“The more clearly we can focus our attention on the wonders and realities of the universe,
the less taste we shall have for destruction.”
~ Rachel Carson ~
Have you ever noticed that sometimes you read or hear about a topic and then, suddenly, it’s everywhere? The connection between science and poetry isn’t news to Poetry Friday regulars, but in the past week, this relationship was gloriously celebrated by Maria Papova, Janna Levin and friends at the second Universe in Verse, “an evening of science-inspired poems read by artists, writers, scientists, and musicians, part protest and part celebration.” The event, which was livestreamed, was dedicated to the legacy of Rachel Carson and included readings of poetry celebrating everything “from the oceans and trees and volcanos to bees and kale and the armadillo.” It was a truly inspiring event.
Then I found this article about the intersection of math and poetry, which led me to JoAnne Growney’s blog, “Intersections–Poetry with Mathematics.” Growney writes about both mathematical forms, including Fibs, and poems about math and declares, “let our STEM be STEAM.” Indeed!
Further inspiration came from my poetry pal Christie Wyman, who wrote poems about vernal pools every day in April. (Congratulations, Christie!) Thanks to her, I’ve recently been paying close attention to a vernal pool near my home. After two days of above-average temperatures, this scene greeted me on my morning walk yesterday:
The unfortunately named skunk cabbage caught my attention. Kale, armadillos, even skunk cabbage, all are worthy subjects of our attention, our words.
“Fib for a Skunk Cabbage”
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hands,
ancient
and veined, skunk
cabbage leaves unfold,
arise from hidden vernal pools
boldly proclaiming, “Spring is here! Spring is finally here!”
© Catherine Flynn, 2018
Please be sure to visit Brenda Davis Harsham at Friendly Fairy Tales for the Poetry Friday Roundup.
Reading to the Core 
I just spent some lovely time swirling down the rabbit hole of mathematics and poetry, following many of your wonderful links! I love that you compared skunk cabbage to hands (ancient and veined–great word choice!), as I’ve been thinking that way about the plants in my garden as well, especially the peonies and the lady’s mantle. As they unfurl, they look like they’re small hands reaching out of chilly soil to grasp spring, warmth, sunshine! Thanks also for reminding me about Fibs–yet another form to try. Enjoy your vernal pool–they are magical places!
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Thanks for this fib poem. I’d like to use it for an activity I am leading at Gifted by Nature Day. We are exploring fractals and will write fib poems. “hands, ancient and veined,” is a great metaphor.
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Catherine, your poem and photos brought me back to the reason why I created the Sense-sational Spring Gallery: to link the ordinary sightings of spring with poetic voice and flood the gallery with sensory thoughts. Now I can add a pathway for those math geeks who like to write. Would you be interested in joining your photos and poem & adding the finalized image poem to my spring collection? Invite is at http://beyondliteracylink.blogspot.com/2018/04/spring-salutations-with-invitation-to.html. Thanks for the visual: ancient and veined.
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Thank you for all the links! That is a great Rachel Carson quote. And I love your “Skunk Cabbage.” Your post made me think of a poetry quote I shared in April — a connection between poetry and math – http://alicenine.net/poetry-is-5/
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I love hearing the voice of your poem coming from the “skunk cabbage,” I think it might have actually been talking this week, in it’s native tongue. Beautiful poem Catherine, and images. I’ve been amazed each day at the amount of accelerated growth that has happened in this last week, it’s as if the plants were ready and waiting to burst out and take hold of Spring! Thanks for all the links too!
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I am loving all the spring-inspired poetry that I’ve been reading – and so many gorgeous photographs, too! Thanks for sharing.
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[…] the Fibonacci series is a fractal? Of course, we had to write fib poems. I used this post by Catherine Flynn as a model text. I wrote a model fib poem based on a fractal in nature. Then sent them out to […]
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