Month: February 2026

Poetry Friday: After Arthur Sze

Without actually meaning to, the Poetry Sisters have done great service to the Poetry Friday community by shining a spotlight on our current Poet Laureate, Arthur Sze. Were you, like us, not very (or at all) familiar with Sze’s poetry? We were delighted to dive in and discover his distinctive style of close focus on minute details in combination with big expansive ideas. We hope, if you joined us in the challenge, you were similarly delighted. And if you are just along for the ride and reading all the various takes on this challenge, again, we hope you are treated to a sense of delight.

I chose Sze’s poem “The Chance” because I loved the way the speaker ponders while they drive (as I am also wont to do). I loved the double meanings — “And as I approach thirty” can be miles per hour, or an age. As I approach my next birthday that ends in a zero, I absolutely agree that “the distances / are shorter than I guess.” I whole-heartedly agree with “I want a passion that grows and grows.” And those last two lines — swoon!

Rather than using those last two lines as the striking line for an acrostic (aligned vertically on the left), or a Golden Shovel (aligned vertically on the right), I used a new form (still under construction) that Heidi Mordhorst is calling the Fault Line Form, with my striking line through the middle of my poem.

On the topic of new forms, in March, the Poetry Sisters will be attempting to unravel the Ovillejo!

I look forward to reading what the rest of the Poetry Sisters, and all who are joining us in conversation with Arthur Sze, have written!

Laura @ Laura Purdie Salas
Liz @ Liz Garton Scanlon
Sara @ Read Write Believe
Tanita @ {fiction, instead of lies}
Tricia @ The Miss Rumphius Effect 

Margaret has this week’s Poetry Friday roundup at Reflections on the Teche.

Poetry Friday: The Embroidery

I know many of you get the same daily poems I do, and maybe like me, you don’t always have time to read them all. Here’s one I want to make sure you didn’t miss.

Lessons At the Legendary Institute for Yarn Spinning by Rigoberto González.

The rest of the poem is here.

Now, this poem won’t do for the kinds of lies and stories being told by the creeps and grifters in our current government, but it’s perfect for all the stories write into our poems. As the author’s grandmother advises, “If you’re going to make things up, do it well.”

Here’s to all the things you made up this week, and especially the ones you’re sharing in the Poetry Friday roundup, which is hosted this week by Susan at Chicken Spaghetti and as I type this I realize that I have not written to her challenge. Yikes! Since I’m uncharacteristically early getting this post ready, there might be time for a flash draft. Stay tuned.

Well, lookie there…

Poetry Friday: Happy Lunar New Year!

Happy Lunar New Year!

Early on, when I learned what the animal is for this year, I misread Horse for Hose, and Year of the Fire Hose seemed somehow quite appropriate. Made me giggle. Still does.

Thanks you, Jone, for organizing the New Year postcard exchange again! I had intended to carve, print, and hand-color an image again this year, but some tendon/joint/nerve issues in my right arm caused me to take a different direction. I chose the above image from my photos of our trip to Norway in September 2025 and wrote the series of haiku I’m sharing here. Each recipient got one of the haiku, but I thought y’all might like to see all four. And for those of you who didn’t partake in the joys of the exchange…here is your virtual postcard!

Robyn has this week’s Poetry Friday roundup at Life on the Deckle Edge.

Poetry Friday: Like Stitching


Molly gave the Inklings our challenge this month:

I am stealing a prompt from Audrey Gidman’s advent prompts. Prompt #24 to be precise:

Write a poem after Wendell Berry’s “Like Snow”— word for word. Choose a subject: rain, a butterfly, granite, the ocean, anything. Berry’s poem is three lines long. Break down each line. In line one, replace the word “suppose” with something else: what if; in spite of; imagine etc., replace the pronoun and the verb, replace “snow” with your chosen subject. Do the same with the second and third lines. Be sure to write an epigraph that reads “after Wendell Berry”.

Like Snow
by Wendell Berry

Suppose we did our work
like the snow, quietly, quietly,
leaving nothing out.

Like Stitching
by Mary Lee Hahn
after Wendell Berry

Perhaps we’re not the needle
but rather the thread, steady, steady,
weaving in and out.

If you look closely, there’s also a hint of William Stafford in my poem:

.

Last Monday, I had the opportunity (along with lots of other Poetry Friday Peeps!) to learn, on a zoom organized by Georgia Heard, about making poetry comics from none other than Grant Snider, the author of POETRY COMICS! He even used the poem I submitted as one of his examples!! The title is “If Canvas Could Talk.”

Since our poetry challenge this month resulted in a poem the perfect size for a poetry comic, I couldn’t resist. I created the image at the beginning of this post during the zoom. Poetry comics are fun, they challenge your brain in a new way, and you don’t have to be too precious about the art to make something you can be proud of!

Here’s how the rest of the Inklings met this month’s challenge:

Catherine @Reading to the Core
Heidi @my juicy little universe
Margaret @Reflections on the Teche
Linda @A Word Edgewise

And Molly has this week’s Poetry Friday roundup at Nix the Comfort Zone!