Tangles & Tails: Tracey Kiff-Judson's Blog

Maple Seedlings

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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

  • 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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