Happy Poetry Friday! Welcome, everyone! (Wondering what Poetry Friday is? Click here.)
Well, friends, I feel like 2025 is kind of limping to a close here. Covid and various bugs have been spreading around my family the past couple of weeks, and I’m exhausted.
We’re supposed to have our Christmas Eve celebration Saturday night (postponed due to Covid, etc.), and I’m putting this post together Tuesday afternoon, the 23rd, while I’m upright and able! Meanwhile, I’m hoping both you and I enjoyed some wonderful holiday celebrations between today and when this post goes live.
I didn’t make it to the Poetry Sisters Zoom live writing time, but I did throw down a first draft on Tuesday. Our assignment this month was any poem on the them of peace, light, or hope. Here’s what I’ve got. I often think that the price of light and hope is the darkness we go through. Does either one mean anything without its opposite? Of course, that doesn’t stop me from wishing for more light and less darkness for all of us in 2026!
Meanwhile, here’s what the rest of the Poetry Sisters got up to.
Click here to see all our previous Poetry Princesses collaborations. I need to update this, and I hope to feel more involved in 2026. 2025 has thrown me for a loop.
Our Poetry Friday host is the smart and thoughtful Tricia Stohr-Hunt, maker, educator, and poet! She’s got the Roundup for us, and I’m excited to see what light everyone brings to the party.
17 Responses
Very nice Laura! You have all the brittle daggers in there, but oh that light comes through at the end, yes bring on the light!
Hope you are feeling better soon ❤️🩹. I’ve been on a very slow and painful recovery from dental surgery last week, and looking forward to some light/relief shining my way too!
Oh, no. I hope the rest of your recovery goes more quickly, Michelle. I couldn’t comment on your post, but I did read and enjoy it. I often neglect to pause as frequently as I should. It’s a great word choice!
Laura, I’m sorry that your family and you have been sick. I wish you all a speedy recovery. Your poem is great! I love the lines “grips your spirit with sharpened claws.” I agree with Michelle that your light comes out strong at the end. I wish you lots of peace and light and I hope you feel well soon. Happy New Year!
Thank you, Gail! Happy New Year to you <3
Oh for light I’d pay it twice. Yes! Hope y’all are feeling better soon! xo
Your poem made me think of cracking open a door in the cold dead of winter…you have to open it to get outside, to the light you need. We missed you at the ZOOM, but I hope you’re recovering. Many thanks for the light you’ve given me this year.
And yet it’s so hard to crack open that door. The foreboding…May 2026 be filled with light and peace, Sara…
Oh that brittle slice!
We were at my parents’ house for less than 24 hours because my mom had COVID (didn’t find out until her 2nd visit to the dr). Hoping everyone around you is feeling better soon!
ooooh, that “brittle slice” gets me. I love it. Well done. During the holiday preparations for my family I watched (more listened to) John Lithgow’s PBS documentary on him going back to the LA School for the Arts. It was just lovely. JL is elderly now…but so full of love for learning and young people. It was so inspiring. I can feel the price of the light and hope being growing old in some way. I’m wishing you wellness. Thanks for having this place on the interwebs I can come for inspiration.
I think death is the ultimate price for the light and hope (in my mind, anyway). Aging, illness, all the things we go through–they are absolutely the price of light and hope. Thanks for reading, Linda!
Ooh — I’m so sorry you’re feeling crappy but perhaps the limits of being upright and lucid sharpened your already honed poetic sense with the economy of necessity! This is really beautiful. Hope you can join us on the 4th, feel better soon.❤️
Laura, Hope everyone is feeling better! Thank you for sharing “The Price” as it reminded me that there is always light and dark, if not for us at that moment, for someone. Love “the brittle ice” and the exuberant ending!
May you know light and love and good health in 2026, Laura!
Wow. What a little gem of truth you wrote! “greasy sliver” and “hungry shiver” and “sharpened claws” — YIKES! But, oh, the thaw! Glorious, brilliant thaw!
Those last two lines! Nailed it. 🙂
Oh, Laura … that last couplet just slays me. Here’s to finding our way through the dark to a lighter, more hopeful new year… xoxox
I’m so darn sorry about the COVID. I hope you are on the mend. I love this poem. The rhythm and rhyme are perfection, and like Liz, I found the last couplet to be superb.