The email from The Academy of American Poets (poets.org) told me “Get Ready For National Poetry Month!”
They read my mind. I’ve been auditioning ideas for the past several days:
Revisit favorite poetry books from my classroom collection before I donate them? (No, I’d rather get the books in the hands of young readers BEFORE April begins.)
Wordle poems? (No, too unpredictable and often too goofy or trivial.)
Response to the news? (No. Just…no. No matter how important it is to witness the horrors, this would be way too depressing.)
Nature poems inspired by Mary Oliver’s “Pay attention. / Be astonished. / Tell about it.”? (That I could do.)
Devote the month to a form? (I’ve done haiku, cheritas, and golden shovels. This is a definite possibility. Maybe acrostics. Then I could respond to the news, AND “Pay attention. / Be astonished. / Tell about it.” with or without a nature theme. Let’s give it a try…)
Yesterday, I had my yearly eye checkup, complete with the near-blindness of the drops that dilate your pupils.
DILATED
Devil’s in the details.
Ideally, anyway. But
Leave it to the Big Picture
Archetype to force us to
Try to see everything all at once
Even when we hardly
Dare to open our eyes.
(c) Mary Lee Hahn, 2025 draft
Janice has this week’s Poetry Friday roundup at Salt City Verse.
A(nother) Year of Reading 
Wonderful ♥️
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The Devil’s in the details, unseen after eyedrops. A clever poem! I’m sure whatever you choose for NPM will be worth reading. Thanks, Mary Lee!
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The secretary told a corny joke this morning about dilate. Acrostics are my students’ go to form. Some of them have become quite good at it. I love the line “Try to see everything all at once” which is nearly impossible. We went to an art show last night and toured it in circles seeing something new each time.
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Thanks for the ideas for NPM. I think I will try a form, but I’m not sure which one yet. Lately I’ve been loving cheritas, so maybe. I love the ending line of your poem. These days I hardly dare to open my eyes to what is happening in our country. Some days I don’t even recognize it.
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Umph–love this, Mary Lee. I’m pondering NPM too. Thinking a short form MIGHT be something I could handle. It would have to be super simple. Thanks for nudging me. I need to decide!
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I hate having my eyes dilated! Appreciate your poem, esp. now when it’s frightening to open one’s eyes to the corruption happening in our country. Looking forward to whatever you choose to do for NPM. Getting my Roundup ready . . .
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Mary Lee, I had dilations 3 times in the last couple of weeks. Lately I am unsure about opening my eyes to what is happening in life/medical issues and politics. Your poem resonates with me.
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Love this poem and the analogy that comes with your eye appt. I learned almost a year ago that I have glaucoma. So eye exams are very important to me now. I have photos taken of my retina instead of the dilation, as well as other more extensive tests for my visual fields and pupil reactivity. It’s a lot, but my sight is very important so I am guarding it well, taking my drops, and going to all my eye appts. It’s amazing when something so small becomes large when perspective or the need to have it done changes. I hope you keep seeing “clearly” for a long time to come!
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Thank goodness for yearly check ups — my pressure was uncharacteristically high, so I go back in a few weeks. Glaucoma is a possibility, but good thing we’re catching this early. It might also be an anomaly, which is what I’m hoping for!
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Yes, mine was caught early on a yearly check. It’s important to go regularly. It took a few visits and some more testing to stabilize my pressures but I’ve been on track now for a good six month. My f/u tests were good – no vision losses. I hope yours is an anomaly.
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Mary Lee, nice ideas. It seems like you are leaning well into acrostics. Dilated is a good ones. Oops, I forgot all about Poetry Friday today!
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Good luck with your deliberations, Mary Lee. I recall fondly NPM from my time working in NYC. Whenever I hear mnetion of those dilating eye drops I think of raccoons. The yellow dye leaves the surrounds of your eyes quite reminiscent of those furry rascals. Your poem gave the word a much broader application. Subtle, yet telling.
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I love that you’re “auditioning” ideas for NPM! Also, I think acrostics are great. They give just enough structure to get things moving. I often start with one when I want to dig into an idea or topic. They help me to get ideas flowing and encourage me to explore interesting word choices. I’m looking forward to reading yours next month and loved the one you shared here. So clever!
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I love that you are auditioning ideas for Poetry Month. I wrote this down for me to journal about this past week–but the time change affected me more than I anticipated. So it’s moving to next week. I’m excited to do some more creating (I’ve been in marketing mode for too many weeks).
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Oh, those eye drops are awful. I have my checkup in two weeks, and I’ll be glad when I’m done with it for another year. I like your NPM idea and today’s poem was a great start! I haven’t decided if I want to try a NPM project. I’ve never been able to stick with it. Maybe a weekly poem with either a theme or using a certain form would work for me. Thanks for the reminder to audition some ideas. xo
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This year I may not have an excuse to say that NPM has crept up on me because you’ve reminded me of it before it arrives! 🙂
I appreciate your acrostic since I *do* hardly dare to open my eyes, but I’m also trying to see and take in everything we’re bombarded with each day. It’s so tiring.
I like the idea of combining acrostics with the Oliver inspiration!
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I could feel the glaring light in your poem, no fun though important. My mom and sister both have glaucoma, so far my pressures been good, keep an eye on those important 👀 !
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