Each month, as part of The Stafford Challenge writing group led by Brian Rohr of Portland, Oregon, I look forward to the virtual writing workshops and visits with poets. Earlier this month, Melissa Helton, Director of Literary Arts at the Hindman Settlement School in rural Appalachia, offered a bonus writing workshop in which she shared several of her favorite poets, their poems, and prompts to inspire us to write our own poems. For the next few days, I’ll share the way she presented the information and the way she led attendees to write poetry using mentor poems.
When we arrived in the session, Brian introduced Melissa, who took us on an exploration of four poets by briefly sharing a little about each. Then, she shared a poem that had stuck with her. She read a single poem by each writer and then gave a prompt, inviting us to write our own poems.
One poet was Annie Woodford, who wrote the poem Soon the Red Wolf. You can read the poem here. The after-reading prompt was to write a poem about some kind of extinct or invasive species in our own areas. My mind immediately went to Cogongrass, a leading invasive species in the rural southeastern United States. It’s one of the reasons we are not supposed to bring firewood into any of the campsites we visit. Because Cogongrass is so hard to eradicate (like kudzu), even the seeds that might be left on a saw blade cutting trees used as firewood could be transported into areas through the firewood and take root in state parks. I suppose that really, these seeds could do the same thing on tires of cars, e-bikes, or even yard toys kids may take camping, but we respect the rules and their reasons.
A Seed on a Prayer
Cogongrass
is why we can’t
carry our own
firewood to our
favorite campsites
because of the seed matter
on sawblades
like a deadly
parasite
crossing membranes
penetrating all that
is holy and pure
and so we
buy bundles
strike a match
and pray,
orange-crackling
embers lifting
to Heaven
on a reverent
flaming Amen
”reverent flaming Amen” I love how you brought us from invasive to prayer. I’ve never heard of congongrass, but I’m familiar with kudzu. Interesting how the parks try to avoid the invasive with the firewood rule.
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Margaret, I’ve often wondered if it’s a push to sell their own firewood or if it’s true, because if I were a park manager I’d have campers and RVs and things with tires driving through little troughs of tire cleaners if I were all that worried about grass seed spreading, but yet I can see how saw blades would be culprits in wood. When we checked in, the ranger told me to be sure we kept our trash inside the camper and all trash with food in the bear proof trash bins because there is a “problem bear” in the campground, up around site 52. We are on Site 44, just feet from 52. He told me to “look big,” which of course isn’t a problem for me. He reassured me that bears are naturally more afraid of people. When I told my husband we’d have to do a bear check before bringing Boo Radley and Ollie outside, he offered that he thinks they tell everyone there’s a problem bear just to keep the trash picked up. Still……I have my binoculars. Thanks for reading, Margaret! We need to catch up soon.
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