January has been a delightful month. Yes, we’ve had snow (yea!), it’s been bitterly cold (not so yea), and the days are short on sunlight (boo!). But I’ve found the most wonderful surprises in my mailbox all month long. Thank you, to Jone Rush MacCulloch for organizing a postcard poetry swap to start off the new year right! And I get to host the roundup to round off the month. Be sure to leave your link with the link below.
First, these maps arrived (from Linda Mitchell) to invite me to explore through the new year. While Wikipedia gives a most useful definition, I think I’ll take the poet’s view!
A Map According to a Poet – Linda Mitchell
A map is a hand held journey–
beatific links between
star points of some galaxy
of thought, word or action.
Many poems are printed on
paper or, tapped
across screens
while others are heart held
by kiss, glance or
carrier pigeon,
the shortest distance
between hearts.
A Map According to Wikipedia – Linda Mitchell
A map is a symbolic depiction
emphasizing relationships
between elements of some space,
such as objects, regions, or themes.
Many maps are static,
fixed to paper or
some other durable medium,
while others are dynamic or
interactive.
Then Mary Lee Hahn invites me to sit and reflect through this cold season:
bleak and cold
the pond is not frozen over–
not just yet.
Mary Lee Hahn
Then Linda Baie sent this beauty to remind me that sunsets eventually become sunrises:
sunset’s smile
circles on to antoher’s
sunrise hello
Linda Baie
And Diane Mayr invites me into the New Year with a traditional haiku (you can read about it here):
first walk…
following the dog into
the new year
dmayr
And never fear, I finally sent my postcards on their way this week:
First light streaks beyond
the world’s edge where trees stand guard.
A new day beckons.
On the back I also wrote my version of an Irish blessing — for writers.
A Writer’s Blessing
May the muse rise up to greet you,
May your pen be always in your hand,
My ideas rise up from your heart,
And words flow across your pages.
And until we read again
May we hold each other close in our writer band.
Each Friday, I am excited to take part in Poetry Friday, where writers share their love of all things poetry. I have the Poetry Friday Roundup today right here! Be sure to add your link below. Drop by and see what poetry morsels are offered this week.
What fun it must be to walk to the mailbox! Lovely creations by lovely writers. I would like to post the Writer’s Blessing on our #TeachWrite Facebook page. It is a group of teacher-writers supporting other teacher-writers. Did you write this, and if so, may I post, please?
Thanks, Leigh Anne. Yes, I wrote it (or at least this version using the traditional Irish blessing as a mentor text. Please share it with the group. I’d be honored.
Kay, thanks for hosting and providing a rich post. I just love receiving postcards during January.
Thanks, Carol. Receiving these postcards has been delightful–and I received two more today!
Thanks for hosting and sharing your beautiful poem-postcards!
Thank you, Buffy. The poem-postcards are beautiful.
I enjoyed every one of the poems!
Thanks, Linda. I did, too!
What a feast of words and images! Thank you so much for sharing them, Kay, and for hosting! I love them all, and I’m going to print your “A Writer’s Blessing” to keep on my desk. Let the words flow!
Thank you, Catherine. I’m glad you like “A Writer’s Blessing.”
Three cheers for the pen and encouragement! Thank you!
Thank you, Little Willow. Here’s to much good writing!
Hi Kay, Thanks so much for hosting and for sharing a feast of postcards and poetry!
Thanks for stopping by, Liz. The postcards are quite the feast.
What a fun idea to share postcards like this! They are certainly a wonderful welcome during a long and sometimes dreary winter I am sure. Where I am in Montana, we don’t see the sun very often, so I can relate to what you are experiencing thus far this winter. Hold onto the JOY in each and every card you have. 41 days to Spring!
Thanks, Dani. These postcards are a wonderful way to brighten up the winter. I’d love to visit Montana some day. My husband has been out with fire crews and says it is beautiful. I like everything about winter except the grey, overcast days.
I missed the sign up date for this exchange. So wonderful to get these poetry rich greetings in the dead of winter. I love how we can connect across the miles, heart to heart.
Thank you, Margaret. I, too, treasure the connection across the miles.
Thank you Kay for hosting the roundup. I have missed the postcard exchange but I think it is a great idea. I love the poems, too!
Thanks, Amy. I’ve thoroughly enjoyed the postcard exchange and am glad to share!
Thanks for sharing these lovely and inspiring postcards. Happy 2018! And thanks for hosting this week. 🙂
Thanks, Jama. All the credit goes to those who have sent me such lovely poems and cards.
Receiving these postcards (some the same as yours) has been so much fun. I don’t want it to end! Thanks for hosting this week. — Christie @ https://wonderingandwondering.wordpress.com
Thanks, Christie. The postcards have been such a delight, haven’t they?
Wow! What a beautiful assortment of poems and visuals. A fantastic way to start off the new year! Thanks for hosting and for sharing all these–happy 2018!
Thanks, Laura. These postcards have been a great way to start of a new year.
Oh my goodness! What a beautiful collection of gifts. Thank you for letting us share in…how fortunate we are to have this close “writer band.” Happy Poetry Friday! You started my day off with beauty. xxxx
Thanks, Amy. While the postcards are beautiful gifts, the real treasure is the people and poets in this writer band!
Kay, thank you so much for hosting today! I love reading through all the links and seeing all the thoughts of poetry that have been brewing over the week. I add my thanks and “WOW” over the postcard exchange. It’s super fun to find these gems in the mailbox…..definitely a great way to combat post-holiday blahs! I’m having a super busy weekend with one daughter turning 17 and another turning 19. So, my comments on blogs may be mid next week. I aim to visit everybody.
Today, I am playing with my OLW, play. I respond to Rebecca Kay Dotlitch’s poem, Carousel at
https://awordedgewiselindamitchell.blogspot.com/
Thanks, Linda. Enjoy all the birthday celebrations! I liked your poem response.
Thanks for sharing all your postcards and for hosting us today!
Thanks, Mary Lee! Glad you could drop by.
Thanks for allowing us to vicariously share in the Postcard Swap. You must be dancing to your mailbox these days! Your writer’s blessing is simply lovely and the perfect accompaniment to your beautiful postcard. Thanks for hosting this week!
Thanks, Molly! Yes, I have been dancing to the mailbox! I never know what treasures it might hold these days.
Hi Kay! Thanks for hosting, for sharing your wonderful postcards, and for the beautiful blessing!
Thanks, Tabatha. I’m glad I received such treasures to share.
Oh, Kay! I love all of these poetic postcards! The writer’s blessing speaks so much to my heart right now. Long live the notebook and pen! Thank you for hosting the party this week, Kay.
Thanks, Keisha! I suspected many of us echo your toast to long live the notebook and pen!
Thanks for hosting, Kay – what a nice way to feel the warm connection of Poetry Friday family in the middle of winter…amazing how inspiring a simple postcard can be, isn’t it? (By the way, my link goes live shortly after midnight)
Thanks, Matt. Yes, the postcards are inspiring, and such a mark of this warm community.
What a poet-blessing of word-licious snail mail. I like Linda’s Poets’ map poem. Makes me want to write a Poet definition of something. While taking a train to a remote region and eating curry. And listening to the stories of my fellow passengers. Perhaps I would define ecstasy as the feeling of dropping one’s cares into a sack like marbles, so cold and small compared to the troubles of others, feeling so light, one rises to the day with a belief in being a force for good.
Thanks, Brenda. Can I join you on that train with curry? It sounds like a delightful trip! The map poems are treasures, as are all the rest. Each had a message I needed to hear.
Thanks for sharing your lovely collection of postcards Kay–What fun to receive these one by one, they do lighten up the long month of January! I like the heartfelt Irish blessing on the back of your card. Thanks also for hosting the Roundup!
Thanks, Michelle. The postcards have been fun to receive–and fun to share.
Thanks for including my postcard and the link!
“A Writer’s Blessing” with its, muse rising up to meet you, is delightful! I look forward to your postcard!
Thank you, Diana! Your postcard is on its way.
What a treasure of poems. I must have fallen out of circulation when that invitation went out – but how lovely to be able to take part anyway, through your post.
Thanks, Kat. I do enjoy seeing all the poetry that gets shared across this community. It’s as much fun to see what others share as to find a surprise in m own mailbox.
Thank you for sharing these lovely poems! I must have missed the sign up for the postcard swap–drat! There’s always next New Year. I also love your Irish blessing at the end.
Thanks, Rebecca. One of the things I enjoy about Poetry Friday is seeing all the goodness that gets shared–even if I don’t get signed up myself.
Happy 2018, Kay! Thank you for sharing all these lovely, thought-provoking treasures. And I particularly love your Irish blessing for writers! Merci beaucoup for hosting. :0)
Happy New Year to you, too! Poetry is such a great way to celebrate it–and it’s much more fun to visit the mailbox.
Hi Kay, wow, what a wonderful gathering of poems from the mail! That one from a Linda is me. Sorry I didn’t write the whole name. I love your writers’ blessing at the end, and thank you for hosting!
Aren’t these poems lovely? Now that I know which Linda, I will add a link to yours as well.