Happy November! This is the first day and first Friday, so it’s time for a new challenge from the Inklings. This month Linda, who is also hosting Spiritual Thursday, selected a poem by Joy Harjo Fall Song. She asked us to respond in some way to the poem. I collected words that pleased me for their sounds: blue, you, divine, mind, behind. I was thinking of my mother’s blue eyes.
Her Eyes Blue like the Sky
(after Joy Harjo “Fall Song”)
All you leave behind
is blue–
blue lace wings–tinted with night sky.
Your divine sign
forever will be a blue bird.I cry for more–
more of your soft touch,the gleam
of love
lightingfrom your crystal blue eyes.
Margaret Simon, draftLinda's One Little Word for 2024 is "World". She has been writing poems all year on a padlet using her word. I admire her dedication to this daily writing. Since she sent out the prompt for Spiritual Journey, I have been noticing that poets often use the word "world".I recently read Evie Shockley’s poem “job prescription ” and striked a line for a golden shovel: “poetry may not change the world, but might change you.” I believe in poetry. I want to believe that it could change the world, but I’m satisfied knowing that it has changed me. I am a better person, a better teacher, a better child of God because I breathe in poems every day.
What is poetry?
An acorn that may
or may not become an oak, change
leaves for the
next season of the world.
We read & write, but
are never sure which words might
sprout to change
and inspire the deepest you.
Margaret Simon, draft
Links to other Inklings:
Catherine Flynn
Mary Lee Hahn
Heidi Mordhorst
Molly Hogan
Linda Mitchell
Reflections on the Teche 
Ahhhhh. Beautiful. Isn’t it fun sharing your OLW? All the different takes on WORLD has been really fun. Poets do use the word, WORLD, a lot. Both your poems are lovely reflections of your spirit…the generosity of language and loving description is classic Margaret Simon writing. And, I love that because I’ve come to depend on you in this crazy world. I’m a better person because of your poetry.
That means a lot to me Linda. Especially when I feel so rushed to get a post up.
I love the way you wove all the blues in your poem, making it both about the color and about the blue longing of loss.
Hugs to you, and here’s to the healing power of poetry!
Thanks for both of your moving poems Margaret, and your sensitive, longing, and touching poem for your mom, sending thoughts and hugs your way.
Both poems are beautiful, Margaret. Filled with love and peace.
Lovely sentence: “I want to believe that it could change the world, but I’m satisfied knowing that it has changed me.” Yes, Margaret, me too. “The gleam of love” is also lovely and poignant.
Both lovely poems. I love the possibility in “acorns that may … become an oak.” Even in trying times, you find the light, Margaret. : )
This beginning to November has a meditative stance, both in remembering your mother and the power of a poem. No doubt you are the strong, creative woman, teacher, and mother that you are due to her love for you and your love for both. May her memory continue to bless you, Margaret.
garet, what a lovely post. Your poem about your mom, through her blue eyes, is so striking. The last lines with the enjambment are my favorites:
the gleam
of love
lighting
from your crystal blue eyes
Nice world poem too. I love the idea of the acorn may or may not becoming an oak. We never know which poem we read or write will “sprout to change and inspire the deepest you.” So beautiful.
I, for one, am enamored of blue eyes, so loved your heartfelt, touching poem. Wonderful golden shovel, too. Acorns as metaphor are full of such possibility.
Margaret, there is a power in poetry that can’t be found anywhere else. We never know which of our written words will strike a chord with someone else.
A loving nod to your mother’s eyes is so special, Margaret. Every time you write for her, about her, brings love for all of us, for you, for our own families. And the way you wrote from Shockley’s line, also wonderful, that “words might sprout”! Have a restful weekend!
Margaret, I’m especially struck by your selected strike line about poetry not changing the world but “changing you” – prayer does the same. As you say, to “change and inspire the deepest you.” I know it and feel it even in your heart’s sharp cry with “Her Eyes Blue Like the Sky” – your pierces like a crystal blue shard of glass. Achingly beautiful – and so relatable.
Margaret, your poem is an ode of a different strain to the blue of your mother’s eyes, and the changes you made multiplied the power of your images and the emotion. Poem as acorn is a lovely, slow idea!
Wow I love this quote and the fact that you turned it into a stunner of a poem!
I love these thoughts and poems…Life has taken a turn in which my notebook and pen travelled, and now sit with me, but are not as frequently opened. Caring for my blue-eyed hubby recovering from bad pneumonia. But I do not worry, because poetry of others and the knowledge that I am a poet, stays close.
Margaret, your words in your first poem are so soothing. The color blue has brought such tender thoughts. “blue lace wings–tinted with night sky”. This week with another respiratory infection made it difficult to find word that would sprout to inspire my poetry posts but this weekend with my grandgirls afforded me the time to be joyful. My world is a better place today.
Margaret, your words in your first poem are so soothing. The color blue has brought such tender thoughts. “blue lace wings–tinted with night sky”. This week with another respiratory infection made it difficult to find word that would sprout to inspire my poetry posts but this weekend with my grandgirls afforded me the time to be joyful. My world is a better place today.
Margaret, your words in your first poem are so soothing. The color blue has brought such tender thoughts. “blue lace wings–tinted with night sky”. This week with another respiratory infection made it difficult to find word that would sprout to inspire my poetry posts but this weekend with my grandgirls afforded me the time to be joyful. My world is a better place today.
The respiratory ick is going around. Feel better. Grands make my life joyful, too.