April Poetry

The American Academy of Poets lists today, April 27, 2023 as Poem in Your Pocket Day. Alternately, another website lists April 29 as the annual date during National Poetry Month. I think every day is a good day for a poem. Today, with great humility, I share one of my own poems. I am not a professional poet but I do enjoy the challenge of all the moving parts of a poem. 

When writing, I often end up with a group of poems that cluster around a topic. I don't start out with a specific topic or set out to write a collection but somehow one thought suggests another. Between March 2013 and April 2021, I worked on poems about women's stories and voices. The possibilities are endless. Perhaps more than ever, our stories need to be told, our voices heard. The following is a poem I wrote during that time. I played with metaphor but also with sounds and words that could be read aloud. Happy Poetry Month.

A Basket of Words*

Find a thin place. Meander

through reeds. Recover runes 

etched into a riverbed.

Sing half, whole, heart, and harbor.

Dip fingers into the current.

Send sticks and stubs downstream. 

Invoke the song of rock and stone.

Discover scatter, whisper, staunch, and shout.

Soak and stretch reeds.  Stand

your ground, shape the base.

Prevent the spine from cracking.

Braid a handle from listen, glisten, and gleam.

Compose with feather and cattail.

Choose letters from egret and heron.

Craft a basket of words.

Weave shelter, honor, season, center, and thrive.

*Copyright Jane A. Wolfe, 2021

April Skies

Light in the April skies is beautiful. As I walk these cool Spring days, I revel in the sky and the flowering trees. The Red Buds, Ornamental Pears, and others seem extra lush this year. I enjoy the little wild violets popping up in yards. This week I cleaned out the herb garden and am working on the perennial flower strip along the fence. I love 60 degree temperatures. I am pacing myself to take care of my back but it is wonderful to be scratching around in the green plants. My husband, bless his heart and knees, dug up a new space, a small oval bed that I hope to plant as a pollinator garden. 

Today is Unraveled Wednesday with Kat and other makers. It's been a finishing sort of week for me. I love the soft blush pink color with subtle tonality of this hitchhiker. I added some eyelet rows for interest. The simple classic design is so satisfying. I'm almost sorry it's finished.

I also finished this hat. I knit it to improve the tension in my colorwork. There are a few places where the red stitches are a little loose but they aren't terribly noticeable. It looks nice and is plenty warm so I plan to donate it. I am not crazy about the decreases in this pattern. Most of them are done by slipping a previous knit stitch over the two stitches slipped together. About three rounds in, I slipped the two stitches one at a time instead of together and came up with a neater decrease. Of course your mileage may differ from mine. 

I didn't use up all of the partial skeins so I cast on another child size hat. I plan to use some of colorwork pattern and my usual swirl-type decreases. 

Currently, I am rereading The Island of Missing Trees by Elif Shafak as it is this month's selection in my local book group. I thoroughly enjoyed listening to the novel so this time I have a hard copy. One member sent a link to an NPR interview with the author. She mentioned she chose a tree as a narrator because she wanted a neutral voice that would avoid the tribalism of the Greek and Turkish Cypriots. I find this Romeo and Juliet story, the contrasts between the male and female main characters, and the fig tree as narrator charming. I finished Fresh Water for Flowers and loved the elegant unfolding of the main character. Violette's life is full of sorrow but with support of two friends, one male and one female, she becomes a strong gentle soul. She also has a knack for understanding the quirky people who are part of her life as a cemetery keeper. I found this to be a peaceful read. 

And here we are with only a few days left in April. I plan to visit through a local nursery or two this afternoon. I hope the rest of the week treats you well. 

Ravelry Links

Spring Hitchhiker

Slouch Colorwork Hat

Mid-April

Wednesday, Wednesday. This mid-morning I'm looking out at overcast skies on a humid 70 degree day. The temperature is going up to 83 degrees later this afternoon. As my grandfather would have said, "this is storm-brewing weather." Last night thunder rumbled and lightning flashed all around with but no rain fell. Most flowering trees are in bloom in Lincoln. Like most areas of the country, temperatures are fluctuating widely. Sunday was literally freezing. Ah Springtime. 

Today is Unraveled Wednesday with Kat and friends. As I wrote last week, I finished the purple birthday shawl, so named because I used a birthday gift card from my sister toward the yarn. The shawl blocked out beautifully. The fabric is delightful. I had this pattern in my queue for quite awhile. I wanted to knit all three repeats of the last lace section but wasn't sure I had enough yarn to knit the pattern as written. My solution was to omit the last wide garter stitch band. Instead I framed the "leaf/tree" lace with matching garter ridges. That worked well and the shawl is still a generous size. 

I've added five teeth to the Hitchhiker. It is pleasant knitting in the evening. I have a second skein so I can make it as long as I want. I'm going to measure it against the other hitchhiker in my drawer and decide. Have you ever noticed that when you knit stash yarn, it just changes storage areas? Part of my spring/summer clothing switch is going to include going through all the hand knits. 

I have worked some on the colorwork hat. Sarah left some helpful colorwork tips in her comment last week. I am spreading out the stitches on the right hand needle and that helps correct the pulling I often create in colorwork fabric. If the colorwork looks decent, I'll donate the hat to a charity. 

As for reading, I'm finishing up Fresh Water for Flowers and thoroughly enjoying the characters, the writing, and the story. The structure of short chapters suits the novel. I like the way the life story of the main character, Violette, unfolds. One night when I couldn't sleep, I pulled a favorite, The Heart of the Sound: An Alaskan Paradise Found and Nearly Lost from my shelf. Holleman's descriptions of Prince William Sound before and after the Exxon-Valdez oil spill are beautiful and heart-breaking. This nonfiction is part nature writing and part memoir. The author raises some good questions about resilience, restoration, and recovery. One hopes science, business, and government agencies have learned something from this catastrophe. 

I hope you have a good week. I'm off to take a walk. And just because life isn't confusing enough, I'll share this photo from my dining room. Flowers, I'll take them whenever they bloom. 

Ravelry Links

Birthday Shawl

Slouch Colorwork Hat

Happy Spring

Holy Moly, this day is so beautiful I went for a walk after breakfast. More than once during my working years, I vowed someday I would just sit and watch Spring arrive. While I'm not sitting all day and the pollen count is high, this Spring is unfurling beautifully. Daffodils and hyacinths are in full bloom and some trees sport tiny green leaves. A few of the early flowering trees are beginning to bloom. Yesterday when I cleaned up the small iris beds on the southern side of the house, I noticed lilac buds. This week's very warm weather will bring more to enjoy.   

Today is Unraveled Wednesday with Kat and friends. It's my favorite blog day of the week. I've been working on the hitchhiker. Slowly it grows. I do love the soft blush-pink color. Sunday afternoon I finished the monstrous purple shawl with a little yarn to spare. Yesterday I wet blocked it to open up the lace pattern along the edge. Last night I finished the raspberry cordial socks and photographed them out on the deck. 

I am ready for a smaller project and would also like my colorwork knitting to have more even tension. I thought a simpler pattern would allow me to find a better rhythm so I pulled out leftovers and cast on a hat. Both the two shawls and the hat are being knit with yarn in my "up next" stash bin so that is a good feeling. 

As for reading, I'm almost finished with Piranesi. I don't read much fantasy so the story seems odd to me. Since it is this month's selection for my local book group, I will read all of it. Hopefully a discussion will shed light on the story. My main takeaway is that Paranesi, the narrator, is unfailingly kind and has an open minded way of looking at his (to me) strange world. I am also reading Fresh Water for Flowers. I find it a peaceful, charming read. The writing stands up to translation. 

Happy Spring or Autumn depending on your place in the world.   

Ravelry Links

Raspberry Cordial Socks

Spring Hitchhiker

Easy Ombre Hat

Welcome April

Hello and welcome to April. The sky is blue but the breeze is out of the northwest. Yesterday was a balmy 74 degrees and I almost bought a pot of pansies. Overnight freezing temperatures and a very chilly day make me glad I didn't stop at the nursery. A few brave daffodils, along with Creeping Charlie, bloom against the southern foundation of the house. (That darn Creeping Charlie is forever.) I have another little bed of daffodils and iris at the back of the yard. The neighborhood fox ate most of the daffodils in that location but a few spears are up so he didn't get all of them. I was surprised he was interested in bulbs but a google search told me foxes do eat some plant matter. 

Today is the mid-week link-up with Kat and the Unravelers. I will be a little later with my post as my husband and I are having lunch with some family members. Yesterday I reached the heel flap on the second sock. I made some progress on the hitchhiker. 

I have been knitting primarily on the monstrous purple shawl. I'd like to finish it before the weather gets too warm to have a lap full of wool, mohair, silk, and alpaca. The fabric is soft and very warm. To make sure I have enough yarn to knit all of the last lace pattern, I omitted the last full section of garter stitch rows. Even so, the shawl will be plenty big enough to wrap up in on a winter evening. After dropping another mohair strand of a stitch, I bought a new needle with lace tips. I decided not to drop down or tink back through the lace section to secure the stitch. Instead I put a length of the mohair through the errant loop, pulled it to the back, and secured it. The fudged stitch will never be noticeable. The new needle is a better match for these two yarns. So far so good. Although this isn't fast knitting, the pattern keeps the long rows interesting. 

As for reading, I am enjoying Atkinson's The Shrines of Gaiety. The many story threads are coming together with cunning and wit. I finished Booth by Karen Joy Fowler. Although the narrative is a bit heavy on descriptive phrases, I'm not sorry I listened to the novel. The story of the Booth family as told through the siblings of John Wilkes is fascinating. As per the author's end note, primary source material was readily available. 

I'm off to do a little cleaning and hopefully take a walk. I'll be back to wearing mittens and a hat today. The question is do I pick the daffodils or leave them to brave the weather. To those who are celebrating this weekend, Happy Passover. Happy Easter. Happy Spring. 

Ravelry Links

Birthday Shawl 

Spring Hitchhiker

Wrapping up March

Hello there. I write this post on an overcast chilly morning. For the record, the juncos have not left our area. Just this morning, two came to the front feeder. Earlier three perched on the deck railing. This past Sunday we woke to a half inch of snow. However the sun came out and it was gone by late afternoon. I can live with that kind of March snow. My brother in Billings, Montana reported a heavy wet 6 - 8 inches. Bah Humbug.  

Today is Unvaveled Wednesday with Kat and company. My knitting looks much the same as it did last week. I knit another section on the purple shawl and got the hitchhiker back on track. I finished the first sock of a pair so that is visible progress. Sunday I cast on the second sock. 

I am spinning singles from two 4 ounce braids of the same blue-gray BFL fiber. The colors resemble shades of a white breasted nuthatch. In some light it looks gray and in other light it looks blue. I split the braids horizontally by light and dark shades. Then I divided the colors so I could spin two bobbins in the same sequence. Currently I am spinning singles of light colors. Then I'll spin singles of the darker shades on different bobbins. I hope to get two skeins that can be used as one gradient. As I learn more about what to expect when spinning, I am often delighted with unexpected results. As Ada Limón wrote in the poem, "Give Me This" "Why am I not allowed delight?" 

My reading is a little scattered perhaps because these books are so different from each other. My local group is reading the fantasy/allegory Piranesi by Susanna Clarke. I never read fantasy but am enjoying the beginning of the story. No doubt I'm missing the symbolism but decided not to fret and just read for awhile to get a feel for the book. I look forward to our discussion. Because the library hold came in, I am reading Shrines of Gaiety by Kate Atkinson. Atkinson is a witty writer so her asides and comments about the characters are fun to read. The story begins in 1926 amidst the mayhem of the roaring twenties in London. The cast of characters is large and the nightclub life is gritty. 

During chores and while making, I listen to Booth by Karen Joy Fowler. The description of the country coming apart before the Civil War feels eerily familiar. The story is fascinating and I will listen to the end.  In my opinion, this novel could have been better edited. With four hours left, I have heard about one too many crackling fires and curly-haired lads. I will forever associate the socks in the photo with this audiobook. Funny how that sometimes happen. 

March, in spite of gray skies, snow, and wintry mix has flown. April will be most welcome.

Ravelry Link

Raspberry Cordial Socks 

  

Spring Migration

 "There is a river in the heart of North America that annually gathers together the watery largess of melting Rocky Mountain snowfields and glaciers and spills wildly down the eastern slopes of Colorado and Wyoming.   . . .  There is a season that is an unpredictable day-to-day battle between bitter winds . . . and southerly breezes . . . There is a bird perhaps older than the river, and far more wary than waterfowl or prairie-chickens.  . . .  There is a magical time that occurs each year in the heart of North America, when the river and the season and the bird all come into brief conjunction. "  *Crane Music by Paul A. Johnsgard, p. 37 - 38

Johnsgard was a renowned ornithologist, professor, and prolific writer/illustrator. The passage above is one of my favorites and appears on displays at the Rowe Wildlife Sanctuary near Gibbon, Nebraska. Johnsgard died in July 2021 after having lived a remarkable life.   

I've lost count of how many Springs Lance and I have driven to central Nebraska to see the sandhill cranes. Early in March, thousands of cranes and other wildfowl begin their annual migration through North America. They stop in the Platte River valley to rest and feed on corn left in the fields before resuming their long flight. Some will fly as far as the Arctic and into Siberia. Flocks come and spend a few weeks and then move on. This will continue into early April.

This past Monday, the first day of Spring, was sunny and bright with a 60 degree high and so we drove the 120 miles west to Kearney. We spent a few hours on county roads in order to stop and watch cranes. After a bite to eat, we drove to the Fort Kearney State Recreation Area. As March evenings go, it couldn't have been any better. No wind blew, the sky was clear and the temperature fell to only 49 degrees. Around 6:30 p.m., we walked onto the pedestrian bridge and found a place to stand. Up river, we spotted five deer walking across the river.  A few cranes circled as we listened to individual cries. Perhaps they were calling to their mates. Cranes mate for life. How they keep track of each other in that large group is a mystery to me. 

While we watched the sunset, I listened to conversations around me. People come from all over to see the wildlife spectacle. One woman remarked she had never seen a river that looked like the Platte. Her comment came from observation and curiosity. It reminded me to be curious about the natural history of places I visit.

The Platte is not a deep channel of water but a braided river of sandbars and meandering streams. For better or worse, dams and reservoirs dot the North and South Platte branches before they join near North Platte, Nebraska. From there the river flows across Nebraska and into the Missouri. Water-flow through the Platte is a big issue with many stakeholders. 

Just as the sun dipped below the horizon, cranes gathered in field near the river and the crescendo of ancient music began. One can hear the chorus before the birds lift off the ground. As dusk settled around us, large flocks flew up and down the river searching for evening roost. The moment is magical. This year the birds landed away from the bridge but at a distance visible through binoculars. Some visitors were disappointed the birds didn't land closer to the bridge but why would they? The bridge is full of human beings chattering away. Other years the cranes have chosen roosts even further from the bridge. 

The Rowe Sanctuary has established a few blinds at the river's edge. Spaces can be reserved for a nominal fee. One year we reserved spaces in a blind. The pedestrian bridge is up river a mile or so and an inexpensive State Game and Parks day sticker is the price on admission. I prefer the bridge because it gives me a wider longer view of the river and the sky.

The river view was beautiful. Still the water level is low for this time of year. Spring run-off increases the flow but Nebraska has experienced drought status for the past few years. In some areas, winter storms changed the status from extreme to severe. That the oldest birds on the planet (the earliest fossil of a sandhill crane is estimated to be 2.5 million years old) follow the same path across the continent brings me hope. Various groups of concerned citizens, environmentalists, scientists, and farmers come together to protect this fragile habitat. That is also reason for hope. Still, the status of the cranes is not certain. Continued vigilance and support is needed. 

If you want to read more I suggest:

* Johnsgard, Paul A. 1998. Crane Music Lincoln, Ne. : Bison Books, University of Nebraska Press. 

Pfost, Doreen. 2016. This River Beneath the Sky Lincoln, Ne.: Bison Books, University of Nebraska Press. 

or visit the website of Rowe Sanctuary - linked above