This month it was my turn to pose a challenge for the Inklings. I was navigating my way through Iceland and Wales while trying to come up with something, so my mind naturally turned toward maps and journeys. My prompt, in a nutshell, was this, “Write a poem about maps or travel or journeys, real or imagined.” Then I promptly got back to engaging with GPS and real maps.
One of the highlights of this summer was my trip to meet up with the Inklings. In person! Like in real life! It took some doing (and extraordinary organizational skills on Heidi’s part), but after years and years of Google Meet and Zoom meetings, we finally managed to get together. It was such a rich and rewarding time! I thought I’d probably write about that journey. But just when you think you know where you’re going, life has a way of throwing a curveball. So, here’s what I came up with this morning.
Searching for a Road Map
if only life
included
its own key
to translate
each icon
each color
to denote
the detours
the dead end
©Molly Hogan
I also played around with a triolet, using a collage background I created during our Inklings retreat (thanks, Linda!).
Laying Down a Road Map
Despite our best intentions
our journey carves its own way.
We stray from the map’s imagined dimensions,
despite our best intentions.
There are detours, circumventions.
As today becomes yesterday,
despite our best intentions
our journey carves its own way.
©Molly Hogan
If you want to see what the other Inklings have done with this prompt, click on the 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
This week’s Poetry Friday Roundup is hosted by Ruth at her blog, There is no such thing as a God-forsaken town.
Nix the comfort zone 
Oh, I love what you did with your collage. I am smiling, remembering how insistent you were that you would not paint over it. And love the two poems that relate to each other, speak to each other, about how we can’t really map our own life journeys. I need to just sit with gratitude that one of them gathered us together and stop longing for it to happen again.
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Sitting with gratitude is always a good idea.
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[…] Heidi @ My Juicy Little UniverseLinda @ Another Word EdgewiseMargaret @ Reflections on the TecheMary Lee @ Another Year of ReadingMolly @ Nix the Comfort Zone […]
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I love how your two poems talk to each other — the first, which wants to know, and the second who is just enjoying the ride. Life’s like that. Sometimes we need certainty and sometimes it’s the detours and circumventions that are exactly what we need.
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I’m not sure I even realized the relationship between both poems until I reread them after your and Margaret’s comments. Interesting…
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Oh for warnings of detours and dead ends! I like straying from the imagined dimensions. Carving our own way. xo
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I suppose those warnings could deter us from some important adventures/growth. But still…
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Yes, a key would be helpful, but as your second poem so beautifully states “our journey carves its own way.” All we can do is meet those detours with grace. Hope all is well.
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I try to meet them with grace, but am not always successful!
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Love your art, Molly, & the poem with your prompt it must have inspired as life makes its own path for us. Then, yes, some days I really do want to shout, tell me, tell me, finding that “key” you’ve referred to. Great prompt!
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Thanks, Linda. It was fun to try something new creatively (the collage). Life has a way of taking interesting twists and turns, doesn’t it?
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What a beautiful poem pairing…the first makes me wonder, the second has me nodding my head. Well done. And, look at that layered collage! I love it. There are so many details to find in it. Wonderful! Thanks for playing with paper and glue with me. It felt like a birthday party!
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Thank you for sharing your expertise and your supplies! It was like a party!
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I love that the Inklings got to meet! What fun! And darn those “best intentions.”
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Oh, I love “our journey carves its own way,” Molly! Love the letting-go of this line.
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Oh, wow, yes, if we could see the detours and dead ends … but then we might not take the trip. (I’m reminded of Denise’s parenthood offering this week — if we interviewed for the job in advance, well….)
I also love the image of our journey carving its own way. There is only so much we can map out in advance. 🙂
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Meant to add a big Huzzah that you all got together in person!
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I am just so pleased you have the “Inklings” writing group. And getting together! Well-lived lives come from intention! Five for today’s Wordle. That Hall of Fame word is acoming!
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Oooh oooh oooh! I adore your triolet, with its unexpected, perfect rhyme of dimensions, intentions, circumventions, and how you overlaid it on your (NOT painted) collage. The last stanza of that tricube is also striking. THANK YOU, Molly, for everything.
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Molly,
I love a triolet, and yours is so good. The rhymes are magical. Your mappy collage is really fun, looking like, “our journey carves its own way.” Lovely sounds in your tricube, too.
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