Poetry Friday

Poetry Friday: January 24, 2025

January 24, 2025 /
 
Tabatha at The Opposite of Indifference is our host today. Hop on over there for the roundup.
 

New Year Postcards

I’m enjoying the Lunar New Year postcards as they come in (thank you, Jone, for organizing). Mine are on the way! But as they come in, each has made me tear up. Maybe it’s the bubbling uncertainty of this year, but I’m just so moved by them.
 
I’m trying to figure out a way to put them where I might see them frequently and be reminded. I’m thinking of putting one by my bedside table, one by my favorite reading spot, one on my desk at school, one as a bookmark. I will keep putting them in strategic places.
 

Haiku of the Week

 
after the storm
rainglobes
shimmy a branch
 
Photo Taken: December 28, 2024 in my yard
Haiku Written: January 2, 2025
 
Retraction: I was told my haiku from last week did not contain slime molds. They are supposedly jelly fungi. I need to get better at identifying slime molds.
 

25 New-to-Me Poets in 2025

 
In her essay “Ten Things About Poetry,” Patricia Smith challenges the reader to “discover one new poet every week.” (in The Practicing Poet: Writing Beyond the Basics edited by Diane Lockward). I’m setting out to discover 25 New-to-Me poets in 2025. Join me as I read at least 5 poems by a new-to-me poet.
 
  1. Francis Ponge
  2. Cynthia Manick
 

Mattie Quesenberry Smith

Recently, Mattie Quesenberry Smith was named the Virginia Poet Laureate. Smith is a professor at Virginia Military Institute (VMI). One of my goals with the New-to-Me poets endeavor was to make sure that I chose some local poets.
 
I had do a little bit of digging to find some poetry by Smith because she doesn’t have a lot online. I did manage to find a few poems and an article in a local newspaper.
 
VMI is located in Lexington, Virginia, less than an hour from where I used to live. Smith went to the same high school as my dad, and she and I both went to Hollins University. Her poetry is full of local roads, mountains, and place names. I love specificity in poetry, especially naming things, so I enjoyed reading about the rural Virginia places that I love. In an interview with a VMI cadet, she talks about how her Appalachian upbringing inspires her work: “Being Appalachian is nothing but a blessing because it shapes your deep appreciation and awareness for the natural world. All that I have seen and done in the mountains shapes me. What I have seen, tasted, smelled, touched, and heard indwells my writing, and I cannot escape it…”
 
In one interview, Smith mentions that she “keeps a tall stack of notes on her desk. Each note has a starting line of a poem.” I am always curious how people capture their poem bits, so I love the idea of a stack of paper with a potential poetic line on it.
 
Smith is also interested in science and poetry, which is something that I have a keen interest in.
 
Poems by Mattie Quesenberry Smith:
It seems like Smith’s still trying to figure out how she’ll share poetry in the state. I love Ada Limon’s “Poetry in the Parks,” Dani Badra’s “Poetry in the Parks” in Fairfax County, Virginia, and Poetry on the Trail. I just want poetry to be where people are—like when I saw poetry on the NYC subway. What would you do if you were given the opportunity to share poetry with a big platform?
 
 
 
 
 

RECREATE 

 
  • Reading—I’m really trying to read instead of scroll on my phone. It has really been paying off. I’ve read a lot this month!
  • Sit Spotting—It’s been extraordinarily cold this week—so cold that we went to school late several days for the extreme cold. I was able to get out to my sit spot a few days. This next week the weather is looking MUCH better, so I hope to get out there more.
  • I made granola!
  • I’m also trying new ways to re-envision a project. I’ve been reading this book.

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