Reflections On...

Tulip Bulbs, Grape Hyacinth Bulbs, Early Snow Glories Bulbs

Photo by Amy LV

Students - This weekend you will find me planting flower bulbs! And so...today's poem is about something that always enchants me: the way that a bulb or seed knows just how and what to become. As seeds grow into flowers and vegetables and fruits and trees...so too do we begin small and become big and new as we grow. But how does this all happen? Well, it is science...but I also find magic in this. 

A box of bulbs (photo above) arrived at my house a few days ago, and I allowed this object to inspire a poem. A poem about a bulb. You may wish to try this sometime. Simply choose an object, an object that interest you for some reason or not. Allow yourself to think about it, to imagine it in the past or future or to question how it works or what it means to you or what it means to somebody else. Reflect. 

When I was a little girl, my family owned this book you see below, and I would often dip into it. I remember one poem especially. In "Apartment House," Gerald Raftery compares an apartment building to "a filing cabinet of human lives." I remember thinking what a perfect metaphor this was (though I likely did not know that word) and read this book often. I encourage you to find a poem book that can become a friend to you, for many years later, the voices of this book still echo in the hallways of my heart. And I think today's title came from the title of this old friend too. What we read stays with us.

Available through Bookshop.org

If you wish to write about objects, consider having everyone in class bring a different, non-electronic object to class in a small brown paper bag. Each person choose a bag, peek inside, and reflect upon that object. Draw it if that helps you think. Then write. Talk about the approaches you take to your writing. We can all learn from each other. If you do try this, please let me know! I would love to hear about it, to read your poems and maybe even see some pictures.

Carol is hosting this week's Poetry Friday roundup today at Beyond Literacy Link with a celebration of summer's end and fall's beginning. Each Friday, all are invited to share poems, poem books, poetry ideas, and friendship in this open and welcoming poetry community.

Writing slows us down. I send you some slow wishes for the weekend ahead, friends.

xo,

Amy

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