Young Writers Society

(watercolor painting by me)

"though the grass withers and the flower fades, the Word remains"

- Isaiah 40:8

This is my eighth NaPo. Everything here has been said already, I am simply walking through my annual habits, straightening over-used words, tending perennials, and yet isn't everything strangely new? The sun brighter, the birds more-alive, and every locust chirping in calculated crescendo.

Isn't poetry interesting in how persistent it is? Long after buildings crumble, and gardens perish, long after the wound has healed and the offense has been forgiven, these little words remain, as if the words could breathe and live on their own.

If you read the Hebrew and Christian scriptures, you know that God was the first poet - could that mean our uneven verses always reach for meaning? The prophet Isaiah says it is the Word, which is persistent, yes even eternal, amidst all the many temporary things we might hold on to.

That isn't to say that those little breaths of air, and turns of tide, and sun-set moments are inconsequential; in fact maybe it is their temporariness that makes them more important in a way. It is maybe the fact that the watercolor flower will not bloom or grow roots which makes her so beautiful.

And I want to write something beautiful. I want to write something meaningful about what might very well be meaningless, if only to keep a folded scrap of paper tucked away in my hand, if only to hold these pretty moments tighter as if they might be anchors, if only to believe that words matter; and there is something here that continues on.

Thank you for reading with me, I will be reading along with you too.


GOALS (badge thread)
Write 30 Poems
Read every NaPo thread
Write 60 comments
Keep up with NaPo hosting things
Write 1 song

2023 NaPo - & all these loose ends will bind into a net
2022 NaPo - anchors tied to paper boats
2021 NaPo - years lost to locusts
2020 NaPo Pt I - i swear all the birds will live until the end
2020 NaPo Pt II - private reflections; cheap cheap software
2019 NaPo - love and complementary colors
2018 NaPo - heavy dreams & lofty responsibilities
2017 NaPo - a collage of mismatched contemplations
Camp NaPo - 2017 logbook, 2020 logbook, 2021 NaPo Week

1. bird-watching
2. listening
3. tending gardens full of hindsight
4. holding close, for safe-keeping
5. tending to these little living things
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alliyah i absolutely love this title + the images + the vibes !!!

Mesmerizing painting and congrats on your 9th NaPo Alliyah!

1. bird-watching 4.4.24

2. listening 4.4.24

3. tending gardens full of hindsight 4.4.24

 
4. holding close, for safe-keeping 4.5.24

my mother's voice is saved in the pocket of my warmest coat
for me to clutch when my hands get cold -
i keep it like a recipe-card for a dish i know well;
out of habit i will recite each step as if it were a song -
and i know i don't need it, but i love the little stain at the edge, and
i love each bent corner of a memory;

when we laughed at the river, and she told me not to go out too far -
when she patted my sea-weed hair with a sand-covered towel
and told me next week would be warmer -
i am still looking for her on every shore i swim
and listening, and listening, and in the listening, remembering
the familiar way we have of tending to each other that reminds us we are loved

i called her seven times this week, and it's only tuesday -
not because i am lonely, not because i have anything in particular to say,
but because my hand always instinctively curls around the objects in my pocket
and i am always humming her songs,
and i am always cooking her recipes,
and i am always longing to hear her voice say everything i know all over again -
and i want to let her know
in all these little ways, i love her too.

not counting towards the final count - but including this collab piece by myself, creaturefeature, envy, and herbalhour

0. we left our bodies with the earth 4.6.24

5. tending to these little living things 4.6.24





I'll probably make a little painting to go with this one when I have time! Also I feel like this is quite similar to "rain-gutter pigeon" from 2020 and my poem about growing an apple-seed on my windowsill from 2019. I'll have to grab links to those two poems later and compare for fun. Something about tending to our plant or animal neighbors, fostering the tending of ourselves. <3

@Spearmint thank you so much for the encouragement! <3

quick little rhyming poem.

6. there's this little part of me, i can't quite leave 4.11.24