Look First. Wonder Next.

Shaggy Parasols in Our Yard

Photo by Amy LV

Students - This is a very small poem. Perhaps it is a haiku. Maybe it is just a little nature poem. Whatever it is, it is a bit of writing about one thought I had this week. 

My husband Mark and I were walking through our yard looking at the mushrooms of the day. These shaggy parasols (Isn't the name great? Mark always teaches me the names.) were hanging out underneath some spruces in our yard. Sometimes they grow in rings, and people call these "fairy rings." It is thought that fairies or elves or pixies dance in such places. The ones in our yard were all lined up. My first thought was that they looked like they were waiting together, like children at school, or adults at the grocery store.

I kept thinking and wondering about those mushrooms all week.

My friend, poet, artist, and blogger Robyn Hood Black is a haiku expert, and she generously shares a lot about haiku here at her website and blog. I wanted to write a small haiku-ish poem about these mushrooms, and so I turned to Robyn. One resource she shares that I read and found very helpful and inspiring is The Bare Bones School of Haiku by the late Jane Reichhold.

At times, it feels good to write with just a few words. At these times, the tricky part is choosing just the right ones. Considering the mushrooms, what I have learned about poetry, and what I have learned from Robyn and Jane, here are a few things took into my brain as I wrote these few lines:

• A poem can be short.
• A poem does not need to rhyme.
• A poem does not need capital letters.
• A poem does not need punctuation.
• A poem can include an observation.
• A poem can include a thought or question.
• A poem/haiku can have two parts. (This poem includes a statement and a question.)
• A poem's title can give extra information. (If a reader doesn't know what shaggy parasols are, the title will help.)]
• A poem can play with sound in small ways. (The short 'u' sound in the title repeats.)

I welome you to play with any of these ideas this week. For starters, you might do these three things:

Go outside.

Look at something.

Think and wonder about it.

Write a poem with those two parts - your observation and your thinking/wondering.

Be free in your writing!

And remember: do not eat mushrooms that you find. Only mycologists (mushroom experts) can do this without getting sick...or even dying.

Close Up of Shaggy Parasols

Photo by Amy LV

Catherine is hosting today's Poetry Friday roundup at Reading to the Core with an abecedarian about writing poetry. Please know that all are welcome each Friday as folks share poems, poem books, poetry ideas, and friendship.

xo,

Amy

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