Poetry Friday round-up is at Books 4 Learning
I dedicate this post, a prose fairy tale poem in three parts, to my writing friends Tara Smith, Kimberley Moran, and Julianne Harmatz. We spent the week together in upstate New York laughing, eating, drinking, touring, shopping, and oh yes…writing. These verses were inspired by Petal People notecards by Martha Starke.
I. Julianne
Once there was a girl from Los Angeles
with a head of curly hair.
She walked the hills of New York state
gathering wild flowers–
verbena, hosta, bleeding heart,
Johnny-jump-ups, bridal wreath–
placing them all in a clear glass jar.
The flowers captured sunshine,
the wild air of summer.
She looked at the flowers in the center of the breakfast table,
and smiled a sneaky smile.
She found the key to happiness–
Gather wildflowers in a glass jar.
You will have sunshine every day.
II. Kimberley
There once was a girl from Maine
who walked the hills of New York state,
looking for something, though she knew not what.
She picked up a wreath of wild flowers
arranged in the shape of a heart.
This heart of hydrangea petals
surrounded by Queen Anne’s lace
touched her very own broken heart.
She hung the wreath on her own front door
to show the world and herself
that this was enough.
III. Tara
Once a girl from New Jersey
walked all the way to New York
searching for wisdom,
(perhaps words on a bumper sticker),
a message for the secret of life.
On a bedlam farm,
dirty from long disuse,
she met a man selling seeds.
He told her to plant this tiny seed,
(so small she could hardly see),
water it every day, speak in a soft voice.
The seed will grow into the finest of flowers
more beautiful than hollyhocks.
One day when the sun rose
& the fog lifted,
she saw the flower,
finer than anything imagined,
and she said, “It is good!”
Margaret Simon, all rights reserved,
with incredible respect and love
for the gift of time that is born at a farm in New York
Reflections on the Teche 