Plowing

Flickr Creative Commons Photo by richardghawley

Another row plowed.
Seeds are planted behind me.
So much work ahead.

One more row, then rest.
Free the horse from the harness;
leave the plow ready.


©Mary Lee Hahn, 2013

Ode to My Big Toe

Dear Big Toe,

We've been together since before I was born.
You've helped me balance;
I've taken you for granted.

Now I'll give you the pampering you deserve...
at least until the bandages come off
and we get back to normal.

©Mary Lee Hahn, 2013

Pomegranate

Flickr Creative Commons Photo by Minneapolis Moose

POMEGRANATE

I was so very ready 

to leave it all behind.

A red-rinded pomegranate waits 

on the kitchen counter:

insurance that I will

return.

©Mary Lee Hahn, 2013

Autumn

Try to

capture Autumn's

color with paint, collage.

Today's art will be forgotten,

not lost.

Dark sky

Children's laughter

Brilliant colors of fall

Collect beauty strewn by the trees

New art

Brilliant

color against

heavy dark purple skies:

red, gold, green, orange, yellow, brown.

Rain begins.

©Mary Lee Hahn, 2013

Leaf Hurricane

Flickr Creative Commons photo by Paul Stevenson

LEAF HURRICANE

Clouds darken
Wind gusts
leaves swirl
I twirl

          My wild spinning dance
          Is magic to me
          I dance with the wind
          I dance with the leaves

Rain spits
wind gusts
leaves swirl
I twirl
   
          I dance with the wind
          I dance with the leaves
          With every spin
          My spirit flies free

©Mary Lee Hahn, 2013

Best

BEST

What does that mean,
"Do your best?"
Push myself
without any rest?

No time for play?
Never have fun?
Don't take a break
'til it's done, done, DONE?

Here's what I've learned
(disagree if you will)
sometimes...
occasionally...
it's best
just to
chill.

© Mary Lee Hahn, 2013

Seeds

The tomato squirts in my mouth.

"You can't have seeds 

without a flower."

The clock ticks incessantly.

Time happens 

because the earth spins.

The students arrive in a burst of chatter.

I feel the earth move

as I watch them bloom.

©Mary Lee Hahn, 2013

Thug

As seen/passed around on FaceBook

THUG

All summer it's been cool
but just in time for school
the heat comes back,
like a big muggy bully.

One afternoon, regardless of the math lesson,
the air conditioning goes out.
Just up and leaves.
Walks out of the room without permission,

leaving the door open
for the bully to swagger in,
disrupt the lesson,
and make us sweat ourselves.

©Mary Lee Hahn, 2013

Fly Fishing

Sun on the Mad River, by Mary Lee Hahn

Fly Fishing

The small stream
and its bank-side buffer of trees
winds through corn fields.

Do not be tricked --
the current's pull is swift.
Step slow and steady. Don't trip.

Cast with patience.
Relax and find a kind of grace
in the rhythm, in the day.

Driving home, watch --
today you might catch
not a fish, but a glimpse of a fox.

© Mary Lee Hahn, 2013

The Space Between Breaths

by Hugh MacLeod at GapingVoid

The Space Between the Breaths We Take

Movie ticket, untorn;

popcorn box full.

Swimmers crouched;

pool still smooth blue glass.

Clean sheet of paper;

pencil, freshly sharpened, hovering.

Bus brakes hiss;

driver grasps the door handle.

© Mary Lee Hahn, 2013

Like a Bad Habit

by Hugh MacLeod at Gaping Void

Like a Bad Habit

The ivy is overtaking the front bed.
It approaches the lamb’s ear insidiously.
It has overwhelmed a pair of stepping-stones.
Clearly, the whole driveway is within the scope of its ambition.

I admire its tenacity.

But my will
will dominate.
My pruner and I
will reestablish
boundaries.


©Mary Lee Hahn, 2013

A Teacher Turns the Calendar Page From July to August

Photo by Mary Lee Hahn

A Teacher Turns the Calendar Page From July to August

It's the same feeling you get

just after you've nudged the sled 

over the shoulder 

of the hill.

Movement becomes momentum

and quickly shifts 

to catapulting and careening.

You relinquish control

and hold on 

for the ride.

©Mary Lee Hahn, 2013

Reclamation and Exaltation

Creative Commons Photo by Mary Lee Hahn

RECLAMATION AND EXALTATION

The air is cool;
sun sits low behind the trees.

My tea is hot;
one last sip before I start.

The garden is large;
weeds are plentiful and vigorous.

* * *

I turn my head slowly;
two hummingbirds argue over coneflowers.

I sit back on my heels;
chickadees and bees ignore me.

I stand and stretch;
the air is hot, the tea is cold, the garden is weeded.


©Mary Lee Hahn, 2013

High Plains in Summer

HIGH PLAINS IN SUMMER

Yesterday it rained.
Fifty-five hundredths
over a three-hour period.
High plains equivalent
of a good, soaking rain.

Today it's clear and hot.
Winds gusting to 39 out of the south.
At least the dirt's not blowing.

Forecast's calling
for high nineties
the next three days.

Tourists driving through on I-70
see flat, boring, brown fields.
They don't realize
those are their groceries
burning up.

©Mary Lee Hahn, 2013

The Day After the Last Day of School

The Day After the Last Day of School

It's like you've been on a long hike
through deep mud
in boots that don't fit
with a pack that has gotten progressively heavier
(the weight was added gradually;
you didn't notice so much).

Then suddenly before you
there is a grassy meadow
a cool brook
tall trees and deep shade.

The pack evaporates,
the muddy boots disappear.
With the weight gone, it feels like you are floating.

You are very tired.
You lean back against a welcoming tree and sleep.
You dream of hiking.

©Mary Lee Hahn, 2013

Common Inspiration--Uncommon Creations.30

Animation by DemonDeLuxe (Dominique Toussaint), from Wikimedia Commons

Z IS FOR THE END

The month has zipped by,

although some days

the writing was

much zippier than others.

Like the teeth of the zipper

we writers came together,

locking ideas to make a chain.

The prompt was our slider.

I thank you, fellow poets,

for joining me

in binding word to word, 

thought to image.

This common daily work,

putting one word after another,

has brought us close,

will link us forever.

©Mary Lee Hahn, 2013

The theme of my 2013 National Poetry Month Project was 

"Common Inspiration--Uncommon Creations." 

I used the media to inspire my poetry, but I invited my students to use my daily media picks to inspire any original creation: poems, stories, comics, music, videos, sculptures, drawings...anything!

Here are some of my students' creations:

Inspired by the fire breather

Inspired by the fire breather

Inspired by the fire breather

Volcano cake inspired by the fire breather

The above three inspired by Le Silence

Foodscape/sculpture of the Broadway Tower with an imaginative landscape surrounding it!

To go with the Rubik's Cube animation

And the poems that were inspired by the harp music:

that sound calms

me down every

time I hear

it going past

nice and fast

just the

way I

dream 

it

--B

SOUND OF BEAUTY

The brush of a harp.

The melody.

The sound.

The feeling.

The beauty.

--No

ANGELS

It feels like

angels are flying

over me,

playing their soothing harps,

sounds relaxing.

--Na

FLOWERS AND HARPS

When I think of flowers

    I remember the

sound of harps. They are

    both peaceful and

relaxing. They make me feel

              safe.

--Jo

peace    harmony

freedom

happiness

Litmus

Lozenge

vengeance    sorrow

pain              agony

honor    courage

respect

--Re

TWOs

Two harps

play

two beautiful

sounds

like two flowers

twirling around and

around

like two friends

caring for

each other

like two blue jays

singing

sister and brother

like two people

giving gifts on special days

like two children

wanting 

to play

like two angels

watching 

for us

like two harps 

playing

two

beautiful 

sounds.

--Ra

Had to remember

A loved one.

Running my fingers on the strings making 

Peaceful music.

--M

NICE SOUNDS

That sound, what is that

it's so...peaceful.

It makes me calm down,

overjoyed, I went to where

it came from.

It was at a church

it was a girl playing 

her harp.

I walk in and 

she stops, she looks

at me then looks away

and starts playing

again.

--G

HARPS

The music from heaven

letting us know the right way

like a rainbow in the clear sky

it is quiet music that

makes us feel safe.

--Y

HARP

The music is peaceful

like crickets making music.

All the sounds come together

like every feather of a bird.

This piece had harmony

like a two instrument symphony.

Playing my harp

making beautiful music.

Plucking the strings,

playing something inspirational.

Inspiration,

that made this poem.

--J

no stopping

back and forth, forth and back.

no stopping; for there is no

time in this new world.

back and forth, forth and back.

as i lean against ellis,

i try to remember those days.

back and forth, forth and back.

one year more until

this war is out of my head.

back and forth, forth and back.

my life is full of melodies,

and i need them to live.

--S

Common Inspiration--Uncommon Creations.29

Photo by Sara&Joachim, from Wikimedia Commons

MEERKAT JUMP ROPE RHYME

eenie

meenie

miney

mo

three little meerkats

all in a row

one looks left

and one looks right

and the third won't 

let you out of his sight

three little meerkats

all in a row

eenie

meenie

miney 

mo

©Mary Lee Hahn, 2013

The theme of my 2013 National Poetry Month Project is 

"Common Inspiration--Uncommon Creations." 

Each day in April, I will feature media from the Wikimedia Commons ("a database of 16,565,065 freely usable media files to which anyone can contribute") along with bits and pieces of my brainstorming and both unfinished and finished poems.

I will be using the media to inspire my poetry, but I am going to invite my students to use my daily media picks to inspire any original creation: poems, stories, comics, music, videos, sculptures, drawings...anything!

Common Inspiration--Uncommon Creations.28

Photos by Gideon Pisanty (Gidip) גדעון פיזנטי, from Wikimedia Commons

This photographer has five photos of this female long-horned bee collecting nectar and pollinating this flower. Yesterday's photo prompted poems about work, and perhaps today's will, too. That seems fitting, because today is Workers' Memorial Day, "an international day of remembrance and action for workers killed, disabled, injured or made unwell by their work."

BEES

clamber

climb

pry

nectar 

pollen

sky

home 

hive

fly

©Mary Lee Hahn, 2013

The theme of my 2013 National Poetry Month Project is 

"Common Inspiration--Uncommon Creations." 

Each day in April, I will feature media from the Wikimedia Commons ("a database of 16,565,065 freely usable media files to which anyone can contribute") along with bits and pieces of my brainstorming and both unfinished and finished poems.

I will be using the media to inspire my poetry, but I am going to invite my students to use my daily media picks to inspire any original creation: poems, stories, comics, music, videos, sculptures, drawings...anything!

Common Inspiration--Uncommon Creations.27

Breakfast Break of the Scaffolders
Bundesarchiv, Bild 102-09409 / CC-BY-SA

Work and rest. That's what's on my mind today.

The trick 

is learning to rest

in the midst 

of your work.

That,

and balance.

©Mary Lee Hahn, 2013

The theme of my 2013 National Poetry Month Project is 

"Common Inspiration--Uncommon Creations." 

Each day in April, I will feature media from the Wikimedia Commons ("a database of 16,565,065 freely usable media files to which anyone can contribute") along with bits and pieces of my brainstorming and both unfinished and finished poems.

I will be using the media to inspire my poetry, but I am going to invite my students to use my daily media picks to inspire any original creation: poems, stories, comics, music, videos, sculptures, drawings...anything!