Tangles & Tails: Tracey Kiff-Judson's Blog

Maple Seedlings

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Written by: Tracey Kiff-Judson
Category: Blog

Poetry Friday is sizzling!  It feels like summer is just around the corner with the warm temps here earlier this week.  Please visit our host, the amazingly talented Buffy Silverman to see what’s hot in this week’s Poetry Friday roundup!

This year, we have thousands and thousands of baby maple trees sprouting all over our yard.  I spent a about six hours pulling spring weeds from our small garden this weekend. 

I took a minute to marvel at this sprout's preprogrammed growth plan. It knew exactly what it needed to do.  Basking in the sun, it raised its arms to its mother tree, as if to say, "Here I come!"

 Maple Sprout  (please read from the bottom up!)
      
            yearning to be grown.
Origami leaves unfold, rosy-cheeked,
              Tender wings fan.
              BURSTS ABOVE!
                          s
                      e
                   h
                      c
                        t
                    e
                       r
                    t
                   s
              Seedling

----------------------------------------

 

Maple Sprout  (or read top to bottom…)

Seedling stretches –
BURSTS ABOVE!

Tender wings fan.

Origami leaves unfold,
      rosy-cheeked,
yearning to be grown.

© Tracey Kiff-Judson, 2024

40 comments

  • Love the shape and energy of your seedling with its origami leaves! (Although I have spent some time this week as a lumberjack, yanking hundreds of little red maple seedlings from my garden!)
  • Love the rain of curving-upward letters spewing off of "Seedling," so fun, really gives you the feeling of that little seedling stretching up and out and beyond! And rosy-cheeked makes me smile, thanks Tracey!
  • ooooh, I love a good reverso. How wonderful this one is with origami leaves and that stretching! Bravo! Isn't it crazy how many mapled seedlings actually take root? I've often wondered how long it would take for nature to just take over everything again. I'll bet not long.
    • It's funny you say that, Linda!  My son and I had that same conversation.  We agree - not long at all!
  • The shaped bottom to top version is such fun! (We had a bunch of baby maples in our yard this year too.) xo
  • Love that bottom up reading!  Very aspirational, yearning to be grown. And wings growing from that helicopter seed. 
  • Wow -- never seen so many baby maples sprouting like that before. Your poems are a joy to read and perfectly capture the energy of new growth. Bottom to top reading is so clever. :)
  • I've never seen so many either! Excellent to take a close look at them and commemorate them with accurate details. Writing a reverso is TOUGH-- congrats!
  • So clever, Traci, and I love the images you created - origami leaves, rosy-cheeked. This is a poem where every word works just right.
  • From other's comments, too, maples must have sent out messages to others, "rise, rise"! I love the way you introduced us, then wowed with that spectacular shape poem, Tracey! Like others, I love the "origami leaves"! 
  • Tracey! This can be read BOTH ways... a concrete REVERSO! I love it! And - OMG - what do you do with so many babies? Do you let them grow? 
  • Tracey, what a beautiful poem your Maple Sprout is. The photo is so precious, and your poem speaks about that sweet sprout reaching its arms up to the mama tree. Such a great post today. Thank you for sharing your yard with the bonanza of maples! Wow. 
  • I love your poem and may need to write one about oak seedlings. I've destroyed an entire forest of oaks this spring, apologizing to each one (and Mother Oak in the front yard). They are each a small miracle.
  • How crafty that your poem can be read top to bottom and bottom to top. I love the word origami to describe its unfolding. Will you rescue the baby maple? 
    • That is a great question!  I should be able to find a permanent home for at least one of these little guys!!
  • Tracey, 
    You are super creative! Seeds are some of my favorite things to teach students about. You've captured them perfectly in your bottom-up/top-down poem.  What a great challenge this would be for students - on any seedling! Thanks for sharing it!
  • Wow! That's a lot of maple seedlings! I love reading your first poem from bottom to top and especially the way you arranged "stretches" to wiggle its way on up. Perfect form!
  • Read from top to bottom or bottom to top, your poem captures that seedlings spirit, Tracey! "Here I come!" :)
  • Oh, THAT's what those are! We have a lot in our yard, too. Thank you, Tracey, for both the info and the poem! What a great construction you've used here. I want to try that.
  • Love the photos and those "rosy-cheeked" sprigs!  Your bottom to top poem is so clever and fun to read!
  • Yep. "Yearning to be grown."
    We had this happen last year in greater numbers than usual. We had quite a bit of rain, so we couldn't mow near our large maple in the back. There were so many tiny maples. My husband decided to let them grow for a bit and then keep a few healthier ones. That got wild fast! Ha! 

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