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!
A(nother) Year of Reading 
Molly, you are a talented artist! I love your mixed-media interpretation of the Inklings’ challenge. The color palate you chose for Like Stitching tickles my stitches!
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Thanks, Tracey!
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Arg! Mary Lee, so sorry! I must have Molly on the brain because she’s hosting!
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Oh, the thread! Yes, I hope I am. Beautiful metaphor. Lots of poetic goodness here, Mary Lee. Thank you.
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These poetry comics bring me so much joy! The making of them, the sharing, and the spark of energy between participants are all magic! I love that your thread is such a part of your writing today!
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Molly, I was so happy to see you on Grant Snider’s webinar with Georgia and get to enjoy your poem. It was perfect for the comic illo style. I am inspired to try to illustrate mine this weekend. Grant makes it seem as if we can all do this through the simplicity of his drawings. I am amazed at what his illustrations bring to the text, too. Thanks for sharing.
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Thanks, Cathy! It was good to see you, too!
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Lovely all over again, Mary Lee, and at second glance, I see more echo between yours and mine: not the needle, not the straight, driving road, but the thread, the curving path. How fun to be with Grant! I’m going to invite him to drop in to one or both of my two POETRY COMIX afterschool workshops this time. He said he’d be willing if the time is right! BTW, have you seen these? https://www.whispershoutwritingworkshop.net/magazine/heading-b2pxd-3x23t-yzk5l-y49ex-la4nd-ndtm9-yj6rw-26zeh-8t2sw-z5k9t-ksxww-szmnw-3b3pk-jp5rm-zjey3
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How did I miss the WhisperShout poem-comics?!?! They are all kinds of brilliant, and how lucky the poets are to have you there by their sides, elaborating on the amazing craft moves they make in each one!! Thank you!
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Mary Lee, of course your poem would be about stitching. 🙂 And a poetry comic to boot! Wonderful. FYI: My Tuesday 2-Minute Writing Tip this week was inspired by your poem “Ideas are Weeds.” Thank you! xo
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I’m honored! Heading over to watch now!
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Look at you making illustrated poems! This is brilliant!
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Tricubes will fit well into comic panels. Just sayin’.
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🤣
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Every part of this is full of wonder, Mary Lee. I know the Stafford poem, and now love yours, too, and then adding in with Grant Snyder’s inspiration is awesome! Keep going!
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I really like these Wendell Berry inspired poems. Yours is lovely, Molly. Thanks!
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Thanks!
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I love these poems and the drawings! You make it look easy but there were a lot of choices involved. The artwork is beautiful and what a fun idea to do a comic.
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So good to see you Monday night, Mary Lee! Love what you did with “Like Stitching.” I’m still a bit intimidated with the drawing part but feel so much more comfortable now.
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Mary Lee, I love this idea — and your examples of it — so very much! Yes, be the thread. “If Canvas Could Talk” is equally brilliant.
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Mary Lee, wow! The stitching comments, being “the thread, steady, steady” — So beautiful! And your poem used as an example by Grant Snider–what a treasure. Very fun post, and I love the challenge to dare to try some art. I’m clinging to “you don’t have to be too precious about the art.” Thanks!
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Yes, let’s be the thread, flexible and bending. Lovely poems and art!
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I love your response to the prompt and how you make me rethink the roles of needle and thread. Then, transforming it into a poetry comic takes it to another level! And how awesome that your poem was chosen during the workshop!
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I love your poem and your discovery of poetry comics! I thought I would try it, but other things got in the way. I keep telling myself I will have time to create art soon, soon, but I keep filling time up with other things. You made time to be with Grant Snider and look what amazing art you created. There’s a simplicity to it (my OLW) that I crave.
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I absolutely LOVE these poetry comics. And I love that there is a soft, serious side to them (because so often comics are silly–though I love Grant Snider’s book and use it with my students).
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*thunderous applause* for Mary Lee’s poetry comics!!! LOVE them both!
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Such a joy to see you on the Grant Snider workshop, Mary Lee — I loved your canvas poem and then, to see it come to life in a comic…! It’s so fun to see what you did with the Wendell Berry prompt. Loving on that metaphor of thread!
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“You don’t ever let go of the thread.” William Stafford. His last line here is The Thing. Appreciations +
I luv your post of wonder & pastel color with your insightful poetry comic in voice of the blank canvas. ‘Twas fun to watch from above, with his light projection as #GrantSnider’s w o w images & inclusion of your words unfolded – a well-earned earned & exciting honor, Mary Lee, for your submussuion to be selected during the idea-growing Monday night. Your artist-hands & mind that wweave wonders with thread & needle also are OneWith pen & ink drawings. Some of the others poetry comics you came up with, but didn’t send to #GeorgiaHeard for Grant, will maybe appear here with your drawings, I hope.
You & GS are making me think of “Feiffer” the philosophical comic panels by Jules F, [who Wikipedia reminds me died at age 95 in January of 2025.] I hadn’t thought before, but Grant Snider is likely his heir in some ways….
I don’t often find myself having a party like that online with so many #PoetryFriday pals. It was groovy, from sending in our poem comic ideas, to witnessing Grant’s process to select, interpret & educate in his Gentle Soul way. Shout out to #GeorgiaHeard for her providing the space within her poem boosting. Apologies for dding this late, but not less enthusiastically.
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I was thrilled to see you there, Jan, and get to spend time with you and the other PF Peeps!
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Mary Lee, I adore everything about this post. For me, your poems capture the essence of the joy of bringing something new into the world, either with fabric, thread, yarn, or words. And, although the mood is completely different, your poem reminds me or W.S. Merwin’s “Separation”. (Am I the only one who gets Wendell/William/W.S mixed up?)
“Your absence has gone through me
Like thread through a needle.
Everything I do is stitched with its color.”
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Mary Lee, WOW!!!!!!!!! Your poetry comics are AMAZING, and your “steady, steady” line in your “Like Stitching” poem calmed my addled brain. Thank you for these beautiful poems and poetry comics!!!
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