I’m folding and unfolding my way through 2025
– and celebrating National Poetry Month
with ORIGAMI poetry!
Why spend time playing with paper?
I love a challenge to find what is hidden, to make something three-dimensional out of something two-dimensional.
Most of the time, I manage to follow the diagrams. A creature emerges from a square of paper. At times, I need to take a step or two back. Often, when I run into a wall and my clumsy fingers can’t find the correct fold, I look away for a bit. After a small break, my fingers eventually coax the creation into being. Usually it requires that I stop fighting the paper – I try to be more intuitive.
Call it origami-flow (lol).
Here are a few “successes” –and one that I admit did not turn out well.
place card
your name
a place
to find
my heart
©2025 PJF
flapping bird
fold and unfold
you’ve given me
wings
to dream
to reach
to sing
© 2025 PJF
a fish is a fish is a fish
it looks like a fish
not montroll’s fish,
but a fish
maybe a catfish
with a weak tail
draggy whiskers
not the best creases
sometimes you do your best
you fold a fish and get…
not the best looking,
but a fish, nonetheless
©2025 PJF
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. 