, and this makes it all the more special to know that you have witnessed earth rise in these places.
Glenda,
This is fabulous as an ode to the Earth but also as a guide to the National Parks and our national treasures. I’m haunted by the last 2 lines. Indeed, earth is a living thing.
Glenda, I love all the “is” sentences. It is something Andrea Gibson did in Homesick that I read this morning, so I notice it now here. “is humans protecting our sphered home” Yes, I hope! Nice rhyming in the couplets too.
Donnetta, I recently attended an Earth Day event where an expert about prairies shared how many acres of prairie land we are losing along with insects. Well, I think that is pretty scary, but my poem today is a bit trite. Around here, morel mushroom hunting is a thing, and when summer comes around mayflies die along roadsides, etc. Please note photo. Anyway, I felt a need to celebrate and denigrate today, I suppose. Thank you for hosting. I agree as your poem states, we must protect Mother Earth.
To the Fungi and Mayfly
oh, fungi
thank you for your
delectable stems, I’d
eat you anytime
more human than plant, you
amazingly eat the dead—
without your ability to
release and absorb enzymes
there’d be a lot of dead plants and
animals on our forest floors
but to the mayfly,
I must say no,
you rise
just to f and die
saturating trees with wicked wings
smelling like rotting fish—
your carcasses pile along roadsides
slick as an oil spill
causing nothing but havoc
and car wrecks
Barb Edler
22 April 2024
Barb,
That photo is shocking, even to those of us who know this happens. “more human than plant” provides information that’s new to me, and I love when I learn something new in a poem. I really appreciate the mushroom contrast to the mayfly, and I’m smiling at the lines “you rise / just to f and die,” which seems very human to me. The descriptions of the mayfly are really gross, a triumph in my mind. I’d love to share this w/ MS students and wish I were subbing in science this week. Fun poem.
Barb, oh my! I had know idea about the mayfly. That’s crazy!! Both stanzas contain such descriptive language and I love the contrast between the usefulness on the mushroom and how the mayfly is not.
Okay, I really didn’t understand your distaste for mayflies until I enlarged the photo! Holy smokes! I completely agree with your denigration!
Barb, that photo is teeming with them, swarm like, and it is rather horrific thinking of all these dead mayfly bodies alongside the road as slick an oil spill. I don’t think I have ever seen anything like your photo here in the south, but I’ve seen love bugs so thick they’ll make all the cars look red and black. Those wicked wings in your poem are truly kind of like a horror movie, like the birds only the bugs.
Barb, the photo is horrific. I had to look up mayflies to learn more about them. I am favoring mushrooms, too. I also learned today that the biggest plant on Earth is fungus, a mushroom called Armillaria. Thank you for teaching me something new!
Barb, I love your ode to the fungi (so true!) and I have to agree with you about the mayfly. Yikes! What good do they do? “slick as an oil spill”
on our walk home from sister’s house
we passed a pond swelling with past
rains, scabbed with moss inching its
way across the surface– so much more
than scum but a quilting of life nourished
by the sun’s light, and as we neared
spring peepers chattered about their day
not bothered by our stopping boots,
oblivious to our paused stroll to eaves
drop on their family spring reunion
Sarah, wow, what a gorgeous poem. The imagery here is striking. I love the personification and especially the following phrases: “scabbed with moss” “so much more/than scum” “spring peepers chattered”. I feel as though I’ve just read a Walt Whitman poem or Robert Frost. Love the line “not bothered by our stopping boots”. Your final line is also brilliant. What a celebration of what you observed during this walk today. Marvelous poem!
thank you for taking us along on your walk! I love spring peepers— they are a comfort and a harbinger of warmth and sun. Beautiful poem!!
What a beautiful way to think of scum, as being a quilt full of nourished life! You have such a vision, Sarah – thank you for sharing it with us.
Sarah, you have such a poet’s eye, such a care for the natural world and connections between (and among) things! I may have just passed this scene and went, eww, gross, there are bugs and frogs here, let’s keep moving, lol, but you have let me pause here to witness this “quilting of life nourished / by the sun’s light” and to hear the “spring peepers chatter[ing] about their day.” And I love the word play of breaking eavesdrop to “eaves / drop” at the end. Thanks for this!
I love nature! Happy Earth Day, everybody! Thank you for this prompt Donnetta. Yesterday I went to Philbrook Museum of Art in Tulsa, Oklahoma and there were some interesting globes that caught my attention. What a great way to express my thoughts and wonders about them a bit today.
I Went to Philbrook
where they said
there may be
dragons,
but I found
Chris Ramsay’s
1950’s paper
globe instead –
filled with
images
of extinctions
of the natural world –
living things the world today
never knew.
And I wonder…
what will the world never know
seventy years from now?
Oh, I love this visit to Philbrook and the 1950 paper glob. What a great way to bring nature inside, into the art and how others celebrate the world in their own way. This poem also has such a temporal feel in the wondering ahead. This is why we must share our poetry so that it can go on and be found, discovered, uncovered.
Yes,
Sarah
Amber, I love the way your poem flows. Your ending question has me truly worried. I’d have loved to see that globe!
Oh! That would have been a great idea to attach a picture. I took a video. But here is a website that has a good image of it.
Oh! your ending sends a punch about change but also questions about what harm we are doing to our earth. Wish I could see that exhibit.
Wow! That is a great question to ponder.
That last stanza. I think about this so often— what will not be here for my grandchildren? Sobering thought.
Thank you for making the change to our earth seem more timely by asking, “what will the world never know/seventy years from now?”
Thanks Donnetta for the inspiration and poem. I’m going to do a Golden Shovel based
on your poem.
Mother Earth, we’re feeling gratitude for providing US a place to live
our large orb shaped azul, cafe, and emerald world
with its many landscapes, lead to many possibilities.
We’ve learned to respect and protect nature
to pay close attention to the glistening surfaces
We know now to ONLY use what we need and
put aside our desires and pleasures.
Our ancestors showed us the importance of the soil
how to protect and nurture the food’s fertility
So that generations to follow know NOT to sacrifice our Mother Earth
and instead teach everyone to show our home complete appreciation. .
By Seana Hurd Wright
Oh, Seana. What a lovely tribute to our host today, to borrow a line for a golden shovel. Such an intimate poetic move. “glistening surfaces” is a lovely phrase.
Sarah
Seana, fantastic golden shovel poem. Your bold words emphasize the importance of our natural world. I am particularly interested in how important it is to preserve soil and so that part really resonated for me. It’s amazing what we sacrifice due to our own lazy behavior and greed. Loved your description of the world, too.
Seana, I think Golden Shovels are my favorite. I love how you crafted this. Such a beautiful tribute to our Earth.
Dear Mother Earth,
on my walk today
I cut a few small pieces
from your stunning Spring tapestry
to carry with me
a blade of grass, wide and strong
two needles from the bed below a pine tree
a bunch of yellow petals from a dandelion flower
and another bunch of white pappi, not yet blown
five tiny wildflowers: purple, blue, and white
a round, pink petal, fallen from a tree
and a full pink bloom plucked from a branch
six snow-in-summer leaves, soft as clouds
a dainty purple flower head with heart petals
and two yellow seedling bells
thank you.
(I brought my kids on an Earth Day walk today & we made tape bracelets with bits of nature we found. I deemed my collection poem worthy!)
Oooohhhh!!!! This is lovely. I think I’d like to do this, too. the line phrase “spring tapestry” is something I think worth coining. I do enjoy that imagery. It’s been lovely out there lately!
Rachel, what a beautiful idea to create bracelets from bits of nature. I like your straightforward voice in this poem and the colors within it. “heart petals” was particularly appealing. Gorgeous poem!
Rachel,
Id love to go on an Earth Day walk w/ you and learn to make a tape bracelet, which I’ve never heard of. How clever. Thank you for the photo. I love all the details in your poem and how you invited learners to observe and learn while having fun.
Your collection is absolutely poem worthy!
I love the bracelet and the poem!! What a perfect activity for Earth Day! I think my favorite bit is the two yellow seedling bells…
Rachel, the walk and nature’s little pieces for bracelets are priceless! I also love you doing this fun activity with your kids. Thank you for sharing!
Thank you, Donnetta! I’m attempting a triolet here, which I read is a good form for prayers…
nurturer, consoler, giver of life, Mother Earth
we ask your forgiveness and seek your strength
how we have harmed you, how we have hurt
nurturer, consoler, giver of life, Mother Earth
painfully slowly we awake to your worth
seek courage to change, to repair at great length
we ask your forgiveness and seek your strength
nurturer, consoler, giver of life, Mother Earth
Oh my goodness, this is beautiful. It does sound like a prayer. These lines: “how we have harmed you, how we have hurt / … painfully slowly we awake to your worth.” Share it out loud!!
Maureen, what an enjoyable way to write for a topic today…in a triolet. The line “painfully slowly we awake to your worth” captures me because I can feel the heartache in the wait for us to catch up to what it is Mother Earth offers that we just don’t yet appreciate or see.
Maureen, your triolet works perfectly to create this important prayer. I love the part about seeking courage to repair the damage down. Lovely poem with such an important message!
This is a beautiful prayer. I pray we make changes before it’s too late.
Maureen,
This is a lovely, reverent poem, a prayer for the ages. I can’t help but think about how asking for forgiveness requires both specific confession and repentance, a turning away from prior ways. This poem is representative of you and your love of nature and exquisite observations of her beauty.
Maureen, your prayer is sincere and sacred, and I am standing with my head bowed and eyes closed in reverence alongside you. I love the triolet form for this, but I never knew it was good for prayers. Now I see that it is!
This is beautiful, Maureen! Great choice for the triolet: it works so well here!
Maureen, I have to be honest, my eyes caught the first line before I read your intro, and I immediately thought about a prayer. These lines speak the reality:
“painfully slowly we awake to your worth /
seek courage to change, to repair at great length.”
You triolet captures the need for change. I also love “nurturer, consoler, giver of life.”
Oh, yes, I see you demonstrated that this is a good prayer form, especially that repeating line. So beautiful and life giving. Earth, hurt, worth–such good rhymes, as are strength and length. This makes me want to try a triolet again. (As I believe we have had it as a prompt before; that’s why I say again).
Thank you Mother Earth,
for I have seen the beauty in your skies
as well as the pain in your withering forestry
I have seen the majestic triumph of a tiny seed,
and the ongoing struggle in the mighty wind
You have drawn me with your crystal clear skies, as well as your watercolor beauty.
Like day and night, I thank you for your clarity, and your chaos.
Much like within there’s beauty in all.
Thank you Mother Earth
Love these two lines, Katherine,
Thankful for your poem, too.
I love the contrast here.
Katherine, what a great image that comes to me in the phrase “majestic triumph of a tiny seed”. The contrast of the words majestic and tiny show the power in Mother Earth for me as the reader. Thank you for sharing!
I love the dichotomies at work in this poem, especially the clarity and the chaos. Thank you for your words!
Katherine, I like how you chose to craft your poem based on the Earth’s wonders and problems. I like the sound of these lines:
“I have seen the beauty in your skies
as well as the pain in your withering forestry.”
Thank you for sharing!
Thank you, Mother Earth
We are only given so much time
on this Earth. How will it be spent?
I hope to spend my time amongst
the wonders of nature: trees,
birds, clouds, warm rains. Is
there any better way in spring and summer? Never
take for granted what Mother Nature provides. Wasted
opportunities? There is no time.
Golden Shovel source:
”Time spent amongst trees is never wasted time.” — Katrina Mayer
Thank you, Donnetta, for this prompt and sharing your talents with all of us.
I am a full believer in that golden shovel line! “I hope to spend my time amongst”
I love your Golden Shovel.
Thank You, Mother Earth
Thank You, Mother Earth
for the starry skies in Maine
More stars than possible to count
resembling dot-to-dot pages
For the open skies of Texas
when driving the highway
Able to see for miles
Cloud pictures or lightning flashes
For the sunsets on Cape Cod
Colors I aim to create on my paint palette,
Never quite as beautiful as the real thing
For the brilliant tulips and daffodils of Spring,
The sun-kissed beaches in summer,
The stick-my-tongue-out snow of winter,
And the foliage of Fall
with its carpets of colorful leaves
Mother Earth, we thank you.
There is such playfulness here, a ‘frolicking’ in nature – “resembling dot-to-dot pages”, “stick-my-tongue-out snow”…wonderful!
What a neat tribute of so many beautiful scenes! I love the stars “resembling dot-to-dot pages,” and the painted sunsets “never quite as beautiful as the real thing.” That’s something about nature – now matter how we try to recreate it, our attempts can never live up to the real thing!!
Ah, Heidi, I’m enchanted. This is such a beautiful love letter to Mother Earth. I love the big skies when the clouds make it look even bigger than usual, so these lines made me happy today:
And I like how you got all four seasons so quickly in that last stanza. Beautiful!
The robber fly has a mustache.
The planaria can be chopped in two.
Frogs’ tongues connect at the front
and flip out to eat.
The shark is super oily.
The snail excretes on its head.
If the mosquito’s antennae are feathery
then you are safe from their bite.
The worm is hermaphrodite.
The Christmas tree worm unfurls like magic.
Kangaroos give birth to jellybean-sized young
that crawl up into the pouch.
The butterfly and the fly mimic bees.
The specialized sea anemone can flee.
If you sit on a crocodile
it will fall flat to the ground.
Thank you Mother Earth!
For these things that cause delight and wonder.
So many extraordinary details woven within, so poetically. I learned new facts! I had no idea, for example, “Kangaroos give birth to jellybean-sized young” Yes, Mother Earth offers us delight and wonder.
Wow! I didn’t know most of these facts – yes, cause for delight and wonder!! I’m shocked by the kangaroo babies, too. (And being pregnant right now my reaction is, “Darn, why can’t humans birth babies that small too?!” Haha.) I want to see a video of someone sitting on a croc!
If it helps, kangaroos usually get pregnant again right after they give birth so they have a joey alongside them, a jellybean joey in the pouch, and another one in the womb 🙂 So tradeoffs, I guess!
Yes! Such wonder. Thank you for reminding me of these beautiful creatures and creation.
This is so amazing! Full of detail and wonder. Thank you! May I share this with a science teacher who will love it?
Totally! This prompt happens to be one of the times that being trained as a science teacher came in handy!
I love this poem of cool facts! “Thank you Mother Earth!” Indeed! Thanks for crafting and sharing this!
Earth Day is the perfect day to celebrate Mother Earth! Thank you for being mindful of that.
Mother and Child Reunion
Like a true mother,
often you are life-giving, kind, and nurturing,
but also like a true mother,
sometimes you unleash
your fury.
Like true children,
often we don’t appreciate
your many wonders until
they’ve been wiped away
by your fury.
When you let loose
your high winds and
flooding waves,
your other creations
wither under their weight and power.
Man-made structures are destroyed,
but so are your own gorgeous greenery
and towering trees.
Your beautiful beaches
become unrecognizable,
littered with sea debris
and ruined by erosion.
The devastation brought on
by your fury
brings out the best
in your children–
working tirelessly to
repair
rebuild
restore
things that are damaged.
Mother Earth
and her children . . .
familial dynamic
a tale as old as time.
~Susan Ahlbrand
22 April 2024
I love the similes comparing Mother Nature to mother and child. I’d never thought of it that way–so creative, so true.
I liked the “repair, rebuild, restore” after the fury.
If only we’d pay more attention.
So neat!! I love this comparison. “Familial dynamic / a tale as old as time.” You’ve given me a new way to think about mother nature today!
Susan, I appreciate how you show Mother Earth’s fury in your poem. Yes, this tale is “as old as time” but I appreciate the action and images of your poem. You’ve captured a multitude of issues in this one.
Earth
What is this orb that rotates every day?
A blue marble, a part of heaven.
Your spin and tilt gives
light and darkness, warmth and coolness
wet and dry.
Fertility for survival.
and a time for work and for rest.
I am in awe of your majesty
and thankful for the glorius life you give me.
Well, I’m back after the days on the road from Boise to San Diego. Missed writing with you! Thanks to all the prompts.
Hi Susan, hope you had a good trip! Welcome back 🙂 I love the description of earth as a “blue marble, a part of heaven” that’s beautiful. A lovely thank you poem to nature!
Susan,
Good to see you. Your opening question, “What is this orb that rotates every day?“, had me contemplating the answer. Despite knowing so much, we know so little about the miracle of our planet. Thank you for posing this provocative question.
Donnetta, I wrote a cynical poem, and then I came back and reread the prompt. Though I sometimes feel cynical about changes, there are changes being made. And we do have hope. Thank you for encouraging us today. Like your last two lines show. “We can’t live without you / Forgive for behaving like we can” I decided to write a Blitz poem today, one of the first prompts I joined in on here at Ethical ELA; it was shared by Glenda here.
Earth for Earth
Thank you, Mother
Thank you, Earth
Earth rising
Earth boiling
Boiling too much
Boiling in anger
Anger of depth
Anger justified
Justified this day
Justified forever
Forever creation
Forever healing
Healing despite
Healing strength
Strength to bury
Strength to overcome
Overcome indifference
Overcome pollutants
Pollutants of attitude
Pollutants of consumption
Consumption of greed
Consumption of fear
Fear of sharing
Fear of caring
Caring for earth
Caring for our mother
Mother of grace
Mother of mercy
Mercy rainforested
Mercy extended
Extended throughout
Extended worldwide
Worldwide growth
Worldwide grace
Grace of comfort
Grace of care
Care to try again
Care of renewables
Renewable energy
Renewable creation
Creation of hope
Creation of green
Green and blue
Green comfort
Comfort in our hearts
Comfort for Earth
Earth is our Mother
Earth is our choice
Choice
Mother
Denise, I love that you decided to write a blitz. I love sharing this form with students because they’re always like yeah, I’m not writing a 50 line poem then after they try, they’re like I did that so fast and they usually turn out great. This was one of the first forms I was introduced to here as well. I need to try writing another. It’s cool that your title ended up being Earth for Earth and “green comfort” is lovely.
I read your golden shovel poems – so good. I guess my first poem is very negative too, oh well. I absolutely love “For she is speaking to / us not just on Earth Day.” Yes, all days!
Also, you are the one who introduced me to Gibson’s poem first when you wrote a Roundel based on it. I looked it up before writing: https://www.ethicalela.com/23-30-perspective-poem/. So many memories!!
Oh, yes, Angie, thank you for sharing. So many memories. Now we’ve gone a full mini circle and you’ve shared the poem back to me.
Wow! I’d never heard of a blitz! This was awesome and I’m inspired to try one myself. Enabled you to address both the positives and negatives of Mother Earth.
I think students would find this form fairly accessible.
Denise, a Blitz is on my radar – – I have been going out to the end of the high dive and tucking my tail in and running back away from the jump point. Yours is lovely, these earth and comfort words. I like the way you built from boiling and fear into comfort.
The Blitz form is so perfect here, Denise. I love the lines about grace,
Those last two words are so powerful and clear, spot on. Wonderful poem!
Denise, your poem radiates with passion. I love this blitz poem format to add an emotion of urgency to your poem. The active words you chose were particularly compelling such as consumption, fear, grace, and mercy. Truly striking poem that resonates for me.
Denise,
Thank you for reminding me of the Blitz. I’d forgotten I’d shared that prompt in our first year of sharing hosting duties during NPM. You’ve penned a superb blitz. The form has a sense of urgency about it given the rapid pace, which, of course, is what we’re experiencing w/ climate change. Im particularly drawn to the first two lines in which you split “Mother/Earth” into two lines, suggesting a compare and contrast that follows. Indeed, how we treat our earth home is our choice.
Denise—wow. Just wow. I have never heard of a blitz poem— what an amazing thing you have given us!
This is my first experience with a Blitz poem. I felt like I had read it fast. I love your word choice in this poem.
Your blitz worked out so well, Denise! It reads fast and creates a sense of urgency to care, to create, to extend, to renew, and to choose Earth. Wonderfully executed!
She knows
what they say
that they were
made for each other
that they were made
from each other
the he is, technically,
a piece of her,
a missing piece
of her.
It doesn’t matter.
She’s ready for
a change
and besides,
he’s kinda a creeper
always hangin’ around
affecting her moods
and the tides
and every once
in a while
he even blocks
her view of the sun.
She just might
want to see
other, you know,
actual planets.
She doesn’t
have any
problems
with satellites,
per se,
it’s not that,
she’d even
be open
to spending
some quality time
with an asteroid
or even a comet,
for that matter,
but she knows
in her core that
those connections
are typically just a fling.
She’s just ready
for something
new,
so she finishes
her profile
on Cinder
(Cosmic Tinder:
The Space
Where
Heavenly
Bodies
Mingle)
and hits
send.
_____________________________________________
Thank you, Donnetta, for your mentor poem and prompt today! You are absolutely right; “We can’t live without [her]” although we “behav[e] like we can.” For my offering, I enjoyed imagining that Earth needed a break from The Moon, and I fully support her decision (although, now that I think of it, her “seeing other planetary bodies” would have catastrophic effects on us, we’re talking an extinction-level event here, so maybe she could wait just a few more years, lol, before “moving on”).
Ok, your poem just made me laugh 🙂 Thank you for sharing!
Oh, the genius is strong in this work!
I absolutely love the humor here of the moon and earth breaking up, because she might want to see actual planets!
This made me smile, Scott.
Love the poem.
Oh this was brilliant! I could really hear your “voice” in this.
I loved “Cinder”–wish I could think like that!
Also loved that it was a “she!”
“Cinder…
The Space
Where
Heavenly
Bodies
Mingle”
HAHA, sounds so appealing!! Creativity at its finest.
Wonderfully humorous and insightful, I think! Love these lines,
and you are so funny to imagine a “CINDER” app …great word choice.
She just might
want to see
other, you know,
actual planets.
i can understand her desire for variety…so glad she has Cinder as a resource. I hope she doesn’t get scammed by some rogue planet…
Scott, this poem just made me so happy. I enjoyed it so much, I smiled the entire read. Thank you!
Scott, I certainly hope our earth has THE worst luck with Cinder! Love it!
It’s Your Day!
Earth is what we call you
Ah, you’re vital to our sustenance
Round and round you whirl and twirl
Taking us around the sun
Helping us to have fun
Do we truly value you
Appreciate all that you do
Yes, Dear Earth. You and our Common Creator, too
Whee! I like the whirl and twirl round and round. We had better hang on, Anna!
Yes, our Common Creator has taken care of us.
“Round and round you whirl and twirl” – I love this!
Fading Sapphire
Crimson cloud of sapphire sea,
Forever, swirling winds of greenery,
Leopards of gold and black,
Hounds with gray saddlebacks,
Vines with suckles,
Primates with knuckles,
Dirt rich with worms and death,
All together we stand by ourselves.
Amazed at her fading creations,
But the fade has no stagnation.
Air crisp as glacier sips,
Tree giants, one hundred leaps to their tips.
Free as a Cherokee scream,
Over, untouched, in and out, and in between,
Fresh cedar upon a newborn’s lips,
Cool moss upon an elder’s hips.
Barefoot energy from her skin,
Blackberry juice shared with kin.
All she has to offer with our humility,
We refuse her gift diligently.
Enough for all she gives,
Greed grieves for one to live.
On one side we dispose,
While others starve without clothes.
One cannot give,
So many do not live.
Her skin sprouts with fertility,
So many do not remember commonality.
Hands in darkened rot,
Plant her seed, we shall not.
Our hands slap her kiss,
Barefoot connections we dismiss.
Mother your beauty has been dismantled by Father time,
Disobedient, unruly are your Children of Crime.
Knock down the hundred-foot oak,
Concrete your skin with asphalt cloaks.
Square the yards with homemade sod,
Pray in shopping malls to digital gods.
Round up beautiful weeds,
Spray bugs, trash seeds.
Convenience of your children, scarred your skin,
We cannot erase materialistic sin.
What can we do?
To return the sky crystal blue?
We must innovate and create,
Father time cannot wait.
We must educate,
Our youth on the gifts you generate.
With this prayer today,
Your children shall say:
“Mother Earth of all living,
Within you is all giving,
Protect us and we you,
Connect us barefoot true.
Your fading stops today,
We hold hands and change our ways.
One commitment from each,
Echo this prayer to reach,
All four chambers of your heart,
For each person must signal the start,
Fresh as a Himalayan breeze,
cleanse the Crimson from the Sapphire seas.”
– Boxer
Thank you for this warning and hope, this prayer for Mother Earth. I agree that “[w]e must innovate and create” and “educate, / [o]ur youth on the gifts [she] generate[s].” Are we too late, though? I sincerely hope not; I hope we can “cleanse the Crimson from the Sapphire seas.”
Donnetta, Thank you for placing the focus on Mother Earth today. I love your opening line of: “a world of possibilities but only if we nurture her nature.” We are all responsible for taking care and your poem captures this so well. I continue on this theme with a Golden Shovel Poem. Foe some reason the infamous poem: How Do I Love Thee, was swirling around in my brain, so I drafted a verse using those words to voice my thoughts.
How Do I Love Thee Mother Earth
Mother Earth, how
I am in awe of all you do
Everything is woven together, I
do not quite comprehend. Your love
for each living being allows thee
to see the intricacies yet we let
you down with our consuming ways. I know it is me
who needs to continue to count
and take a stand for your creation and keep the
balance of your perfect ways
Golden shovel seems to be a metaphorically correct form for today’s prompt. 🙂 Your choice of lines speak for us all. Whether we acknowledge our love as well as you do, please know, Dear Earth, that Christine speaks for me, too.
I love how you blended How Do I Love Thee with your poem! Thank you for sharing 🙂
I love Golden Shovels. Great poem.
Thank you, Donnetta, for hosting and promoting and sharing your poem.
These lines especially resonated with me today
and
Those last two lines are so sad.
Thank you, Linda, for teaching me the pensée so I could knock this out before school and have some structure for my images.
Happy Earth Day, poets!
Earth
Thank you
Springs to swim in
Cranes in creeks lending us their stillness
Tree branches filtering the changing light
Green prickly pears’ yellow blooms yielding purple fruit
I absolutely love the imagery you’ve placed in this poem of so few words. I can imagine the stillness in the cranes and feel the peace in your words. Thank you!
Yes, great imagery.
Donnetta, thanks for this prompt to celebrate Earth Day. Here’s a shout out poem to the Earth that I wrote as an example for our 2nd grade students.
Earth Shout Out
Here’s to the seasons turning
From cold, to warm and back again,
To the bright spring flowers,
To the cardinals and jays singing in the trees.
Shout out to the clear blue sky,
To the fluffy whipped cream clouds,
To the children running and playing,
To their laughter and wild freedom.
Shout out to peace in the world,
To the beautiful earth,
To the golden sun and silver moon,
And to the twinkly diamond stars!
I love the “whipped cream clouds.” They sound delicious. Thanks for sharing.
Joanne, this is precious, even though you’re shouting. 🙂 Oh, that’s a reverse euphemism. Shouting, in this case, is something good! Your poem so clearly states the facts and expresses our wish for peace to enjoy our lovely place on this space in the galaxy. Thanks.
Your poem gave me a beautiful and peaceful visual picture of the fluffy whipped cream clouds with children running and playing below.
Here’s to our earth!
Happy Earth Day, Donnetta. My mind began digging in the “nutrient-dense humus” as soon as I read your prompt (love that phrasing) and this prompt. Not always loving where my words take me…but I blame flashbacks to a story on This American Life.
For Dr. Kudish & Her Art
(I’m not that dramatic, am I?)
b.r.crandall
Just brushed my teeth
while listening to NPR…
Being a Beast is hard,
but becoming a badger
is brilliant.
Today, I’m Charles Foster
& my mouth is worth
more than I am.
He loved this Earth,
uses his jaws to better
understand how animals
burrow underground in dirt…
earthworms gracing his lips
like grimacing gummy bears.
(Fascinating snack, actually.
Hope he flosses)
I’m making another trip
to see her…this Keebler elf of a woman
whose kids I put through private school.
I have a filling she’ll invite me back
in a month or two.
See, herbivores have these broad
flat molars for grinding plant tissues,
for smashing avocados
with pestle & mortar…
a gnawing that creates graveyards
for molars — wreaks havoc
on hidden roots & love canals.
It was the badger that buried the
missing cow in Utah. Carcasses
can’t simply disappear.
Whitman’s lawnmower always
slices such blades of grass.,
Pygmy borers find the oaks.
& Coleoptera’s snake bite
simply gargles fluoride
with purple Listerine,
Nature is the novocaine for my genetics.
Bryan, some amazing lines here – earthworms gracing his lips like grimacing gummy bears, smashing avocados with pestle and mortar, and that molar graveyard along with Whitman’s lawnmower (I shouldn’t be surprised at all of the food references for humanity nor the gruesomeness of it all, but the humor, hope he flosses, has me snorting!
I am amazed where the simple act of brushing your teeth led you to such a musing about teeth and nature! “hidden roots and love canals” Yikes. Do words just flow out like this for you?
When I taught in KY, colleagues made me post a classroom disclaimer on a billboard that read, ‘The way words flow out of me’ is not normal. See me as a freak of nature’.
You have a strange and wonderful mind, my friend! Teeth as a metaphor for the earth??? I bow to you…
What a wild ride from listening to NPR to the purple Listerine!
I went on a Golden Shovel trip today and wrote two other poems, a haiku and tried the trinet Linda shared the other day. I will just share these two though. Very inspired, so thank you Donnetta! I also shared the Golden Shovel form with two of my classes, as an option today, but no one tried it haha!! I love Andrea Gibson’s Homesick: A Plea for Our Planet and listen to it a few times a year. It’s been shared here before but if you’ve never watched/listened/read, you should: https://andreagibson.org/homesick
*Golden Shovels based on lines from Andrea Gibson’s poem Homesick: A Plea for Our Planet
Do you remember what life was like when a twitter
was just a bird sound? When you could freely feed
in a natural environment instead of starving
in a digitalized domain. They only know the
noise of electronics. An unprocessed world
never existed for them – an earth made of
only nature. They were born into artificial facts.
Picture the sky, none
of the smoke of
cars pollute this
cyan canvas. It is
purely natural. No poetry
can describe it
looking up is
all you must do, just
raise your head to the
heavens and embrace earth.
Thank you for your golden shovel poem today – I read it earlier and thought – yes, that’s what I need to do with the verse that’s swirling in my head!
I love the ending – “Raise your head to the heavens and embrace the earth.” I am convinced that we can change the world if we can just get people to put down the electronics and look outside – I judge the eclipse allowed many people to focus on natures glory – I only can hope this fervor continues. Thank you for these words.
Angie, I love this. I love the long lines of the first stanza. So much truth there! (And such a great striking line.) Then the short lines and the hope in the second stanza… “raise your head to the / heavens and embrace earth” Perfect!
You inspired me to read Andrea Gibson’s wonderful poem again today. I learn about it for the first time here a couple years ago. I wrote a golden shovel poem from Gibson’s work too, but it didn’t have much hope, so I wrote another for today.
In protest to this digital universe, I am taking my students outside to write today. We must change this course. The golden shovel is a wonderful form that I find comfort in, like writing beside a “real” poet.
Angie, I’m digging the alliteration – digitized domain, cyan canvas, and the embrace of heavens and earth. I love a Golden Shovel, but they are tricky to write. You have seamlessly woven a lovely piece of art here in this poem today!
ooooh! Nice golden shovel…love that “raise your head to the heavens and embrace earth.”
Thanks for the invitation to praise our shared Mother Earth on this day of celebration. Two years ago today, my father died, so he appears in my poem.
My father’s compass pointed
to the trees, how the branches
bent and blocked light
shadows dotting landscape.
Once he told me trees grounded
him in the present, reliable
long standing
safety for Mother Earth’s children.
Yesterday I heard the “kow-kow-kow”
of a yellow-billed cuckoo
stopping in our tree from its journey
across the Gulf.
The journey of life,
as the cuckoo calls,
is hard and easy. Some days
you find rest, take a breath,
sigh for Mother Earth
and sing loud.
Margaret, the power in that last stanza is real and needed. The hard and easy of the journey is better with a breath, and so much better with song. Hugs to you today – these anniversary days of the passing of parents are somber with reverence. I like looking for the signs. I always know Mom will show up and show out somehow – it’s almost always a bird. I’ll pray something unquestionably delightful hello happens.
Love this, Margaret,
Right there, I learn so much about you…him.
I love the sound of the cuckoo you added, and yes, I agree with Kim about the end of the poem and its necessity. “Find rest, take a breath” and the best place to do that is out in Mother Earth!
Margaret, There is so much to love and consider in your words, from the tree grounding us to the taking of a breath and sigh for Mother Earth. You encourage me to enjoy some sunshine – which grounds me! Thank you and thank you Mother Earth!
This—
“Some days
you find rest, take a breath,
sigh for Mother Earth
and sing loud.”
i love this!!
I think trees are my favorite kind of nature. My favorites…
My father’s compass pointed
That phrase, at the end…it breaks the pace and sets up a really nice ending. Sing loud!
Donnetta, thank you for hosting us today and inspiring us to pay tribute to Mother Earth. I stand alongside you echoing the value of this land and spilling tears over what we have done to strip it of all for our own purposes. I chose a Pantoum for today ( I like to think of it as a recycled poem since the lines are used again, so it’s my Earth Day choice).
Nothing New Pantoum
there is nothing new under the sun
mind-blowing truth of Ecclesiastes
since the dawn of time, nothing new
everything we see was here all along
mind-blowing truth of Ecclesiastes
God hid gifts in Mother Earth’s belly
everything we see was here all along
discovered, spun, re-mixed anew
God hid gifts in Mother Earth’s belly
riches to bestow, wonders to behold
discovered, spun, re-mixed anew
sacred scriptures ~ this is true
riches to bestow, wonders to behold
since the dawn of time, nothing new
sacred scripture ~ this is true
there is nothing new under the sun
I like that you focused on this idea of “nothing new” because how many years have we been writing about the earth? But look how many original “re-mixed” things can come out of it even though “everything we see was here all along” which is a really beautiful line.
Kim, what a smart choice of form today, especially when lines like “everything we see was here all along” and “there is nothing new under the sun” are repeated. I feel/see the remixing in your poem. The connection between Mother Earth and the gifts in her belly and humanity is powerful. In the word spun, I’m reminded of planet rotations, nesting, and gold.
Wow! Thanks for sharing. I tried to pick a line that stood out to me, but they all fit together so well.
Kim, beautiful pantoum. I like how you kept hope in this poem of “there is nothing new under the sun” and yet…”discovered, spun, re-mixed anew” Just as those hidden gifts have evolved, we too can evolve and make things better. Thank you for this!
I love a good pantoum! Such a nice harmony here with Mother Earth’s belly and behold, nothing new chorus. I wish I felt more confidence in this form.
Kim, your opening and ending line is rather a surprise to me. Your pantoum weaves a wonderful story full of sound and movement. I think referencing Ecclesiastes is compelling and I really enjoyed the line “riches to bestow, wonders to behold”…lovely image and sound! Very provocative piece!
Kim,
You chose the perfect form today and have written a lovely tribute to our planet. Your verb choice in the third verse is exquisite: discovered, spun, re-mixed, bestowed, behold. This pantoum is an excellent mentor of the form.
This is true and beautiful. Thank you!
oooooh, I love a good pantoum…”God hid gifts in Mother Earth’s belly” is a great line! Nothing new–still and always spectacular.
Kim,
A perfect pantoum! I always struggle with pantoums because I feel like my lines that repeat are the worst and when I rearrange it becomes nonsensical. You are showing me how to do a pantoum and Mother Earth justice!
🌍💙
Good Morning! Donetta, I love your bio photo–you look full of joy. Thank you for today’s prompt. I love the line, “we nurture your nature.” And, yes, we need some forgiveness. Humans need to get our act together!
I learned about a form called pensee this weekend. It’s a five-line poem with a syllable count for each line of 2/4/7/6/8. I thought I’d give it a try. My daughter has a t-shirt with the word eARTh on it. I used that as my inspiration.
eARTh
her art
her canvas round
layered with spring and summer
framed by autumn leaves and winter
a masterpiece, her gift
her canvas round
I read this a few ways — the shape, the circumference, the embrace
Kevin
Linda with all the new forms! Love those eARTh shirts. And I love how you added in all the seasons in your pensee. I will have to try that some day as well.
Linda, you are on fire this month. Every poem is just as lovely and beckoning as the last. Finding ART in earth for today is magical. And I love “her canvas round!”
Linda, the short forms are my favorite forms of all. I love the concentrated intensity of these words, and the ART in earth is perfect for today. I want that shirt! You’re right – – the gift of art, of earth, of seasons framed in leaves and winter are all masterpieces.
I love how much this poem conveys through its simplicity. I especially like how you integrated the seasons as part of what makes Earth art. Thank you for sharing!
Thank you for sharing the new form you learned, because now I have learned about it and will use it in my poetry soon. I love the way you use the seasons to describe her art.
I love this form and will have to try it! Your poem is begging to be a painting. All the seasons bring me so much fulfillment.
Thank you, Donnetta, for the prompt.
Kevin
Your music,
humming:
the light breeze
rustling softly
through Autumn’s
scattered leaves
the gargle of springtime
melt falling from distant
mountains at the
river’s bend
the acorns dropping
on rocks – the titter-tat
of arrhythmic drumming
like stones on a mat
I’m humming now, too,
Mother Earth, as I sit here,
appreciating this song
of you
I love the sound throughout this poem and I love how you have worded the last stanza with appreciation of her song. Lovely!
Kevin, your reminder of music in all things, but especially today, is uplifting. The arrhythmic drumming of acorns is soothing, despite it being the “noisiest” of all the sounds offered. Love the “song of you.”
Kevin, thank you for reminding us that Mother Earth’s songs are there if we take the time to hear – in the birds, the acorns, the leaves, the wind, and I love, love, love the gargle of the riverbend. So much to hear, if we only listen.
I can hear these, Kevin.
Beautiful
The sound of singing with Mother Earth…that’s a wonderful image.
A love song for Mother Earth!
Gorgeous, Kevin!
I love all the sounds… “a gargle of springtime” I think now I’m humming too!
Donnetta, thank you for bringing us a reminder of the importance of our home today. I’m curious to know more bout a Description Poem and will be exploring today. This early stanza, “As in our entire world; a world of possibilities, but only if we nurture her nature” is beautiful.
Earth 2024
The word for spring is silent
I hear the elegy of its awakening
I feel the darkness of its morning
Poetry nestles into twigs woven
from the call to arms
The silent for spring is word
I taste the midnight of our years
I smell the acrid blossoming
Music thrums beneath ocean waves
within the anthem of our birth
The word for silent is spring
I see the underbelly of the whale
that sees the stars with unseeing eyes
Earth pulses in molten tears
to answer a rallying cry
Lovely line here — “The word for silent is spring”
Kevin
I love the rearrangement throughout of your first line. And I especially love the sound, image, and meaning in this “I see the underbelly of the whale / that sees the stars with unseeing eyes”.
Jennifer, the rearrangement of words in the 1,3,5 stanza first lines is powerful here, and I paused to think about each one and the full impact. Gorgeous way to fully bloom those words. I am in love with these lines most:
Poetry nestles into twigs woven
from the call to arms
I can see the twigs rising to action for the work of poetry.
Beautiful lines today to honor the earth in springtime.
The form of this echoes the silence of Earth in nestling in trees and the thrum of ocean waves and then the call to answer with a cry, a powerful message to the world. Descriptions are all beautiful, full of senses.
Wow, Jennifer, the rewriting of that first line is powerful. I hear an echo of Rachel Carson. And those lines about the whale and seeing the stars is amazing. Your work always requires (and desires) rereading.
I love that reversal between word and silent and spring.
Jennifer, did you create a new form? If not, let’s name it something because it’s beautiful!
I want this poem to be spoken with the sound of water flowing gently in the background. Then I can play it when I fight sleep or need to meditate.