Winter Poetry Swap Goodness

Tabatha Yeatts, you rock, girl!

I came home yesterday to find a box on my front porch. I knew in a flash (you know, like in the song when the crooner knows it it Saint Nick?) it was my winter poetry swap gift! This is my first time participating in the poetry swap, and I was so excited to open my package from Tabatha. 

I opened the box and pulled back the tissue paper to find a YOGA magnetic poetry kit. Who knew they even made such a wonderful thing? You can see my first magnetic poem above. I haven't even pulled all the words apart yet, but my first yoga cinquain was such fun.  I'm planning on getting a magnetic board and hanging it in my yoga studio.

Underneath the kit, a wonderful assortment of tea. 

But I saved the best for last. The poem. Who but Tabatha could manage to combine my love for yoga with my crazy interest in Antarctica?  Thank you, Tabatha. 

Relaxing in Antarctica

By Tabatha Yeatts

for Dori

There is an urgency of cold,

a surge of shiver, danger of dark,

a supremacy of don't freeze,

 be on your guard,

  brace yourself,

that squares your shoulders,

 curls your fists,

  crusts your eyes...

what can you see beyond

your goggle-glazed view?

how can your spirit be light

under the weight of the wind?

but even in Antarctica,

once your studies are tended,

your numbers recorded and

your goggles hung to dry,

that spot on your neck

where you hold your hardships

begs you to bend,

to stretch,

to fill your lungs

with a warm breath,

to award yourself

all the sunlight

your mind can create.

Tara hosts the Poetry Friday round up today at A Teaching Life.