Happy May Day! Today is an Inklings challenge day, and Heidi challenged us to “Celebrate May by writing a poem that Maykes use of the verbs may, might, could, can, ought.” It felt SO good to use more words, syllables, and lines!
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
Molly @Nix the Comfort Zone
Linda @A Word Edgewise
Rose has this week’s Poetry Friday roundup at Imagine the Possibilities.
The image is via Unsplash.
A(nother) Year of Reading 
Bravo! Wonderful cheeky word play here with “butterflies that won’t be caught,” and, “shower-plagued cliche.” And, a villanelle! Wowee. That’s ambitious after all the poeming of April.
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It’s May! Hooray! It’s my second most favorite month (October is first). Love “April’s shower-plagued cliche” and how you managed to find appropriate rhymes. Nicely done.
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This is great, Mary Lee–pure joy (even though I’m not in love with spring). And May is full of helping one daughter move from one TCU to another and helping another prepare to move across country at the end of the month. Plus a jam-packed calendar. I am NOT ready for May. I might go to bed and hide under the covers. Still, your gorgeous line, “She’s sun, after a month of grey…” There’s something about your use of “She’s” instead of “It’s” or another more distant word. Your poem makes me feel more kindly toward May–just a little bit ;>)
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Mary Lee, your villanelle moves at such a rhythmic pace that I fell in love with it. The key thought for me is “April’s shower-plagued cliche.” I am looking forward to the sunshine of May. Thanks for bringing it to us in verse.
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Mary Lee, I love “full of possible, scant of ought.” I decided yesterday that spring is my new favorite season: hopeful, forward-facing, bursting. Your villanelle captured that feeling perfectly! “April’s shower-plagued cliché” made me smile.
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Love it!! The villanelle is such a lyrical form and you worked your magic with it. Thanks for the uplifting post; yes, we made it!
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Villanelle for the win! Ironically, we have had a fabulous April and it’s been raining all day this first day of May. Of course, we needed it, and so do all the flowers. I love how you wove together these lines. They make me happy even on a grey day.
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Mary Lee, you word wrapper wrangler You… saw all your sneaky smiles here, especially what you did with “flowers’ plot.” Wishing you blooms soon in all your flowers’ plots! Hugs.
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I adore “full of possible, scant of ought”!
Here’s to May, Mary Lee!!
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Mary Lee, look at you bursting the seams of your poem with syllables. I love the playful photo and the “She’s sun, after a month of grey” So fun and a great tribute to this day and season.
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Mary Lee, your villanelle speaks to my winter-weary heart- we made it. It’s finally May and She’s sun, after a month of grey. Love the form of the villanelle and your poem is full of spunk and sunshine:) Happy Poetry Friday and May!
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I love the playfulness of your May poem. After a monthful of tricubes, I bet it was freeing to write this.
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Mary Lee, I love the optimism for the month of May and the potential it holds. I particularly enjoyed the refrain used to close each stanza. For me May is the final month of Autumn and signals the inevitable descent into winter, so I am hoping for a few mild days with gentle sunlight. No overreach.
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I’m breathing in your poem that beams out goodness, sunshine, 🌞 joy, and sunlight, and I eagerly welcome 🤗 MAY!!! 🩵 the pic too, thanks Mary Lee!
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Mary Lee, this is the MOST sweetly genius song of May–your rhymes here are inspired, and like others, I’m enamored of “full of possible, scant of ought” and the personfication overall. Huzzah!
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“Full of possible, scant of ought” — I’d like to live like that!
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Mary Lee, this is fabulous! There are so many clever lines throughout and this is such a buoyant, romp of a poem. So May-ish! I love the sense that both you( moving out of tricubes and into an open field of words and syllables and lines) and the new month are revelling together. The form is a perfect fit, too, and you make it look so easy. “full of possible, scant of ought” and “April’s shower-plagued cliche/that advances flowers’ plot” are two favorites. Wow!
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Your poem was so fun to read. I love the Villanelle form and the repetition of the lines, which lets me savor them once again, just in case I read them too quickly before 🙂 The optimism you wrote in the words you chose was just what we need right now.
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