Friday, July 3, 2020

Poetry Gifts from Kat

How surprised was I when I found in my email that my Aussie poet-author friend, Kathryn Apel, brought greetings and a summer poetry swap gift.  She told me that she wanted to write a solage and an epigram for me since I've said a number of times that I found them tricky during the Poetry Pep Up Challenge. "The trimeric was so much fun, picking lines from poems on your blog. I had only intended to take lines for the first stanza - which repeats through the poem. But then I stumbled on the last line, and couldn’t bear to leave it out. And then, I decided a title from you would be lovely, too… And in the end, I wrote very little!"  In truth, Kat displayed her creative, artistic side and wrote a beautiful epigram and trimeric in the same poem and picture. This is her "first foray into flower watercolour" and it is beautiful. I am including it in my Nature Nurtures 2020 Gallery.
This field of flowers is a lovely present that exhibits a truth.
Kat and I are linked-friends. I am deeply grateful to her for her poetry gifts.

Thank you, Tabatha Yeatts, for organizing the 20202 Summer Poetry Swap.

While teaching my first online graduate course for teachers, Kat sent me her poems. Deeply entrenched into sharing curriculum models for sparking wonder, curiosity, and creativity in learners, I found another pandemic poem that resonated with me. I took two lines from the poem and created a golden shovel poem to send Kat. Day 5 of her Poetry Pep Up asked for a golden shovel poem. I already sent Kat one but when I read the following poem, I was drawn to two lines.


Strike lines from Kitty O'Meara's poem: And the people stayed home (stanza 1) the earth began to heal  (stanza 2)

We started each day with sadness and

ended with prayers of hope for the

grieving world and its fallen people.

We kept our distance and stayed

in. Routines brought sanity. Home

became the center of life in the

early days of COVID.  When earth

needed a gentle cradling, people began

reconnecting and reimagining ways to

find balance and pathways to heal.

©CV, 2020

Because of the rigor of the workload preparing for and teaching my summer graduate poem, I am offering my post to my friend, poet-librarian Linda Mitchell, the host of Poetry Friday. Linda has an original poem freshly written for the 4th of July holiday. She is also sharing her poetry swap gift from another poet-author-teacher friend, Margaret Simon. Join me at the Poetry Friday Roundup here to find more poetic goodness.


7 comments:

  1. Wow! Carol. Gifts upon gifts with such wonderful poems and images from Kat. And, a striking line so gorgeous for you to write parallel to Kitty O'Meara. I love the idea of the earth healing. That just soothes my soul. Thank you for sharing your bounty--even after a very full week.

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  2. So much beauty here. And Carol, I love your poem. I think it's one of my favorites of yours!

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    1. Laura, I am finally getting a chance to respond to comments. I am so excited to hear that you think highly of my poem. I created a video poem and shared it at https://beyondliteracylink.blogspot.com/2020/07/we-need-pandemic-poem-video.html.

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  3. So many connected healing poems for individuals and our earth, thanks for sharing yours, Kat's, (and her lovely watercoloring) and Kitty's. I hope our country can move toward the messages in these poems, many areas have slid back and need some inner thought and guidance.

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  4. I'm playing catch-up this week, as I was away last weekend catching up with my parents IRL (momentous event!) and didn't get to link into the poetry rounds. It was such a joy writing for you! I'm so glad my poems helped joy bloom in your heart! Offering my prayers of hope from across the oceans - and savouring your beautiful golden shovel. I am so glad you persisted! It is exquisite.

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    1. Once again, I am thankful for all the poetry goodness you brought to me this summer, Kat and your comments. I am honored that you want to use my poems in your wrap-up of your Poetry Pep Up challenge. Your trip to visit your parents must have been a wonderful gift for them and you.

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