The Best Way to Write a Poem is to Have Someone Else Write it For You
It is the last day of March. Poems of flowers blossom and everybody is talking about spring. Not here. Here we awake to yet another day of piles and piles of snow. In between each dump, the snowstorm has melted and I’ve seen the leaves of tulips emerge, just to be covered again.
I keep pondering a poem of Spring Snow, but like the spring itself, I just haven’t gotten around to it.
On the last morning of March, branches are touching the ground, heavy with snow. The moment to write is here. But I still don’t feel the call. Instead, I do the best thing a father can do… involve.
My 3-year-old daughter and my wife sat at the breakfast table. I asked my 3-year-old if she wanted to write a poem. “No”. I ask my wife and she humbly says, “I’m not good at writing poetry”.
Like a crocus, I go ahead anyway and give them a prompt. SNOW FLOWER
My daughter changes her mind and wants to try her hand at something new. She has never written a poem before, she can’t even write her name. Fortunately, she has a lot of experience dictating! I go into the kitchen to cook an egg and my wife writes down our daughter's poem as she speaks the words.
I come back to the dining table, serve up the egg, and read her poem aloud…
SNOW FLOWER
snow flowers are a joke
a lion pounces
a stick pokes
an eagle flies
a snake swiggles
a deer jumps
a frog jumps into a pool
a lion Rawwwwr to all the animals!— Clary Piper Quinn © 2023
And that is my daughter’s first poem. Like the green leaves of a daffodil, I can tell there is much more to look forward to.
I write another prompt and hand the paper back to my wife. SPRING SNOW. She sighs and resigns to putting the pen to page.
When I return from the kitchen with another egg, she hands it to me and tells me “it isn’t good”. I put the egg on the plate and begin to read it out loud. The first two lines are genius. As I continue to read aloud, I cannot help but waver in my voice as tears reach my eyes.
SPRING SNOW
spring snow covering all
Hope of new growth
smothered in white
A girl and her father
take shovel and break the wall
Giggles and snow angels
replace the quiet chill
And bring in the spirit of spring— Regan Moyes © 2023
This is one of the best poems I’ve ever read. Not written by a poet, but by a person. A person in my life. Thank you.
My daughter enjoys all this too and starts to dictate another pair of poems written for each of her twin sisters.
For Scarlett
A pony gallops
with a horse
a pink horse
the pony is pinkFor Sylvie
a deer jumps
a horsey is pink
pink horsey gallops
pony is pink
and gallops with pink horsey— Clary Piper Quinn © 2023
My wife gives me the paper with a prompt written down. The moment has finally come for me to write about these recent weeks of our snowy spring. Though the moment has come, it has passed. I know I cannot write anything better than what I just read.
Nonetheless, I am prompted.
I do my best: ⛄️
SNOW ON A BOUGH
This burden is my beauty.
for when it melts,
I soak it in and make my flowers.
I bring the bees and bear the fruit,
but for now,
I am laden.— Ryan Joel Quinn © 2023
It is hours later and the snow is still falling. It is so thick, I can’t see the mountains that are less than a mile from my window. A beautiful day.
I highly recommend augmenting a moment by prompting your friends and family to write a poem. Like the bulbs underground, great talent is hidden among us. Shine some light and see what grows.
Thanks for reading! If you like these, feel free to peruse the collection of my poems here: List: All My Poems | Curated by Ryan Joel Quinn | Medium
If you would like to provide direct support and grow yourself in the process: join Medium with my referral link — Ryan Joel Quinn
There are many good poems on Medium. See some of my favorites authors in this list here: List: Favorite Poems I’ve Found On Medium | Curated by Ryan Joel Quinn | Medium
Go now, and promt!
