National Poetry Month Wrap-Up

Poetry in parks, photos, and paintings

Greetings Friends,

There’s just one day left in April, which is National Poetry Month, so I wanted to be sure and share my poetic news with you.

I’m delighted to be one of six regional poets selected for the City of Edmonds Arts Commission Poet's Perspective program featuring short poems celebrating and connecting the reader to our unique Northwest region. “Sing to Us, O Spring” is among the poems on display at the Edmonds’ community center, library, and public parks for the next year. You can read all six poems, as well as three youth selections here.

Sing To Us, O Spring

By Cathy Warner

Sing to us, o Salish waters
and chattering glacial creeks,
join raucous rain-filled rivers
as you crescendo on the beach.

The melody of maples meets
the cedars’ newly-needled choir,
and tulips tipping up the earth
shout out life’s green desire.

Maestros of the thermals,
bald eagles glide through clouds
while tone-deaf great blue herons
take one-legged bows.

Those of you who’ve known me for awhile may remember that I’ve had poetry selected for our region’s annual Ars Poetica where poems from poets living in West Puget Sound counties are selected by visual artists for interpretation and are displayed in galleries for the month of April. The program, like so many others, fell victim to COVID in 2020. My brother-in-law Sterling Warner and I helped revive Ars Poetica in the fall of 2022 for April 2023 events, and as poetry judges weren’t able to participate. Because of my responsibilities as Retreat Leader for the Greater Northwest 5-Day Academy for Spiritual Formation last week, I didn’t serve on the selection committee for 2024, but did send in poems, and two of them were selected by artists.

Bob Rosenbladt, President of the Bainbridge Island Photo Club, paired my poem “Northern Lights” with a photo he took in Alaska. I was able to attend the reading at the Bainbridge Island Senior Center with a dear friend (and to read poems for two other Mason County Poets who couldn’t be there). You can view the entire gallery of poems and photos here.

“Northern Lights” was also chosen by watercolor artist John Adams. Here’s what he had to say about the experience:

I was inspired by the color descriptions magenta, violet and chartreuse and did several paintings trying to blend the colors without making mud! It was fun to work with your imagery and I really enjoyed the process. I was challenged to try something different than my usual Northwest landscapes and wonderfully the painting sold prior to being hung at the gallery yesterday, so now I will have to try some more Northern Lights paintings!

Northern Lights

by Cathy Warner

Cosmic dancers ribbon the sky.
From here, magenta, chartreuse, and violet waltz the horizon.
Stars fade. Skies clear. The long-married sleep.

I want to drink the ancient dark.
I want to swaddle the new moon’s wings.
I want to swim a comet’s tail scattering dreams.
I want to wake singing midnight’s sacred songs.

And the blooming night says “Yes,” to me.

And the pomegranate with her red seeds split
between life and death says “Yes” to me.

And the colors dance until they bow to dawn.
And the earth’s circles never cease.

After Charles Wright’s “Clear Night”

My poem “Fog” was chosen by Vivian Chesterly, who wrote:

I am an oil painter who paints the Salish Sea, Hood Canal included! I thought your poem was not only humorous but so true! I live on the water and see it every day. I am always in awe and inspired by the changes I see in the light, atmosphere, weather, and what's happening out there. We’re so lucky to live here-even when it's elephant fog!

Below are the two paintings paired with my poems as well as two other works at the Front Street Gallery in Poulsbo, where I was able to view the exhibit a week before the reading (which I was unable to attend).

Fog

by Cathy Warner

Morning fog floats in
on fat elephant feet—
no dainty kittens
creeping down
our Hood Canal.
We have the whole
lumbering herd
hoofing headlong
into the hinterlands
swallowing sunshine
only to spit it ashore
again at sunset.

—

I’ll say so long for now, with the news that I’ve written 100 poems since January 16th, when I began the Stafford Challenge to write a poem a day for a year. I missed a few days last week when I was retreat leader doing the holy work of holding space for others on their spiritual journeys. And I’m good with that! My intention isn’t perfection, but paying attention to the world around me and offering a poetic response as a matter of practice. May you be blessed and inspired by the practices which enrich your daily lives.