This has been a frigid week in the deep south. The ice storm has caused widespread power outage and water loss. Our home was without power for 12 hours. Our house plumbing is fine, but my husband’s office had a burst pipe. Southerners just aren’t equipped to handle this extreme cold for an extended period of time. The temperature rose to 36 degrees yesterday, but we are staying home from school due to low water pressure.
But ice can be beautiful. My friend and poetry writing group partner Molly Hogan lives in Maine, so she is well-versed in cold. She is also an amazing photographer. She recently posted photos of ice on plants and this one she claimed as her favorite. I can see why. There’s a poem waiting there. Leave your own small poem in the comments and respond to others with kindness and encouragement.
There is beauty in a single moment,
Margaret Simon, draft
tresures in a whisper,
A world waiting
in an ice-encased atom.
Reflections on the Teche 
I wish you some warmth today…as beautiful as it can be, ice is not fun or safe. The storm has just entered my area. We are hunkered down. I’ll make soup today. I loved your words, “well versed in cold.”
Well versed
In cold
tree bud
folds into
butterfly position
breathing slow
slower
before reaching
for spring
I love “butterfly position” and the slow breathing toward spring.
Linda, your technique of personifying tree bud in yoga has a great effect in your poem. I love your whole poem, but those last lines, “before reaching/
for spring” I love the best. Reading your poem aloud your alliteration, consonance, and repetition make your poem sing. Thank you for sharing.
Hello dear Margaret! Ack! The South isn’t supposed to ice over, like Maine, in Winter. Hoping by now normal warmth returns. I borrow that beautiful line from Linda, to respond to Molly’s eloquent foto:
Butterfly position
buds
promise of
flight
against
might
of
ice
Love the promise of flight.
That’s cool….let’s keep the line borrowing going.
Jan, love your concept of opposing forces. Reading your poem aloud your alliteration, consonance, assonance, and rhyme make your poem sing. Thank you.
Margaret, I’m glad you’re power is back and your pipes are good in your house. Hopefully, your husband’s office will be able to fix their burst pipe soon. We also received ice and sleet in upstate NY so icy poems have been skating in my brain for days. Thank you for your inspiration to write them and this one in my notebook.
Nature’s Science
buds sleep
in ice bubble
awaiting
sun’s rays,
melting solid
into liquid
quenching
root’s thirst
Gail Aldous
Ice bubble….it’s a nice description of that photo. Such an unusual shot, isn’t it? And, yes…quench those roots. We need as many healthy trees as we can get.
Thank you, Linda. Yes, it is an unusual shot.
I like how you worked in that little science fact.
Thank you, Margaret.
Margaret, I love your whole poem. These lines especially reached out to me:
“treasures in a whisper,
A world waiting.”
Thank you, Molly for your beautiful frozen bud photo.
Wonder of poetry mixes with poetic goodness in all the poems. I loved the delicacy of Margaret’s words, Linda brings the hope of spring, Jan offers flight against might, and Gail rounds it off with a dynamic word, quenching-all to the glorious image of an ice-incased moment (Thanks, Margaret for that word).
ice-encased bud
like a warm igloo
protecting
the wonder inside
-CV, 2021
Ooh, Carol that is beautiful! You add an amazing simile of protection and anticipation. I love your whole poem; “Igloo protecting” and “wonder” are definitely “dynamic” words. Thank you for your compliment.
Wonder inside! Yes!
Thank you for the challenge and for sharing this superb photo.
A glorious globe
filled with
perfectly
preserved
potential.
SM, 2021
Love the p words!
What a handful of stuff to deal with, Margaret. Hope things settle down soon! This is gorgeous.
Tiny ice globe,
bursting with buds,
waits for a breath.
Laura Purdie Salas, 2021
Love your last line filled with such sweet hope.
I noticed your wordplay in calling Molly “well-versed” in cold! Your poem and Molly’s photograph pair beautifully. The ice freezing that “waiting world” inside the bud, the photograph freezing the moment for us.
Love how these comments keep growing and responding to the original post.
Ice encased,
Frozen in time.
Waiting, dormant
Until days
Warm and
Lengthen.
Water runs and
Spring Unfurls.
Finally.
– Carol Labuzzetta, 2021 –
Thank you, Margaret and Molly! This was fun!
The sense of spring unfurling from its encasement is reflected in the unfolding of your poem line by line.
Thank you so much! I am impatiently awaiting your book!
I can’t resist (I love this photo so much)!
wait — encased in ice —
tightly wrapped — trapped potential —
green leaves — blue blooms — spring
MLH, 2021
I love how you structured this small poem. Beginning with wait and ending with spring.
Margaret — I confess that the news has focused on poor Texas this week, so I didn’t realize it was quite as bad in your neck of the woods. I hope things are looking better, brighter, and warmer. When I look at Molly’s photo, I see a heart, frozen in time.
Two of my favorite artists doing their things, beautifully!
alien from the ice-planet
we beseech you
laserbeam your golden eyes
melt our frozen world