In most parts of the northern hemisphere, fall is a time when leaves change hue and fall getting ready for the dormancy of winter. But here in the deep south of Cajun country, the prairie goes to seed. My friend and neighbor James Edmunds recently photographed fields of prairie grasses. I was attracted to the starlike seed pods of this one.
On Instagram, James wrote, “The Cajun Prairie project in Eunice right now is in a beautiful post-flowering, going-to-seed stage. The perimeter can be walked on nice sidewalks and gives views into a wide variety of native grasses!” To see more, I found a website for Cajun Prairie Habitat Preservation. It does my nature-loving heart good to see there are organizations dedicated to preservation and restoration of natural land.
Prairie grass sashays
Margaret Simon, haiku draft
replanting, replenishing
starlike seedlings soar
Write your own small poem in the comments and support other writers with comments. Thanks!
What a beautiful photo! “sashay” is the perfect word above.
I’ll be keeping this photo in my thoughts and notebook. I want to let it speak to me. For now, I’m off to school.
For Margaret:
Your poem flows in images, prayers and hope for seeds to soar in ways we all need. Lovely haiku.
Even after what I said about tricubes, here’s another try-cube:
Seed your world
lavishly,
like Cajun
prairie grass —
sending stars
everywhere.
So beauty
will expand,
sow beauty.
Lovely, Mary Lee. We all need to seed the world with beauty.
Your poem became a lesson on homophones. The tricube worked!
Marylee, you did it. Your try-cube impresses and yes, SOW BEAUTY. How we need those shooting stars of prairie grass.
Love how the poem progresses from prairie grass to stars to sowing beauty.
Avalyn and I worked on writing haiku with alliteration. Here are our poems:
Starshine seeds
lifted on Autumn’s breeze
sparkle in sunlight
(Mrs. Simon)
Cajun grass soars on
beautiful, billowing wind
butterfly-ing seeds
(Avalyn+ extra points for butterfly metaphor!)
oh I love the word “butterfly-ing” – Nice job with the alliteration, Avalyn.
I like your alliterations, Mrs. S. and the sparkle in the sunlight and Avalyn, I can see the billowing wind and the butterfly-ing seeds add to the picture you paint for us. Thanks for these images in both of your haikus!
Love the alliteration in both, and the image of butterflying seeds!
Great challenge to combine haiku and alliteration. I, too, love the “butterfly-ing seeds”!!
“sashays” popped out at me immediately – such a descriptive word.
like fireflies, seeds
cling to tall prairie grasses
dancing in the wind
I love all the imagery that goes with fireflies.
Yes to all the dancing in the wind, I love the flow of the fireflies and seeds in your poem, Rose.
I love the image of the prairie grasses dancing!
Fields of Green and Gold
Her mother painted sea grass
tethered to sand dunes,
waving and dancing
some days a waltz
others a tango.
She painted prairie grass
poised on bayou marshland
delicate and blooming,
her artist’s brush of
flowers dabbing acres
here and there, anchoring
your eyes on the canvas, anchoring
meadow and shoreline, anchoring
nature’s sentinels, watching, warning,
Janet Fagal, draft 2022
Sorry a tad long this week.
I have been drawn to paintings of sea grass paintings for years. Beauty in the eye of the beholder, but so much more for the land. Thank you, Margaret for always being here. I had covid, not a bad case, only a cough and some tiredness and minor brain fog. I am blessed it was mild AND I got it 3 weeks after my 3rd booster shot! Then got on Paxlovid. Hope everyone stays well.
So many wonderful verbs–tethers, dancing, anchoring, warning.
I love that repetition of anchoring. I love the paintings that feature the prairie.
“Her mother painted sea grass” is a line that makes me want more of the story!!
Glad you are better, Janet. Love the repetition of anchoring.
Thanks, ROSE. My copy of Things We Wear arrived yesterday! LOVE your RAINCOAT poem!!!
sunlight sparkles
on wisps of wind-tossed seeds–
autumn fireworks
Love the fireworks metaphor!
Yes to the fireworks!
Just beautiful, Margaret. I love “sashays.”
[…] you, Margaret, for “This Photo Wants to be a Poem,” from whence the image and inspiration […]