May
2018
Poetry Friday: All Aboard the Railroad!
Last month Margaret Simon invited poets to take part in a photo exchange, “More Than Meets the Eye.” She paired up poets to exchange a photograph from their geographic locations and then write a poem in response.
It seems Carol Varsalona and I were on the same wavelength–or maybe that’s the same track–since we both sent pictures related to the railroads. I sent Carol a picture of a railroad bridge over the river near my home in Vernon, Indiana. She sent me several pictures of the Long Island Railroad from her hometown. As Carol said in her email to me, it was serendipitous! And even though the trains into and out of New York City have been in the news with various troubles, I am still jealous of places that have train transportation. While I love living in our rural part of the world, public transportation is not one of the perks!
My first poem is a haiku:
Long Island railroad
carries commuters to and fro–
pulse of the city
For my other poem, I have two versions of a triolet:
Follow the Track
Chugga chugga choo choo
Clickety clack – follow the track
Let’s board a train – just me and you
Chugga chugga choo choo
Let’s explore somewhere new
The tracks stretch on – no looking back
Chugga chugga choo choo
Clickety clack – follow the track
or
Clickety clack clickety clack
Chugga chugga choo choo
Follow the track
Clickety clack clickety clack
No looking back
Let’s board a train – explore somewhere new
Clickety clack clickety clack
Chugga chugga choo choo
I am swooning over the poems Carol wrote in response to my picture from southeast Indiana. Make sure to check it out over at Beyond Literacy Link.
Each Friday, I am excited to take part in Poetry Friday, where writers share their love of all things poetry. Margaret hosts the Poetry Friday Roundup today at Reflections on the Teche. She’s organized a photo exchange that is “More than Meets the Eye.” It is a feast of sight and sound along with other poetry goodness. Drop by and see what poetry morsels are offered this week.
Mary Lee Hahn
May 28, 2018 at 11:34 am (6 years ago)Your haiku is spot-on, and I love the sounds in both versions of your triolet.
Mrs. McGriff
May 28, 2018 at 7:13 pm (6 years ago)Thanks, Mary Lee!
Catherine Flynn
May 28, 2018 at 6:25 am (6 years ago)These are wonderful, Kay! I especially love “follow the track” and “no looking back.” The onomatopoeia and rhythm of your triolets are exactly right. Isn’t it funny that you and Carol both chose trains for your photos?
Mrs. McGriff
May 28, 2018 at 11:09 am (6 years ago)Thanks, Catherine. I enjoyed playing with the sounds and want to keep working on these. It was very cool that Carol and I shared trains.
Robyn Hood Black
May 27, 2018 at 10:27 pm (6 years ago)So many inspirations in this project Margaret conjured up! Thanks for sharing your poems, Kay – I like that idea of “just me and you” I the first of the last two poems. :0)
Mrs. McGriff
May 28, 2018 at 11:09 am (6 years ago)Thanks, Robyn. It has been a joy to see all the pairings and creativity springing forth from them!
Margaret Simon
May 27, 2018 at 10:23 pm (6 years ago)This was such a fun exchange! I love seeing the serendipitous connections. Showing us multiple versions of your poetry gives a kind of echo on the page, much like a train echo. We live in a rural area, but we have train tracks going through. Sometimes the trains are a nuisance. Such loud and alarming sounds.
Mrs. McGriff
May 28, 2018 at 11:08 am (6 years ago)Thank you, Margaret, for hosting and organizing the exchange. I loved writing with Carol and reading/seeing all the pairings.
jama
May 27, 2018 at 11:57 am (6 years ago)I’m with you — I love trains and enjoyed your poems. 🙂 A dear friend, now deceased, was a former President of the Long Island Railroad, so we heard many stories (also about New York Central).
Mrs. McGriff
May 28, 2018 at 11:07 am (6 years ago)Thanks, Jama! I love all the train connections I’m learning about.
Michelle Heidenrich Barnes
May 27, 2018 at 8:06 am (6 years ago)“On the same track” — oh, you clever wordsmith, Kay! I love that you and Carol were, indeed, on the same track with this partnership. Haiku and triolet are such very different poetic approaches, but they both work well! I love hearing the rhythm of the train in your triolets.
Mrs. McGriff
May 27, 2018 at 8:59 am (6 years ago)Thanks, Michelle! I had fun playing with the rhythm of trains in the triolets.
Laura Shovan
May 26, 2018 at 7:42 pm (6 years ago)I love the second triolet, but the first one has the wonderful phrase “no looking back”! I hope you can find a way to combine them.
Mrs. McGriff
May 26, 2018 at 7:59 pm (6 years ago)Thanks, Laura. I like the idea of combining them, but haven’t quite figured out how to do it yet.
Linda M.
May 26, 2018 at 8:10 am (6 years ago)What a wonderful collection of train poetry you’ve already got going. It is so neat that you and Carol were/are on the same track. I really loved this challenge. It was harder than I thought it would be to enter….but more fun too. Well done. I especially love the pulse of the city in your haiku.
Mrs. McGriff
May 26, 2018 at 11:02 am (6 years ago)Thanks, Linda. It was a challenge–and lots of fun, too. I’m looking forward to reading the rest of the poems and seeing the photos
Molly Hogan
May 26, 2018 at 6:54 am (6 years ago)I’m so enjoying my Saturday morning, sipping coffee and reading all the responses to the photo exchanges. I could totally imagine your first triolet in picture book form for a young child. I love that sense of moving down the track with all those great sounds!
Kay Jernigan McGriff
May 26, 2018 at 8:01 am (6 years ago)Thanks, Molly. I am also enjoying the poems from the photo exchange. It’s like being able to tour the world without leaving home!
Linda Baie
May 25, 2018 at 9:53 am (6 years ago)I always enjoy your thoughts as you wrote your poems, Kay, & it is such fun that you and Carol were on the same “track”. Both poems show the joy of adventures on the tracks! I’ve been on a few in the past, but my husband traveled so many times all over the country because his father was a Union Pacific train engineer. We rode only once with him before he retired, a wonderful time!
Mrs. McGriff
May 25, 2018 at 11:00 am (6 years ago)Thanks, Linda! What a great opportunity for your husband to see the country. I’m glad you had the chance to do it once, too. I would love to try for the train writer in residence I hear about. I’m not sure I could talk my husband into it.
Irene Latham
May 25, 2018 at 9:24 am (6 years ago)Kay, I can feel the pulse in the first and the chugga chugga in the second… trains bring all sorts of adventures to mind, don’t they? (And tragedy… here in the rural south, quite a lot of train-related death stories.) Thank you so much for sharing these!
Mrs. McGriff
May 25, 2018 at 10:59 am (6 years ago)Thanks, Irene. I love the call of trains, but yes, they can bring tragedy. There are far too many accidents and deaths related to trains here, too.
Alan j Wright
May 25, 2018 at 1:23 am (6 years ago)Two poetic forms in the one post makes for an interesting read Kay. Thank you for sharing some of the influences on your thinking and writing. I was drawn here today by the promise of trains, a fascination since childhood. Thanks for the varied insights.
Mrs. McGriff
May 25, 2018 at 8:36 am (6 years ago)Thanks, Alan. We have a long fascination with trains in our household, too!
Michelle Kogan
May 25, 2018 at 12:50 am (6 years ago)Both of these triolets are such fun and rambling poems, but the first one just seems to zing and sing down that track!
Great capturing of the hustle and bustle of the city in your haiku, thanks for all these fruitful exchange poems Kay!
Mrs. McGriff
May 25, 2018 at 8:35 am (6 years ago)THanks, Michelle! I can’t wait to read the rest of the poems from the exchange.
Carol Varsalona (@cvarsalona)
May 24, 2018 at 11:09 pm (6 years ago)I’m back. I see what I did. I never hit send. I would like to add the following: Kay, may I place your image poem in my Sense-sational Spring Gallery? You inspired me to try a triolet in the future.
Mrs. McGriff
May 25, 2018 at 8:35 am (6 years ago)Absolutely! I have another one I’m working on to send, too, with baby birds.
Carol Varsalona (@cvarsalona)
May 25, 2018 at 10:18 pm (6 years ago)Wonderful.
Carol Varsalona (@cvarsalona)
May 24, 2018 at 11:05 pm (6 years ago)Kay, I am perplexed that what I wrote as a comment is no longer here so I will reconstruct what I said. First of all, I am so excited that we chose the same topic for our photo prompt but with a different eye. Mine from a suburban perspective and yours from a rural one. Secondly, I think our partnership was a fruitful one that I truly enjoyed. The way you handled the response to my prompt speaks volumes of what the railroad stands for on Long Island. It is a link to a pulsating city that never sleeps. Your haiku’s last line speaks to this. Your triolets will be read to my grandbaby when I see her this weekend because they have the right sing-song rhythm that would attract little ones. I see that you cleverly extended the word chug from my poem to create a new one in yours. Both of the triolets are well done and can’t wait to read them aloud to Sierra. Thank you, Kay, for working with me on this writing exchange. I would love to try another one with you in the future.
Mrs. McGriff
May 25, 2018 at 8:34 am (6 years ago)Thanks, Carol! I am glad we were paired up–and that we were on the same track with train images. I love the poem you wrote from Indiana. I hope Sierra enjoys the triolets. I was hoping to create a sense of the train’s rhythm with them. Here’s to more writing partnerships in the future!
Carol Varsalona (@cvarsalona)
May 26, 2018 at 1:09 am (6 years ago)More writing partnerships for sure! I read your baby birds’ poem on MHB’s padlet and wondered if this was the 2nd poem you are going to offer for my spring gallery. I do like it.
Kay Jernigan McGriff
May 26, 2018 at 8:00 am (6 years ago)Yep, that’s the one. I hope to work on putting it all together this weekend.
Donna Fowler-Marchant
May 24, 2018 at 10:11 pm (6 years ago)I love the different influences on your writing. From Shakespeare to trains to … pretty much everything!
Mrs. McGriff
May 25, 2018 at 8:33 am (6 years ago)Thanks, Donna! For me poetry is a way to explore the world.