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Each first Friday of the month the Inklings write to a challenge from one of us. This month Linda Mitchell offered the challenge from a post she saw on Instagram: “‘Find a poem you like, or one you don’t like. Write the first 6 lines of the poem. Under each line write your own response. Delete the original lines, use what you have as a beginning for your poem.’ Tusiata Avia #30in30 writing prompt.”
Once I started doing this, I couldn’t stop. Recently I bought The Selected Poems of Wendell Berry. What a wonderful mentor, nature writer, poet. On Substack for “This Photo Wants to be a Poem,” I wrote after “To the Unseeable Animal” my side by side version “To the Shadow Moving.”
For Thursday’s Spiritual Journey post, I wrote beside James Crews.
The most satisfying thing about writing like this is you can remove the original poem because your new poem is unique to you.
To What Flies
(after To What Listens by Wendell Berry)
I see it again lonely
and alone, the image of the heron
opening his wings wide
to fly to the other side,
no mate will follow,
no nest to call home.
I subscribe to Rosemerry Wahtola Trommer’s daily poem. (I also highly recommend her new book Wonderment.) On Sept. 26, she sent out a poem “Sometimes When I am Stuck.”
Sometimes When I am Dwelling
When I feel as if my body
is slowly shutting down,
and my spirit is made of jelly,
when my feelings
go deep as if darkness
dwells within me,
that is when I awake
to an inner peace,
ever waiting my notice, my voice.
That peace is longing
as if whispering words.
Margaret Simon, draft (after Rosemerry Wahtola Trommer)
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What an interesting prompt! Enjoyed both of your poems, especially the final lines of the second one. Thanks for hosting this week!
Thanks for hosting us, Margaret. This was, indeed, a prompt that gave surprising results! I love that you swapped “stuck” for “dwelling.” Nice spin!
I think it’s the surprises that make it so fun.
Margaret, these poems both leave me with a deep, almost haunting feeling — especially “dwell,” “longing” evoke both yearning and contentment. Beautiful.
“ever waiting my notice…” is such a phrase that hits me just right. Beautiful poems. I’ve started looking at Rosemerry Trommer poems on your suggestion and she’s kind of amazing! Thanks for the recommendation. I’m away this weekend and will be catching up in between seeing family.
Thank you for hosting and for sharing your beautiful poems, Margaret. “That peace is longing/as if whispering words” is a quiet and peaceful ending line. I will definitely be trying this prompt.
Wistful and poignant, Margaret – I appreciate the depth of the more personal, second one, especially. Thanks for sharing (Yay, You Inklings!) and thanks for rounding us all up this week!
The silence waiting for us to slip in…yes! Thank you, Margaret, for all. xo
Many appreciations for hosting. You Inklings are fabulous leaders & teachers. I have to say I always have trouble erasing the line of a treasured poet to replace it with mine, but this idea Linda M. shares sounds intriguing, especially when working with a disliked poem/writer.. perhaps… I’m pondering.
It’s been long since I visited #PF & I forgot to put my name at my link box. https://bookseedstudio.wordpress.com/2026/10/02/cryptodira/
More poetry gratitude, Margaret.
I love “ever waiting my notice” and those ending two lines. They are just beautiful. I also love that you also enjoyed this prompt and found it fruitful. You certainly have been prolific! Thanks so much for hosting this week.
Thank you, Margaret, for hosting and for the beautiful poems….I will take your inspiration and try that technique. I hope my results are as lovely as yours.
Margaret, the Heron poem captures a solitary moment beautifully and what a clever prompt from Linda in the Inkling challenge. I’d like to try that technique. Happy Poetry Friday and thanks for hosting!
I really love the heron poem, evocative. I am going to try the prompt. Thanks for hosting today.
Thanks for hosting, Margaret–sorry it took me so long to come back around to say that your heron poem stands out, and that I love the idea that “longing” is not just a feeling but could feel like action, like “whispering words.”