After weeks (months) of offering prompts related to finding bits of poetry in our daily lives across Racine County, I shared last week I intend to offer some of my own writing in response as near the end of my residency.

This week I share with you a few poems I’ve written in response to my own prompts: the first poem being writing in response to blog post #22: Aliveness, the second in response to blog post #12: The place where you live, and the last two haikus prompted by post #9: Short, sweet and true.

These prompts resulted in poems rooted in a very small portion of Racine County: The view from the spot where I perch in the morning and evenings in my house, my backyard, and my neighbor’s home, spaces I occupy often and think of frequently.

In the yard, after the rain

It is now clear to me how earth
can quickly become other than itself:
I was simply sitting inside, waiting
out the storm, when it moved on so
quickly I too could have moved on,
but for an unearthly glow drawing
me out, the warmth of greenery
freshly coated with heaven’s
overflow at sunset, of all times.
In the yard after the rain, I notice
wild strawberries masquerading
as suburban lawn. I consider who
could have sprinkled the seeds.

Neighbor

The number of times I’ve been invited
in for coffee is almost as many
as the dandelions in our own front yard.

It’s a house preserved in time,
60-year-old fridge and pristine carpet,
a long hall where kids once ran.

She holds my baby, more than 90
years of life, still holds childlike wonder,
a giggle of a girl I am just getting to know.

Spring arrival

Window opened wide,
spring makes itself at home here,
rushing winter away.

Day gone by

Moon hangs in blue sky
a reminder of the night
to come, day gone by.

It is a gift to take a moment to tune in to an awareness of the places we inhabit, and then to make a record of it. I hope my neighbor poem grows to include more neighbors—maybe that will come along next week.

For now, I leave you with these, and invite you again to share your own poems. My inbox is open.

Happy Monday,
L.A. Sklba