There aren’t many things that land in my Inbox and that I read consistently, but Pádraig Ó Tuama’s Sunday post is one of them. This week he announced it was Pantoum Sunday and invited readers to join in and write a pantoum. He offers a wonderfully accessible template, which I’ve used before. This past weekend he added prompts for each line. If you’re interested, you can read more here. I played around with the prompt and wrote two pantoums. Both are still drafty, but here’s one of them:
Pantoum
Today is all golden tree tops and turbulent clouds
and I find myself wishing it away
Although yesterday I watched storm clouds mass and spit
As I write, I try to find my way to the core
Still, I find myself wishing it away
When I was younger, I tried so hard to fly
Now I write to find my way to the core
I didn’t realize that flight insists on a landing
When I was younger I tried so hard to fly
but my feet never left the ground
and I didn’t realize that flight insists on a landing
though once I had a dream that I soared
Anyway my feet remain grounded and
yesterday I watched storm clouds mass and spit
and remembered I once had a dream that I soared
Today is all golden tree tops and turbulent clouds
©Molly Hogan, draft
This week’s Poetry Friday is hosted by Mary Lee Hahn at her blog, A(nother) Year of Reading.
Nix the comfort zone 
Ooh…this is all kinds of lovely and wise: “flight insists on a landing.”
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Thanks, Mary Lee. I love Pádraig Ó Tuama’s pantoum “recipe”!
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[…] at Nix the Comfort Zone, has joined the Pádraig Pantoum crew with one so delicious you’ll want to read and reread […]
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I love how this poem takes me back to those childhood years of wonder. Considering flight and seeing the turbulent clouds can be both literal and metaphorical. I enjoyed the exercise this time and felt a sense of accomplishment at the result. Fun that you did, too!
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He offers such an accessible entry into pantoums! Yours is so rich and lovely!
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I agree with Mary Lee, all kinds of lovely and wise. The golden tree tops, the mass & spit of the storm clouds and the gathered wisdom of a full understanding of landing. I love how your poems…even drafts as you see them…feel so effortless. Beautiful writing, Molly.
Isn’t it funny how we all wrote pantoums? This should count for a group challenge!
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Thanks, Linda! I love using his guidelines to create pantoums. Did we already use this as a challenge once? I can’t even remember!? lol
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Molly, your poem feels dreamlike in the best way. I love the spiraling sensation created by pantoums. Well done!
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Thanks! I appreciate how accessible the form becomes when using Pádraig ó Tuama’s prompts. I’m not sure I’ve ever written one without his guidelines. Maybe my next challenge?
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I love the feeling of freedom in your poem, Molly. Your words soar.
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Thanks, Rose. I can still remember so clearly thinking I could fly if I could just run fast enough for lift off!
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Molly, your feet remain grounded even during turbulence and dreams of soaring. I really like this poem and think it deserves more than a draft.
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Thanks, Carol!
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Molly! I love all the flight and dreams imagery against the reality of the narrator’s grounded today (but maybe not for long). Gorgeous! I especially love the “I tried so hard to fly” line, so poignant and layered!
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Thanks, Mona. As I commented elsewhere, I clearly remember thinking flight was so close at hand…if only I could get enough speed to lift off!
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Molly, this is wonderful! And sort of eerie…I, too, played with pantoums (also a big Padraig fan) — didn’t post mine — but I have a line that mirrors your “When I was younger I tried so hard to fly.” Mine was “I couldn’t have known I was meant to fly.” Isn’t that interesting?? Your pantoum pulls together really nicely. Mine didn’t, thus no post – lol.
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That is interesting! This was my second pantoum effort from his prompt. Sometimes they pull together in intriguing ways and sometimes not so much! I suspect your pantoum was more post-worthy than you think!
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This is lovely. Gosh, so many ways to fly…
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And so many ways to land, too!
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The whole intraspective mood of your poem is rich with association to childhood dreams and aspirationss. The wonderful imagining of a child’s mind. Love this poem, Molly. I read it and it reminds of my current interactions with my grand-daughter aged 6 and all the glorious beauty of her imagination and how I hope it is preserved as long as possible. I still look nostalgically back to those days of which you write. Your pantoum is perfect. I shall explore the template.
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The template is great, Alan! I’m sure you’ll enjoy it, and I hope you share the results.
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The contrast of heading to the sky vs. heading to your core…which way to go? The line “flight insists on a landing” is powerful. (You reminded me that I used to dream I could fly. But I couldn’t go up very high, and the bad guys were always grabbing at my feet.)
The question of inner and outer makes me think of Pema Chödrön’s “You are the sky. Everything else – it’s just the weather.”
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That yearning to fly feels sort of universal. I suppose it’s the sense of freedom. Which has me wondering how much unnoticed burden there is in the sheer physicality of flight as well…lots to think about!
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Beautiful, Molly…. your aerial dance between contrasts, infused with some wisdom earned with years, is rich and wonderful. :0)
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Thanks, Robyn!
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I love the line, “I didn’t realize that flight insists on a landing.” It makes me think of ups and downs, of choices and consequences, of unexpected twists of fate.
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Thanks, Karen. There’s always some sort of counterbalance, isn’t there? Even if we’re not aware of it at first!
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