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.
A fine poem that seems to me has met this challenge well, food words Ingrid!
Oh, bother, I meant to type good, not food!
Thank you, Carolyn: words can also be food for thought! 😊
Yes, indeed they can!
🔥
Thank you 🙏
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’.
Thank you, Kim! I stole the tapestry idea from Carole King but changed the words a bit…
Wow, well done Ingrid 🙂
Thank you 🙏
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.
Yes that thaw can be painfully slow. Where we are it felt a little warmer today.
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?
I am indeed! The 11th ♒️
You’ve caught the inbetweenness. It’s a layering of winter and spring. (K)
Thanks Kerfe, that’s how it feels to me.
The rhyming in the first stanza set the whole off so well. The ‘fighting for breath’ is us all this year I feel.
I think so! Hopefully we’ll come up singing…
Nicely structured! Lots to love here – playfulness and colour, and a little nod to St Valentine.
Thanks Sarah, just a hint but it’s on its way…
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!
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.
Thank you for you Sherry. My mum used to pick wildflowers and now my kids pick them for me 🌸
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.
Thank you Cheryl 😊
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
Thank you, this sounds like an interesting read. I’m pleased you enjoyed the poem!
Beautiful imagery. An interesting festival, ‘Imbolc’
Yes, it’s the first I heard of it from Sarah’s challenge. Thank you 🙏
My deep pleasure
I love this poem especially the last verse. Beautiful
Thank you Deborah 🙏 🌸
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.
Thank you for your kind words 🙏