"The first week of August hangs at the very top of summer, the top of the live-long year, like the highest seat of a Ferris wheel when it pauses in its turning. The weeks that come before are only a climb from balmy spring, and those that follow a drop to the chill of autumn, but the first week of August is motionless, and hot. It is curiously silent, too, with blank white dawns and glaring noons, and sunsets smeared with too much color. Often at night there is lightning, but it quivers all alone. There is no thunder, no relieving rain. These are strange and breathless days, the dog days, when people are led to do things they are sure to be sorry for after."
I'm dropping in again during this, my Summer of Submission, to participate in the Inklings monthly challenge, which piggybacks on my "wish you were here" postcard poem challenge from July. Catherine wrote to us from the Library of Congress website:
Ada Limón’s project as Poet Laureate is “You Are Here.” “This project is for everyone, and I hope people of all ages—poets and nonpoets—will feel moved to write their own response to the “You Are Here” prompt. It’s simple: What would you write in response to the landscape around you? You can share your response if you choose using the hashtag #youareherepoetry. Here is a link to the website: https://www.loc.gov/programs/poetry-and-literature/poet-laureate/poet-laureate-projects/you-are-here/Very very cool, with the National Parks connection! I copped out a little but I'm pleased with my effort, which surprised me.
Mary Lee Hahn @ A(nother) Year of Reading
Catherine Flynn @ Reading to the Core
Molly Hogan @ Nix the Comfort Zone
Linda Mitchell @ A Word Edgewise
Margaret Simon @ Reflections on the Teche