Poetry Friday: English Muffins & Hiking Trails

My husband and I been watching past episodes of The Great British Baking Show through our WiFi enabled Roku unit and a PBS Passport account. Last night we watched an episode on bread making from season two. While it was on, I penned a quick poem on the subject of the episode: English Muffins!

English muffins

are made of fluffin’

Flour, sugar, water, and yeast

All things that grow a strong beast.


Golden on top, pale and soft on the side

Leaves little to no room for any pride.


Baked on a plate or griddle so hot,

careful to not dry them out, not even a spot.

No sloppy elbows to leave an impression,

Make extra to satisfy your perfectionist obsession.


Tasty with butter or jam on the top,

Bigger is better than the rest in the lot.

If an English muffin is the best you can do,

The Great British Baking Show is not for you!

It’s been wet here, as we’ve had some rain of late. The local environmental groups are asking that people not walk or hike on the trails to prevent excessive damage to these paths and surrounding vegetation. If you are a regular hiker who uses the trails, I think this guidance is understood but also hard to practice.

https://videopress.com/v/LS4c7R4e?preloadContent=metadata
Halfway Creek rushing water Spring 2021. © Carol Labuzzetta.

Hikers should

Leave only light footprints

in the dirt.

For too many deep ones can

really hurt.

The bugs,

the plants, and even

the soil, too.

If they get damaged,

they can’t do their job for you.

It only take a few days of

sun

to undo what the rain

has done.

So for the time being, stay off the trail.

Find an alternative so future hikers can prevail.

Today is Poetry Friday. This is a long standing group to which I’ve posted regularly for a year now, and sporadically before that. I have come to enjoy reading the creative posts from other poets. Today’s Poetry Friday round up is hosted by Heidi at my juicy little universe.

I am also participating in the Slice of Life Story Challenge for my fifth year. This daily writing challenge, held in March each year brings together a host of people who love to write: authors, teachers, and bloggers. This is day 12 of the 31 challenge. Thank you to TwoWritingTeachers.org for creating, organizing, and hosting this challenge.

15 thoughts

  1. Carol, poems about English muffins and hiking definitely appeal to me, as both of those are some of my favorite things! (Butter and strawberry jam…mmmm). Your hiking poem and the paragraph of prose before it are spot on: Hiking on wet trails is a bad thing, but it’s so hard to keep from doing it. We haven’t had rain in over a week, and some of our trails are still wet. I’m ready for the heat of summer!

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    1. When I worked at the Conservancy, concern about our trails at this time of year was high. Yet, I saw many people ignore the signs and hike anyway. It’s a double edged sword….you want them used, but damage to the trail is not something that is easily repaired if it occurs. Thanks!

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  2. Love this poem! Actually, on a related note, I’ve always wanted to try baking English muffins. I’m guessing they’re somewhat simple to make, and I’m also betting my son would gobble them up. Thanks for the inspiration!

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    1. I would highly recommend trying the Poetry Friday group….very supportive group of writer’s and some fantastic poetry to read. I was hesitant at first but have come to really enjoy it. Thanks for your kind words about the poems, too!

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  4. Oh my gosh! I’m definitely going to try this poetry Friday! You’re the second person to mention it! Great poems and also GBBS is probably the best baking competition show out there. It brings a lot of joy!

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  6. Carol, I love the way your blog looks! I’m struck by the similar textures of English muffins and soggy trails–so easy to sink in to both, somewhat dangerous to overdo both. : ) On a separate note, I would be delighted to have you send me a couple of links to the best information on intensities and excitabilities in very young TAG kids. I’ve got some coming into InPerson learning soon and I need to think about how to accommodate them from 6 feet apart!

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    1. Heidi, Thank you so much for your compliments on my blog/poems. I can recommend two sites from which to get information about young tag kids and overexcitabilities and/or intensities. Personally, I think giving them each an individual challenge in an area of high interest to work on (no help or sharing with others) and then a sharing session at the end of the day/week (whatever time period you select). I know that sounds kind of vague but as you probably know TAG students (as well as most others) do not easily fit in a box and are definitely not amenable “one size fits all” solutions. Both SENG (Supporting Emotional Needs of the Gifted) and Hoagies Gifted Website has information that might be useful on these topics.
      https://www.sengifted.org/senglibrary (see section on overexcitabilities, as well as other sections)… and
      https://www.hoagiesgifted.org/educators.htm

      Hoagies is a jumble when you first look at it but there are many links to valuable information on their site…it just takes a while to sort through it.

      I hope you find something useful. Thanks so much for asking me! If I find anything else in the next few days, I’ll forward it to you.

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