Hello to all my Poetry Friday friends! Happy March!
We had a lot of rain recently, and the river is brown with mud and my yard is squishy. When I walk I have to be sure to wear shoes that can handle mud. And when I get home, I clap my shoes together to get the mud out from between the lugs. If that doesn't work, I have to scrub with a brush. It is mud season. No doubt about it. So I wrote a poem for Poetry Friday!
Poetry Friday is a weekly blogging event in which poets, writers, readers, and lovers of poetry share blog posts about poetry. It was started by Renee La TuLippe back in 2015 and it's still going strong.
This poem is a nonet. It begins with a line of nine words, then a line of eight, seven, six... until you reach the last single word.
I felt that mud would be a worthy topic for a poem. You can judge for yourself.
Nonet to Mud
Mud spatters, clings, pulls at wheels, tugs at feet
Mud traipses and tracks through bottomlands, barnyards, doorways
Mud plasters walls, cakes nests, slathers faces
Mud feels cool, gritty, pliable, damp
Mud squishes deliciously between toes
Mud stains rivers brown
Mud smells honest
Mud nurtures
Welcomes
© Karen Eastlund
Also, I remembered a mud song, and I found it performed by Flanders & Swann. Apparently they had a program back in the black and white television days. I don't remember them personally, but I find the performance amusing, and I hope you do also.
Thanks for reading my muddy words. Please leave me some comments. And thanks to Laura Purdie Salas for hosting today. She has a new book to celebrate, so please click in to her blog and give her a note of congratulations. You can find her blog HERE. Then, follow the links at her blog for more poetic goodness.
oh my gosh! I love "mud smells honest"! Now I just wish we'd get weather to experience this!
ReplyDeleteMud, mud, glorious mud! It sounds like you have been down to the hollow (follow me, follow!). I love every deliciously squishy word of your nonet!
ReplyDeleteKaren, yes, you did a glorious nonet ode to mud. It captures so many elements of mud--like this line: "Mud feels cool, gritty, pliable, damp" shows the versatility of mud!
ReplyDeleteOooooh I love the line "Mud feels cool, gritty, pliable, damp" ... yes!!! Thanks for sharing, and happy Poetry Friday!
ReplyDeleteKaren, the video is so funny. Glorious mud! Looking at the photo, I might disagree. Your poem could easily become a tribute to mud because I bet some little ones would love to squish mud between their toes. Well done!
ReplyDeleteKaren, I enjoyed your Nonet, a worthy syllabic form, often overlooked. Loved the line - 'mud smells honest.'
ReplyDelete"squishes deliciously" and "mud smells honest" - sigh! Thanks for sharing this glorious tribute. Yesterday I did some hiking and was thankful for waterproof boots that only got muddy.
ReplyDeleteSorry. This is Rose.
DeleteI love the squishing deliciously line and the idea that mud smells honest. Oh. I see Rose and I had the same favorite bits! Thanks, Karen :>)
ReplyDeleteWhat fun!! Chiming in with others who love "mud smells honest." Enjoyed your squishy nonet and the hilarious video. Mud will never be the same . . .
ReplyDeleteI love that it slathers and "squishes deliciously"--love the way those lines sound!
ReplyDeleteThat's a very different way of viewing mud:
ReplyDelete"Mud nurtures
Welcomes"
- love it! :) The sounds make all the difference, and that last line.
What a mud-delicious poem, with just the right amount of grittiness. I think the hippopotamus would simply adore it! And such a lovely burnt sienna color your pic has, thanks for all the smiles Karen! 😌
ReplyDelete"Mud smells honest" — love that!
ReplyDelete