Happy September, poetry friends. Last month, I had to sit out from the Poetry Princesses 1st-Friday-of-the-month posting. This month, although I’m not bringing much to the table, I did at least write a poem. I wrote it on the plane ride down to Florida, where I’m spending a bit of time helping my dad with some stuff. I decided to write about monarch butterflies, mostly because we held a butterfly release in August in memory of my mom. Now every time I see a monarch, I will think of her. Because I’ve been looking at monarchs more closely, I’ve been really enchanted with their colors and movements.
I’ll let Tricia or one of the other explain the clogyrnach form, which I enjoyed. Here’s my poem:
Make sure to check out what my Poetry Sisters came up with:
Kelly
Liz
Andi
Sara
Tanita
Tricia
And here are the previous Poetry Sisters collaborations:
| Aug 2016 | Ekphrastic poems |
| Jul 2016 | Poems inspired by a Kay Ryan poem (“House for Sale”) |
| Jun 2016 | Harpy poems |
| May 2016 | Tritina |
| Apr 2016 | “Channel-Hopping Through Grasshopper Reality TV” |
| Mar 2016 | Sedoka |
| Feb 2016 | Poem Inspired by a Picasso Sculpture (ugh) |
| Jan 2016 | Crown sonnet (on the periodic table) |
| Nov 2015 | Ekphrastic poems |
| Oct 2015 | Etherees |
| Sep 2015 | Found poems |
| Aug 2015 | Classified haiku |
| Jul 2015 | Inspired by e.e. cummings’ poems |
| Jun 2015 | Odes |
| May 2015 |
Pantoums |
| Apr 2015 | Raccontinos |
| Mar 2015 | Sestinas (Lord have mercy) |
| Feb 2015 | Villanelles on hidden things |
| Jan 2015 | Triolets on beginnings (And I posted an extra one here.) |
| Pre-2015 | Villanelles, a crown sonnet, rondeau redoubles, and pantoums |
And for more Poetry Friday fun, check out the Poetry Friday Roundup, with Penny Klostermann!
31 Responses
Laura, I love your poem, it is beautiful. How wonderful that a monarch can be a remembrance of your mom.
Could you supply the links to your poetry sisters? I couldn’t get it to work and I did want to re-read Tricia’s explanation of the form and read the other examples. Please.
Added them, Joy–I hope you were able to click and read. I have to go read them all now! Thank you:>)
Oh, you even put together artwork. Lovely — and a great use of time on an airplane, surely!
Thanks, Tanita. I did feel pretty productive:>)
Oh, wow. I adore your description of a monarch! Quite lovely. And I hadn’t heard of doing a butterfly release in memory of someone—how wonderful.
Thanks, Sara. I hadn’t heard of a butterfly release, either. My sister arranged the whole thing, and it was amazing. The butterflies come in a refrigerated box and in little envelopes, in a dormant state. They don’t wake until you de-frigerate them for several hours and release them on a sunny day. It was really beautiful. Except the refrigerated butterflies…that kind of creeped me out a bit. But the release was lovely.
Laura, that is a beautiful poem. I love “orange stained glass” “clouds of bees” and “flowered seas.” So easy to see that in my mind’s eye.
Thanks, Cindyb. I did have fun with the description. The ending kind of confounded me, but…there you go.
Oh, this is so beautiful — and so meaningful. There is a huge monarch migration that passes through central Texas every spring — I wish you could come down here for it!
Thanks, Liz. That would be so cool. Someday!
This form looks so difficult to me — the rhyme always about to take over, and those counted syllables such a hidden (and tricky) element. But you Poetry Princesses have done well with it, so I’m going to give it a try. Thanks for posting it. (Hope things with your dad are okay.…)
I loved the form and found it fun, except that I should have decided on the ending two lines’ rhyme words first. I didn’t, and then couldn’t find an excellent word for the glass/grass rhyme. But I enjoyed the first four lines enough that I stubbornly refused to change them. Sigh. My own worst enemy. I hope you enjoy trying the form. My dad’s biopsy went well–results Thursday. I’m worried but trying not to borrow trouble. Thank you:>)
Oh man — this is so pretty, both visually and meaning-wise. LOVELOVELOVE it!
Thanks, Kelly:>)
LAURA. You killed it! I love the font formatting too — perfect!
Thanks, Andi. I love Wordswag:>)
I find it so helpful to grief to attach a part of nature to the person you miss. I have a friend who did this with rainbows, so I send her a text every time I see a rainbow. Now if I see a monarch, I’ll think of you and the mother you miss. Hope you were able to escape the wrath of Hermine.
Thank you, Margaret! It touches me to know someone else will associate her with monarchs now, too. My dad took me to a nature center this week with a butterfly garden and talked about how he and Mom enjoyed it. Mom never talked of butterflies much, mostly of flowers and birds, but she enjoyed butterflies, too. And now they’re linked in my mind. Hermine didn’t affect us too much here, and no permanent damage. Relieved.
What a lovely thing to celebrate your mom. And what a beautiful poem those monarchs inspired. Nature’s magic came through in this poem.
Thanks so much–it was really…fitting somehow.
I’m a big fan of monarchs, & I love how you describe this one–I’d never have thought of a boat with sails, but it fits perfectly. (Now I’m googling Wordswag.)
Thanks, JoAnn. I love Wordswag!
Lovely, Laura! It carries your grief with lightness and beauty.
Thanks, Michelle:>)
Love reading all the different poems from the Poetry Sisters. It’s an interesting form. I just love monarchs. When they migrate through here (Abilene, TX) they can be as thick as leaves on a tree. In fact they are well camouflaged on the trees. Then when they all fly, it’s magical.
That is so cool, Penny. I just saw a giant (to me) moth yesterday, and tons of butterflies at my dad’s this week. So many more of them in FL than in MN.
Just perfect. Especially knowing the connection to your mom.
Thank you, Mary Lee. Hope your school year is getting off to a great start!
This is really lovely, Laura. I especially love those sails of “orange stained glass” floating “over flowered seas.”
Thanks, Catherine:>)
Laura, I am so glad that you called my attention to this lovely form of poetry and the fluttering of the monarch butterfly. As I see a beautiful monarch butterfly floating over seas of grass, I will remember its connection to your family. Peace to you.