It’s Poetry Friday!
Please join our friend
Tabatha at The Opposite of Indifference
for a peek into her BRAVE project.
Here is my recommendation: READ IT!
An elegy, a love story, a timely, fitting narrative of environmental heartbreak. It is mesmerizing. It is gorgeous. It remains with me.
SHOUT OUT
for
Sarah Grace Tuttle
“KNOWING FOREVER”
Synchronicity
Origami and poetry. I could say it was coincidental that they appeared in my life with no discernable cause –except that my OLW is unfold.
I set a goal for myself to write a poem a day in 2025. For inspiration and accountability, I joined the Stafford Challenge.
And then I stumbled upon this lovely page-a-day calendar –an invitation to create via folding and unfolding. I’m drawn to the idea that something hides within each sheet of blue-patterned paper.
I am a big believer in Maria Montessori’s theory that busy hands free the mind. So far I’ve created a pinwheel, a samurai helmet, a hamster face, Mt. Fuji, a kimono heart, and a small box.
Each origami object has inspired its own poem. And some are finding their way to family and friends.
happy gnasher
a chatty chomper
a lippy lizard
poised for joy
mouth agape
she smiles
©2025 Patricia J. Franz
Patricia Franz writes picture books and poetry. She believes children, dogs, and sourdough have a lot to teach us about life, joy, and wonder. She has raised two boys, four dogs, and holds a master’s degree in Theology with a focus on children’s spirituality. Patricia, her husband, her Bernese Mountain dog, Bonny, and her sourdough starter split their time between the Arizona desert and the Sierra Nevada mountains. 
Love your OLW – unfolding feels like a wonderful lifelong process for me, including the vast vicissitudes of our days. I used to do some origami, got overwhelmed with the complexity…maybe time to revisit.
What fun that your OLW is springing to life from your fingers and your pen!
Yay for Sarah’s flash fiction and for your undertaking the Stafford Challenge! Oh, how I wish that I had started that at the beginning of the year. Perhaps next year. It is funny that I can see your lizard as both fierce and smiling – a slight of hand!
It’s so interesting that when we wander down a particular path, new things appear that we never really imagined. You chose ‘unfold’ & there arose that calendar, with lots to do & inspire for you, for your new goal! I love the ‘chatty chomper’, will love seeing & reading more, Patricia!
I love how you’re finding your way into your OLW and creating daily. How lucky your friends and family (and we!) are to benefit from your creative energy. Your poem is such a joy and a breath of fresh air in these dark days. Oh–and I agree with what Linda wrote–it’s fascinating how new things appear when we’re ready to receive them!
What a lovely find in that daily calendar – it’s perfect for your project. And I love that “happy gnasher”!
Yes, the [origami] stars are aligning–a page-a-day unfolding! I like the idea that a mouth open is “poised for joy”.
Fabulous! Such sweet, fun phrases that end with that word joy. What a great punctuation of sound and feeling at the end of the last line.
Patricia, your word unfolding is surfacing in many different ways. It is a beautiful word that even I am playing with. “busy hands free the mind”-There is much truth in that. Continue your journey with your OLW. Thank you for the postcard poetry that I received recently. The card itself was beautiful and then I unfolded it to find your poetry. Many thanks. My postcard will arrive soon to you.
I love Sarah’s story, too! It’s so great that you have an origami and poetry daily habit 🙂 Makes me happy just to hear about it. My mom is making a folded box valentine for my dad, the most complicated card I’ve ever seen. I do not have any skills in that direction, but I am an appreciative audience!
UNFOLD and origami and poetry are made for each other! How awesome!
Patricia, what a fine idea to unfold the poems as you fold the paper. Your lippy lizard has me smiling. And I agree Sarah’s flash fiction is mesmerizing and gorgeous.
Synchronicity is unfolding before your eyes! (Or, “Unfold” is synchronizing?) 🙂
I love your poem, Patricia.
I’ve never been able to master even the simplest origami shapes, but I do agree with the benefits of busy hands, though I lean more towards drawing, doodling and colouring. 🙂