Poetry Friday: Peace

The Peace of Wild Things
by Wendell Berry

When despair for the world grows in me
and I wake in the night at the least sound
in fear of what my life and my children’s lives may be,
I go and lie down where the wood drake
rests in his beauty on the water, and the great heron feeds.
I come into the peace of wild things…

…go here for the rest of the poem, and to hear Wendell Berry read it.

Nature is helping me through each day. Also friends, community, mulching leaves, and washing windows.

#haikuforhealing (along with Jone’s #haikuforresilience) feels like…not at all enough. But then I remind myself that there is so very little right now that I have the power to change, and every little bit of peace does add up.

On the subject of every little bit of peace…I am going to back away from Threads and I am going to resist joining Bluesky. I am finding that I need less social media, not more. Instagram is enough.

Karen has this week’s Poetry Friday roundup at Karen Edmisten*.

Poetry Friday: Here We Go Again

In 2016, #haikuforhealing created a community of poets on Twitter. Yesterday, I finally created an account on Threads and just now I put out a call for poets writers anyone who wants to join in for another round of healing. Is that even the best home for such a community? Are you there? I hope you’ll find me and join in, or let me know what’s a better home for our creative outlet.

Here’s the post that launched the original. These are the words that inspired me:

5 Insights for Recording Artists, Performers, and Creatives 

1. Make Art for Social Change

2. Channel Your Pain into Art

3. If You See It, Say It, Sing It, or Sculpt It…

4. Be Visible

5. Collaborate

Here’s the video I put together for the 2017 #watchpaintdry movement (an alternative to watching the inauguration).

They aren’t haiku, but here are the beginnings of my healing (along with the banana bread I baked and shared with our neighbors yesterday):

I also got a flu and COVID inoculation…

Here are a couple of other offerings to help you move forward:

The Joy Workout: six research-backed moves to improve your mood.

The one song that slows my breathing and centers me every time:

Cathy has today’s Poetry Friday roundup at Merely Day By Day. She shares a powerful poem that encourages us to pick ourselves up (as soon as we’re ready) and “get back to the work.”

Poetry Friday: Ode to the October Garden

Tattered curtain of fennel
Grape Hyacinth foliage in front of what was a Blazing Star

Linda gave the Inklings a most generous and lovely prompt for this month: “Use this poem by Joy Harjo as a mentor text in any way that makes your heart happy.” Thank you, Linda. My heart is, indeed, happy!

Here’s what the other Inklings did with this month’s challenge:

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

Patricia has this week’s Poetry Friday roundup at Reverie.

Poetry Friday: Constructing/Deconstructing

The Poetry Sisters’ challenge this month was to write “…a poem in which we literally build and/or take apart something – large or small. Our focus will be on constructing or deconstructing, taking into account technical terms, instructions, and perhaps even material sources.”

I’m not usually a fan of food that needs to be deconstructed on my plate (bone-in chicken, Maryland crabs, shrimp that still have their tails). But I’ll make an exception for fresh mussels. Yum.

Here’s what the others made of this month’s challenge:

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

Carol has this week’s Poetry Friday roundup at Beyond LiteracyLink.

Poetry Friday: Surprises

Surprises

Would you have known
to watch for
porpoises and dolphins
as your ferry crossed the Minch
between Skye and Harris?

There’s something to be said for surprises
and also for a guide
generously sharing both knowledge
and binoculars.

(c) Mary Lee Hahn, draft, 2024

Your Scotland might be cities and castles, but mine is the rugged wide open beauty of the Hebridean islands. I experienced Scotland through the soles of my boots, the pain in my knees, and the exhilaration of peaks and beaches; through wind and rain, fog and rainbows; through history, geology, and local wildlife. And, of course, through the food.

I’m back, but a bit of my heart was definitely left behind in the Outer Hebrides.

Matt has this week’s Poetry Friday roundup at Radio, Rhythm & Rhyme.

Poetry Friday: Fun With BLUE Double Dactyls

Here’s my poetic contriBLUEtion to the conversation. (I have no idea why the two images won’t line up. We’ll just let a wonky poetry form have a wonky look on the page.)

Heidi has this week’s Poetry Friday Roundup at my juicy little universe and reminds us that small things can be enormous. Let’s carry that vibe forward.

Poetry Friday: Next Time


I had so much fun writing after Joyce Sutphen’s Next Time, that I offered it to the Inklings for our September challenge.

Here’s what the other Inklings did with this month’s challenge (if back-to-school allowed for time to write) :

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

Buffy Silverman has this week’s Poetry Friday roundup.

Poetry Friday: Ghazal for the Sky

The Poetry Sisters’ Challenge for this month was to write ekphrastic poems from photos we shared with each other. This happens to be one of the photos I shared, and while it is a glorious and whimsical sky, my poem took me in other, more mournful directions. Such is the nature of ekphrastic poems. Whatever the image prompts is where the poem goes.

Here’s Tricia’s poem, and Tanita’s poem, and Liz’s poem.

Susan has this week’s end-of-August Poetry Friday roundup at Chicken Spaghetti.

Poetry Friday: In My Stead

Look at that lineup! Be still my poetry heart! And they’re all coming to Ohio!

And…

…I will be helping to lead the Casting for Recovery retreat that weekend!

You can hear my sobs and wailing and gnashing of teeth, can’t you? So. Please go in my stead and tell me all about it. More information and registration is here. Go to the live Poetry Unbound interview. Wander the streets and enjoy the typewriter poets. Swoon for me, please. I’m swooning from afar.

I don’t have a poem to share today, just this sad-for-me / happy-for-you news.

Plus, I would be remiss if I didn’t link to Amanda Gorman’s PHENOMENAL poem delivered at the DNC.

Oh, and the poets.org poem of the day today was my kind of call to action.

Rose has this week’s Poetry Friday roundup at Imagine the Possibilities.