Poetry Friday: Gingko

This is a year of big transitions for my family. Our youngest turns 18 this week and is preparing to make the leap from high school to college. Shortly after that, Mr. S turns 50 and our eldest celebrates his 21st birthday.(All of our birthdays, including Sam the dog's, fall within five weeks. Mine is the last and -- hard to believe -- we are usually caked out by then.)I am relying on long-term projects to sustain me in 2018. There are writing projects, of course. A new book is in the works, but my first goal is to finish the 2017 February Poetry Project prompts before February 2018's new daily prompts begin.27 down and 1 to go! More on that in a second.My second project combines knitting and science. A friend shared this pattern with me and I am in love. You pick yarn colors (9, 10, 15 -- knitter's choice) and create a chart of temperature ranges with corresponding colors. Over the course of the year, you chart the temperature (I'm doing daily highs), and knit a row or two in the corresponding color.Instead of stockinette stitch -- and after frogging a few false starts -- I'm doing a K1, P1 rib.I am having so much fun with this project! Here is the pattern at the Ravelry crochet and knitting site. It's beginner friendly.Back to poetry. When our children were small, we planted a tree for each of them not far from the kitchen window. Our eldest chose a gingko. Despite the cold weather, as evidenced by my knitting project, the tree is covered with little knobs. These will become buds in a few months.As I work on the last few poems (late -- so late!) from last year's daily poetry project, it's the ginkgo I see from my work space. And that's how the tree found its way into this poem.2/27/17 #10FoundWords prompt from Mary Lee HahnSource: "Could a Bumblebee Learn to Play Fetch? Probably"10 Words: abilities, brain, decisions, fetch, flexibility, learn, memory, problem, puzzle, strategyGingkoBy Laura ShovanThe gingko tree’s ability is rest--long months of buds cappedtight under winter scalps.Green brains sleep there,ready to make decisionsto become fan-shaped leavesfetching sunlight and rain.The tree sleeps on its problems--draught, neglect—formsstrategies for next season.To do: learn to be flexiblein the wind. I like to thinkmemories are storedin the gingko’s puzzling mazesof would-be leaves, becausethen it could be true for all of us.In the place where old growthbreaks away, something newis considering spring. Currently reading: No One Waits for the Train, by Waqas Khwaja