This is National Poetry Month, so there are many poetry prompts floating around. I appreciate you coming by today to exercise the muse.
I was in New Orleans for Easter and had the privilege of taking my 19 month old grandson to City Park. Close to Cafe du Monde where you can get amazing coffee and beignets, there is a playground set among old oaks. One of the oaks has grown huge branches draped over the ground. This oak is a favorite uncle that kids climb all over. Here is a link to more information about the Live Oaks in City Park.
Please leave a small poem in the comments. You have permission to use this photo on your blog or social media. Be sure to support other writers with your comments.
You drape and dip
Margaret Simon, draft
hands free
for daily dance–
happily holding
mother’s gold.
A little lagniappe (Creole French for a little something extra): Thomas and the tree.
Reflections on the Teche 
Oh, that handsome Thomas. What a beautiful child. I too went right to the idea of mother. I smile with the movement of your poem. Today should be a dance day.
Mama tree
I love you
like you love me
Your long brown arms
hold melike
I hold you
My Mama tree
Love the image of long brown arms holding a child in a hug.
Love the rhythm of this.
Linda, your poem is sweet. I love the repetition and rhythm. Just love the words “Mama tree” and “My mama tree.”
Such heroic mamas these trees. Just think of how many they have nurtured in their years. I still remember the huge majestic oak at my grandparents’ place that had this thick lower limb from which my talented grandfather made and hung a glider long enough to fit 3 -4 adults and a kid or two……plus all that shade. Summer memories, unforgettable. Trees, essential, like mamas, right?
Mama tree-wonderful thought for active little ones, Linda-
Beautiful photo, Margaret. Love the idea of a daily dance. And thanks for the link to more information. I’m reading Lita Judge’s The Wisdom of Trees so it fits right in.
You are a welcome mat
of wonder.
Here and now,
connecting past and future,
inviting curiosity.
Hi Rose,
Love your poem and connection to Lita Judge’s book which is on my TBR list!
Yes, that oak and the park as welcome mat, so true!
Janet
Connecting past and future is how I feel about these stately oaks, some as old as 700 years.
wonder and curiosity…the magic!
Rose, The Wisdom of trees is on my list. I love “welcome mat/ of wonder.” I always stare at trees in wonder and think about all they’ve witnessed and listened to… Have you read the Hidden Life of Trees: What They Feel, How They Communicate Discoveries From a Secret World by Peter Wohlleben. It’s a NYT’s bestseller originally published in Germany in 2015. It’s amazing! I wonder if Lita Judge used Hidden Life of Trees as a resource for her book.
I love that you called the old tree a welcome mat and alluded to it being a connector as well, Rose.
Ride the dragon!
Or pirate ship,
walk a tightrope
maybe skip?
Giant oak,
kids’ delight!
Imagination park’s
all right!
A quick write this morning and a lovely photo. Thanks, Margaret.
Love all the imaginary things the oak could be.
Janet, I love the fun and rhyme in your poem! I can’t imagine writing a “quick” rhyming poem. Rhyme is difficult for me.
Gail, Thank you much! Generally it is hard for me. I really admire some of the great ones who write for kids. Amy Ludwig VanDerwater is one who comes quickly to mind. I miss her online now that she has returned to the classroom. Donna Smith at Mainely Write is another who seems to have a real knack. I know there are others like Renee LaTulippe from Lyrical Language Lab. Rebecca Kai Dotlitch. I’ve revised my poem. I am determined to get back to my writing life. I am so grateful to Margaret for carrying on Laura’s 15 WOL which helped so much years ago.
Janet, imagination is something that we all want children to carry in their pockets to find delight. You captured it here.
Janet, I also like Amy Ludwig VanDerwater, Renee LaTulippe, and Rebecca Kai Dotlitch. I have never heard of Donna Smith before. Thank you for including her blog Mainely Write blog. I visited there. You were write. She’s amazing at rhyming! Thank you for Renee’s blog, also. I’ll have to check her blog out, but I’m too tired tonight.
I’m also grateful to Margaret’s This Photo Wants to Be a Poem days! I look forward to it each week because I know if I haven’t written on my own, then I know she will inspire me to write. I’ve been enjoying Laura Salsa Purdie’s equation poems and trying to write my own, but I think I’ve regressed at rather than improve as you have.
Margaret,
This week’s photo was irresistible but Thomas? Those eyes, that look, his hands beyond precious. I hope you are going to frame that one. Wow. Thanks,
Janet
PS Grandma’s gold, too, I am positive. LOVE.
Beautiful photos 😊:
‘Old and wise with age
Safe base for growing children
Strong and sturdy tree.’
Love safe base as in freeze tag or other childhood game.
Safe….yes.
I love how your words “old and wise” and “strong and sturdy” imply safety for the game of “safe base.” Excellent!
The words old, wise, strong, sturdy are all appropriate for the old oak tree but safe base is the set of words that makes your poem stand out, Lakshmi.
This photo of Thomas-! ❤ ❤ ❤ Love the joy and freedom of your verse, Margaret – that tree holds mothers gold indeed. I shall try to come back and write to this magnificent image.
Margaret, the tree is a beautiful image of living life with joy. Thomas is turning into quite the adorable young toddler. Drape and dip are delightful words to spark the imagination. My short poem:
Conversation Cafe
I am a gatherer of talk.
Come sit at my table.
I listen with intent,
Hugging every word
With overreaching arms.
Waving goodby,
I welcome your return.
©CV, 2021
I added your photo with credit to my blog: https://beyondliteracylink.blogspot.com/2021/04/conversation-cafe.html
Carol, I love the idea that the tree is a table. “I listen with intent/hugging every word/with overreaching arms” is perfect. I love your poem! I also wrote from the POV of the live oak using some of the same words before I saw your poem, but your poem is excellent.
Margaret, I adore the precious photo of Thomas! He is adorable. I hear him thinking, “I CAN reach this branch.” Thank you for the link. I WANT to see these trees! Wow to “daily dance” and “mother’s gold.” Your poem and water color inspire fun and happiness. Thank you for sharing and inspiring. I love to close my eyes while hugging trees feeling their energy flow and imagine I can hear them talking to me. I need to work more on my draft:
come,
gaze at
my amazing crown
come,
hug your
arms around me
come,
sit a
spell in my arms
Gail Aldous April 2021
PS Today, I thought of you as I walked around Saratoga Springs taking photos of trees in bloom. I just noticed the time so that was yesterday.
I love the invitation of “come” and the triptych of ways the trees open themselves to us.
Thank you, Margaret. I suddenly heard the Live oak calling come, come, come.
Gail, your poem, almost a letter to us from the tree….beautiful. I like the repetition, the invitation. I have black and white photos of me by trees in the big spa park (not Congress) from when I was a freshman in college there. You make me wonder where I put them! Do you live there? I loved it there LONG time ago.
Thank you, I’m glad you liked my poem. I just felt the live oak calling to me, “Come, come, come. I love both the State SPAC park, Congress Park and being close to the Adirondack Mtns, where we like to hike and x-country ski. My husband, our two cats, and I live in Ballston Spa, which is west of Saratoga about a 10 min. drive. It is a beautiful area to live. Did you go to Skidmore College? You can email me at gailaldous@msn.com and hopefully it won’t end up in my junk. Let me know if you do email here so I can look in my junk. It’s a small world.
Carol,
The tree….listening with intent, hugging, inviting….how many times in our lives have we admired trees? Loved trees? Sat under their shade? Needed them? Thanked them? Praised them? Your poem reminds me to be grateful. I read an NCTE award-winner about the death of the American Chestnut: Champion by Sally M. Walker. We lost an ash this year and there is a “beast” of tree killer coming after others near here. Will post their names later. Elms lost out, too. Ugh. I pray these gorgeous oaks thrive.
Janet, in VA the builders planted 2 pear trees that will have a long life, I hope. They are so beautiful when they bloom. Losing trees is so sad. The tree Margaret shares must be a magnificent one for all.
https://www.dec.ny.gov/animals/7250.html attacks Hemlock trees which are all over our area “Hemlock Wooly Adelgid”
Emerald Ash Borer
https://www.dec.ny.gov/animals/7253.html
So many threats….sad.
Janet, I agree how sad this is. Do you live in New York?