February #poetry #Earthweal

February’s a fine month
of snowdrops and crocuses, the
first whisperings of early spring:
can you hear them
fighting for breath
beneath the sleeping earth?
Place your ear to the ground
through the dust
you may just
hear them sing.

February’s a fun month
the month that I was born, and
I still celebrate this re-awakening
though I’m a long time grown:
this poet’s month
seedlings of songs
and creativity are borne
aloft upon the still chill
winds, whistling
a springtime tune.

February’s a blue month
loves I’ve lost
and loves I’ve won
come crowding my mind at eventide
even as I write this song
yet I trust that in a month or two
the sorrows of past winters
will be gone
and I will celebrate
the summer rush
of love reborn.

February’s a parti-coloured month
of tapestry flowers
in bits of purple-gold they come
adorning locked-down hours
and I shall pick
a wildflower bloom
and we shall call it ours
emerging from cold wintertide
to dream of
springtime bowers.

© Experimentsinfiction 2021, All Rights Reserved

Written for Earthweal

This week, Sarah is our host at Earthweal, and she has set us the challenge of writing a poem for Imbolc:

‘Traditionally celebrated at the start of February, Imbolc is a festival of new life and new beginnings. The name derives from “in the belly” — the first stirrings of life, seeds starting to sprout.’

This started out as a much shorter poem for Twitter – or perhaps more of a seedling of a poem, from which this longer creation grew.

34 thoughts on “February #poetry #Earthweal

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  1. Great use of repetition, Ingrid, like a mantra. I love the wordplay/shift from ‘fine’ to ‘fun’ and ‘blue’ to ‘parti-coloured’, and the direct address to hook the reader and take them on a stroll through February. Great phrase, ‘seedlings of songs and creativity’ and a lovely thought of ‘bits of purple-gold… adorning locked-down hours’.

  2. I liked how you depicted spring’s struggle for breathe. This is something I know is true, as layer upon layer of snow will need to melt around the end of March.

  3. Lovely, I can feel the breath of spring in this, so hopeful and I think this spring should be very special. February birthday? Maybe you’re an Aquarian too?

  4. This is absolutely beautiful…listening for the snowdrops singing under the earth……the awakening, the remembering and especially “I shall pick a wildflower bloom and call it ours.” Wow!

  5. My comment disappeared. This is absolutely beautiful – listening for snowdrops singing under the earth, the awakening, the remembering, and, especially ‘I shall pick a wildflower bloom and call it ours.” Wow.

  6. Ingrid, in the US, we celebrate Groundhog Day, President’s Day, Valentine’s Day, and of course, the first stirrings of spring in February. Hope you have a lovely birthday! 🙂 Thank you for this joyous, hopeful poem.

  7. A great book on the sources of love poetry is Rachel Carson’s Eros the Bittersweet, how the 6th century BC poets first began writing poems — love poems — overcome in writing the bittersweet gambols of Eros. (See Sappho.) Anyway, the honeyed bittersweetness of this poem is arch and rich with those springlike beginnings. Love the rhyme and song within. How rich those memories of love, how duple-dappled. A quickening Imbolc poem. – Brendan

  8. I love the snowdrops and their fight to flower in such a changeable month but the change is happening and you describe it so well and happy birthday too, such a fun time but also that sense of loss too. A wonderful mix of ideas and expressive words.

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