I just returned today from participating in the weeklong Quoddy Writing Retreat with Georgia Heard and Ralph Fletcher. My head is spinning, thoughts are percolating, and I am utterly exhausted. But… it’s the first Friday of August, which means the Inklings’ challenge is due.

This month our challenge came from Catherine Flynn who asked us to respond to Ada Limón’s You Are Here prompt: What would you write in response to the landscape around you? Lke Heidi’s prompt last month, this is such a perfect summer prompt. I really wish I’d been able to dedicate more time to this (and hope to play around with it some more), but the retreat was only a small part of my recent whirlwind of travel and visitors. I’m sharing something I wrote a few weeks ago that more or less fits the bill.

By the way, the sunflowers took off while I was away, and this is what they look like now:

Isn’t it wonderful to reap a reward from NOT weeding? Ah, the benevolence of benign neglect!

If you’d like to check out what the other Inklings did with this prompt, click on their links:
Linda A Word Edgewise
Catherine Reading to the Core
Margaret Reflections on the Teche
Mary Lee Another Year of Reading
Heidi my juicy little universe

This week’s Poetry Friday is hosted by Laura Purdie Salas at her blog. She’s celebrating the book birthday of her newest picture book, “Line Leads the Way”.