Happy Poetry Friday!
I’m celebrating Mother’s Day with poems and art!
BLUEBELLS FOR MOTHER’S DAY
For Mother’s Day I give to you
pretty periwinkle bluebells,
with music velvety as lambs ears
to soften away days discord,
and floppy large leaves
spreading out like
arms embracing you.
For Mother’s Day I give to you
a posy of pansy petals,
spritely colored
purple-white marvels
twirling like mini windmills,
and dappled tangerine-orange
calling their names aloud.
For Mother’s Day I give to you
ginger-spice-edged geraniums,
profuse with pale-pink blossoms
eager to pop open for you.
They stand erect and
dance in place while
waiting for their entrance,
of petals unfolding,
taking turns and
turning heads
around them.
© 2021 Michelle Kogan
Here’s a Mother’s Day Poem by Wanda Coleman
DEAR MAMA
by Wanda Coleman
when did we become friends?
it happened so gradual i didn’t notice
maybe i had to get my run out first
take a big bite of the honky world and choke on it
maybe that’s what has to happen with some uppity youngsters
if it happens at all
and now
the thought stark and irrevocable
of being here without you
shakes me
Read the rest of the poem here.
And one more Mother’s Day poem…
CELEBRATING MOTHERS
Wishing Mother’s
far and wide
happiness, joy, and
some time set aside.
Mothers who feel
their aches and pain,
though trudge on
daily and rarely complain.
Mothers overlooked
or underestimated,
finally valued and
highly venerated.
Mothers whose child
seems a trifle low,
encourages with
play, let go…
Mother Nature’s
both naughty and nice—
But she nurtures us all
in her own paradise.
Mother’s warmth wriggles and
squiggles, and wraps around
like gossamer salve
keeping us ground.
©2021 Michelle Kogan
Bridget Magee at her blog Wee Words for Wee Ones is hosting this weeks Poetry Friday roundup, thanks Bridget! Bridget has a story that was accepted by Smarty Pants Magazine for Kids and some exciting news about it… so meander on over and check it out, along with many more poetry offerings!
And as flowers are popping up everywhere, I want to send many thanks to writer and poet Irene Latham for this lovely #NPM 2021 postcard, Jellyfish Dreams by artist Jay Winter Collins!
Michelle Kogan Illustration, Painting, & Writing 
Happy Mother’s Day! All these poems made me think about my Mom, especially the last poem, second stanza, about working hard and never complaining. Thanks for sharing the Coleman poem, so powerful!
I love reading about your floral “gifts” to mothers, Michelle, the way your stanzas read so smoothly with the special details of each flower, like those “pretty periwinkle bluebells”. The second poem is so poignant and your own final one makes me miss my mother more. Happy Mother’s Day!
Michelle, beautiful shout out to mothers today! That stanza about posies just jumped off the page and into my being today:
“purple-white marvels
twirling like mini windmills,
and dappled tangerine-orange
calling their names aloud.”
It’s been a while since I’ve seen posies, and I love how you gave them life here.
And that last poem’s final stanza too, about how
“Mother’s warmth wriggles and
squiggles, and wraps around
like gossamer salve
keeping us ground.”
is exquisite. Thank you for sharing your beauty today!
Happy Mother’s Day, Michelle! All three of your poems are a gift to these amazing ladies. I think of my mom (mother of 10!) and am thankful I still have her (via zoom and phone calls for now). Thank you! ❤
What a celebration! Thank you especially for the ginger spiced-edged geraniums. They are a favorite in my memories and in my present day. They work well in the bouquet of bluebells and pansies. The pink in your painting is a delight! I’m not often a fan of the color but in your painting it pops! It makes me want to touch it. So pretty!
Beautiful poems, Michelle. Esp. love all the delightful flowery images in the first poem along with your bluebells watercolor. My mother was a lover and cultivator of flowers so this post was perfect.
A lovely bouquet for Mother’s Day! Ruth, thereisnosuchthingasagodforsakentown.blogspot.com
What a wonderful Mother’s Day bouquet, Michelle. From illustration to poems, your gift is labor of love.
Thank you for your poetry bouquet and for bookending Coleman’s lovely reality check with your own soft poems. I love your pansy stanza (I have some smiling at me) and warmth wrapping around to keep us sound. Happy Mother’s Day to you, too!
Oh, swoon! I love your bluebell painting and your first poem — all the alliteration — so fun to read!
I just made a posy of pansy petals! They are truly my favorite, with their little faces smiling at me. Adore your artwork as always, Michelle.
Both your art and your poems are beautiful tributes to Mother’s Day!