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BLOOMING
by April Halprin Wayland
BLOOMING
A poem grows
from scattered seed
in muddy soil—
a muddle.
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One green leaf,
a vine meandering,
winding around,
climbing towards light.
Me: gardening poetry.
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Poetry: gardening me?
Climbing towards light?
Winding around?
A vine meandering?
One green leaf?
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A muddle in muddy soil
from scattered seed: a poet grows.
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2011 April Halprin Wayland, all rights reserved
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The story behind the poem:
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Years ago, for an assignment in Myra Cohn Livingston‘s class, poet Joan Bransfield Graham came up with what she called a Mirror Poem form. Â It was a brilliant and simple: midway through the poem, reverse the order of the words.
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Recently, Marilyn Singer’s wonderful book, Mirror, Mirror: A Book of Reversible Verse takes this form to new heights.
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In a starred review, Booklist says, in part: “The…poems…allow changes only in punctuation, capitalization, and line breaks, as Singer explains…“It is a form that is both challenging and fun—rather like creating and solving a puzzle.”
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Reviewed on Tricia Stohr-Hunt’s fabulous Miss Rumphius Effect blog, her readers then submitted their own reverso poems–astonishing and wonderful.
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This felt like a wonderful form in which to say good-bye to Poetry Month. Â Good-bye and thank you for reading these poems. Your eyes, your comments, mean a great deal to me.
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Check out this week’s Poetry Friday post at TeachingAuthors.com… and keep in mind that I usually include an original poem when I post there, which is every other Friday.
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Check out this week’s Poetry Friday post at TeachingAuthors.com… and keep in mind that I usually include an original poem when I post there, which is every other Friday.
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It’s your turn! Try a reverso! Â Read the examples on the Miss Rumphius blog, above. Then start your engines! Â And write with joy. Â I know you will.
