I wrote about finding beauty yesterday for Slice of Life and Spiritual Journey. Along with the post, I wrote a haiku based on the scientific name for Goldenrod. I enjoy writing with word play. For the haiku, I embedded the name into the words of the poem. The form is similar to taking a word for a walk posted on Ethical ELA here by Anna J. Small Roseboro. She suggested taking an abstract word and writing it as the first word in the first line, second word in the next line, and so on until the word becomes the last word in the line. Six lines of six words each.
Of course, as always, you are welcome to enter this prompt in any way that works for you. Please leave a small poem in the comments and encourage other writers with your responses.
Solidago*
Meadow soul soother
Margaret Simon
I turn toward your day light
Don’t go. Don’t go.
*scientific name for goldenrod, solidus meaning “to make whole”
This is the poem I wrote for the word walk prompt:
Sympathy begins with sad eye contact.
Margaret Simon, draft
Then sympathy reads your sad thoughts.
I express sympathy for your loss.
You may scorn sympathy as insincere.
But I see you, sympathy, walking
along the worn road of sympathy.
Reflections on the Teche 
Magaret, this is a beautiful photo. “soul soother” is a phrase I’ll carry with me into today. I’m able to be home for a couple of hours before driving off to a second conference…giving me a chance to join in ‘This photo’, hooray!
I love the idea of taking a word on a walk. I’ve played with this form before…but not in a long time. Thanks for the reminder.
Late-blooming light, November greets us.
Waving late-blooming golden rod
in her late-blooming hands.
Yellow becomes her late-blooming hush and
hopeful charge before winter’s late-blooming
stillness that slows spring into late-blooming
Beautiful, Linda. Love yellow as a hush instead of loud and your alliteration – hush and hopeful.
Linda,
Yes, I agree about soul soother for sure. Thank you, Margaret. I was driving home from the grandkids and had a few moments of quiet and glad I could participate. I love your repetition of “late-blooming” and all of your poem, Linda. This is so November. It is my birth month. So dreary much of the time here in CNY where we get a lot of grey days in general and so different from growing up on Long Island where the skies were brighter and the air was warmer. November was not a harbinger of the hunker down mentality of my adopted home here upstate. And I do love it. I do miss the late-blooming spring we have here again so different from the milder winters and the glorious treasure of a yellow-full spring thinking forsythia and daffodil. So you gifted me with memories and hope. Thank you, Linda.
Late-blooming is just the right word to take on a walk since goldenrod are the last of the wildflowers we’ll see for a while. I love “late-blooming hush.”
Linda, this is so peaceful. I loved (and used below) “late-blooming hush” and that “stillness that slows spring” is beautiful.
My students and I collaborated on a Take a Word for a Walk poem using “light.”
Light from you shines very bright.
Your light illuminates in the night.
Focus on light to find right.
You catch my light for flight
When when all falls, follow light’s might
Your leaves, your petals ever-light.
Oh walking in the light. I think this poem is right!! We can take flight if we follow the brightness of the light in our lives. Thank you for sharing your class poem, Mrs. S. and students! I have never tried this form and it intrigues me!! So thank you for sharing all of this everyone.
“your petals ever-light” is beautiful. And I love that you all chose the rhyming words at the end too.
“Meadow soul soother” is beautiful. Margaret. I want to try taking a word for a walk, but this morning I wrote a haiku:
Like a sunburst
goldenrod warms the forest floor
glows within my soul
There is something so compelling in the glow of those sunflower fields. I am drawn in again and again. And goldenrod, too, has its place in autumn’s brightness. So much color and delight. And nourishment. I have made a pledge to walk in nature more. I think we miss out when we don’t have that time outside where we notice and notice and notice until we feel that glow. Thank you, Rose.
Nice haiku. Love how the g in goldenrod sits atop the g in glows.
Oh, “goldenrod warms the forest floor” “glows within my soul” I missed these lines. Such a lovely haiku.
Rise Above
Sunlight kisses the mountain,
then wraps trees in vibrant glory.
Like sentinels standing ready,
their brilliant yellow tops sing
songs of hope and redemption.
Some cast blessings
warm and golden.
Some softly whisper truths,
dazzle us with warnings of change.
Do we listen?
Thank you, Janet. I love this! Favorite lines:
Like sentinels standing ready,
their brilliant yellow tops sing
songs of hope and redemption.
That goldenrod reminded me of a sentinel, too.
Thank you, Rose and Margaret.
Lovely poem and poignant ending question.
Janet, so many beautiful lines here! I love the sentinels, and also “their brilliant yellow tops sing / songs of hope and redemption.” I like the idea of “some” of them doing this and some doing that…”Do we listen?” Great question.
Margaret, thank you for the beautiful photo. I found many of these words in the poems of others here, and your post from yesterday. Golden seemed like a good word to take a walk with this evening.
Golden rod strong, reaching fall flowers
Full golden garden covering the field
Like sentinels golden in sweet sunbursts
Late blooming hush, golden hopeful petals
Wondering about every ordinary golden opportunity
Presence, renewal, beauty and hope: golden
This is a lovely walk with golden. I love the strength theme of it all. “Every ordinary golden opportunity” to find gold in our hearts. I notice how you incorporate other writers’ lines. This is a suggestion I made to one of my young writers who felt stuck. Your poem feels more like an offering back to those writers. Thanks.
Hi Denise (and all),
When I first heard of the cento form I was surprised to learn it had been around since the ancient Greeks. I love the borrowing and how you centered on the word golden. So much in life would be better if we all centered on that beautiful word. Golden. In trying times it is helpful to see the beauty of the earth and the hope of lovelier times to come. All the more so if golden hope and renewal are present. Thank you for your poem. My days (like everyone’s are too full it seems) nonetheless I love this place and the fact Margaret and before her Laura made it possible. Thanks to all who write and share and comment and read. That is golden to me.
[…] I read Margaret Simon’s post for This Photo Wants to Be a Poem and learned about a writing exercise called “Taking a Word for a Walk” by Anna J. Small […]