Reflections on the Teche

Billy Collins writes that “the trouble with poetry is that it encourages the writing of more poetry.”

To me that is the joy of poetry. Last week Heidi Mordhorst posted the summer poem swap poem that I wrote for her. She wrote a response poem.  See this post here.

I have connected to so many wonderful educators online, many of whom do work I greatly admire. One of these educators is JoAnne Duncan.  JoAnne is an assistant principal we would all want to have. She finds kind and gentle ways to deal with the everyday problems she faces. I love to listen to her tell stories about finding a child’s heart through reading and art.  She thinks outside the box.  So I should not have been surprised when she shared with me that she wrote a poem.  The surprise came when she said her poem was inspired by my poem to Heidi.  The poem used the same framework while JoAnne went back to the time she moved away from her Kansas City childhood home to Montana.

Art by Derek DeYoung. Click the image to read more about the artist.

She moved through Montana
as in a dream
floating over jagged rocks,
shooting down wild rapids
like new adventure in her life.
Montana spoke to her in the silence of the forest,
the scent of pines and sage
so foreign yet familiar.

She marveled at majestic peaks,
mighty rivers,
and expanse of land and sky.

Montana entered her
like skis on powder snow,
drift boat on water
and rainbow trout rising to the hatch.
She moved through Montana as in a dream.

–JoAnne Duncan

What joy to connect through poetry, to inspire JoAnne to visit her experience and share it. That’s what this Poetry Friday space is all about.

Today, JoAnne shares our connection on her blog.  She went on to research the art she found to illustrate her poem.  Yet another inspirational connection.