by

Shoebox Poetry: Spring Flowers

I am dancing yellow flowers
moss growing on a cracked boulder
dragonfly battles waged through cattail forests
sleeping rocks tucked beneath rotted boards
wide-winged hawks quietly circling prey

I am daring spring sunshine
fields of green miner’s lettuce wet with dew
twisted trees reflected in muddy puddles
colorful floral crowns skipping around a maypole
teeny tiny frogs in a toddler’s hand

I am dandelion fluff wishes
bubbles caught in a spiraling spider web
fat white clouds pressing through a rainbow
afternoons spent reading in a hammock
soft rabbits hiding among wild buttercups

I am lively starry jubilation
moon struck open-armed happiness
deep water thick-boned delight
galaxy swirling sweet poetry madness
freckle-faced daisy ringed freedom

Shoebox Poetry: This is the third poem in my series based on an old box of photos I inherited when my grandmother died in 2004. I love the joy in this photo and I hope my words match its beauty and grace. Happy first week of spring!

69 thoughts on “Shoebox Poetry: Spring Flowers”

  1. Loved these magical childhood memories! 🙂 Especially: ‘dragonfly battles waged through cattail forests’ ; ‘fields of green miner’s lettuce wet with dew’ ; ‘teeny tiny frogs in a toddler’s hand’ ; ‘soft rabbits hiding among wild buttercups’. You’ve such a great knack for crafting delightful imagery. She sounds like a wonderful role model ❤

    Liked by 4 people

    Reply

  6. 1. I love this series. I would say it is my favorite, but I enjoy all of your stuff and I like it when you let me pick my favorite picture.
    2. The last stanza is my absolute favorite, your word usage…it is descriptive and stunning, and off the charts good.
    3. I hope you are showing your kids happy.
    4. This is an amazing thing to do with these pictures, you are amazing, and I hope you know that.

    Liked by 6 people

    Reply

  8. They say pictures are worth a thousand words and that all pictures have a story or something about them, but you manage to write them down. You also have great flow and your word choices together are amazing. I love the imagery as well.😁

    Liked by 2 people

    Reply

  9. I love the image. So lovely words written in poem. Very kind words in poem of memorable moments of childhood. You recommend the picture in poem words use. I like, Bridgette 🌹

    Liked by 2 people

    Reply

    • I’m so happy you loved my poem! Oh, cattails are amazing. They turn into fluff in the fall and you can actually use it to start fires. I’ve also heard you can use the fluff for stuffing and insulation. It’s such a cool plant.

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply

  18. This is a special photo, mostly because the subject for you is familly but also generally as an intriguing photo. Your poem is effusive, and I’m glad you’re sharing it. To say the least, it deserves an audience.

    Liked by 2 people

    Reply

  21. You are very gifted and talented Bridgette! All the poetic stories in your Shoebox series are so endearing and interesting. You are truly honoring your grandmother by bringing her pictures to strikingly believable life in an adorably fun way. Thanks for sharing! 🌼

    Liked by 2 people

    Reply

  22. I love that photo and the poem it inspired; the poem feels fresh and in celebration of spring and truly the last lines feel so free and powerful: “deep water thick-boned delight/galaxy swirling sweet poetry madness/freckle-faced daisy ringed freedom.” Lovely! ❤

    Liked by 2 people

    Reply

  23. What a gorgeous and joyous photo of your grandmother, Bridgette, and an equally delightful ‘I am’ spring poem. Your words and poetry are truly mesmerising to me, and I love that you are keeping the memories of your grandmother alive in your poetry. That also applies to your other pieces of Shoebox Poetry. I think my favourite stanza is –

    ‘I am dandelion fluff wishes
    bubbles caught in a spiralling spider web
    fat white clouds pressing through a rainbow
    afternoons spent reading in a hammock
    soft rabbits hiding among wild buttercups.’

    I love dandelion wishes; I always encouraged my children to blow the seeds away so that the plant can spread and grow in other places. ‘Weeds’, as some people refer to them, are really wildflowers at heart. And I also love the image of bubbles caught in a spider’s web. Spider webs are fascinating to study – they are so intricate and wonderful but so delicate that even a feather could break them, not that deters the spider from making a new web. That’s quite some skill and determination, if you can say that of a spider. Wonderful work, my friend. Much love to you Xx 🤍🌼🤍

    Liked by 2 people

    Reply

  24. Well darn. Only just now found this post.

    Picture first. Beautiful. Hmm… strong genes in your family I think.

    Poem, oh yea, it sparkles. So many firefly phrases.
    sleeping rocks tucked beneath / tiny frogs in a toddler’s hand / lively starry jubilation / thick-boned delight

    Here’s a thought. Write a poem that describes what you do when you write a poem. (stupid, silly, perhaps, just a thought)

    Liked by 2 people

    Reply

    • Thank you Neil for the kind words and for reading my poem. Most of my poetry feels like I’m simply writing another short story, but this one started to feel like I might be getting closer to understanding abstraction.

      I love your idea! Hopefully I’ll have some time this afternoon to play around with writing a poem about the process. Sounds like a great challenge and it might give me more insight into how I think (but I fear I might overthink it). Hmmm…

      Like

      Reply

  25. You’ve inspired me, Bridgette. I have a box of old photos that I need to scan and identify – what better way to accompany that activity than to write poems about them. Your poem and this photograph made my morning waiting for spring to come.

    Liked by 2 people

    Reply

  30. This is so beautiful. Made me want to go hold a teeny, tiny frog in my own hand!! Really love the shoebox photo inspiration. Thank you for sharing your words with us!

    Liked by 2 people

    Reply

Leave a Reply

Fill in your details below or click an icon to log in:

Gravatar
WordPress.com Logo

You are commenting using your WordPress.com account. ( Log Out /  Change )

Facebook photo

You are commenting using your Facebook account. ( Log Out /  Change )

Cancel

Connecting to %s