©Mary Lee Hahn, 2023
This sudoku poem has a striking line in the left-most column: “Grow something beautiful from what might seem like dirt.” This is a quote from page 120 of Soil: The Story of a Black Mother’s Garden, by poet and scholar Camille T. Dungy.
Heidi gave the Inklings the challenge of writing sudoku poems after I shared one back in June, and I originally got the idea from Rattle. As best I can tell, these poems are meant to contain ten(ish) haiku(ish) poems within the grid, five in the columns and five in the rows. They are fun to write, but take a good amount of fiddling.
Here’s what the other Inklings came up with this month:
Linda @A Word Edgewise
Heidi @my juicy little universe
Molly @Nix the Comfort Zone
Catherine @Reading to the Core
Margaret @Reflections on the Teche
Marcie has this week’s Poetry Friday roundup at Marcie Flinchum Atkins.
A(nother) Year of Reading 
A good amount of fiddling, yes. It’s a puzzle, no less. I love your nod to growing things in a garden that could also be growing things in our dark souls. Whichever interpretation, this poem offers a hopeful outcome. “Emerging from darkness gloriously blooming potential.”
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I’ve never seen a Sudoku poem. Yours is lovely, Mary Lee. I can imagine they take quite a bit of fiddling to get a result like this one. Your photo is the perfect accompaniment to it!
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My goodness, Mary Lee, that line is so full of meanings. And I love the ‘find’ of the line from Soil: The Story of A Black Woman’s Garden. I saw that you share it last week, so on my list! Thanks!
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I love this poem (these poems)! How clever! I could spend hours meandering through that grid.
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I think you did a remarkable job with this. I’d like to try it sometime! There are so many beautiful lines and thoughts it’s hard to choose a favorite, but I do like “like dirt imagination is all untapped potential”
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Mary Lee, your photo and sudoku poem are inspiring. I love seeing things grow. I have been reading a book called “The Song of the Cell” my Dr. Sidhartha Mukerjee, a wonderful science writer. Your post is another reminder that life begins in the cell. If you enjoy science, you might like this book.
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Like dirt,
Like hope,
Everything’s released,
Emerging.
I will NOT get over how brilliant these are. Can you imagine a hopeful little book of them? A guidebook chapbook on all the ways you can say to hold on, that things will get better (they must)…?
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I don’t try for meaning in the diagonals, but I love when it happens! We definitely need to collect all the ways we can say “hold on, that things will get better” because Yes, they MUST.
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Yah–fiddling! I couldn’t make myself add another column for the five…four columns was tough enough. But, I love this grid that reminds me of a tiny garden grid plan I’ve seen in books and magazines. You have lovely summery words and images. “Unspools” is the word that steals the show for me…making it more than just a garden poem…makes me think of growing personally too.
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I like the surprises that emerge from these short haikus offering hope— the diagonals are fun too. “ a seed is everything beginning is all!💜 thanks!
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Mary Lee, you unrattled words and came up with a fabulous suduko that fits every which way I look. That is skill. You inspired me to try one.
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Masterful, Mary Lee! Each combination is gorgeous! I especially love “emerging from darkness glorious blooming potential”. I really enjoyed playing with this form. In fact, I bought myself a set of metaphor dice to try to expand my reach. Hope to write many more!
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These sodoku poems are amazing to me! Love it!
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Wow, Mary Lee! This is fabulous and right up my garden-loving alley! Like Linda, I love the word “unspools” and my favorite line is “like dirt imagination is all untapped potential.” Each line works so well though! You make this look easy!
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Oh my goodness, this is amazing, Mary Lee!
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Brilliant, Mary Lee.
Arrgh, it’s hard to pick a favorite line! I love them all, but will highlight:
a seed is everything beginning is all
Also love:
like dirt imagination is all untapped potential
Beautiful!
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