Skagit Valley Tulip Festival
Red, pink and yellow
on the distant horizon
like a rainbow mirage
beckons flower-hunters.
Textured strips of wine, crimson
magenta, plum, canary
blanket the fields
a crocheted afghan of color.
Packed clay borders
teem with beauty-seekers.
Couples walk hand-in-hand.
Old women push walkers
over the lumpy earth
beside middle-aged daughters
pleased to have given Mom
her springtime outing.
A young mother poses her little girl
in a storybook of princess pink.
The dark-skinned family are chocolate sprinkles
against a confection of yellow.
All the while photographers
tap smart phones and tablets
focus and click pocket-sized digitals
the serious weighted down
with tripods and equipment
peer through their blunt snouts of lenses
into cups and bowls, take with them
images of undersides and private rooms.
In April the fields of La Conner
are awash, a-drift, a-wonder
with spring’s one month miracle—
the resurrection of tulips!
© 2013 by Violet Nesdoly
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This week hubby and I took a mid-week break to go across the line and visit La Conner, Washington, part of the Skagit Valley Tulip Festival. What a thrill for this camera-toting flower-lover.
The collage contains a tiny sample of my photos. (In the days ahead, I’ll be sharing more at my photoblog, promptings 2).
The poem above is so new the ink is still wet on it, which means it is very much a first draft, but I feel like sharing the enjoyment during tulip season. The Skagit Valley Tulip Festival continues to the end of April.
This poem is part of Poetry Friday, hosted today by Laura Salas at Writing the World for Kids.
Violet Nesdoly 
Can I just say how envious I am of your visit to the tulip festival! Your poem certainly hit all the high points for those of us on the other side of the country! Maybe one day…
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Thanks Diane. It was incredible for sure. The festival lasts the entire month of April. Put it on your bucket list!
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How could one NOT be inspired?? Beautiful, Violet.
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Wow, Violet – fields of whispered secrets from these colorful tulips! Thanks for sharing. =)
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I feel like I just delighted in a dish of sweet rainbow sherbet– your poem is delicious!
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Wow-I’d love to see that in person someday, Violet. Wow-again! Your poem captures it in a different way of course. Favorite line: “In April the fields of La Conner
are awash, a-drift, a-wonder
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Hi there Violet – such bright colours and beautiful lines in your blogpost today. I smiled when I read these lines:
“All the while photographers
tap smart phones and tablets
focus and click pocket-sized digitals
the serious weighted down
with tripods and equipment
peer through their blunt snouts of lenses
into cups and bowls, take with them
images of undersides and private rooms.”
It does seem like if we are unable to capture it through our camera phones, an event fails to exist. It has come to that, hasn’t it? Gorgeous post today.
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Your poem makes me want, so much, to visit here someday! Sounds absolutely wonderful! Thanks! (I especially love the afghan of color in the first two stanzas, the little girl in princess pink and the chocolate sprinkles against lemon yellow. Gorgeous! And if this is first draft, I can’t imagine what the final draft will sound like!)
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Gorgeous — both the photos and the poem. I’m as jealous as Diane. Maybe someday for me, too!
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This is gorgeous, Violet. Tulips are my favorite flowers! This part:
Old women push walkers
over the lumpy earth
beside middle-aged daughters
pleased to have given Mom
her springtime outing.
made me feel quite melancholy:>)
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Sorry about making you feel melancholy Laura, but I did notice quite a few elderly ladies, and thought how much my own mum would have loved the display, and perhaps put myself in with those mother-daughter duos, the daughter so happy to bring her mum out to something she will absolutely enjoy, but yes, realizing these kinds of outings may be numbered.
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Almost too beautiful to believe. I hope some day I can see this myself. Thanks for the poem!
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Thanks for your comments. Sorry about the delay in publishing some of them, but I was away for the weekend and just got back.
And oh, I so wish you could all see these fields of tulips. They are quite incredible.
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