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Poetry Friday: Welcome to the Party!

There is so much happening in our world right now, it can be hard to take it all in.

In these times, more than ever, I am grateful for poetry. 

Sometimes I write it. 

Sometimes I have no words of my own, so I read and reflect on the poetic words of others. 

Either way, poetry helps me process my thoughts and feelings about the world and my experiences in it.

My poetic offering today is a poem I wrote earlier this spring, on a rare day when my husband had to go to the office for an in-person meeting and I took our usual lunchtime walk alone. 

I am a creature of habit, but on that day I challenged myself to break routine and change direction, and this poem was the result.


Today

I go against the grain, turn left 

Instead of right,

Let the path take me away from home

Instead of towards it.


Today

I go against the grain, go up the slope

I usually walk down.

Climbing uses different muscles

Than descent.


Today

I go with the grain, walk downstream

Instead of up,

Walk with the flow,

Instead of against it.


Along the path,

Backs of trees have become fronts

A sloping burrow’s entrance,

Usually camouflaged,

Is revealed.


© 2022, Elisabeth Norton



It's a pleasure to host this week's Poetry Friday roundup! You can add your links below. If you have trouble adding your link, just leave it in a comment (and do scan through the comments to find those links when you're visiting everyone today). Thanks for being part of the party!

Poetry Friday

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Comments

  1. Thank you for hosting this week Elisabeth! I enjoyed your poem. It made me reflect on what I should do to go against my normal grains. Normally, I write at my desk. Tonight I think I might go hang out in the moonlight to see what creativity comes with it. Thanks! -Tim

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    1. Tim, I'm not able to comment on your blog. I hope hanging out in the moonlight was good for creativity!

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    3. I had a typo in the last comment ;-/ ... Tim - I hope you find lots of inspiration in the moonlight (not the moolight, as I first typed, although, I guess if there were cows out under the moon with you, it would qualify ... :-D ). Thanks for posting today!

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  2. Thanks for hosting! I had trouble using InLinkz and was wondering if you could add me to the roundup. Here's my post: https://thereisnosuchthingasagodforsakentown.blogspot.com/2022/07/poetry-friday-july.html

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  3. Your poem is beautiful. Recently...Memorial Day Weekend...I was leaving a gathering at dusk. My daughter and I turned left instead of right and oh, my goodness! That left took us to a part of the world we never knew existed. We were in the very definition of the middle of nowhere. It was a tiny bit scary until we knew we were going to be OK. So, your post made me relive that moment and laugh a bit at my memory of that turn. I like how you read and write for clarification...for making sense. Thanks for hosting this week. I look forward to reading and catching up with friends.

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  4. Oh, Elizabeth ~ your poem hit the spot! I'm right there with you ~ going with the grain/against the grain...seeing small things that have alluded me. Often alone during the pandemic, my dog Eli and I have taken trails forwards, backwards, explored new trails...and to my surprise, we've learned the most when hiking the same trail week after week, something we never did before. I was always looking for NEW trails...but Eli knew better. He explained that a trail never smells the same. Thank you for your poem and thank you for hosting today!

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  5. Thanks so much for hosting, Elisabeth! Lovely poem, and a fresh perspective is always welcome. I'm smitten with that "sloping burrow" and its entrance. :0)

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  6. I like your changing paths poem Elisabeth, and that you discovered a critters entrance–and I'm thankful for poetry too, it's such a great respite from the continuous flotsam and jetsum… Thanks for hosting the Roundup this week!

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  7. Thanks for hosting, Elisabeth, and I love your thoughts about and your courage in going against (and with) the grain. :)

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  8. It's always important to try testing other waters, stepping out of that 'comfort zone' we talk about. Good thing you did - a poem was created!

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  9. Thank you so much for hosting today, Elisabeth, and thank you for your poem. I love the reminder that sometimes going against the grain, or taking a different path, can yield lovely results.

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  10. Elisabeth, your poem is a reminder that in the course of negotiating our respective days we are confronted with a multitude of opportunities to make decisions as to the flow and direction we may choose to take at any particular juncture. Those choices can offer unexpected delights!

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  11. I am glad you are hosting Poetry Friday, Elisabeth. Your new lunchtime route brought you to the perfect poem to share with us...today.
    Not sure if I'm posting my link in the right place (I get the message "Firefox can't open this page")
    In any case, I'm in this week with a post about Smidgey's latest obsession...Netflix.
    http://www.weewordsforweeones.com/2022/07/dogspeak-netflixated.html

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  12. Hello, Elizabeth! Thanks for hosting and for reminding us to take those little risks that take us over new terrain. I was very interested in the idea that trees have backs and fronts! I can't get my link to post, so here it is: https://myjuicylittleuniverse.blogspot.com/2022/07/haikutraveldiary.html

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  13. Hi Elisabeth! Thank you for hosting! I love that the backs of trees become the fronts. :)

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  14. Elisabeth, thank you for hosting and for reminding us to take the little risks that carry us over new terrain! I'm very interested in your idea that trees have backs and fronts. I can't get my link to post (and maybe I'm having trouble with my comment, too--this is my second try), so here it is, everyone!
    https://myjuicylittleuniverse.blogspot.com/2022/07/haikutraveldiary.html

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  15. I love that ending, Elisabeth. Thanks for hosting!

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  16. Thanks so much for hosting this week! I appreciate the reminder to branch out and change direction once in while--it's one I need to hear again and again. In your poem I especially love how the backs of trees become fronts and the final revelation of the burrow's entrance.

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  17. I totally agree with your assertion that sometimes we write the poetry, and sometimes we lean on the poetry of others (as I did this week). That's a little like your poem, isn't it? Sometimes we go with the grain or flow, sometimes against it. Thank goodness for all the possibilities.

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  18. Oh I love that line "backs of trees have become fronts." Beautiful. Thank you for hosting!

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  19. Thank you for hosting today, Elisabeth! I very much enjoyed your poem with the repeating line, "I go against the grain." much of life feels like that, doesn't it?! I think learning to go with the grain, not against it is a gift that only wisdom can give us as we age. Thank you for sharing!

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  20. Hmmm. Hi, again, Elisabeth. I commented when I left my link several hours ago. Yet, I do not see my comment here. I believe it was along the links that I liked your repeating line of against the grain and then the switch to with the grain. We learn through the wisdom of age and experience (I think) that going with the grain has its advantages. Thank you for hosting. I hope this comment gets through. Carol from The Apples in My Orchard.

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