It's April. It's Poetry Month!
And today is Poetry Friday, hosted by Molly Hogan at Nix the Comfort Zone. Her post may make you wish to get to the store for some yeast, or at least go to the kitchen to have toast with jam! Be sure to read the mouth-watering poems! Thanks, Molly!
Remember to check out the list of what everyone is doing at Jama Rattigan's blog: Jama's Alphabet Soup.
And check on the Water Poem Project where every day, a poet is sharing a prompt connected to water, hosted and created by Laura Shovan!
Plus! Check each day for the added line to the Progressive Poem, created by Irene Latham, now hosted by Margaret Simon! The link is above and the graphic to the right!
A leap with the theme of CIRCLES for poetry month, poems & small sketches. I am looking forward to reading everyone's posts. I'm sure I will love each one, knowing they're done during a time we've not lived before. I am worried about so many, those close and those far, my community, too.
April 1 - haiku
April 2 - cinquain
April 3 - a couplet
April 4 - limerick
April 5 - a kyrielle
April 6 - a skinny
April 7 - quatrain
April 8 - tanka
April 9 - a prose poem
April 13 - a nonet
April 14 - haikuApril 15 - lune
April 16 - sonnet
Best wishes for continuing good health to you all!
How It Was
Mama cut the buttons
from Sissy’s gingham dress,
cut that cloth into squares
to add to the quilt basket,
bringing to ten patterns,
to create Maggie’s quilt
for her wedding-coming-up.
She’ll give the buttons
to Lacy-down-the-road
for her little girl’s best
school dress and Lacy
will come to help
with the quilting.
Now we use old fabric,
make masks from
patterns that make
us laugh,
or try to.
There is much to learn from our parents and grandparents who lived through the Depression and other hardships. I have an apron my grandmother made from seed bag fabric and I remember she saved the last bits from bars of soap. I have no idea what she did with them, but her linen cabinet always smelled good! I love Lacy-down-the-road's polka-dotted dress!
ReplyDeleteLinda, the voice in this poem is precious. Well done on that. And, I love the community feel of making the quilt and now making the masks...although I'm not crazy about needing to make masks or the need for them. I've had a blast with the waterpoemproject poems. As busy as April is, making sure to get a poem finished off each day, I enjoy it. And, I will miss it when I can relax and when I can go back to work. I miss students, terribly.
ReplyDeleteLinda, this poem is a keeper for sure! I want this to be in a verse novel. :) Love your notebook too. Look at all the beauty you've created this month! Yay! xo
ReplyDeleteThis poem has such wonderful voice with "Lacy-down-the-road" and "wedding coming up". I had cleaned out my fabrics last summer, so, alas, I did not go on a sewing frenzy. So many friends have, though, that I have a few masks to choose from.
ReplyDeleteOh my goodness, Linda - aside from our being on the same "path" today with our sewing and all, I am in love with this poem. Circles, circles, circles in the story within this poem - just lovely. And the voice!! "wedding-coming-up" and "Lacy-down-the-road" are priceless, as I'm not the first to note. I do like Irene's idea of a verse novel, maybe?? XO
ReplyDeleteLove this! As others have said, the voice in the poem is wonderful ("Lacy-down-the-road"). I love the nod to simpler, kinder times, the spirit of community and resourcefulness. The polka dot dress and buttons makes me so happy -- and you are too clever with the painted on mask on the wood circle. You entire notebook is a treasure!
ReplyDeleteI believe that the mixture of 'staying at home' & trying to be well combines with my "sheltering in the past", taking comfort in knowing how others lived in their time, both happy and challenging ones. The 'circles' have certainly been a gift to me and I'm happy that others are enjoying what I'm creating. Thanks everyone for being here and reading, being yourselves, too!
ReplyDeleteThis notebook will indeed be a treasure, Linda. I'm enjoying each day of it. I agree that remembering how others lived in the past is a help right now. Simpler times. Best to you for continued health and well-being.
ReplyDeleteAnother poignant poem. I love the lines,
ReplyDelete"patterns that make
us laugh,
or try to." They really bring home the nostalgia. You've made me smile today, Linda. Thank you. :)
Linda, your scrapbook page with the poem is a gift of love. You brought another era to mind - a time when family always came first and then connected it now. Times are strained now. You reminded me that I need to make 2 more masks. Without a sewing machine, I am relying on my needles, thread and glue gun.
ReplyDeleteI love this page and the way you are weaving time and weaving words. It is remarkable, Linda.
ReplyDeleteAnd again, thanks for coming by. I've been out in the sun for a walk; our snow is melting fast, warmth & spring ahead! And more poetry!
ReplyDeleteLove the look back and the look at today, all woven together with the fabric from an old dress. Beautiful, Linda.
ReplyDeleteYou know my fondness of things from the past, especially fabric, so I took to this poem quickly. This one and the button one are my favorites...so far, but we still have 13 more days!
ReplyDeleteI love this one, too, Linda--how it circles past and present. These days do feel a bit like we've traveled in time (past, present and future).
ReplyDeleteThank you, Buffy, Leigh Anne, & Kay. It has touched me the way people have embraced creating the masks, even with the styles, trying to make it okay when it is so sad. Hence, the poem emerged.
ReplyDeleteLinda, your notebook page is fabulous. What a treasure you're creating! I love how you've linked past and present in your poem, adding resonance to both. Like so many have already commented "wedding-coming-up" and "Lacey-down-the-road" add so much voice to this poem! On a side note, I just heard on the radio yesterday about people using "suggestive" fabrics with the idea that if you can make out the figures or images on the cloth, you're standing too close--kind of like those bumper stickers on cars. Crazy!
ReplyDeleteThanks, Molly, I'm happy you enjoyed this page. This latest you shared about masks shows people are trying to get some humor out of the masks, I guess. What else is there to do but laugh when we can?
DeleteLove, Love, Love this one. So many memories of sewing and using scraps of cloth and notions. Even just that dress you cut with pinking shears! (I have my mom's pair!!)
ReplyDeleteThanks, Mary Lee, I have my mom's pair, too! How fun that you noticed. This was both fun and sad to write, but I'm glad I did. Enjoy your weekend!
DeleteThis is a joy, Linda. Reminds me of my quilt the Grandma made with leftover scraps from clothes - a bit of vest here, a trace of smock there - sewing an quilting are such metaphors for life. The scraps on your scrapbook page, over the COVID-19 recommendation, are a delight and so poignant - oh yes. We will try to laugh.
ReplyDeleteWhat a gorgeous collage and poem, Linda. Love the wood circle with the mask, too...
ReplyDeleteFrom quilts to masks, we're in a new era of use it up and make do. I love your poem's ending about trying to see humor in small ways these days. What a treasure trove of poetry you have created this month!
ReplyDeleteThanks, Fran, Laura, & Joyce, I appreciate your coming by to share your own connection to the post. We made a quilt one year as a whole school project, an enormous one that had people staying after school or duirng their break sitting together and sewing. It is one of those memories that made me know how much community means which I tried to put into the poem. We are all in this together!
ReplyDeleteFun poem to escape into Linda, but you so cleverly put in the type behind about mask wearing and added the closing lines bringing us into the present–I think I'll stay in the past for a little longer though–love your poem, thanks! For some reason I couldn't find your post for the Progressive poem but saw it on Heidi's post and love the line she chose, "She shifts and spotted fawns debut." I'd like to escape into the Progressive poem, and just breathe it in
ReplyDeleteI'm glad you noticed the background, Michelle, words I see everywhere, sad to write. The post is listed on the right with my other posts, but glad you enjoyed the line. Hope you find some good places to escape this week! Thank you!
DeleteSuch a clever poem linking past and present. And I love your artwork and seeing the clever ways you integrate your circles each week.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Sally, the project has been a good thing for me as we are all staying home with time to fill.
DeleteWonderful poem and presentation, Linda. Your poem reminds me of my crafty best friend who recently made a quilt using various scraps from our shared history, including the bridesmaid fabric for her wedding and baby outfits she made for my newborn daughter many years ago. I much prefer that use of the old scraps to making masks, but I guess we do what we have to do.
ReplyDeleteLove the whimsical wooden circle with masked face. You've created such a lovely project this year. It deserves its own book. I love looking at my grandmother's quilts and hearing my older sister narrate the fabrics.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Michelle & Ramona, seems like quilting is something we all love. I love reading about your own connections.
ReplyDeleteSo lovely, Linda. I had almost forgotten there was a time when old buttons didn't just get thrown away. I don't take lightly the pain and suffering caused by this pandemic, but I think one of the bright spots is that people are learning to treasure, use, and re-use what they have. Thanks for sharing this.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Kimberly. Yes, we are finding new ideas for 'old' things during this time. Guess it's good we didn't Kondo everything!
Delete