We’ve been travelling over the last week, visiting places we used to live and conduct our lives in Western New York. It brings to mind something my son said when he was young and in elementary school.
Mom, he said, “Math is everywhere!” And, he was right. We started noticing how math was a part of gardening, cooking in the kitchen, in art, architecture, and even in writing. Patterns, cadence, syllabic count, lines, and more – it showed up everywhere!
Similarly, over the last four years, since I’ve been writing daily, including spinning some poems a few times a week, I’ve noticed that poetry is everywhere! When I travel, this idea of poetry being everywhere comes to the front of my mind – writing poetry on place. Travel and/or place can be a great inspiration to write.
A large part of my personal teaching philosophy is connecting students to the place they find themselves. Developing a sense of belonging for a certain place can lead to feelings of responsibility for that place and a desire to protect it into the future. Although this philosophy is often put into action in my environmental lessons, the written word can highlight what one feels about a particular place, what connections one has to a place, and how being in that place makes one feel.
Buffalo
Another time,
another place,
where I lived in another design.
A lake front breeze,
grazes my face,
as I walk amongst the trees.
Much is the same,
But, some seems new.
More people, cars, and traffic to drive one insane.
Still, family and food draw me to
this place I lived a long time ago.
Buffalo, I still miss some parts of you.
© Draft, Carol Labuzzetta, 2021.
Some more poems of place can be found in my earlier blog posts. You can search on my blog or go to this page that contains some haiku poems on place.
The Apples in My Orchard 
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