I was the one to set this month’s challenge for the Inklings. I took part of a prompt from James Crews’s new book, “Unlocking the Heart,” and invited everyone to “begin with a specific sensory experience (of taste, sight, smell, sound or touch) and see where that leads you.”
Weeks after setting this challenge, it occurs to me that a wide-open prompt can be more difficult to enter into than a more defined one. Too many choices, maybe? I suppose it’s like the way that writing within a tightly structured form can actually free ideas. Maybe they bounce off the boundaries and meet up with each other in new and unexpected ways? At any rate, I was hoping to tap in to some evocative smell or sound or even texture (an ode to oatmeal?), but over and over I kept coming back to sight.
To me, winter is all about the interplay between dark and light. There’s such a lush generosity to the light at this time of year. It is transformative. As a photographer and a writer and a human being, I’m drawn to it over and over again. I find it quite challenging to capture both in words and in photographs, but here are a few unrelated small poems and photos attempting to do so:
within deepest snow
winter’s cold heart
blazes a brilliant blue
patient square of amber light
awaits in the dark, chill night
welcome home
late sun gilds the meadow
winter-bare oak tree
glows like an alleluia
You can check out what the other Inklings did with the challenge by clicking on the links below:
Linda @A Word Edgewise
Mary Lee @ A(nother) Year of Reading
Margaret @Reflections on the Teche
Heidi @my juicy little universe
Catherine @ Reading to the Core (She’s opting out this week, but her blog is always worth a visit!)
Carol is hosting this week’s Poetry Friday roundup at The Apples in My Orchard.
Nix the comfort zone 
I love how each haiku asks me to look at light in a different way: a brilliant blue, amber light, and (my personal favorite) glows like an alleluia. Your photos always enhance the experience.
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Thanks, Margaret. The alleluia is my favorite, too 🙂
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Your small poems DO capture the evocativeness of light perfectly. My favorite is the same as Margaret’s. I won’t ever look at trees illuminated (“gilded”) by winter’s low sun the same way again. Alleluia, indeed.
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The light really can stop you in your tracks at this time of year. It’s just so lush and gorgeous!
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Molly, with a photographer’s eye, you captured the earth during its wintering season. Inviting photos moved me closer to the presence of Lady Winter in her glowing gowns of winter white and baby blue. You beautifully shared her hues of winter color and shades of light in a poetic format. Thanks for the allowing me time to be in the presence of nature.
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Thanks, Carol. Winter offers her own treasures for sure!
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I do not tire ever of seeing your photos, Molly, and now your response about the varied light given us each day is what I think Photographers know in their hearts. It blazes, welcomes us, and (wonderfully), “glows like an alleluia”! I so enjoyed what you shared!
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Thanks, Linda! I can’t say I love the cold, but winter offers so much beauty when I take time to notice.
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alleluia to oatmeal
which absorbs all light
turning the butter
into bone-goldening sun
we can carry with us
all the cold day
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Love this, Heidi!
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Beautiful words and photos. Thank you for these images, Molly!
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Thanks! I’m definitely drawn to all the winter offers.
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Thank you, Molly. I’ve been noticing light changes this late autumn into winter season also. Mesmerizing and inspiring. I love “winter’s cold heart blazes a brilliant blue”
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I’m fascinated by how the light changes over the seasons and at the transitional times of day. There’s always something to see! Happy Holidays to you and yours!
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