Poetry Friday: Seen and Unseen

Christmas Hellebore in December
Christmas Hellebore in January (and she’s STILL blooming in March!)
Under the oak.
Such a beauty!

A daily cherita…

Before I planted hellebores

I never 
noticed them.

Now
I see them everywhere.
What else have I been missing?

(c) Mary Lee Hahn, 2024

I’m going to feast my eyes on all the early bloomers in the next couple of days: forsythia, dogwood, magnolias, daffodils, hyacinths, crocuses, and of course, all the hellebores. Because Sunday through Thursday next week the nighttime temperatures will be in the twenties. Before we get there, though, we’ve got to live through the tornado watch for tonight. Ah, springtime.

Cousin Tanita at {fiction, instead of lies} has this week’s Poetry Friday roundup. Or should I say…the UNBOUND up! Here’s to “all things lax, roomy, slack, and slouchy!”

24 thoughts on “Poetry Friday: Seen and Unseen”

  4. Mary Lee, what a great question your cherita asks. Isn’t that the truth when we discover something new, it seems to open our imaginations and noticings in whole new ways. These hellebores are beautiful. Enjoy winter’s last hurrah and stay safe!

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  7. It’s a contrast but your post connects to mine, especially with the fickle days of March. I’ve seen a few bits of color when walking but we are late this year. Now you make me wonder, too, “What else have I been missing?” Hope the tornados passed you by, Mary Lee!

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  10. A matter of letting previously unnoticed things into your consciousness. Love these photos! And your question at the end of your poem “What else have I been missing?” It’s a profound question but one that inspires open thought and active noticing.

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  13. They are beauties, those hellebores. It is a great question… lately I even miss my glasses when they’re in front of me! Open my eyes, that I may see…something new every day. Best wishes for safety through storms, and thanks for this lovely poem and photos.

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  14. Forsythia! It’s a favorite of mine…I have such fond memories of it as a kid in western, NY. But, it seemed to take so dang long before it bloomed. Noticing is such an act of love. I love how YOU love our world.

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  16. Eyes wide open to the beauty surrounding us! I hope you and your Hellebore friends weather the storm/temp drop. Bundle up, buttercup! 😉

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    1. I’m writing daily cheritas for the Stafford challenge. I share them in my IG stories and archive them (when I remember) in a collection on my profile there. They are deliberately ephemeral.

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  18. Mary Lee – that is a common question for environmental educators that you posed – What else have we been missing? Probably, the answer for most people, is too much! I also anxiously await spring the emergence ephemerals - dutchman’s britches, pasque flowers, cinquefoil, trillium, and blood root are a few of my favorites to find. I like them so much that I bought native seed packets of them last year. Unfortunately, they’ll take a few years to bloom – but I can still enjoy the wild ones I see on our daily walks!

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