This month Heidi chose the prompt for our Inkling’s challenge. She asked us to “Write a short postcard poem with choice details of your vacation/holiday/getaway/escape location and activities. Conclude with “Wish you were here” or some variation!”
This was the perfect summer prompt, especially given the fact that I’ve spent almost everyday since school got out on June 13th traveling! My husband and I were in Ireland, Croatia and Slovenia. We just got back this past Wednesday.
Here are a few small poems inspired by sights in Slovenia:
the mountains gather up clouds
drape them like gauzy shawls
across sharp shoulders
©Molly Hogan
within the lush green
a solitary spire rises
heaven bound
©Molly Hogan
Blossom-lined alpine lake
Castle on a hill
Tolling church bells
Fairy tales bloom
alongside the hydrangea
©Molly Hogan
On our final day we hiked along a cliff walk in Howth, Ireland. It was utterly gorgeous scenery, despite the dark skies and cool temperatures, and the perfect way to end our vacation.
Cliff Walk, Howth, Ireland
Heather embroiders the hillside
Far below us, a seal bobs and dives
stitching its wake into the fabric of the sea
Overhead, swathes of clouds batten the skies
I wrap myself in the soft weave of the day
and give thanks
©Molly Hogan
If you’d like to see what the other Inklings did with this challenge, click on the links below:
Linda @A Word Edgewise
Catherine @Reading to the Core
Molly @Nix the Comfort Zone
Mary Lee @Another Year of Reading
Heidi @my juicy little universe
This week’s Poetry Friday is hosted by the glorious Jan Annino at her blog, Bookseed Studio.
Nix the comfort zone 
What an amazing trip! Thanks for sharing in photos and poems. Your poems perfectly stitch together a tapestry of beauty. I encourage you to make a photo book from the trip and include your poems. There are many sites you can use, but I found Snapfish very reasonable in price and easy to navigate.
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It was amazing! We’re hoping to make a photo book. Thanks for the tip about Snapfish.
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“the soft weave of the day”
*sigh*
So perfect!
What a trip! It seems that you have fodder for an endless series of response poems! Perhaps a whole illustrated book full!!
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Lots to process still…traveling is such an experience!
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Molly, it looks like this trip agreed with you! I love that spire rising…and everything you’ve shared today. Thank you. xo
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Thanks, Irene! It was a much anticipated and much enjoyed journey 🙂
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Wow! What amazing travels! I love “gauzy shawls” and that embroidered heather. Just beautiful.
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We saw so many amazing things! I’m still trying to make sense of it all 🙂
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Yay for nourishing, inspiring trips! I can imagine “Fairy tales bloom/alongside the hydrangea.”
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The mountains feel like fertile ground for fairy tales!
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Molly, it sounds like so much beauty! I’m so glad you got to spend so many days on this gorgeous trip. Wish I was there! Ha.
That church spire heaven bound is amazing wrapped in all that green. And that last line of your island poem…wow! “I wrap myself in the soft weave of the day / and give thanks”
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It was so much beauty of so many different variations–a real gift of a trip!
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Molly, in your usual style of offering beautiful nature/landscape photography and fabulous word choice, descriptive poems, I lingered in your poetic goodness. Your ending lines were a perfect ending for a fabulous post.
I wrap myself in the soft weave of the day
and give thanks
You and the Inklings have given me inspiration to write a poetic tribute to my family vacation to Punta Cana.
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Thanks, Carol! I’ll go check out your poetry postcard soon!
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Oh Molly, these poems and photos are beautiful! Your last 2 lines of your last poem reached out to me and I will keep them with me throughout my day: I wrap myself in the soft weave of the day and give thanks. Thank you!
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I felt like that so often during our journey-experiencing the wonder and beauty, trying to linger in it, and also trying to imprint it in my brain!
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Welcome home! My favorite postcard is the white steeple in woodland of green. Clearly it is coffee table book-worthy! Such good news you two got to go across the Pond! We got to the Hamiton Audubon Sanctuary and loved it. How about Frye Island in Sebago Lake? Been there?
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I’m so glad you got to Hamilton Audubon and that you liked it. I haven’t been to Frye Island and will have to check that out. Thanks for the recommendation!
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