Poetry can be an acquired taste, but it can also be whatever you want it to be. There are many different types of poetry, from very serious and brooding, to lively, funny, and silly. Let your garden inspire you to write a poem or three to record in your garden journal (Lab 42).
MATERIALS
Garden journal
Writing instrument
Creative juices!
1. Find a space to get comfortable and inspired in your garden. This activity focuses on three types of poetry: haiku, cinquain, and acrostic. (Fig. 1)
2. Haiku is a three-lined poem, the first line consisting of five syllables, the second line having seven, and the last line with five syllables again. (Fig. 2)
Fig. 2: A haiku poem follows a five-seven-five syllable format.
3. A cinquain is a five-lined poem: Line one is one word and the title of the poem. Line two is two words describing the title. Line three is three words that express action of the title. Line four is four words that express feeling of the title. And line five is one word that restates the title a different way. (Fig. 3)
4. An acrostic is a poem uses letters of a word for the first letter of each line. Write one about your favorite plant in your garden. (Fig. 4)
5. Write a poem representing each of these and share with a friend. Research other types of poetry and poets who wrote about gardens.
MAGICAL LINES
Here is a lovely poem that might give you inspiration. Or it might just make you happy:
GARDEN MAGIC
This is the garden’s magic,
That through the sunny hours
The gardener who tends it,
Himself outgrows his flowers.
He grows by gift of patience,
Since he who sows must know
That only in the Lord’s good time
Does any seedling grow.
He learns from buds unfolding,
From each tight leaf unfurled,
That his own heart, expanding,
Is one with all the world.
He bares his head to sunshine,
His bending back a sign
Of grace, and ev’ry shower becomes
His sacramental wine.
And when at last his labors
Bring forth the very stuff
And substance of all beauty
This is reward enough.
-Marie Nettleton Carroll
DIG DEEPER!