Move Over Crocus!

Welcome to Poetry Friday, the first one during National Poetry month. We are hosted this week by Matt Forest Ersenwine Here. He is a teacher and prolific author of poetry books for kids including A UNIVERSE OF RAINBOWS, a beautiful anthology that included many Poetry Friday authors. It earned a 2026 Notable Book Award for Children’s Poetry. Thank you, Matt, for hosting.

This is National Poetry Month. One of my favorite things is the PROGRESSIVE POEM. Every day of the month a Poetry Friday blogger adds a line, moving the poem forward. The yearly event was started by poet Irene Latham and I love being part of it each year. I am following closely at the moment because I have to come up with the 5th line on Easter Sunday.

Tabatha started the PROGRESSIVE POEM on 4/1 Here with an amazing first line, and the lineup of poets is as follows, if you’d like to follow along.

April 2 Cathy Stenquist at A Little Bit of This and That
April 3 Patricia Franz at Reverie
April 4 Donna Smith at Mainely Write
April 5 Janice Scully at Salt City Verse
April 6 Denise Krebs at Dare to Care
April 7 Ruth Hersey at There is no such thing as a God-forsaken town
April 8 Rose Cappelli at Imagine the Possibilities
April 9 Margaret Simon at Reflections on the Teche
April 10 Janet Clare Fagel at Reflections on the Teche
April 11 Diane Davis at Starting Again in Poetry
April 12 Linda Baie at Teacher Dance
April 13 Linda Mitchell at Another Word Edgewise
April 14 Jone MacCulloch at
April 15 Joyce Uglow at Storied Ink
April 16 Carol Varsalona at Beyond Literacy Link
April 17 Robyn Hood Black at Life on the Deckle Edge
April 18 Michele Kogan at More Art for All
April 19 Kim Johnson at Common Threads
April 20 Buffy Silverman
April 21 Irene Latham at Live Your Poem
April 22 Karen Edmisten
April 23 Heidi Mordhorst at my juicy little universe
April 24 Mary Lee Hahn at A(nother) Year of Reading
April 25 Tanita Davis at Fiction, instead of Lies
April 26 Sharon Roy at Pedaling Poet
April 27 Tracey Kiff-Judson at Tangles and Tails

My post today is about two surprises I discovered on my walk: two flower that compete with the crocus for the first spring flowers to bloom. They were growing in a gully in front of my house. I never knew they existed.

The first is the Siberian Squill or Wood Squill. It is an immigrant flower, native to Turkey and Southwestern Russia (not Siberia). It is a lovely tiny little flower but beware! It’s poisonous from some animals. 

FROM RUSSIA

among last years leaves
blue flowers shout, "I am here!"
to color this land

The other flower in full bloom is the Common Snowdrop. (not to be confused with the Snowflake) . It is another flower first to appear in the spring, at least in temperate regions like New York. I have always thought of the crocus as coming first, but this definitely competes.

Spring Surprise

buds hang their pale heads
as Common Snowdrops spring up
to join the chorus

As I am planning a few weeks with our grandson, it might be hard to keep up, but I will try and definitely follow along on the NPM celebrations.

My contributor’s copy of The current issue of Little Thought’s Press arrived this week. The issue is about the human body and entitled HEAD, SHOULDERS, SPLEEN AND NOSE. Moe Phillips’ delightful poem about the Uvula is also in this issue and many poets new to me, all focused on the body.

Below is my short poem entitled ESOPHAGUS, and its illustration.

I leave you with a painting of a deer grazing in our neighborhood. I hope he looks more like a deer than a horse.

Thank you, Matt, for hosting this week!

Two Giveaway Winners

Welcome to Poetry Friday! This week we are hosted by Marcie Flinchum Atkins Here. Thank you, Marcie, for hosting.

First, there are two winners of Valarie Short’s picture book THE SOUNDS OF FREEDOM COMING!

CAROL VARSALONA and PATRICIA FRANZ

CONGRATULATIONS !!!!!!! YAY!!!!!!!

It’s not my book, but it’s still fun to give things away.

(Carol, please send your address to me at Janice.scully@gmail.com)

What a crazy time we live in! I’ve been busy editing my novel in verse entitled WHEN MY BROTHER WENT TO WAR. It’s a fictionalized version of the year my brother went to Vietnam through the eyes of his fourteen year old sister reading his letters and hearing his stories. I’ve posted about this I believe, so I hope I’m not sounding repetitive. I am enthusiastic, though. I really like how it’s taking shape.

A year ago I rather gave up on it as it seems that a Vietnam War story was no longer relevant.

Ancient history.

No one would be interested.

I lost faith in my ability to get this story into the world.

But possibilities seem to be changing as we are perhaps about to relive that era, granted, through a bazaar surrealism lens, a blending of fantasy and reality.

So, I’m plugging along and have been encouraged by the responses of several reliable readers I’ve shared it with. Over time the ending has become stronger, more nuanced. If anyone knows of agents and editors looking to publish or represent verse novels and might be interested in a war story, let me know.

Meanwhile:

My daffodils are getting taller, just short of blooming.

DAFFODIL LAST WEEK IN MARCH

Blue green leaves
cradle a hidden yellow 
ruffled promise.

© Janice Scully 2026

I’m a bit emotional, what with the actual clinical-level insanity going on in our country (behavior certainly described in any psychiatry text), the heartbreak of families losing soldiers and the visions I see in my head of the personal loss of so many overseas. I also just listened to a podcast about the extreme misogyny in right wing circles, the flat out hatred towards women.

This is not normal.

However, we still have daffodils and adorable grandchildren. My grandson Tommy is walking. A little like Frankenstein but he’s not even a year and a half!

Thank you, Marcie, for hosting.

BOOK GIVEAWAY! THE SOUNDS OF FREEDOM COMING, A Picture book by By Valarie Short

Welcome to Poetry Friday, this week hosted by poet Tanita Davis. HERE. Thanks Tanita for hosting!

BOOK GIVAWAY! One lucky person commenting below in this post during the next week will receive a free copy of THE SOUNDS OF FREEDOM COMING.

I’d like to shout out about a picture book. about an event took place on October 1, 1851, a year after the Fugitive Slave Law of 1950 was passed. This law was intended to appease slave owners, angry about their “property” disappearing. Now, the U.S. Marshals were allowed cross borders into free states, like New York, and capture fugitive enslaved people. Daniel Webster, the Secretary of State for President Fillmore, came to Syracuse and warned the citizens, threatening them not to resist.

The fugitive carpenter named William Henry, known as Jerry, was captured making barrels in his cooperage. He was jailed, but abolitionists were ready, and later in the night Jerry was busted from jail. Thousands of townspeople showed up in the streets.

He successfully made it to Canada and freedom.

There is a sculpture in the heart of town dedicated to the Jerry Rescue. I have seen a short film at the Historical Society about the Jerry Rescue, but not a children’s book.

Valarie Short, a playwright, could HEAR the story in her head. All the noise in the streets. She decided to tell the story, collaborating with her niece artist Valencia Short. It’s called the THE SOUNDS OF FREEDOM COMING.

THE COVER. JERRY AT WORK

AUTHOR VALARIE SHORT

The book begins on a beautiful fall day in the midst of an Agricultural fair in Syracuse.

“It was October 1, 1851. Colorful leaves floated down and crunched underfoot, squirrels busily gathered nuts and birds flew south ahead of the long winter.”

“Now Jerry was hard at work in Morrell’s Cooperage Shop, where they made barrels to transport salt and other goods down the Erie Canal.”

“Jerry had his back to the door and did not see the police buggy approaching.”

The rest of the story is action-packed. Jerry is taken to jail, Crowds show up, he runs and is aided by freedom fighters and smuggled on to Canada.

In the end, we see that he is free in Canada.

“Finally, Jerry was free to make choices about how to live his own life and to do the things that made him happy. AH . . . FREEDOM. “

A story about government stealing freedom resonates now, as our government tries to divided us by race.

A brief interview with Valarie Short

JS

Why did you chose to self publish SOUNDS OF FREEDOM COMING?

VS

“Because my husband, Robert, and I felt the story was important and wanted to tell it and get it to children. Self publshing seemed more expedient. We saw that fewer and fewer people we spoke to knew about the Jerry Rescue.”

JS

“How did being a playwright influence you?”

VS

“For me, as a playwright, I could hear the story, Jerry’s hammer building barrels, the horses on the street. I could imagine what that day looked like and sounded like. Also I enjoyed working with my niece, Valencia, who contributed to the illustrations.

I hope that librarians and teachers will consider sharing this book in their libraries and classrooms.”

________________

Thank you, Tanita, for hosting. I hope everyone has a great weekend.

Pasa Robles, California

SIGNS OF SPRING

HELLO Poetry Friday Friends! This week we are hosted by Linda Baie at TeacherDance. . Thank you for hosting! I look forward to seeing what you have for us today.

I have been revisiting my novel in verse about Vietnam. I had thought it was no longer relevant. But war is apparently not old hat. Not with a new one in progress. I’m revising the poems and thinking about its arc. Maybe I’m just trying to get my family’s story right. Maybe it’s a way of challenging myself.

Signs of spring are here in Upstate NY. Below are daffodils making their presence known. Tree buds appeared on my walk today. Might be cherry blossoms. I hope so because I love Cherry blossoms.

FRIENDS RETURNING

They are alive

these daffodils,

this cherry tree

in spite of

solid ice

the coldest cold,

to prove that lovely things

can muscle through,

bring beauty

to a new season.

© Janice Scully

The seaside in Pacifica, California.

Thank you, Linda, for hosting.

OUR BIG DIVERSE BEAUTIFUL COUNTRY . . . AND THREE GOATS.

Welcome to Poetry Friday, this week hosted by poet and teacher Margaret Simon Here. Thank you, Margaret for hosting. I look forward to what you will be sharing this week.

It’s been important for me to try to maintain optimism with the news the way it is. I’m trying to keep my sense of humor.

So I keep practicing drawing and painting. Can you tell these are goats? It’s rough, and drawing goats was challenging. 

GOATS IN SEVERAL TONES

Three in the barnyard
looking for something-perhaps
a new patch of grass.

© Janice Scully

What if we saw only goats as we walked through the woods? Can you imagine if there was no diversity allowed in the Animal kingdom? No lions or Gazelles? Spiders or snakes?

ALL THE SAME

With no diversity,
everything will be the same,
no strange languages or hairdos. 

With no diversity,
no one will surprise you with
Korean tofu soup or Kung Pao shrimp.
 
With no diversity
there will be no need to ask
"Where are you from?"

With no diversity, or fun,
the only music will be YMCA
performed on Saturdays in bars and ballrooms.

With no diversity, be careful
who you love
outside your door. 

Americans will be forever safe in America.
Everywhere, men wearing masks and 
driving unmarked cars, are ready to protect
you against foreigners and pedophiles--


©Janice Scully 2026

America of course is steeped in hundreds of cultures, to its benefit and longevity. There is no going back, only forward.

To end, below is a drawing and a strange very old poem I found in an old book by Robert Louis Stevenson I copied into my sketch book.

Thank you, Margaret for hosting!

Bird Message

Welcome to Poetry Friday, this week hosted by poet and educator Robyn Hood Black HERE . I look forward to see what she will share with us this week.

If you want to know more about Poetry Friday, find info HERE.

First< I want to share the postcards I received this week from Joan MacCulloch’s New Year’s exchange. Getting these cards this winter has been one of this year’s highlights, truly up lifting. Thank you Linda Mitchell, Gail Aldous, Carol LaBuzzetta,and Patricia Franz. Thank you again Joan for organizing the project.

Does everyone know about the 50 Precious Word contest Here? Basically writers are to submit a 50 word story, for 12 and under, with a beginning, middle and end. I spent hours cutting words from a story and finding out yet again how many words a writer thinks is necessary are not. I actually found it fun to tackle a prose story again, and not at all sure what I’ll end up with. It was a good distraction from reality.:)

Here’s a black pen and wash drawing from the coast at Pacifica California. I’ve become very familiar with the sand, the rocks, the waves, the ground squirrels and the ubiquitous ravens sitting on fence posts.

Intelligent Raven--
what messages do you carry
for a beach walker?

© Janice Scully 2026

I find these black and iridescent creatures fascinating and apparently they have always fascinated humans. They are thought to act as powerful “messengers, tricksters, and keepers of secrets across cultures, according to Google. . It would seem they are connected to things very deep in the human psyche. But I can attest to the fact that they don’t sit there giving secrets or advice away. One could stand there for a long time and not find out a thing.

Have a wonderful weekend and I hope some warmer weather. Upstate New York is emerging from the ice age slowly.

Thank you, Robin, for hosting.

THE KENNEDY CENTER HONORS

Welcome to Poetry Friday, this first week of February hosted by Molly at Nix the Comfort Zone. Thank you Molly. The name of your blog seems perfect.

I have been thinking, and mourning, the loss of our beloved Kennedy Center. In the late Seventies, I lived in D.C. I saw Andres Segovia, the great master of classical guitar, play there and Julian Bream, another master of classical guitar, both no longer living. I saw the opera Faust by Gounod, and several plays. I lived three blocks away.

I was young, single and working in Washington and since I’d grown up in a small town in a middle class family, the Kennedy Center opened my eyes to the arts. I have wonderful memories of D.C. and to me it seemed in many ways magical. It brings tears thinking of what has happened and I just wanted to remember it here.

One night this week I was transported back to the Kennedy Center by YOUTube watching the Tribute to Paul McCartney at the Kennedy Center. You can find it easily on YouTube if you want to watch it. Below is the link. (I couldn’t embed it.) It was absolutely wonderful to watch. Sir Paul sat next to Opra. Obama was President and the audience was as diverse as America is.

https://www.google.com/search?client=safari&rls=en&q=kennedy+center+honors+paul+mccartney+tribute&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8#fpstate=ive&vld=cid:be94c1db,vid:RL76v3qoEeI,st:0

Free images of the Kennedy Center from iStock.

So why does it matter that the Kennedy Center is closed, besides the fact that it’s a memorial to JFK? It matters because Great art heals people. It just does. Life is hard and music and visual art helps us process our experiences and emotions. In times of national crises, we often share it together through art. When the space shuttle burned up on re-entry, President Reagan recited a line of poetry by John Gillespie Magee Jr. and how the astronauts “slipped the surly bonds of Earth.”

I saw an example of how art heals this week at the movie HAMNET. The movie is about the Shakespeare family’s grief over a loss of a child, and healing from that grief through Will’s art. I won’t spoil it, but the ending was magnificent.

My only point here is America needs art and public art and we have to watch treasured venues like the Kennedy Center disrespected and assaulted. Here is a Paul McCartney- inspired haiku.

HONORED BY THE GHOSTS OF THE KENNEDY CENTER

Paul McCartney mouthed
the lyrics to Let It Be--
in his front row seat.

© Janice Scully

The Beatles from an exhibit of McCartney’s photos the De Young Museum in San Francisco.

I hope that after our current national nightmare is over–and I am certain that someday it will be–that The Kennedy Center will be returned to the people of America where it was meant to be. And we will have a lot of loss to process.

I bought a watercolor book with a few exercises. This is an attempt to paint like Turner. I ended up liking this version.

Have a great weekend!

HAZY TONES

Welcome to Poetry Friday! This week Amy Ludwig VanDerwater is hosting at The Poetry Farm Here. Thank you for hosting, Amy! I look forward to her post, as they are always fun and inspire creativity.

This week I have been thinking about mistakes, and our hypocritical government. Not a topic for a blog for kids. Still kids eventually come to learn that others, even those we are supposed to admire, don’t always practice what they preach. I came up with this poem.

FARSIGHTED

Shading our own mistakes
in hazy tones,

we see mistakes others make
but not our own 

and who can see clearly
perched on a throne? 

©Janice Scully

In the U.S., a lawless government is demanding citizens obey the law. It’s nothing new to the world. It’s part of a playbook. Our government is becoming like a high-rise built with weak cement.

Fortunately, to keep hopeful, I get updates about my grandson learning how to walk. What’s better than a baby? To walk, of course, a baby needs a floor that doesn’t move.

I have also been practicing “Urban Sketching” which is black ink drawing with a wash of loose watercolor. On YouTube you can see some great sketching on Toby’s Urban Sketching. It’s a forgiving art form, thankfully. Below is a small shed I discovered in my neighborhood. It looks a lot more interesting in watercolor than in real life.

On the right border is a haiku that I wrote that day thinking about the news. 

Fighting everywhere
Minneapolis suffers
more than frigid cold

© Janice Scully

Have a good weekend in spite of the cold. Stay safe. Here in New York we expect another week of very cold weather. Thank you, Amy for hosting!

AWESOME EARTH by Joan Bransfield Graham, Illustrated by Tania Garcia and GREENLAND

Welcome to Poetry Friday, this week hosted by poet Tabatha Yeatts. Here. Thank you Tabatha for hosting. I look forward to what you will be sharing this week.

I received some good news this week I’d like to share. A poem I wrote about the esophagus was just accepted by Little Thoughts Press for the upcoming March issue entitled “Head, Shoulders, Spleen, & Nose.” Poems about body parts don’t easily find a home, so I’m pleased and I’ll share it when it is published.

Now about . . . landforms.

Recently I discovered gorgeous picture book published in 2025 by Clarion Books that has been praised by poets and educators HERE, including Poetry Friday friends. AWESOME EARTH by Joan Bransfield Graham, illustrated by Tania Garcia, is a book full of engaging concrete poems about awe inspiring landforms found on Planet Earth.

I think this book is particularly important because children should be familiar with and might be delighted by landforms. After all, the Earth is full of mind boggling things, like continents, peninsulas, plateaus. The poems and pictures are engaging and so clearly written for 3-4th graders. .

The need to appreciate such wonders is especially so now, as our government is minimizing an unusual and beautiful place called Greenland, calling it just a “piece of ice.” Some say it should– believe it or not– be invaded!

Greenland is of course a glacier that is a home to thousands of human beings. Greenland is also an island. It’s certainly a place worth learning more about and respecting. Respect seems to me to be a critical part of achieving world peace. So I’m writing about this book to help promote respect and world peace. below are two poems and illustrations.

GLACIER

A

mountain,

a river of ice,

I do not race. I

move at a glacial pace,

inching, grinding, picking up

pebbles, rocks along the way.

I do not stay still, I chisel forward,

sometimes leaving in my wake . . .

A GLACIAL LAKE

——————————

Greenland is also an Island:

ISLAND

Water, water, everywhere–

waves lap, leap, encircle me in a river,

lake, ocean, or sea. I might be a continental island,

if you get my drift, or an oceanic island due to lava’s lift, If I’m

small, I can be an islet, moth, or key–that’s a mini-me. Come visit

by plane, bridge, or set sail, discovering dolphins and, maybe –a whale.

—————————————-

I love this book, the poems and illustrations and I think kids will, too. The earth is a fascinating place.

This month I was part of Jone MacCullough’s New Year’s Postcard exchange and sent out this poem. Thank you Jone. I was hoping for good things in 2026 and this resulted.

IF I WERE A MONTH

I would be January.

I would cocoon in my quilt
or even a burlap sack
if that's all I had,

and think for thirty one days,
     wrack my brain,

musing over the possibllities,

and the wonders revealed
      
      perhaps

in February. 

© Janice Scully

Thank you, Tabatha. Thank you for hosting Poetry Friday. Have a great weekend.

Here’s a couple of free photos of Greenland I found on Pixabay.

Jone MacCulloch’s New Years Postcard Project

Welcome to Poetry Friday, this week hosted by Jan here at Birdseed Studio. Thank you, Jan, for hosting.

I’ve taken some time off during my visit to my grandson in California and have missed posting and keeping up with Poetry Friday friends. I was going to title this post HAPPY NEW YEAR, but I know it isn’t happy for many in America and is simply tragic for so many others. There seems to be no end to the shock and awe on tv. But somehow I know we can get through this.

Having had a one-year-old to play with has been a delightful gift to my family. He was born two months early, but has completely caught up. Baby Tommy is working hard to try to stand and take his first wobbling steps. He’s trying to talk and communicate in his way. He seems to know “up.” He’s enjoying board books. WHERE’S SPOT by Eric Hill has been a favorite with those little doors to open and rip off.

Since I returned last week, I’ve been thrilled to receive postcards from Poetry Friday friends. It’s so wonderful to get the mail. I’ve received four with poems and artwork and I want to share them.

From Tabatha:

The Year as a Horse

This horse is sure footed, even on pebbles,
and scrambles up dark, craggy days. 

She sways as she rests, still standing,
willing to carry us the whole way

with no saddle, a light sheen from' ceaseless service making her
slick beneath our grip.

We cling to her back
and listen to her breathe,

The horse of the year
nuzzles today
prying apart,
searching
for morsels of sugar.

Tabatha Yeatts

From Tracy Kiff-Judson:

Cherry Trees celebrate
Spring's arrival--
tossing petal confetti

Tracy Kiff-Judson

From Mary Lee Hahn:

Mountain, sky, water
between them a line is drawn
still, they connect

Mary Lee Hahn

From Molly Hogan:

         2026
A new year of mysteries to unfold
         will it be . . . 
     what tea leaves foretold? 

Molly Hogan

referring to the above poems, may we all search for find nuggets of sugar this year, celebrate cherry blossoms, enjoy mountains, sky and water and discover the unexpected and, I hope, uplifting mysteries that will unfold in 2026.

Have a great weekend and thank you, Jone MacCulloch, for the postcard project. You do so many things that I admire.

One of the mysteries yet to unfold is a subscribe button for my blog. I have yet to find a way for my friends to subscribe but am working on it.

Janice