Thursday, March 24, 2016

a poetry friday welcome to all

Greetings, and let's get this party started! 

Outside my early-morning seat in our "library lounge" is our patio, and next to our patio is a small, bushy tree that spent all winter holding on tight to a lovely little nest, invisible to us until fall came and blew the branches clean.

Now the tree has popped vibrant green leaflets, and there the nest waits.  I wrote this for Amy Ludwig Vanderwater's "small things" poetry challenge, made alongside her interview with Michelle Heidenrich Barnes at Today's Little Ditty, and in honor of her new book Everyday Birds.


hopefull    
 
in between the greening
      branches of a tree
an empty nest is nestled,
      waiting there to see

if again this season
      someone small may light,
line it full of fluff
      and hope for future flight


(c) Heidi Mordhorst 2016



Now surely all these bird poems flying around must put you in mind of this song:

posted to YouTube by machoflame

That's an example of a Poetry-Music Match-Up (and I hope it has you feeling as deeply copacetic as I do posting it).  This year, inspired by Tabatha's "Poem-Song Match-Up" project, I'm going to spend April posting such match-ups and I'd like to invite YOU to submit your pairings.

The airwaves are wiiiide open! 
You can submit:

·         your own poem with music that you've realized goes with it, as above,
·         your own music with a poem that goes with it,
·         someone else's poem with someone else's music to match, 
·         song lyrics that you find particularly poetic,
·         poems written AS song lyrics
·         poems inspired by songs,
·         songs written about poems, 
·         poems written about songs, 
·         favorite nursery rhymes (which often have tunes),
·         and any other poetry-music combinations that make sense to you.

We'll all need to be very careful with attribution, of course.

I'll aim to have a daily posting, but I'll need to queue them up during Spring Break, so I would love to have your submissions starting any time now through Saturday, April 2.  (I'm sure I'll be willing to take them after that, too, but it will be harder to be organized!).  Send your ideas, texts, videos and links to me here.
And now, leave your links below and I'll be rounding up old-school style too (which for me means that I will actually have time to comment on each and every post), on either side of a delightful poets' birthday lunch with Tabatha and Laura S.  Thanks for stopping by, and I wish a flighty spring to all!


28 comments:

  1. Thank you for hosting, Heidi! I love the positive tone of your poem about an empty nest. They're such fun to discover in the fall.

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  2. Your "hopefull" poem reminds me of more than one kind of 'light', Heidi. And who doesn't smile at Bob Marley music? My own post has a darker tone today.
    Back to a lighter note, HAPPY BIRTHDAY to all you celebrating poets!! Thanks for hosting today.

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  3. tweet tweet, sweet poem, Heidi! Your poem makes me think of all the small miracles that characterize Spring. We have a nest on our front porch every year and I'm hearing birdsong. There's so much hope and light in that.

    At Alphabet Soup I'm sharing some Beatrix Potter nursery rhymes in honor of her 150th birthday this year + cupcakes + bread and milk and blackberries. Also collecting links for my Poetry Month Kidlitosphere Roundup.

    Thanks so much for hosting this week!

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    1. Forgot to mention my link goes live at 6 a.m. Friday morning.

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  4. Thank you so much for hosting and for letting us "early birds" post early/pre-Friday:) ..."full of fluff"...Never has "full of fluff" been less so in terms of your substantive post/Poetry-Music Match-Up details; never has "full of fluff" been more hopefull than it is as it relates to your spring birds' anticipated nest-building softly, comfy filling up. ...Festive,joyful, music-filled b-day celebrations! God bless!

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  5. That hopefull poem is just wonderful--that "empty nest is nestled..." Awwww. I love it. And your Poetry Month plans sound awesome. I will be focusing on gross this April;>) But I'll put on my thinking cap to see if a poem/music pairing comes to mind. Thanks for hosting!

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  6. Wonderful pairing, Heidi! Who better than Bob Marley to give us the lift we need to take flight. And you already know how I feel about your poem. :) There's also a musical pairing in my wrap-up post today– look for Rosi Hollinbeck's poem. I'll try to see if I can come up with something for you too!

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  7. I like your title, Heidi (as well as the rest of the poem)--the extra L makes it that much stronger!

    I sent you a pairing a few days ago, if you didn't receive it let me know. Have a lovely weekend!

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  8. hopefull is such a beautiful poem—from title to last word! I have guests, Suzy Levinson and her niece, Svetlana, on A Great Nephew and a Great Aunt. My link will go live at 4am CDT.
    Thanks for hosting.

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  9. Thanks for hosting, Heidi - your poem reminds me of our phoebes, who return to the same nest above our front door, year after year. Today I'm linking to Michelle's blog, so folks can see all of the month's "small things" poems, including mine!

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  10. The poem is lovely, Heidi, perhaps a wish for all of spring? I love the segue between the verses. Thanks for hosting, & I will see about your poem challenge. It's a great idea. Today I have a "small poem" for Amy's challenge, too, something my granddaughter keeps pointing out to me about a lonely wastebasket!

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  11. "if again this season
    someone small may light,"

    If I could hug two lines of a poem, I would hug these! HUG!
    Such a beautiful poem to for me on this cold and rainy night. Thank you for hosting. Have a wonderful lunch! xx

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  12. So many little snippets of delight, Heidi. In between the greening... an empty nest is nestled... So sweet. And I just love imagining someone small lining it with fluff. Joy is found in the tiniest of things. Thank-you for hosting - and enjoy your month of match-ups.

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  13. Thanks for hosting our Round-Up with your Poetry-Music Match-Up, Heidi. Today, I am looking at the winter as a fashionista since I am designing my gallery: Winter Wanderings. I have a quote and a sneak peek at the gallery collections with some of our Poetry Friday friends. You poem is delightful and brings hope of spring.

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  14. Thanks for hosting today and for sharing your lovely poem. "An empty nest is nestled"--love that line! I could say it over and over (and have!). I always get a thrill of delight when I spot a nest revealed on winter clean branches and now I'll have your poem in mind to add to my enjoyment. Thanks!

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  15. Yay for future flight! (which rhymes with "gonna be alright," although I'm sure that's a coincidence...) Thanks for hosting! See you soon :-)

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  16. Thanks for rounding us up, Heidi! How fun that your small thing poem for Amy's challenge pays tribute to her new book...AND you got a music match-up out of it, too! That's the best kind of multi-tasking!!

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  17. Heidi, I am so hoping for fluff and future flight! What a lovely poem. Thank you. xo

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  18. Beautiful spring poem, Heidi. I'm so looking forward to our lunch with Tabatha today!

    My PF post is part of my bookshelf series. I'm pairing Janet S. Johnson's funny and heartfelt middle grade novel THE LAST GREAT ADVENTURE OF THE PB&J SOCIETY with a peanut butter and jelly ode from the Teen Ink website. I've also got links to Jama Rattigan's past posts on the joys of PB&J.

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  19. I hope your little nest finds a new year of use. How adorable to have a nest right beside your patio. We have a large crow nest and bats flying over head. Songbirds visit our feeder, and sing all day long. But none nest nearby, that I know of. My post is thinking of summer on this gray, rainy day. Thanks for hosting!!

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  20. Thanks for hosting! Happy Friday, everyone!

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  21. Thanks for hosting.
    My selection is "In the Wild" by David Elliott with illustrations by Holly Meade.

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  22. Thank you for hosting, Heidi, and sharing your sweet poem. Nests are "hopefull," aren't they?

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  23. Heidi,
    We have a bunch of "greening" branches in our yard. Right now, the nests can't hide. I wonder as I look at them, if the same bird family returns or if someone new takes up residence. The birds are slowly returning and the quiet mornings are filled with song once again. Thanks for your poem of hope....and hosting the poetry event for today.

    Cathy

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  24. Heidi, love your hopeful poem and these words "...line it full of fluff..." I'm sharing my serendipity at finding a wonderful poetry book on the remainders table at a favorite bookstore!

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  25. What a beautiful poem to launch this week's round up.....so right for spring and poetry. Aren't we all waiting for words to light around us to give flight to the visions so hard to explain. Nicely done.

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  26. What a lovely image in your poem and so full of hope. It will be fun to watch as spring returns and see who comes back to make a home in your library lounge.

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  27. Need some new fangled thots, ideers, names? "Step right up, laddy!!" cries the carnival barker: if I'm a sower, we plant the Seed; if I'm an artist, we write the Word:

    I actually saw Seventh-Heaven when we died: you couldn't GET any moe curly, extravagantly-surplus-lush Upstairs when my beautifull, brilliant, bombastic girl passed-away at 17.

    "Those who are wise will shine as brightly as the expanse of the Heavens, and those who have instructed many in uprightousness as bright as stars for all eternity" -Daniel 12:3

    Here's what the prolific, exquisite GODy sed: 'the more you shall honor Me, the more I shall bless you' -the Infant Jesus of Prague.

    Go git'm, girl. You're incredible.
    See you Upstairs...
    I won't be joining'm in da nasty Abyss
    eklektikmantra.blogspot.com

    -YOUTHwitheTRUTH
    -------------------------------
    PS While nobody is as brilliant as Dean Koontz, the absolute one thang nobody else possesses is YOU. So if ya need names, too, I gotta lotta cool ones. Lemme gonna gitcha started:

    Oak Woods, Athena Noble, Autumn Rose, Faith Bishop, Dolly Martin, Willow Rhodes, Cocoa Major, China Stone, Bullwark Burnhart, Magnus Wilde, Kardiak Arrest, Will Wright, Goldy Silvers, Sophie Sharp, Gloria Hood, Violet Snow, Lizzy Roach, BoxxaRoxx, Aunty Dotey, Romero Stark ...

    God blessa youse
    -Fr. Sarducci, ol SNL

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Thanks for joining in the wild rumpus!