A Year of Reading: original

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Friday, July 16, 2021

Poetry Friday: Surprise!

Back in May, I learned that one of my poems on YDP (Your Daily Poem) made the cut for 100 chosen as "the best of YDP!"

The collection is titled POEMS TO LIFT YOU UP AND MAKE YOU SMILE. It's not up on Amazon yet, but can be found at Parson's Porch & Company. Here's that poem, which I wrote back in 2021. It kind of describes my day yesterday!

CHANT OF THE COMPUTER-WEARY
update
download
Internet
code
password
fire wire
USB
load
keyboard
network
charger cord
mouse
sunshine
fresh air
out of the
house
© Mary Lee Hahn

Molly has this week's Poetry Friday roundup at Nix the Comfort Zone.

You can also find this post at A(nother) Year of Reading.

Friday, July 02, 2021

Poetry Friday -- There's a Village for Sale in Scotland

NOTE: Thank you for your patience as we figure out the transition to WordPress. We will crosspost on A Year of Reading and A(nother) Year of Reading for a bit, but eventually, all current thinking will be at A(nother) Year of Reading. A Year of Reading will remain as a reference when we make the complete transition. In case you missed it, here's why.

There’s a Village for Sale in Scotland

There’s a village for sale in Scotland.
Only $173,000 and that includes mossy ruins
and a beach on the loch.

In Scotland, thunderclouds won’t stall overhead
dumping inches of rain at a time, flooding the yard.

In Scotland, the yard waste is always picked up on time
and the neighbors don’t build smoky fires with wet wood.

In Scotland, Democracy is not failing,
racism is not systemic, and police are always helpful.

Though there’s a village for sale in Scotland
I’m not buying it.

©Mary Lee Hahn, 2021

Laura Shovan takes us to the Black Lagoon for this week's Poetry Friday Roundup.

Friday, June 18, 2021

Poetry Friday -- Juneteenth

image via Unsplash

Now That Juneteenth is a National Holiday

We pause
in honor of Liberty, Hope,
and Resiliency.

We pause
with clear-eyed acknowledgement of slavery's role
in building the economic foundation of our country

We pause
to consider a better way forward
for our not always glorious national history

We must not
co-opt this celebration with white commercialism

We must not
let this celebration undermine the right to protest

We must not
allow this celebration to eliminate the ongoing work of justice

©Mary Lee Hahn, 2021 (draft)

As I read through different versions of the news of President Biden's declaration of Juneteenth as a national holiday, I jotted words and phrases that became this poem. This is Juneteenth through the lens of a white American who was ignorant about Juneteenth until embarrassingly recently because of gaps in my formal and informal education. I am excited to share the joy of Juneteenth, but I understand that in many ways, the deep significance of Juneteenth is not mine to claim.

For words that weren't mine to write about liberty, hope, resiliency, and our not always glorious national history, read (or better yet, listen to) "When Fannie Lou Hamer Said" by Mahogany L. Brown.

And here are some children's authors, illustrators, and creators telling what Juneteenth means to them.

Buffy has a delight-full nature poem and this week's Poetry Friday at her blog Buffy Silverman.

And there are just ~~six~~ five more slots left on the Poetry Friday roundup schedule. Claim one here!

Friday, June 11, 2021

Poetry Friday -- an unexpected #PoemPair

Learning Arabic

is more than just driving on the left in England.
It's driving on the left
with no cognates on the map,
an alphabet consisting of small bits of flowering vine,
and luckily a lay-by
where you abandon the car and the map
taking a path instead
walking like a botanist, field guide in hand,
poring over every blossom, every curving leaf,
breathless when you begin to find meaning
in this brand new ancient world.

©Mary Lee Hahn, 2021

Yes, I'm learning Arabic with the DuoLingo app. Why? Because it's beautiful, it's hard, and my friend speaks it.

I didn't think this would be a #PoemPairs post, but then I listened to today's episode of Poetry Unbound featuring "A special bilingual poem in Anishinaabemowin and English by Margaret Noodin, a linguist who writes primarily in Anishinaabemowin" and then the followup conversation between her and "Pádraig Ó Tuama, about the story behind that poem as well as the Anishinaabemowin language, translation, and the importance of language preservation." I was especially fascinated by the connections the two made between language and place, and between the Ojibwe and Irish languages.

So now, when I'm asked why I'm learning Arabic, I will add to my answer this new thinking from Margaret Noodin and Pádraig Ó Tuama: that language includes a connection to the land and to the soul of a place and its native speakers, and by learning this language, I will help to celebrate language diversity.

Carol has this week's Poet Friday roundup at Carol's Corner.

Thursday, June 03, 2021

Poetry Friday -- Ways to Reappear

image via Unsplash

Ways to Reappear

In the dawn

Down a path

Through tall pines

Come to

With a grin

In a flash

Down to earth

In a spotlight

In a shadow

Without a plan

Without speaking

On your porch

On your threshold

In the garden

In the pool

In a library

In the corner

In the background

Come out

On a limb

At a moment's notice

In envelopes

In secret

Without words

Without a doubt

Seeking identity

Through dense fog

Down this path

In the dawn

©Mary Lee Hahn, 2021

after Ways to Disappear by Camille Rankine

"Ways to Disappear" was the Poem a Day from Poets.org on Wednesday, June 2. Camille Rankine writes about her poem: “There are so many ways a person can become not a person in someone else’s eyes. They can be erased through violence of gaze or word or action, by the individual, by the media, by the state, so that their humanity dissolves into nothing in the other’s view, and they vanish. In plain sight, and not there at all.”

Big truth in these times, in this country.

I began to think of possible ways for a person to reappear. If we can erase a person, surely we can also work against that erasure, really see those around us, and make sure they know they've been seen.

The poem is also about losing one identity and reappearing with a new identity.

Process notes: I found the photo on Unsplash after I wrote the poem. It was a little eerie how well the image matched my words.

I borrowed the first word in every line from Rankine's poem. Lots of times I used the first two words. To give the poem a more optimistic feel, I changed "gone" to "come." The lines are specific and personal but at the same time broad and general. As in Rankine's poem, the lines sometimes seem connected, but mostly can stand alone. The word "seeking" stood out to me as a turning point, and from there I diverged from Rankine's poem, reversing the pattern of the first three lines, and ending where the poem started.

Margaret has this week's Poetry Friday roundup at Reflections on the Teche. Watch for the signup for July-December roundups next week! Yikes!

Friday, May 14, 2021

Poetry Friday -- Arrival

ARRIVAL

I await a
cicada
the first
to emerge
from its
underground burrow
at the oak’s
brown skirt.

Wingless
at first
then red-eyed
and loud
there’s never
just one
they move
in a crowd.

I await a
cicada
the first
of the brood.
A seventeen-year
miracle
periodically
viewed.

©Mary Lee Hahn, 2021

For more information about Brood X, check out Cicada Safari. Irene has the Poetry Friday roundup at Live Your Poem.