Library Matters: 2026

First Friday Poetry: March 6, 2026

It's the first Friday of the month. This means it's time for a poem.
I'm joining Beverly A Baird & Linda Schueler in another year long poetry practice. On the first Friday of each month we, and anyone else who joins, writes a poem and shares it.

This year, Bev and Linda have organized themes for each month. This month's theme is Spring has Sprung.

I knew I would be at a quilting retreat the first Friday in March, so I started thinking early on about my poem. Of course I dashed out this morning without posting it.

One of my favourite spring poems is e.e. cummings' in Just.

in Just-

spring when the world is mud-

luscious the little

lame balloonman

whistles far and wee

and eddieandbill come

running from marbles and

piracies and it's

spring

when the world is puddle-wonderful

the queer

old balloonman whistles

far and wee

and bettyandisbel come dancing

from hop-scotch and jump-rope and

it's

spring

and

the

goat-footed

balloonMan whistles

far

and

wee

I tried using it as mentor text and rewriting it to reflect our modern multicultural world, but after messing around with it for a while I abandoned it.

One day, while puttering around the house, this chant began to pulse in my head. It was as if the dormant seeds and bulbs were letting me know what this renewal of life feels like for them.

see we rise

out of the dark
out of the dark
out of the dark
we rise

into the light
into the light
into the light
we thrive

out of the dark
into the light
oh what a glorious
glorious sight

unfurl the banners
beat the drums
waiting is over
spring has sprung

First Friday Poetry: February 6, 2026

It's the first Friday of the month. This means it's time for a poem.

I'm joining Beverly A Baird & Linda Schueler in another year long poetry practice. On the first Friday of each month we, and anyone else who joins, writes a poem and shares it.

This year, Bev and Linda have organized themes for each month. This month's theme is love and friendship.

I've spent the last month pondering what love and friendship mean to me. Eventually I started All About Love by Belle Hooks. I've lost track of how many times I've read this book, but each time I take something profound from it.

Early in January, Ailsa, one of my closest friends, died after a long illness. Decades ago she introduced me to The Hidden Life of Trees by Peter Wohlleben. When I read Suzanne Simard's Finding the Mother Tree, she was unable to read it with me. This poem is for her.

I suspect this is really two poems, or maybe it's the start of a small series.

Ecology

forest flora
are connected through
an underground network
of minuscule filaments

uniting all species
into in a community

warning of danger,
nurturing as needed,

embracing one another
in fragile arms
of belonging

lately i’ve been thinking
that we too
are connected
in a similar way,
through invisible

filaments of love

a love stretching
across space and time
nurturing us in a collective

of hearts, minds, and souls,

rejoicing that
each one of us exists
to shine our unique lights
into the darkness

and maybe,
when people
march in streets,
blow whistles of warning,
bring food and medicine

to those trapped in houses,
maybe, we are seeing

how we become
the instruments
of this invisible network

today
i’m wondering
if perhaps trees grieve
when one of them falls
just like i do
now that you are gone

The theme for March is Spring has Sprung.

First Friday Poetry: January 2, 2026

I'm joining Beverly A Baird & Linda Schueler again in another year long poetry practice. On the first Friday of each month we, and anyone else who joins, writes a poem and shares it.

This year, Bev and Linda have organized themes for each month. This month's theme is New Beginnings.

In the last month I've carried those words in my pocket. I've mulled them over and chewed on their meaning. it wasn't until I started to write that I began to make sense out of them.

The Beauty Way that I've referenced in my poem is both a Navajo philosophy and a traditional prayer. This musical version was created by composer/conductor Gregg Smith. I learned the song in a choir ages ago. We might not have sounded as good as this, but singing it with others was/is a glorious experience.