Welcome to Day 2 of the August Open Write. If you have written with us before, welcome back. If you are joining us for the first time, you are in the kind, capable hands of today’s host, so just read the prompt below and then, when you are ready, write in the comment section below. We do ask that if you write, in the spirit of reciprocity, you respond to three or more writers. To learn more about the Open Write, click here.

Margaret with her three grandchildren, Leo, Thomas, and Stella

Margaret Simon lives on the Bayou Teche in New Iberia, Louisiana.  Margaret has been an elementary school teacher for 35 years, most recently teaching gifted students in Iberia Parish. Her first book of children’s poetry was published in 2018 by UL Press, Bayou Song: Creative Explorations of the South Louisiana Landscape. Margaret’s poems have appeared in anthologies including The Poetry of US by National Geographic and Rhyme & Rhythm: Poems for Student Athletes.  Margaret writes a blog regularly at http://reflectionsontheteche.com.

Inspiration

I have followed children’s author Laura Purdie Salas for years. On her blog, she would post a weekly photo prompt called “15 Words or Less”. A few years ago she decided to stop doing this weekly prompt, so I asked her permission to start one on my blog.  She was gracious about it, and I started posting “This Photo Wants to be a Poem.” Similar to this Open Write prompt, I invite readers to leave a poem in the comments and support each other with encouraging comments. The photos are from my own phone photos, or I ask permission from someone I follow on social media. 

I often post the same photo for my students to write about on our Fanschool site, but I only share my small poem without much, if any, commentary. Sample post here.

Process

Musing on a photograph can take many different directions. You could write a fairy tale poem, an aphorism, a haiku or other small poem form. Recently, Heidi Mordhorst wrote a found poem using the words I wrote in my commentary about  this photograph.

by Margaret

Margaret’s Poem

Nature makes no demands.
Listen to the wind through the grass.
Earth’s song in harmony.
Modern haiku, Margaret Simon, draft

Heidi’s Poem

grass loves

a string of rainy days
happens helps the rising

some days
air is wet ground is wet body is wet

grass loves all this
grows and grows
as tall as walk
as tall as look
as tall as beautiful

ongoing reliably
replenishing lushness

draft ©HM 2022

Your Turn

Now, scroll to the comment section below to write your own poem. (This is a public space, so you may choose to 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.

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Bill

My eye is drawn to the corner of the yard
and the grass spared from the sickle
I’m older and the task is hard
My attitude more fickle
I’ll leave the seeds and live with weeds

Mo Daley

Bill, I love how you own the fickleness of old age! Enjoy your weeds.

Anna J. Small ROSEBORO

Margaret, thanks for the challenge to transform a picture into a poem. I’ve chosen a piece of art by Jacob Lawrence from his Migration Series. Seeing the TV news of immigrants being bussed to NYC from Texas and reflecting on the Northern Migration of my ancestors, I’ve written.

OPEN SEATS

Johnny, Get back here now!

But…
But, nothing!

But, Gramma.

Johnny. You heard me.      Now!
But, there’s a seat up there for you.

JOHNNY! ….. We can’t sit there!

Gramma…………You’re tired.
You’ve been working all day for Ms. Daisy.

I know…………..But we can’t sit up there.

I’ll go sit up there and save you a seat. Okay?

Johnny, Get back here now!

Gramma, I’m going to sit up there if you don’t.


Oh, my Lord! Johnny. You’re gonna get us into trouble.

Bus Ride Jacob Lawrence 22 Aug 22.jpg
DeAnna C.

Thank you for the prompt today.

Green grass
Longing to be blowing in the wind
Stretching far
Bending on the breeze
Straining to hear giggling
Coming from another field

Cara Fortey

DeAnna,
This transported me directly to the soccer fields! This time of year resonates particularly. 🙂

Denise Hill

All the -ings pull me through this line by line like that blade of grass threading through. Great imagery and feel. Is there a name for how a language makes you feel the way it reads? Kind of like onomatopoeia with words mimicking sound so we can hear it, but words mimicking a feeling – ? Because I feel like the wind and the blade of grass. I feel like straining, and then I feel the tender sharpness of the giggle. So cool.

Rachelle

I love the “straining to hear giggling”. It gives such an innocent and refreshing tone to your poem. What a delight!

Rachelle

Margaret, thank you for offering this poetry prompt today. I loved creating a poem from this picture and also reading what others have come up with it as well. Your line: “listen to the wind through the grass” helped to inspire my piece today. Thank you!

Still Life
foxtails out of focus
grass blades in disarray
prairie gesticulations

DeAnna C.

Rachelle,
I can close my eyes and visualize this poem.
Great job!!

Cara Fortey

Rachelle,
I love how quickly this took me to a prairie with wind blowing like waves through the grass. 🙂

Denise Hill

Gesticulations. What a great word and a powerful one to end on. How nature can seem so chaotic to our more “orderlied” ways of structuring our lives around us. Yet, it’s not chaos. Is it? Lovely imagery.

Christine Baldiga

Margaret, you’ve inspired me with your gentle soothing words and your photograph. I was transported to my youthful days when chewing on the stalks brought the sweet and bright flavors of summer. Thank you!

Sweet Grass

Sun-kissed stem
Waving from afar
Calling to be chosen
For that sweet
Taste of summer

Rachelle

Christine, I love the cheerful tone set with “sun-kissed” and “waving” right away–just like the picture! Thanks for sharing this sweet taste of summer with us.

DeAnna C.

Christine,
I love the visual of a sun-kissed stem.
Thank you for sharing today.

Denise Hill

Sun-kissed got us all this time! The s sounds and the -ings mimic the imagery of that grass, waving and being sweet. And why is it sweet? Because it’s sun-kissed, of course! Very calming to read. Thank you for that!

Mo Daley

The grass was decimated
with the new home improvement project
We wait to see
if the rain will bring tender shoots

Rachelle

Mo, what a fascinating juxtaposition of human desire and Nature’s will. I hope you see tender shoots soon!

Susie Morice

Mo — those “tender shoots” will come. I’m with Rachelle in liking the juxtaposition of “improvement “ and “decimated.” I’m in the same mode, having just worked to get a stairway up the hill built in back… the steps are beautiful but my wrists are sore and the surrounding turf is raw. I’m focused on your hopeful and inevitable “tender roots” and “rain.”

Denise Hill

Ah, the irony – home improvement destroying nature. But, it does rebound. I often wonder just how long it would take for Earth to rebound if we all just disappeared. I’m sure that grass will come back – with a vengeance! Then the next poem will be about mowing it! Nice observations, Mo.

Barb Edler

Mo, I love your end. Grass is so important in the Midwest. The softness it provides connects well to your end. We have been incredibly dry and I long for a greener lawn.

Nancy White

Thanks for the prompt, Margaret. I love the inspiration of photos. So much room for interpretation.

Reaching
By Nancy White
(Inspired by a recent trip to the nursery.)

Rainbow flowers, colors spin
I see my grandson’s outstretched hand

Reaching in wonder,
Wanting—
Can I have?

Yes, you can, sweet boy.
Keep dreaming,
Always reaching.

6D946E83-A0FC-4502-82AD-C1EDE1152CE8.jpeg
Susan O

I love this! I can understand the reaching in wonder at the beautiful colors.

Mo Daley

Nancy, I love the photo that goes with your poem. Yes, you can, sweet boy, is my favorite phrase, too!

Denise Hill

I just awwwwed out loud. Keep dreaming. Always reaching. Those are two beautiful lines that would be a great start prompt or repetition – so positive and motivating. And what a sweet chubby little paw!

Cara Fortey

The grass is greener
on the other side they say
but they say it wrong

The grass is greener
where you water and feed it
with care and concern

Whether it is trim
and neat or wild and weedy
make your peace in place

Susan O

Good lesson, Cara. The last line says it.

Mo Daley

Perfect, Cara. I love how this is a beautiful lesson without feeling preachy!

Rachelle

Cara, I like your structure of taking a common saying and deconstruct it. The line “neat or wild and weedy” stood out to me because it reminds me of my own neighborhood, and how my neighbors all keep their lawns to their own standards. Some have magnificent, pruned landscaping and others are wild (and look cool!).Thanks for the reminder!

DeAnna C.

Cara,
I love the life lesson you packed into a beautiful poem.

Susie Morice

Cara— I especially love the “make your peace in place.” Such a sage poem! ❤️ Susie

Barb Edler

virile plant erect
beneath humid skies
hungers; thrives

Barb Edler

Barb Edler

Well, I’m not sure why my photo did not appear. It’s kind of funny. Thank you for your prompt and time today, Margaret.

Mo Daley

I’m kind of glad it didn’t show up, Barb. Your words have painted a pretty descriptive picture for me. I’m blushing!

Susie Morice

Barb’s plant!

Susie Morice

Barb, I tried to upload your photo, but it rejected it for some reason. So sorry.

Barb Edler

No worries.

Leilya Pitre

Thank you for this opportunity to write with a photo, Margaret! I used to do this with my 7th and 8th graders when I taught in Gueydan, LA (not far from you).

I am just having fun with this one today:

Green foxtale is ready
To tickle my souls.
I am feeling unsteady,
But it’s good for the soul 🙂

Barb Edler

Leila, I so enjoyed “tickle my souls” Plants and nature are moving and I can relate to the feelings of unsteadiness.

Christine Baldiga

I love the thought of the fox tale tickling your soul.

Denise Hill

I just laughed out loud at the end line. The idea that feeling unsteady can be okay. I needed to hear that today – heading back on campus for start-up days for the first on-campus start-up week since 2019, and I’m feeling a bit unsteady – but – it’s good for the soul! Thank you Leilya

Leilya Pitre

Always happy to help 🙂 Have a wonderful first week of school, Denise! Let’s embrace “unsteady;” it’s a part of our existence.

Susie Morice

MISCHIEF!

Puppy-dom: 
taste ‘em,
snatch ‘em,
run zoomies 
across the Serengeti,
down the hill,
across to the pines,
then herd my old feet
to the back door 
for that treat
she knows 
is in my pocket.
¿Quien? ¿Yo?
¡Arf!

by Susie Morice© August 21, 2022

Mischief.jpg
Leilya Pitre

Oh, she is so cute! Thank you for a playful poem, Susie!

Barb Edler

Susie, I’m in love with your super sweet pup. I enjoyed your new Spanish skills incorporated into this, and the action of the poem is rhythmic and easy to see. Very fun!

Nancy White

Susie, I love the playful puppy personality of this poem! You’ve captured that silliness and delightful knowing it’s time for a treat! ??

Mo Daley

I’ve been waiting for you to write about her, Susie! Her life sounds incredible. She’s lucky to have you. ?

Scott M

Susie, I love that side eye, “uhm, mom, how about that treat I know you have in your pocket.” Lol. “Zoomies” are the best! And then the “herd[ing]”! So great!

Susie Morice

Thanks, Scott. She is so funny, and when I catch that whale eye with a quick pic, it just makes me giggle. She’s more fun , albeit exhausting, than I’ve had in ages! She seems to get bigger by the day, so I’m anxious to see just how big she’ll get. She’s a bearded collie recuse puppy.

Susie Morice

Ha…I should proofread before posting…alas.

Tammi Belko

Margaret — love this picture prompt. This reminded me of a conversation I had with my neighbor about biodiversity and the lack of in our suburbian lawns.

Long slender grasses
Is biodiversity 
Bending towards light

A tapestry lawn
Refuge for lost the monarch
A home for insects

The untamed beauty
Weeds turned wildflower
Nature’s true landscape

Leilya Pitre

Love your poem, Tammi! My favorite is the second haiku:

“A tapestry lawn
Refuge for lost the monarch
A home for insects”

Barb Edler

Tammi, I absolutely love your poem and especially how you build to the final line. Gorgeous poem!

Denise Hill

You just described my yard, Tammi. Over several years, my husband moved out the grass and it’s now allll flowers and hostas. Lots of native plants (aka weeds) and bee/butterfly-friendly blooms. We don’t miss the lawn at all and sit out and watch the bees, monarchs, swallowtails, and so many birds visit daily. It is indeed Nature’s true landscape. A tapestry lawn. Love those phrases.

Scott M

For me, this photo 
is a bit of the rabbit 
and the duck or the 
young-woman-old-woman 
optical illusion, a bit of 
the old Relationship Status, 
(à la Facebook’s):
“It’s Complicated.”

What I see is not 
what you see,
and what you see 
is not what I see,

yet we’re both right:
we’re all right, alright?
(alright) in fact.

And I find a comfort in that 

a poet sees rebirth 
or rejuvenation, 
would use words 
like thicket and lush 
(seemingly, an 
overabundance
of bush)

a web designer,
however, would find
that the light green blade
in the bottom left
is really #7AE73A
(according to her
ColorPick Eyedropper
Chrome Extension)

whereas a neighbor
might see this as blight, 
a bit of evergreen neglect, 
can’t these people 
keep their lawn in check?

to wit, the gardener
would see a challenge,
ultimately a decision:
which weed wacker
would I use – the
Craftsman v20 or the
Ryobi 4-stroke

and the occupants who
have reserved a table
at this miniature Rainforest
Cafe – they have a say, too, 
don’t they?

So, I’ve found it rather
beneficial to remember
an image is not always
what it appears
at first blush.

_________________________________________________ 

Margaret, thank you for your poem (and Heidi’s), your prompt, and your photo today! There is absolutely a “lushness” to all of them!

Tammi Belko

Scott — I really enjoyed how you revealed various perceptions of the grass image and laughed out loud to “can’t these people/ keep their lawn in check?”
I am that neighbor that everyone is probably crumbling about as I tried to cultivate my backyard with wildflowers but mostly just grew weeds. Or were they flowers? I’m really not sure.

Jennifer Kowaczek

Scott — I really like how you focused on perspective. Well done.

Denise Hill

That was fun! It would be great to hear you read this out loud. It has such a great rhythm and flow and funny punchlines. “a bit of evergreen neglect” was my favorite line. And – all very true. Nice of you to consider the little creatures – reminds me of Horton Hears a Who. Thanks for the smile!

Emily Cohn

Two science teachers are neighbors (I am one)

Their lawn is military buzz cut
From the drone of mowers
cutting through sunset

Ours is laden long stems
heavy on top with seed
tangled with flowers and bees

We always stop
to talk in the road between us.

Leilya Pitre

Thank you, Emily! This is exactly how I feel about our lawn and our neighbors. They cut grass every four (!) days, and we may not get to ours for two weeks. My favorite lines are describing your side:
Ours is laden long stems
heavy on top with seed
tangled with flowers and bees”

Tammi Belko

Yes, my lawn is also “laden long stems/heavy on top with seed/
tangled with flowers and bees.” Love the vivid and beautiful image of nature you have painted.

Susie Morice

Hi, Emily! Such clear images…that “buzz cut” and the “drone”… what I love the most is the poignancy of the last two lines…that “road between us.” Yes…different drummers no doubt. Em, have a wonderful new school year. I’ll be thinking of you! Hugs, Susie

Christine Baldiga

“We always stop to talk…” brings a happy smile of respecting each other’s diverse ways

Allison Berryhill

Found Poem in the Grass

Wee tim’rous beastie,
I do know how to fall down into the grass.
Who wishes to walk with me?

(Burns, Oliver, Whitman)

Emily Cohn

Allison, I love this poem’s “found in the grass” theme. It’s clever, sweet, inviting with a question at the end! It makes me want to go out and search for a wee beastie. Thanks for your offering today!

Maureen Y Ingram

Love the line – “wee tim’rous beastie” – written in the style of poets of yore…and I am captivated by the question posed by your haiku, which causes me to imagine the world beneath the grass, that there are wee beings living there. A wonderful imaginative tangent for the photo!

Scott M

Allison, I enjoyed your poem at first read, and then I loved it when I realized what you really did! The names at the end and then your title had me smiling broadly at this! [And I confess, I spent a chunk of time looking through other poems that could continue in the same vein as yours. Alas, I only found the line from Virgil “A snake lurks in the grass,” but that would only serve to change the tone drastically. Lol. Thank you for this afternoon’s diversion!]

Tammi Belko

Allison,
I love this line “I do know how to fall down into the grass.” That sense of lost innocence and inability to enjoy nature as a child is powerful.

Tammi Belko

In my mind, I had inserted “I do NOT know who to fall down into the grass. Still love the line and appreciate that you still do know how to fall into the grass and enjoy nature like a child.

Susie Morice

Ahh, how genius…the 3 bests and now it’s yours…the best among those bests. Sending you the buzz of bees and the best for a buzzing happy classroom this term! Hugs, Susie

Barb Edler

Allison, what a perfectly constructed found poem. Your final question is such a wonderful invitation. My favorite line is the second one. I feel a need to start a poem with that line. Delightful poem!

Rachelle

I thought of Oliver with this prompt too! I love that you incorporated her into your poem. Thank you for sewing all these greats together.

Stefani B

Margaret, I love how you’ve titled your version of this prompt, what a great thing to ponder. Thank you for sharing the image of your grandbabies, your smile emits so many emotions and is calling for its own poem.

soon i will be dormant
not gone
my fluff will filter far away
not gone
my legs still rooted deep
not gone
until the sun plays long enough
i will return

Margaret Simon

The echo of “not gone” is effective. I also like the personification of the grass.

Allison Berryhill

Stefani,
I feel autumn in this lovely poem. “Fluff will filter” puffed on the breeze. Really nice. Thank you.

Emily Cohn

I like the repetition in this poem, Stefani. It’s got a strong undercurrent to it, and a hopeful ending. I like the juxtaposition of “my fluff will filter away” and “legs still rooted deep” – there’s a deep sense of groundedness here, pun intended. 🙂

Maureen Y Ingram

There are multiple meanings to this poem! Face value, perhaps just an ode to the grass itself, its many seasons…but there is this spiritual level, almost a metaphor for all our lives. I adore the repetition of “not gone.”

Susan Ahlbrand

Stefani,
I love love love

my fluff will filter far away


and the powerful refrain of

not gone.

Tammi Belko

Love the repetition of “not gone” and the theme of rebirth through the seasons.

Christine Baldiga

This bring the sadness of summer ending and fall and winter soon to come. Yet there is always that hope that will return.

Stacey Joy

Thank you, Margaret, for your gorgeous photo and prompt! Your poem brings peace to my weary soul. I found out last night that a close friend lost her husband unexpectedly in a motorcycle crash. They celebrated their 16th anniversary last week and now she has to bury her best friend. I spent about an hour thinking about the gift of every single day, pondering my purpose and whether I’m fulfilling it. I felt so empty last night but today you bring peace and hope and a smile. Thank you.

My haiku inspired by your picture:

I can do all things

With a mustard seed of faith

Nothing is too hard

My haiku for my picture attached below:

Stand out in the crowd

Let your golden light pop through

Sweet hope for this day

©Stacey L. Joy, August 21, 2022

Poppie.JPG
Stacey Joy

Formatting changed. ?

Glenda M. Funk

Stacey,
What beautiful haiku for a Sunday. If we only all had that mustard seed of faith. Keep shining, my friend. ❤️

Jennifer Kowaczek

Stacey—
Lovely poems, both. Thank you for sharing your joy ?

Margaret Simon

Stacey, The times when I’ve had friends suffering seem to be hardest for me. I have empathy that can be debilitating. I’m glad you are finding peace in poetry. I know your friend feels your love and will need your support for years to come. Hold onto your mustard seed of faith. Through God, all things are possible.

Stefani B

Stacey, I am sorry to hear about your loss and appreciate you sharing some of your grief with us today. I like how you’ve gone with Maragaret’s prompt as well as moving onto your own–sounds like a great scaffolded practice for students as well.

Allison Berryhill

Stacey, I am sorry for the sadness you are carrying. I’m lifting you up from Iowa (via NZ). I have always liked the mustard seed image/metaphor. Hold on to that seed. Thank you for finding–and sharing–lovely words on a dark day.
Love, Allison

Emily Cohn

I love how this set of poems sees two plants in different ways – but still returning to the theme of hope. Thanks for sharing your own photo, too! It’s a literal bright spot in in this day!

Maureen Y Ingram

Stacey, I am so sorry for your loss, for the heaviness you carry today – for your friend’s horrible loss. You are right, every day is a gift.

Thank you for these two precious haikus. The combination of “mustard seed of faith” in the first with “sweet hope for this day” in the second is so uplifting.

Tammi Belko

Stacey,
Love these lines:”I can do all things/With a mustard seed of faith.” Just beautiful.

Susie Morice

Stacey — I love “mustard seed of faith” … that’s all it takes perhaps. I like that idea. And it’s good to see that hope-full yellow flower making its way. Precious. Hugs, Susie

Barb Edler

Stacey, what a perfect final line! Gorgeous poem and photo!

Nancy White

Stacey, I’m so sorry to hear this. My heart aches for your friend. Life is so fleeting. Yes, treasure every moment. ?

Susan O

Yes, Stacey the Mustard Seed of Faith gets us through these sad, tragic events. So sorry to hear about your dear friend.

Christine Baldiga

Speaking as a young widow, we all need golden light to lean on. I’m sure your dear friend will see that in you.

Scott M

Stacey, thank you for writing and sharing these today! You and your close friend are in my thoughts!

Denise Krebs

Oh, Stacey, “with a mustard seed of faith” and “Sweet hope for this day” you will carry on. May your friend find peace and strength to get through these days ahead. Peace to you too.

Rooted

You will please see well
the leaves on our hydrangea
replanted times three–
they stretch higher now root-ful,
brave in a new beginning.

Stacey Joy

Sarah, it may not have been your intent, but I received a life-lesson in your poem. Keep trying, keep planting seeds, and await the unexpected heights from new beginnings.

Total love!

Margaret Simon

The long e sounds of please, see, leaves pleases my ears as I look for that brave hydrangea fighting for survival.

Stefani B

Sarah,
I always love a play on words through formatting–“root-ful” is running in many directions in my interpretation here. Thank you and good luck with your new beginnings this school year.

Maureen Y Ingram

This poem is one of such pride – “You will please see well…” Perhaps this poem is not written with the photo in mind, yet I am imagining the grass of Margaret’s picture ‘introducing’, welcoming the healthy, growing hydrangea – perhaps the grass is standing just at the side, like a new parent, cheering on the “brave in a new beginning.”

Tammi Belko

Sarah,

Love this image of hydrangea growing as a metaphor for new beginnings and the necessity for strong roots.

Susie Morice

Hi, Sarah — loved seeing you working with that hydrangea…I’ve been working with mine as well…the heat of this summer has been hard on these water lovers. I love that “new beginning.” Aaah. Yes. “Rooted” is a great word, great title…root is a power word methinks. Sending best wishes for this new school year! Susie

Barb Edler

Sarah, the action in your poem is exquisite. Love root-ful and the final line is sublime! Perfect title, too!

Jennifer Kowaczek

Margaret, thank you for today’s prompt. For my poem I chose to follow your lead and use the modern haiku form.

Summer Grass

Green summer grass —
an entire universe.
Make time to sit,
meet those living in the grass.

© JenniferKowaczek August 2022

I’m thinking of continuing on with this.

Jennifer,

I am loving these reflections on grass, which as been brown here in Oklahoma for months now. Your poem gives life to all that flourishes when our world is hydrated “an entire universe.”

Sarah

Glenda M. Funk

Jennifer,
This is lovely. Zit had a Walt Whitman quality to it. Certainly, the grass is a lovely carpet on which to frolic away time.

Stacey Joy

Jennifer, this poem captivates me! It beckons me to journey out to find the green grass waiting!

Make time to sit,

meet those living in the grass.

Ahhhh, woosahhhh!

Gorgeous!
?

Margaret Simon

Summer grass Is a universe, an ecosystem, life under the weeds. Thanks for the reminder.

Stefani B

Jennifer,
I am pondering your line “meet those living in the grass” and how this space is an entire universe to some. Thank you for your words today and good luck continuing it.

Maureen Y Ingram

Love this “meet those living in the grass” – beckoning to meet these beings exactly where they are. Just lovely.

Leilya Pitre

You are so right, Margaret! We all need to find some time to sit and look around. Thank you!

Susan O

Clipping

Green grasses 
arching
repetive 
curling low
and hiding their tips.
Some blades
rebelling
reaching
straight upward
thinking they might 
reach heaven
before being cut down.

Jennifer Kowaczek

This is great, Susan. Your poem reminds me of a fun book by Laurie Keller and Mo Willems — We Are Growing!
Wishing I remembered that book sooner.

Susan,

I like to think of teachers (and students) as “blades/rebelling/reaching” as my mind is on the start of the school year here. Also, hoping I don’t inadvertently cut any down.

Sarah

Glenda M. Funk

Susan, ❤️ the personification of grass and the progressive verb forms: arching, curling, reaching, etc. They give the grass the physicality of humans

Margaret Simon

Those grasses were rebelling and reaching. Great imagery to capture in your poem.

Maureen Y Ingram

There is such a pulse beat to this poem, with such short (often, just one word) lines. Love the idea of rebellious blades of grass reaching towards heaven!

Fran Haley

Oh, the hopefulness of the grass in this poem! And such truth – some blades are rebellious and others so graceful. Love the perspective the title gives – the cutting being imminent.

Nancy White

Susan I love the imagery and personification. Aren’t we all like this grass, sometimes hiding, sometimes rebellious? Yet, in the end all end up the same. ?

Ann Burg

What a lovely poem (and lovely picture of you and your grandchildren). After spending two weeks with the sea and sand (and wishing I could stay there forever), this was the perfect poem to celebrate the gifts Nature bestows on all us wherever we land. Thank you!

Beneath the brightest blade
and tallest flower,
a hunched, tangled clump
is content to cuddle
while the sun still shines. 

Love this experience “content to cuddle” here within the this intimate space of a clump of grass, Ann.

Sarah

Glenda M. Funk

Ann,
Your poem is a lovely reminder to notice what lies beneath flowers, what gives these things life.

Susan O

Very nice, Ann. I saw that hunched, tangled clump in the photo. I like that you gave it a personality of contentment.

Margaret Simon

I love how every writer finds a perspective and opens the image to me again and again.

Maureen Y Ingram

“content to cuddle” – ahhh! I love this!

Denise Krebs

Ann, how lovely. I love that clump of grass “content to cuddle” in the sunshine. I’m glad you got to take time to come back inland, and enjoy the grass gift.

Glenda M. Funk

Upah Rising

from their prone 
position in the jungle
Sumatra’s spine-chilling 
Upahs with thick green torsos 
ascend to yomp and yelp
their cat-like yowl and 
excruciating bite spark 
trepidation in imaginations 

Glenda Funk 
August 21, 2022

Jennifer Kowaczek

Glenda, your word choices paint a vivid image for me.
Thank you.

Glenda,

As often happens in our Open Writes, I read interpretively, figuratively across our poetry. I am imagining the factions that seem to be ascending all around schools to “yomp and yelp” to “spark/trepidation.” And then, I read into this again believe imaginations of freedom will ignore the “yowls” and persist. Love this poem.

Sarah

Margaret Simon

Love the alliteration of sounds in yomp, yelp, yowl.

Maureen Y Ingram

I am mesmerized by the unknown (to me!) word “upah” – imagining a big cat or some sort of terrifying green reptile … you have definitely sparked “trepidation in [my] imagination”…yomp, yelp, yowl with a bite, oh my!

Susie Morice

Ooo, Glenda — This is a learning poem for me for sure. I had never heard of an Upah, so your poem pushed me to find out more…I love when poems do that! OMG…these creatures are CREEPY! And your poem is right to offer the “spine-chilling” and “yomp and yelp…and yowl” and the weirdness of creatures we’ve never heard of. I found an article on cryptozoology and the Upah was right there! Yikes! Fascinating! Thanks for giving me the creeps! LOL! Susie

Barb Edler

Glenda, another powerful poem. I love the fierceness of the sounds; the trepidation the sounds produce. “excruciating bite spark”…..wow, what a wonderful line! Fantastic poem!

Denise Krebs

Wow, I’m looking at that photo very differently now! The Upahs are much fiercer than they look. Those green torsos camouflage their bite.

Denise Krebs

Margaret, thank you. I had seen this photo before, and neglected to come back to participate. I loved revisiting it and all the poems previously written on your blog and here. What a bonanza of verse about one small photo. That is such a beautiful mark of language, isn’t it? In yours today I am really appreciating “listen to the wind through the grass” which causes me to listen and breathe and imagine. Here’s mine today:

fuzzy, glowing seed pods
readying for the next generation
held by a green nest of elders

Kim Johnson

Wow, Denise – – this echoes the poem of Margaret and her grandbabies, too, the holding of the next generation in the one before. The green nest of elders is such a beautiful feeling of support and protection. I love what you’ve done with the photo – it needed this poem!

Ann Burg

“Held by a green nest of elders” a beautiful line and beautiful sentiment!

Oh, Denise, this ‘held by a green nest of elders” is such a comforting phrase know knowledge and knowing and patience.

Glenda M. Funk

Denise,
Wonderful family dynamic in your poem. I now have an image of a pregnant growth in my mind.

Margaret Simon

Another new perspective makes me say “aha”–“green nest of elders” is unique and helps me see this simple photograph as something much more complicated.

Maureen Y Ingram

Oh, I love the ‘multi-generation’ lens on this grass photo – absolutely beautiful.

Denise Hill

Love the invitation for brevity here, Margaret, as my time is torn between frantically enjoying these final days of summer and lolling through start-up week. Thank you for helping me stay ‘on this side’ just a bit longer! So cool to see what limiting the prompt can produce in variety.

Savoring Final Days

I strategically place the
thick rough thick blade
between the fleshy curved arc
of my two thumbs
hands cupped together
lick and purse my lips
suction them around
the boney curves
and blow a shrill vibration
a summer sound
waning in good company
with cicadas
lawnmowers
& ice cream trucks

Denise Krebs

Oh, what a beautiful memory you have described here! I love that this photo inspired it. It makes me want to go find a coarse piece of grass (something I don’t as easily find in the desert) and whistle away! I love the adding to the summer sounds with cicadas, lawnmowers and ice cream trucks!

Heidi Mordhorst

Denise, your “frantically enjoying” says it all, and then you slow us waaaay down to enact the small summer pleasure of sounding in tune with a blade of grass. “waning in good company” signals an ending, but a friendly one.

Ann Burg

I love this poem and the summer memories it evokes though I must confess a bit of envy since, try as I might, I could never make grass sing like childhood friends did.

Glenda M. Funk

Denise,
This is wonderful. You’ve brought memories of old men whistling g through the grass pursed between their lips to my mind.

Margaret Simon

What a memory of blowing on grass! I could never do it but had friends who could. Great imagery in this poem.

Maureen Y Ingram

Your words have sent me back in time – to a much slower-paced summer day! Such a universal memory, to blow through a blade of grass. Love this!

Maureen Y Ingram

Margaret, I love this prompt! I often write small poems for photos I have taken, to help me remember the moment. This was lovely! It is so interesting to all observe the same picture and write. I love your line, “Listen to the wind through the grass” – there is real movement within this photo.

Here’s mine –

what of these seeds

what of these seeds
where will they be sown
will they take root here 
in the only place they’ve ever known
or carried on another’s wings fur shoe 
transforming someplace new

will they be met with resistance or welcome

are they alone
will these be the only seeds sown
somewhere deep within the dark cool recesses
is something all new taking root

what will the welcome be?

Kim Johnson

Maureen, the future of the seeds is a compelling question – I never thought about the seeds when I looked at the photo. I enjoy reading all the different ways each poet sees the photo – and sees the things not seen, too.

Wendy Everard

Maureen, what a neat, unique perspective to take! Beautiful job thinking outside of the box and presenting us with some questions and images that provoke question and thought. Lovely! And loved the rhyme. 🙂

Ann Burg

This is a really beautiful poem Maureen. I’ll be thinking about it all day. Earlier this season a number of volunteers graced my garden and I wondered about their origin. Seeds (or strangers or broken shells) may travel far, but it is always about the welcome, isn’t it?

Susan O

Maureen, you have really made me feel the dampness of the dark cool recesses of a seed taking root. You also made me think about all the possibilities that can happen during propagation. Yes, what of these seeds!

Glenda M. Funk

Maureen,
These are wonderful questions to ponder. So many possibilities for those seeds, and now I wonder about our role in helping them migrate via our shoes. It’s another reminder to be careful where we step.

Margaret Simon

I enjoyed following your thinking about the seeds and what they will become. Deeper wisdom poem.

Denise Krebs

Oh, I love the thought of the seeds “carried on another’s wings fur shoe” – “What of these seeds, indeed. You have made us think of big new ideas with your point of view.

Wendy Everard

Margaret and Heidi both,
I loved the peace of your poems. Margaret, I loved the omniscient voice that I felt preent in yours; Heidi, I loved the unconventional syntax: arresting! Here is my effort, a tanka:

“Growth”

Blessed, I drink in tears:
Sky Mother weeps for losses
and I become whole,
growing to maturity –
recipient of sorrow.

Margaret Simon

You captured such wisdom in your tanka (one of my favorite forms). I love “Sky Mother weeps for losses.” She does and we feel comforted by her embrace.

Kim Johnson

Wendy, I love that you thought of Native American origins in Sky Mother. My mind went immediately to Chief Seattle’s message this morning, but my poem didn’t take the direction I’d thought it might. You hit a homerun with this one! I love the web of life feel.

Wendy Everard

Kim, I’d never read his speech before (at least, not in recent years) — how beautiful and prescient. Especially:
Will you teach your children what we have taught our children? That the earth is our mother? What befalls the earth befalls all the sons of the earth.”

Fran Haley

I love the tanka form, Wendy; it provides a little more space for imagery or story, and, in your case here, both. It is beautiful. The juxtaposition of blessing with weeping and growth is fascinatingly true.

Susan Ahlbrand

What a wonderful idea! Having people write about the same image will illicit such diverse writings yet they will be unified by being inspired by the same source!

Breaking Through

A tangle of grass
with myriad shades of green
criss-crossing each other.

Through the tunnel
flanked by watchmen
the army of bugs parade

Back in the darkness
a portal to another world 
offers entry

Freedom from predators
no sentries to stalk movement
no cover that suffocates.

It’s a long way back there
but the trek is worth the trouble.
A life of bliss–and oasis–awaits.

21 August 2022

Kim Johnson

Susan, I think this is my favorite stanza

Through the tunnel
flanked by watchmen
the army of bugs parade

I love the army of bugs parade. I see serious little critters with their uniforms, all in line, marching through the grass. You put a smile on my face this morning just thinking about those little bugs and their commitment to their work.

Wendy Everard

Susan, I loved your focus on the grass-dwelling creatures here and your personification of them. Despite your characterizing them as an army in Stanza 2, I felt affection for them! And I loved the shift halfway through to their lives in darkness — and loved the last two lines. A very cool little piece. 🙂

Margaret Simon

On a summer tour of Costa Rica, I watched leaf cutter ants in awe of their march through the forest with huge-to-them pieces of leaves. Bugs can be fascinating creatures. I love how you began with a “tangle of grass”. I also appreciate your comment about the diverse musings being ties together by the photo source. That’s what I love about doing this exercise.

Glenda M. Funk

Susan,
This reads like a fantasy story! Maybe it’s the Game of Thrones sequel on my mind, but you’ve given me such clear, strong images of a fortress and its defenses. Love it!

Fran Haley

So much life is lived that we cannot see — makes me recall what a coastal expert once said to a group of us educators: “The beach is alive.” So too are the stories in the grass – so well-captured, Susan.

Fran Haley

Margaret, you’re an endless source of inspiration. I feel like I could write about this photo all day, in the directions that the grass beckons me… love the wind in the grass as Earth’s song in your modern haiku and the directive to ‘Listen’. Nature offers so much peace and healing if we would do so… that’s the path I took today. Thank you for this and for sharing Heidi’s profound found poem as well.

Release

I savor 
the secrets
of grass
in its returning
again and again
to a scarred surface.
I savor its growing
here in tangled profusion
with yellow foxtails
beckoning in the breeze
in the knowing
that when there comes
a mowing
the inner balm
ever-flowing
secretes itself
across the brokenness
releasing its sweetness
in the air.
What I savor
most of all
is breathing
the fragrance of grass 
healing itself.

Fran Haley

And: I also savor that photo of you and those gorgeous grandchildren! It’s the very picture of joy.

Jennifer A Guyor-Jowett

The secrets of grass, indeed! I found myself listening throughout and finding peace within the knowing, mowing, ever-flowing soothingness of that rhyme dropping in the middle (its own inner balm). Beautiful words and imagery, Fran.

Kim Johnson

Fran, the power of nature to restore and heal is miraculous, and your poem today reminds us that of all the prescriptions and remedies and potions we can seek, nature is by far the most effective healer! Your words are powerful – the savoring, breathing, healing, releasing, ever-flowing, beckoning, returning…..grass stays the course, renewing itself time and time again.

Wendy Everard

Fran, this was just lovely, both in sound and sense! Love the rhyme of “knowing” and “mowing” and how organic the rhyme was to the sense of the poem. And appreciated the hope-filled sentiments, especially here:

in its returning
again and again
to a scarred surface.”

and here:

“the inner balm
ever-flowing
secretes itself
across the brokenness”

And the “fragrance of healing” was a beautiful phrase. Lovely imagery!

Margaret Simon

A breath of mown grass is such a difficult thing to describe but you have done it here, “inner balm…releasing its sweetness.” Savor is a wonderful word choice.

Heidi Mordhorst

Fran, your poem sits beautifully side-by-side with the one that popped into my inbox courtesy of Poem-A-Day: I love the physical science of “scarred surface” and “secretes itself.” https://poets.org/poem/depths-grass?mc_cid=f3524f1038&mc_eid=0bf8b2372a

Susan O

Fran, this is lovely. I love thinking about the inner balm ever-flowing that comes from a mowing. Thank you for reminding me of the sweet fragrance.

Susan Ahlbrand

Fran . . .
These lines really hit me:

 its returning

again and again

to a scarred surface.

Kevin Hodgson

Waiting for sun
but buffered by wind,
she’s forever bent
but never broken;
the morning’s spoken
as daylight sings

Kim Johnson

Kevin, your lines
she’s forever bent
but never broken

are lovely here – – like the strong women we all know and love. They hold on during the fiercest storms and savor the moments of sunlight.

Linda Mitchell

oooooh! love the riddle vibe you’ve got going on in this. I’ll bet students would love it and write more.

Wendy Everard

Kevin,
Appreciated your personification, and loved the final, triumphant image of the last two lines.

Margaret Simon

A song for the grass… “as daylight sings.” Your daily writing of small poems inspires me.

Fran Haley

Forever bent but never broken…my heart sings with the daylight here. So beautiful, Kevin.

Susan Ahlbrand

Kevin,
So beautiful and so succinct.

Susie Morice

Kevin, this has a sort of music to it…I wish I’d read it early this morning…I love the “broken” /”spoken” and the sense that daylight “sings.” Susie

Kim Johnson

Margaret, thank you for hosting us today! The photo of you and your grandchildren is priceless – – so much life, so much wonder and happiness! You are blessed – they are precious!

Grass

one GPS point
home to each green blade, anchored
in rooted scalp hugs

earth’s trendy hairstyle
no St. Patrick’s dye needed
nature’s adornment

wildlife welcome mat
carpet for little critters
sustenance for some

picnic piazza
frisbee freeway for Fido
Rip Van Winkle’s bed

recess football field
Emerald City pathway
the road less taken

stargazing blanket
lush mattress for lovers in
hand-holding heaven

Jennifer A Guyor-Jowett

Kim, your revisioning of grass from/for multiple points of view reads like a field, each stanza a separate blade offering a further glimpse, a different world, an invitation, a place of rest. So welcoming.

Boxer

All the uses and comforts of grass – I love it -cool and metaphorical— and the reference to Frost is the hidden part.

Linda Mitchell

Rip Van Winkle’s bed! Oh, how I love that story and play from 5th grade. You just sent me back decades into a happy time. And, star is my one little word for ’22. I may have to do something with that line, “stargzing blanket” so pretty!

Wendy Everard

Kim, I loved the structure here with the successive haikus: each stanza held a unique image, and I loved the way you used sound and the words and images rolled off the tongue: beautiful job!

Margaret Simon

I am always amazed at how many different forms can emerge from one single photo. This list poem of possible views is inviting, all the things “picnic piazza” “frisbee freeway” I never would have imagined. My favorite “stargazing blanket.”

Glenda M. Funk

Kim,
Bravo! This is a wonderful series of haiku. I love the “grass can be whatever it wants to be or whatever we want it to be” ethos. I can’t pick a favorite!

Fran Haley

Awe-inspiring haiku once again, Kim! In this fantastic kaleidoscope of imagery, grass attains a whimsical, magical, even poignant quality. A sense of celebration is inherent throughout. Grass poetica. I love every line!

Susan Ahlbrand

Oh, Kim . . . so many different looks at grass. I love this stanza:

earth’s trendy hairstyle

no St. Patrick’s dye needed

nature’s adornment

So often nature provides color that can’t be replicated with articifiality.

Susie Morice

Kim — I love the different takes on grass…Mama Nature’s hair (love that). And the image of lovers in the grass looking at stars and holding hands…awww… so sweet. And I grin at the “frisbee freeway” — all such clear images. Way to go! Susie

Denise Krebs

Oh, wow! So many gorgeous images of enjoying the grass. It goes from one to another. My mind was lighting up with memories as I read through slowly. Some of my favorites: “frisbee freeway for Fido” and “earth’s trendy hairstyle” Lovely!

Jennifer A Guyor-Jowett

Margaret, you’ve created something beautiful from what appears to be simple. It’s a moment for breathing and calm.

Grass

There’s a face in there
Elongated nose
Above the philtrum
Angular jaw 
And a hint of a smile

Linda Mitchell

Ah, that hint of a smile…personification example ready for a classroom wall poster! It’s perfect

Wendy Everard

Jennifer, your use of pareidolia here had me searching for a face to humanize this landscape…and I think I found one. 🙂
I loved your use of the words “elongated,” “philtrum,” and “angular” — descriptive, and juxtaposed nicely with the brevity of the words in the first and last lines.

Denise Krebs

I see that face with a little imagination, and I see what you did with that new word philtrum. (Or at least I recognize it for the first time ever from my rabbit-holing of yesterday.)

Margaret Simon

It’s fun to see what others see. “a hint of a smile” makes me smile.

Kim Johnson

Jennifer, we often love to watch the clouds out where we live. We saw George Washington last weekend while we were sitting on a driveway on the farm – his profile and curls and all. But this grass watching for patterns and forms – what a fun new way to look at the world! We gaze to the heavens and rarely look at our feet for these fun images. That hint of a smile is playful and inviting to play hide and seek!

Susan O

This is so fun! I love finding faces in nature. Learned a new word as well – philtrum. Thanks.

Glenda M. Funk

Jennifer,
How clever! A grass ink blot test. Why not! We see faces in clouds and on tree bark Surely they must grow in the grass too!

Fran Haley

I am grateful the grass is smiling, somewhat. Were the grass scowling…how ominous that would be! How our brains love faces…I see them everywhere (should I confess that out loud online?). Oh, how your lines send me on fantasy story imaginings!!

Susie Morice

Oh, Jennifer…great idea to see the face in the image…it reminds me of a shower I had years ago that had that marble-looking fiberglass enclosure…the swirls in the pattern always looked like various faces and bodies…”hint[s] of a smile.” Yes…so darned creative, you are! Susie

Linda Mitchell

The photo of the grass may be today’s prompt, but I am in love with the photo of you with your grandchildren! The happiness that radiates from you is what every grandmother should be blessed with.

meadow wildflowers
surround her, ground her, crown her
sunday’s grandbabies

Jennifer A Guyor-Jowett

Such sweetness, here, Linda. In both your words and Margaret’s photos and grandbabies. You’ve added softness to both sides of the strength found in those verbs: surround, ground, crown – love the assonance.

Kim Johnson

Linda, that photo of Margaret and the grandbabies is precious, and I love how you shifted the focus to the far more engaging photo – – what can be better than the smiles of beautiful children all piled up in their grandmother’s lap? The rhymes in the second line of your haiku and the repetition are perfect!

Wendy Everard

Linda,
Love the easy and organic rhyme in your second line! And your last line made me smile. Beautiful, joyful start to our writing today!

Margaret Simon

Aw, thanks, Linda. This is truly the joy of my life. My pregnant daughter is here this weekend and I can’t get enough of touching her belly and feeling grandbaby #4. Such a miracle!