I struggled with what to write about today. I started a few poems but they didn’t seem to be clicking with me creatively. I’ll save those to keep working on them. Both are nature-inspired.
I looked into poems about moving. We are just two weeks away from our move. Much progress was made over last weekend as we were able to clean out with a garage sale. Another load has gone into storage and today, another load went to the cabin. I had an emotional time when our photos and artwork came down off the walls the other day but I don’t want to write about that again.
Then, I turned to poets in the public domain. None were sparking my interest until I thought farther into the future than our move. We are planning another National Park trip this fall. But, this time, instead of visiting five parks, we are visiting only one – Acadia National Park in Maine.
Thus, I’ve been reading a lot about Acadia and the State of Maine in general. Maine has produced several big-name poets and writers over time. I remember reading about Mt. Katahdin in my Environmental History course during the transcendentalism part of the timeline. Of course, here I am referring to Thoreau.
But, as far as poets, Maine has contributed Henry Wadsworth Longfellow whose poetry always strikes a chord with me. And, although born in New York, Maine does claim the author E.B. White as their own. You know him as the author of Charlotte’s Web which supposedly is based on a farmyard in Maine. It is one of my all-time favorite books.
One of the things I’d like to see on our visit to Maine is the puffins. Puffins are cold-weather tolerant coastal birds and look (to me) a little like a penguin with their black and white plumage their orange accented bill. They are common to Iceland and Machias Seal Island off the coast of Maine! We’ll be too late on our trip to actually visit the island but I’m hoping that on one of our shore visits, we will see some puffins.
So, although I don’t have a lot to offer today in terms of poetry, I am looking forward to some trip/vacation/travel inspiration in a few months! By then we should be settled in at the cabin – and who knows what will inspire me there?!
Since it is Poetry Friday, I’ll leave you with the start of this poem about a pocket prairie I planted that I’ll be leaving when we move. After all my searching, I went back to this and added the third verse…still a work in progress.
Pocket Prairie
In my pocket prairie,
treasures grow
albeit slow
waiting for more sun to make it merry.
Colorful yellow pannicles now,
sprinkle color in a sea of green
with a flash of red waiting to be seen.
By July, I’ll be gone
but pink and purple will arrive
to add some vibrancy, making my pocket come alive!
Colorful prairie flowers, so much better than a lawn.
© Draft, Carol Labuzzetta, 2022
Today is Poetry Friday. Buffy Silverman is our host! Thank you for organizing the roundup today, Buffy! Please visit her site for some more great nature-inspired poetry!
The Apples in My Orchard 
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