This month’s #poetrypals challenge was a new form to me: the cascade poem. I was mesmerized by Molly Hogan’s Slice of Life post on Tuesday. She posted amazing photos of a beach in Maine at sunrise on a very cold morning. I borrowed some words from her post to create a cascade poem about this photo by Molly.
Cascade Golden Morning
Cold. Cold. Single digit cold.
Walking the rhythm of the morning,
Day breaks to molten gold.Experience moves me. Bold
ripples through me, lifts me.
Cold. Cold. Single digit cold.Still lost in glory dawning,
toes throb in rebuke,
Walking the rhythm of the morning.Miniature forests of fairies hold
Margaret Simon, with words from Molly Hogan
a treasure chest of sparkling jewels.
Day breaks to molten gold.
Find more Cascade poems at these poetry blog sites: Molly, Heidi, Mary Lee, Laura, and Michelle.
Reflections on the Teche 
What a lovely collaboration! Your rhymes (bold, cold, gold, hold) are powerful, and you capture the magic of Molly’s morning photo shoot perfectly. (And MESMERIZED is the perfect word for that photo. It’s beyond gorgeous. Kudos to Molly and her frozen toes!)
Margaret! Ekphrastic, cascade AND rhyming!! This is just stunning.
Molly’s pictures are so amazing & you’ve brought this one to life in words, too, Margaret, that “molten gold” shows the treasure within.
Hi Margaret, it’s brilliant to respond to Molly’s unique Maine morning foto-hunt with this atmospheric cascade post, making me alternatingly warm with “molten gold” & frizzed in “single digit cold.” I read & saw Mollys winter morning post & understand how you were moved by it. Brava!
“molten gold” is the perfect phrase to accompany that picture. Also love “miniature forests of fairies.” Thanks for sharing your beautiful language.
Ooh, that glorious final line of molten gold. And I love the toes throbbing in rebuke – a perfect moment of levity with the stuttered “Cold. Cold. Single-digit cold.” This — and rhymed — *chef’s kiss. Lovely.
I’m swooning over the rhymes and the enjambment, Margaret!
that line, “cold. cold. single digit cold” is the sound of boots crunching through snow. Perfect!
Oh if “Cold. Cold.” can be lovely your poem is… I love your last stanza and those fairies and treasures in there, and that gorgeous pic of Molly’s, thanks Margaret!
The cold morning sensations surround me, Margaret, even though I am sitting here reading this inside an Australian summer. So, as a poet, you have reached me. Your collaboration with Molly has delivered. There is beauty to be found in a cold morning scene.
That first stanza is a great combination of the glorious visual gold and a muscular rhythmic beat, and I really like how you achieved a rhyme scheme too! Maybe we should all write more cascades–they’ve all been so successful!
breathtaking and beautiful–both poem and photo.
Margaret, I love how you’ve responded to the photo. The rhythm and rhyme of your cascade is wonderful!
Love this! I really loved “Day breaks to molten gold.”
ooh– lost in glory dawning! I could stay there all day!
Love how concrete this is, Margaret. The throbbing toes, the treasure chests… So beautiful!
This is gorgeous. I love the rhythm of the walking combined with the clipped observations of the cold, which are woven into longer, more reflective thoughts, too.
“Cold. Cold. Single digit cold,” sounds like me when I’m out on a single-digit day and can utter only single-word exclamations. Love it!
Margaret, your cascade is as mesmerizing as Molly’s sunrise photo. The combination of her photo, some of her words, your own words, your rhyme…in a cascade form is glorious and moved me! I love it! You make the reader feel the coldness Molly felt and you also make the reader understand why she couldn’t leave, what she felt. These lines especially spoke to me, how you added “walking” to Molly’s “rhythm of the morning”, how you added “day break” to Molly’s “molten gold”, “Bold” to “ripples through me”, Molly’s “I both lose and find myself, saturated in wonder” to your “Still lost in glory dawning”, and “fairies” to Molly’s “miniature forests”. Your ending with molten gold is perfect. Beautiful.
I am wondering if you would let me add your cascade poem with your copyright to my journal under the form of cascade poem?
Thank you for sharing Molly’s photo, the collaboration of Molly’s and your words in this powerful cascade poem, your inspiration, and joy.
Thank you for such a detailed comment. I would be honored to have you keep my poem as a model poem. You should also look at Molly’s cascade poem. It’s another keeper. Thanks for always making me feel more like a poet than a faker. I truly value your responses.
PS Perfect title that I love!