Poetry Friday–Poems form poems

 

I’m sharing two beautiful poems I received last week from Tabatha Yeatts, for the Summer Poetry Sway. Tabatha shared with me May Sarton’s poem, The Work of Happiness. She then wrote Fellowship, an ekphrastic golden shovel using the painting I did above, and a line from The Work of Happiness. I’ve also included a response poem to Tabatha’s poem.

Here’s Tabatha’s poem, with her permission.

FELLOWSHIP
for Michelle

Sharing the sun and the
shadow and the scent in the air,
the wanderers rest. Is
the very light charged
with respite, with
peace, with blessing?
Painter, may we pause and
join them? What does
the Great Painter do every day, but bless?

© 2017 Tabatha Yeatts

Here is part of May Sarton’s poem, read the remainder of it at the Poetry Foundation.

THE WORK OF HAPPINESS

By May Sarton

I thought of happiness, how it is woven

Out of the silence in the empty house each day

And how it is not sudden and it is not given

But is creation itself like the growth of a tree.

No one has seen it happen, but inside the bark

Another circle is growing in the expanding ring.

No one has heard the root go deeper in the dark,

But the tree is lifted by this inward work

And its plumes shine, and its leaves are glittering.

 

So happiness is woven out of the peace of hours

And strikes its roots deep in the house alone:

The old chest in the corner, cool waxed floors,

White curtains softly and continually blown

As the free air moves quietly about the room;

A shelf of books, a table, and the white-washed wall—

These are the dear familiar gods of home,

And here the work of faith can best be done,

The growing tree is green and musical.

For my response poem I also wrote a golden shovel, however the first stanza uses the last line from Tabatha’s poem and the second stanza uses the last line from Naomi Shihab Nye’s poem Pollen. I couldn’t find Pollen online. It comes from a book I recently bought that’s called If Bees Are Few, A Hive of Bee Poems, Edited by James P. Lenfestey. I plan on sharing more of the book at some time.

TURN INWARD AND GROW BLESSINGS

The garden is the
answer with Great
possibilities. The Painter
ponders over what to do …
What holds her energy every
day, what centers her day?
She begins with a sketch, but
turns inward and continues with a bless-

ing for critters, and mankind, and help
for all humanity. Join us
together so we may find
peace and happiness, within the
world; within mountains, the valley, the field–
Unite our small world once again.

© 2017 Michelle Kogan

 

Linda Mitchell at A Word Edgewise is hosting this weeks Poetry Friday Roundup; thanks Linda! Stop by Linda’s blog for more poems.