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Hello Friends,
It's good that it is Friday and that we bring poetry.
I'm delighted with amazing gifts of summer...not only fresh fruit and vegetables at the Farmer's Markets but also time to browse and ponder and mosey.
I so enjoy the lines poet friends give me in exchange for one of my old clunkers. Carol V. at Beyond Literacy gave me this line: "a harbor of shared memories." Thank you Carol!
July
a harbor of shared memories. Carol V.
The sound of tires rolling
onto this old dirt road wake me.
It’s been a long ride.
And now, dusty.
That’s OK. My first home
is country…rolling hills
and blue clay creek beds.
No matter how long
between visits, tiger lilies
along the driveway
harbor shared memories
between Dad’s open-mouth mailbox
and weather-stripped backdoor.
Linda Mitchell
July 11, 2025
I'm grateful for the Summer Poetry Swap hosted by Tabatha at The Opposite of Indifference --who is graciously hosting this week's PF. Please stop by to read and comment on a few bloggers. It really does make a difference to bloggers to see a comment on their creative writing efforts. I was able to sign up for all summer swaps. I've loved opening my mailbox to find poems and more from friends.
Jone MacCulloch spoiled me with a poem honoring my OLW for 2025, barefoot.
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| Dreaming Barefoot |
The poem was lovingly wrapped up with a custom-created card, bookmarks, and ephemera that I can use in paper crafting. Jone sees me! It's wonderful. Thank you, Jone. xoxoxoxo!
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| Hand made journal and poem by Moe Phillips...I'm swooning! |
If you haven't had a chance to enjoy a poetry swap, I encourage you to try it. The only requirement is to swap a poem. There is no need to send any extra goodies. I send extra goodies because it boosts my mood and creative energy to feel like I'm making something for someone else.
Thanks for sharing all this goodness, Linda! You turned Carol's clunker into a wonderful moment of remembering. I especially like "open-mouth mailbox
ReplyDeleteand weather-stripped backdoor." They are both great images from the past. Enjoy all of your summer gifts!
What lovely gifts and rich poems all enhancing your mosey-along summer! Also love the visuals in your poem, you and Carol’s line both transport us! Thanks for sharing all Linda!
ReplyDeleteYour poem took me back to my own country memories, Linda, and the gifts arriving from the swapping are treasures for sure. Happy Weekend!
ReplyDeleteSwooning indeed! Loveliness all around! I want 8 crows to land on a branch beside ME. xo. p.s. DH read something about how going barefoot in grass invites an explosion of negative ions to enter your body (which is a very good thing!).
ReplyDeleteLinda, I'm swooning over the beautiful gifts you received, *and* over the harbor of shared memories that you carefully, lovingly harbor and shared with us. Lovely!
ReplyDeleteHow glorious to open the mailbox and find such lovingly-crafted treasures, made with such care. The phrase "a harbour of shared memories" struck a chord with me this morning, as I'm in the process of planning brunch with old friends I've known for over 30 years but haven't seen in a while - we shall be puttering our little tug boats back into the shared harbour for the first time in ages!
ReplyDeleteI love the clunker and exchange ideas and that the two are overlapping. Your poem is lovely. Waking to the sound of driving on a dusty road is a vivid, memory-triggering image for me. I wondered how you'd get from there to a harbor, and it was so clever how taking out those two little words "a" and "of" changed the meaning of the word "harbor" and was a perfect fit!
ReplyDeleteLinda, I have read your blog post over again to enjoy the gifts you received and the way that you used the clunker I sent you. Jone's and Moe's gifts were lovely, handcrafted items surrounding their poems. Your poem is crafted to showcase the clunker you received. I like how you formatted your poem adding the clunker line toward the end. I have not finished writing a poem to fit your clunker line but will share it with you when I do complete it.
ReplyDelete(Hooray, Google likes me today!)
ReplyDeleteWhat lovely swap goodies you've received! And I LOVE these clunker of yours - especially the one Jone used -- I might need to play with that one!! Let's all claim green!
Happy Summer.
What gorgeous swaps! ♥️ I have never read Moby Dick but I discovered how beautiful it is back when I was on Twitter and I followed someone who posted random lines from it. You wouldn't think that random lines would be interesting, but they were amazing.
ReplyDeleteP.S. As a friend of corvids, I love that eight crows are there, dreaming of ancient books.
DeletePPS (I am full of PPSs today!) I enjoyed your "July" and read it multiple times. The details make it very evocative.
DeleteWhat awesome poetry gifts! I've been enjoying the bounty of the summer farmer's markets too. I always go on Saturdays (and sometimes a weekday market), but I realized that I shouldn't go today since I'll be going out of town this week.
ReplyDeleteOh, my heart is full after visiting over here, Linda. Your poem is wonderful - "between Dad’s open-mouth mailbox/
ReplyDeleteand weather-stripped backdoor" - & with that amazing line from Carol.
Thank you also for your generous sharing of the goodness that goes into the Poetry Swaps. I've missed doing the summer one this year and last because I'm in and out of town so much these two summers, but it's a delight to read Jone's and Moe's poems here, and sigh at their lovely artistic treasures, too. xo
Linda, you turned this into a beautiful moment—capturing a return that holds sweet memories. It reminds me of how I feel when I get back to my mountain home.
ReplyDeleteLinda, I loved the poem you wrote from Carol's clunker. It reminded me of the phone call when you were getting ready to see your dad. There are some rich memories in the poem. I, too, take pleasure in sending goodies beyond a poem in my swaps. It brings such joy.
ReplyDeleteFrom the Home of the Tardiest PF Comments Ever--
ReplyDeleteYou're right--all the sharing and the seeing and the supporting are so important! Your post goes so nicely with Tanita's, and it's wonderful to enjoy poems built from someone else's poems.