Poetry all around

I'm in my home state this week visiting family. I haven't written a lick of poetry since I stepped off the plane (I wrote a few lines in the airport). Even though I'm not writing during these days of rest and rejuvenation, poems have been cropping up all around me. I met a friend for lunch and she shared two separate poems as a response to George Ella Lyon's "Where I'm From." One had been written by her daughter for a High School English class, the other by my friend, who wanted to try the exercise. I was tickled when she showed them to me. If anyone thinks poetry is dead, it's alive and well in my small town.

And it's alive and well in my parents' house. A few days ago, my father showed me two poems he's working on. I was amazed by his ability (they were damn good poems), stunned that I hadn't known about his interest in poetry until this very week, and proud.

I'll be ready to get back to work when I return home. This is turning out to be a very inspiring trip to the homeland.