A Swap Quatrain: Of Love and Remembrance
By the Garden Shed
by Mrs. KT Poem of the Month contest entry
Dedicated to the memory of my mother, Ann R. Kenel, who taught me the beauty and language of flowers, and to my paternal grandmother, Lucy Rose Kenel, who started it all...
Tilling rich soil, she spent many long hours;
Nothing pleased her more than growing flowers.
Not once did she regret each day’s hard toil;
She spent many long hours tilling rich soil.
By the garden shed, she planted them all,
Each tiny seed she’d been given that fall.
“Pink hollyhocks to bring us joy,” she said.
She planted them all by the garden shed.
That spring, pink hollyhocks began to bloom.
Their stately beauty lifting darkest gloom.
Among their florets, sweet finches would sing.
Pink hollyhocks began to bloom that spring.
With much delight, as they are known to do,
Some hollyhocks displayed new shades to view.
Many soon flaunted hues of red or white,
As they are known to do, with much delight.
Each year, hollyhocks were sowed by her hand;
They grew with flourish throughout her farmland.
Come autumn, she shared their seeds with good cheer;
Hollyhocks were sowed by her hand each year.
I thought of her on this bright summer day,
And I smiled, watching my hollyhocks sway.
Her gift had lived on, glorious and sure.
On this bright summer day, I thought of her.
This fall, I shall gather each tiny seed
To give my own daughter, with faith, indeed,
For her to plant along her garden wall.
I shall gather each tiny seed this fall.
Through generations their joy will live on;
Grandmother’s hollyhocks greeting the dawn.
Delicate but firm, such regal foundations.
Their joy will live on through generations…
Author Notes The Swap Quatrain was created by Lorraine M. Kanter.
Within the Swap Quatrain, each stanza in the poem must be a quatrain (four lines) where the first line is reversed in the fourth line. In addition, line 2 must rhyme with line 1, and line 3 must rhyme with line 4 and so on, BUT not repeat the same rhyming pattern on subsequent stanzas.
Rhyming pattern: AABB, CCDD, and so on.
(www.shadowpoetry.com/resources/wip/swapquatrain.html).
The following link provides the reader with excellent information regarding growing hollyhocks from seed and other information regarding this old-time favorite: https://dengarden.com/gardening/How-to-Grow-Hollyhock-Flowers-from-Seed.
I've included the following youtube video, "Hollyhocks are Hocking," as it gives the reader an idea of how colorful, abundant, and tall hollyhocks can become from just planting a few seeds. I had to smile, as, at the end of the video, the narrator informs readers that he lives in Saginaw, MI = my childhood hometown. Enjoy!
