Today the Poetry Friday community is celebrating Mary Lee Hahn on the occasion of her retirement. Mary Lee is one of those behind the scenes worker bees. She keeps Poetry Friday going with periodic calls for hosting. She has served on multiple committees with the National Council for Teachers of English (NCTE). I’ve learned over and over from Mary Lee’s quiet wisdom.
To find a way to honor her with a poem, I looked through the Ditty of the Month collections. I found an ars poetica poem by Mary Lee entitled “Peony Poem” in the 2017-2018 anthology. I borrowed her form to write this poem:
Another Peony
An idea
seedling, set
in soil, soggy and shifting
sprouting in a spring garden.A draft
wobbly, wilting
waits on new legs
hoping to learn to grow.A poem
Margaret Simon, after Mary Lee Hahn, draft
blooming, brilliant
shines like a rose on a stem
showing up on this special day.
Congratulations on your retirement, Mary Lee. “The trouble with poetry is that it encourages the writing of more poetry.” (Billy Collins) Just think how many poems you have spawned over the years, exponentially.
Reflections on the Teche 