Afterbloom

A Pause for Poetry

May 13, 2025

Dear Friend,

On this day before my BIG birthday, I bring you poetry and gifts from nature. This is a post I would love comments on. Would you take a moment after you read to drop a note and click the heart? I think it will mean a lot to our featured writer today!

First, I offer a haiku I wrote, inspired by this ballerina of a tulip shell.

Then, I present poems offered by Alice Roe, an obscure writer whose compelling views “bring me pause.” When I read Alice’s words, I always quiet myself so I don’t miss the wonder in their “wanderings.”* I find myself expecting to be surprised.

And I always am.

I hope you will find a still space to savor Alice’s beautiful offerings. We are so lucky to have such thoughtful and clever young artists in our midst. Supporting them in their work guarantees we won’t lose our soul as a people.

Haiku

by Linda J Sack

the afterbloom

look, my faded form,

petal tips tinged with claret.

i dance as I go

---

Wandering Thoughts from Alice Roe

Tell me

What if I was never called for dinner,

That bell never rang?

Would I have continued

Playful wandering?

Would I have left

The trees

And pillows of moss?

Would I have ever made my way home

If that copper bell

Had not sounded?

Would I have been lost to the world forever?

Tell me

What if I was never called for dinner?

---

The Poem of August

You see,

I have a weakness for lovely things.

I would begin to pick flowers in the young days of May,

My hair full

My nose lost between petals.

By the time my eyes found the sky

The world was collecting

The last days of August.

And all I know of August

Is that flowers

And people

Die,

Claimed by the heat.

The death of summer.

---

About Reading Poetry

I (LJS) like to read poetry in increments, picking up the author’s book or manuscript now and then and just sitting with a few poems, then letting them set in me for a while. I need time to allow them to oxidize in my mind, until I find myself catching bits of meaning within them, fireflies of delight or understanding lighting up my dark room.

---

Here’s a brief, clever one from Alice that made me laugh:

Chapter 36

The creaking of floorboards,
The song of the insomniac.

---

With Alice’s work, I often find myself tasting, feeling, smelling the images, lost in the setting. I’m admiring of the raw courage with which they write. Possessing such insight at a young age comes at a high price. I’m hoping we will hear more from Alice, whose substance is artistic gold, produced through a fierce alchemical process.

*Poetry by and photographs from Alice Roe are printed with permission.

Music from Wonderworld

Not everyone knows or likes classical music. I love sharing my favorites in hopes I can introduce you to composers and compositions that will surprise you and grow on you. Erik Satie provides a good soundtrack for me while I’m writing or needing a bit of quiet (punctuated by curiosity.) May this selection by Satie bring you comfort and inspiration.

And on that note….(pun intended)

Ruby and I send (belatedly) massive love to all of you maternal beings out there. Your love and care sustain the world! I’m hoping you are celebrated and cherished, and not just on Mother’s Day!

As I always do, I sign off from our Wonderworld with a reminder that Wonderworld is all around you. In tumultuous times, we survive by stopping to look, listen, smell, taste, feel the beauty in humanity and nature around us. Within us. These are my Excerpts. Today, may you become more keenly aware of and find delight in excerpts from your Wonderworld. And may those excerpts deeply sustain you.

With love,

Linda

and Ruby