Welcome to Poetry Friday! I’m so glad you’re here! You are invited to the Inlinkz link party! Click here to enter
This month it was my turn to choose the Inklings’ challenge. “Make it easy!” someone pleaded, and I thought I did. But after fiddling around with it, I’m not so sure. I think it’s one of those prompts that sounds easier than it is.
Anyway, the prompt I chose was from Audrey Gidman’s advent prompts (here). She wrote:
“Write a poem after Wendell Berry’s “Like Snow” — word for word. Choose a subject: rain, a butterfly, granite, the ocean, anything. Berry’s poem is three lines long. Break down each line. In line one, replace the word “suppose” with something else: what if; in spite of; imagine etc., replace the pronoun and the verb, replace “snow” with your chosen subject. Do the same with the second and third lines. Be sure to write an epigraph that reads “after Wendell Berry”.” I added that everyone should feel free to interpret the prompt in ways that worked for them, including going rogue and writing to another prompt on the link.
As I intimated above, I found these tricky! Here’s Berry’s inspiring poem:
I definitely worked loosely with the prompt. I wrote quite a few of these and would love to keep fiddling and revising. But, it’s time to post, so here are two for today:
Like Rain
after Wendell Berry
Imagine if we fell together
like spring rain, gently, gently
nourishing everything around us.
©Molly Hogan
Like a bud
after Wendell Berry
Suppose we could still unfurl
like a bud, blossoming, blossoming
after enduring winter’s grip
©Molly Hogan
To see what the other Inklings wrote, click on their links below:
Mary Lee @ A(nother) Year of Reading
Linda @A Word Edgewise
Margaret @Reflections on the Teche
Heidi @my juicy little universe
Catherine @ Reading to the Core
Nix the comfort zone 
Thank you for a fantastic challenge! Both of your poems are dreamy and hopeful. Just what I need.
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I’m trying hard to kindle hope whenever I can. I’m glad you enjoyed the challenge 🙂
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Haha, Molly, I love that there was a plea to “make it easy!” : ) Your interpretations are gorgeous. No need for more tinkering!
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I promise it wasn’t me who pleaded either! lol I forgot that short poems make intensive demands on the writer!
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[…] And Molly has this week’s Poetry Friday roundup at Nix the Comfort Zone! […]
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[…] Hogan is hosting today’s Poetry Friday festivities at Nix the Comfort Zone, where she accepted an Inklings’ challenge to write a poem after Wendell Berry’s “Like […]
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It is only in the application that the true demands of the task fully present. This appears like a task with some clear constraints, but the good news, Molly, is that you successfully rose to the challenge. There is much personal satisfaction to be derived from persistence, Your poems convey a hopeful ,what-if feel to them. A great outcome.
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Thanks, Alan. We are slowly turning from winter toward spring here (at least in terms of light if not temperature and precipitation) and that lifts my spirits.
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I think you rose to the challenge quite well, Molly! Well done. And thanks for hosting!
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Thanks, Matt!
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Hello Molly, thank you for the deceptively simple prompt and for hosting this week. I’m having a grand time with my OLW for ’26…finding child everywhere! I need to update my link to my new PF digs. It’s https://open.substack.com/pub/mitchellhubeimom/p/hello-love?utm_campaign=post-expanded-share&utm_medium=web
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It was deceptively simple, wasn’t it!? Sorry I had your link wrong! I corrected it.
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Your poems are lovely, Molly. That sounds like a good prompt to me 🙂 Thanks for hosting us!
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Thanks! Audrey Gidman has quite a list of interesting prompts to work from. I’m hoping to get back to a few.
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We need those hopeful poems, Molly – thank you! I love the depth in deceptively simple verses. Thanks so much for rounding us all up this week!
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Working from Berry’s poem and writing smaller verses reminded me of how deceptively simple they are!
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Oh, how beautiful these are, Molly! What a great prompt.
Thanks for hosting this week!
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Thanks! Glad you’re here 🙂
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Oh, boy, yes to that spring rain. Well done, Molly. Thanks for hosting.
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Right now it’s still winter snow showers around here! It’s good to remember that change is inevitable.
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Your poems are Ah, like breathing in spring, they are lovely, bring spring on! Thanks for hosting! And Happy Birthday!!! 🥳 🌸 🎉
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Thanks for the birthday wishes, Michelle. Your mum art was especially beautiful on your post!
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So beautiful, Molly. Thank you for these. Winter’s grip has many meanings for me here…praying for blossoms in all of us. Thank you for hosting and for your generosity. xo, a.
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Thanks so much, Amy! I’m glad you picked up on the layered meaning of winter’s grip here. I, too, am hoping for blossoms!
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[…] sure to visit Molly at Nix the Comfort Zone for the Poetry Friday Roundup, and to see how she met her challenge. The stop by my fellow […]
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Oh my goodness Molly, all of the poems are amazing. What a clever idea.
Like Rain
after Wendell Berry
Imagine if we fell together
like spring rain, gently, gently
nourishing everything around us.
Such a lovely image. “Bring on the rain” as Jodee Messina sings 🙂
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Thanks! You might want to check out the other prompts in the link. There are lots of interesting ones and I believe she shares prompts each month.
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[…] and talented Molly Hogan is hosting the Roundup at Nix the Comfort Zone. Be sure to check out the full menu of poetic goodness being served up around the blogosphere this […]
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[…] It’s Poetry Friday! Visit this week’s roundup at Molly’s Nix the Comfort Zone […]
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I’m not the first one to think your challenge is outside the realm of “easy,” but I look forward to giving it a shot. Thank you for your beautiful poems, and for hosting!
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I hope you do give it a shot!
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What a great prompt and a great mentor poem! I love both of your offerings!
Thank you for hosting!
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Thanks, Marcie. I ended up going on a deep dive on your post and discovering several others I’d missed. Congrats on your upcoming book–it looks amazing! Also, thanks again for your analog idea.
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Good morning, Molly, HBD to you, and thanks both for hosting and for this very fruitful prompt. (I think we have to go “buy Audrey a coffee.”) I appreciate the lean towards spring, the reminder that still, for now, no matter what we’ve done to her, Nature will surely water and warm us. 💚
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Thanks, Heidi, and thank you for sharing the link to Audrey’s prompts. I’m trying to sow seeds of positivity whenever I can.
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So lovely, Molly. Thank you. xo
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beautiful … falling, unfurling, blossoming together … it’s its own prayer. Thank you Molly!
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It’s a gift to know you. Glad you were born! Happy Birthday. This was a fun prompt imaging all the ways we could be like nature. We could sure use some kindness rain and joyful blossoming. Thanks for hosting.
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I’m so thankful for our group and for the PF community.
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Happy Birthday, Molly, your poems are a celebration for you, and you’ve shared with us, beautiful gifts! “After the Rain” feels so hopeful because here in Colorado we need it so much! Thanks for hosting!
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Maine has been in a moderate drought as well, Linda. I’m hopeful that the heavy snowfall this winter will alleviate some of that and do so without causing another set of problems with the spring melt.
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Molly, your poems are so gorgeous and powerful. I am awe-struck. The “imagine if we all fell together/like spring rain” are two of the most beautiful lines I’ve ever read. Thank you!
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Thank you so much for your kind words, Mona! It’s a treat to work from a Wendell Berry template!
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Hi Molly, I really love these evocative poems. You Nixxed the comfort zone and touched poetry poignancy. Doida
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Wonderful prompt and your poems are just so lovely and life affirming! Feel calmer and cleansed . . . Thanks for hosting this week and Happy Birthday!
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Thanks, Jama. Your post was such a blast of fresh air this week. Much needed and much appreciated!
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Ah, Molly, what a sweet prompt. Wow. So many possibilities. Thank you for your mentors. It got me writing this morning. Thanks for hosting today!
Like the Desert
After Wendell Berry
Consider if I could write
like the desert, fragilely, fragilely,
bursting with life.
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That’s lovely, Denise! I really like the juxtaposition of fragilely and “bursting with life”.
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Your poems bring spring to mind. Heaven knows we need spring, literally and figuratively. Time for rebirth!
Thanks for hosting.
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I’m all in favor of a cleansing rain!
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Thanks for hosting. The challenge was exactly what I needed tonight.
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I’m so glad! I love it when a prompt hits fertile ground 🙂
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Molly, thanks for hosting. Your Wendell Berry-ish poems are well-constructed. I like your spring topic that moves the reader away from “enduring winter’s grip”. I would like to try this format and look forward to reading your Inklings’ and other PF friends blog posts. The repeated words add flavor to the poem. (I unintentionally fell asleep before posting my poem.)
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Thanks! I’m trying to find some light and bright in the current dark climate.
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Thank you for this challenge and for hosting this week, Molly. The simplicity of Berry’s poem made this challenge even more difficult. Your responses are gorgeous. I especially love the idea that we could be “gently/
nourishing everything around us.”
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It was definitely tougher than I anticipated!
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Hi Molly, I’m reposting this comment. Technical issues? I really love these evocative poems. You Nixxed the comfort zone and touched poetry poignancy. Thank you for hosting Poetry Friday! Doida
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Thanks for reposting! It looks like your comment needed approval for some reason and I missed it–sorry! I got this one though 🙂
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Poetry is such a natural for kids! It’s short and sweet, not something that laboriously takes all day. Your delightful poetic interpretations would help your students see the possibilities who one plays with writing.
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