can fish do math?

Greetings, poetry people. I have awoken—Pisces will out—with no intention for today’s poem/post whatsoever (except to get clear about time differences between Brighton, MoCo/NYC and Portland; this is the only actual math I’ve been doing). So you are getting a “kitchen-sink” poem, as in I am kit-and-caboodling a bunch of bits from my last 24 hours into an artwork made of words. I hope it’s beautiful, or at least interesting.

This kitchen sink owes a lot to this gripping @yujins.chalkdust Instagram post, which is nature+philosophy+math+beauty, and, if you ask me, religion in its purest original form*** of the ligaments between us and all beings. Which, if you ask me, is the best reason to protect, however we can, the home of all beings, this Earth. Which I must mention because it is the 3rd Friday here at mjlu, traditionally Climate Friday.

Currently in Montgomery County, MD, the smoke from Canadian wildfires has arrived and the air quality is officially “VERY UNHEALTHY,” which may be why my poem is spending most of its time underwater. Sometimes the ostrich just needs to hide her head in the sand, tending her eggs.

Thanks to Jill Dailey for rounding up Poetry Friday today with a “Fold a Zine” video—how fun! Maybe I’ll make one for this poem…see you in the comments, friends!

***However, popular etymology among the later ancients (Servius, Lactantius, Augustine) and the interpretation of many modern writers connects it with religare "to bind fast" (see rely), via the notion of "place an obligation on," or "bond between humans and gods." In that case, the re- would be intensive.
—from https://www.etymonline.com/word/religio-

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digging into inheritance

Greetings, Poetry People, and happy hotter-than-July! I'm grateful to those who have been supporting my efforts over at Substack, intermittent as they have been, and this post is linked there. Comment where you will!

It's the First Friday of the month and the Inklings--6 of us--are responding to yet another of Audrey Gidman's daily prompts from June 5, at Catherine's request:

Read “Digging” by Seamus Heaney. (Really, do!) Think about something that has been handed down to you—from a parent, a grandparent, an elder in your life—that feels alive in you now. Think of how it is the same and think of how it has transformed in you. Notice how, for Heaney, it’s gardening and writing—two kinds of digging, but still the digging continues through the generations. Write a poem that digs into what was handed down to you and examines what you carry now.

I was eager for this opportunity to consider whether it's a thing handed down--something concrete--or a skill, a tendency, a characteristic strength or weakness that I wanted to write about. I offer you not the first and surely not the last of my poems about accompanying my parents as they age.

The Inklings are excited as well because, after almost 10 years, our group will be getting together for a writing retreat! I joined in 2017, and there have been a few changes in personnel over the years, but the current group of Margaret Simon, Catherine Flynn, Linda Mitchell, Molly Hogan, Mary Lee Hahn and I have been meeting biweekly since 2021. Most of us have been in the same physical location with some others at some point, but never have we all been in the same place together!

At the end of July, that will change when everyone comes here to Silver Spring for a weekend of writing and writing-related hijinks! It's a nice grand finale to the summer, because after that, Fiona and I will be all-hands-on-deck getting our house ready for renters before the Great Relocation to Brighton, England for the coming school year. (We have landing places but still no flat of our own organized, so if you know anyone in Brighton we can connect with--for any purposes--do tell!) This is also exciting, but there are challenges; viz. the poem above. I don't believe I need to say any more than that--there are enough readers of *my juicy little universe* in the same generational boat who know exactly what I mean.

See how the rest of us dug the "Digging" prompt below, and thanks to Michelle at More Art 4 All for hosting us today!

 Catherine @Reading to the Core
Molly Hogan @ Nix the Comfort Zone
Linda Mitchell @ A Word Edgewise
Mary Lee @ A(nother) Year of Reading
Margaret Simon @ Reflections on the Teche