Lily Hinrichsen : Artist : Poet
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Musings

I’ve come to poetry as a visual artist and keen observer of the nature of things and things of nature.

What Can You Do With Insomnia was chosen for publication in the 2023 Mountain Troubadour

What Can You Do With Insomnia
Your least favorite child 
keeping you up at night
Stealing quiet darkness
when your mind finally rests
finally untangles itself from the gnarled
skein of the day
Thoughtless child assuming
ceiling stares and shadow pacing
warrant precious midnight hours
hours meant for body’s repair and replenishment
for slumbering to the sound of crickets


Ancestors has been accepted by Monadnock Underground (June 2022)

​
Ancestors
I'm pretty sure I was born from a river
from cool waters so clear
that one can see caddisflys building their homes,
    and trout nosing between stones for food
My lineage runs freely over rocks and falls
    taking stories downstream
    wrapping tales around the ankles of fishermen
I feel my fluvial ancestry
    a map of rivers flowing     
    deep in my veins



My poem from the Troubadour was featured in the WDEV radio interview
​with Poetry Society of Vermont.
Fast forward video to 1:23:44


Link to audio
... and here it is in the printed copy of June 2022
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Look for my poem at Alla Vita on State Street for Montpelier's Poem City in April

Meandering
I was distracted by a bird
its song cut through a poem
    taking shape under my tongue
something about nothing in particular
became Spring reflections
in a pool at my feet
I surrendered to wings that sprouted
from overburdened shoulders
and looked to the clouds for repose



I received a monetary Marian Gleason Memorial prize and Certificate of Merit
from the Poetry Society of Vermont for my poem "Sunday Sermon in January."


Sunday Sermon in January
The heavens deliver their missives
on the backs of snowflakes
a million proverbs alighting 
on the outstretched arms of maples
    the weight of their meaning 
almost too much to bear


Blue Jay pauses on a pine bough
for a fleeting moment of truth
    a flash of blue in this ghostly snowscape
enough to startle one into oblivion


Words of wisdom
forming a tome 
    the size of an open field
Wide open spaces 
for me to read between the lines



Three poems published in "Across the Margin", October 2021

morning | path | broken

Broken is how she felt when she awoke
a cloudy morning following an equally dark night
nocturnal demons determined to steal her breath
old meddlers outstaying their visit
wreaking havoc on the path laid before her
a long road she has trod and sown and carved
redirected   lost   and found again
a journey back to her self
the one who’s wings were never clipped
who smiled easily and loved deeply
that’s who she longed to wake to this morning
instead her spirit lay in fragments beside her pillow

• • •

On this summer morning
dripping with the oppressive sweat 
of lastnight’s dreams she awakens 
to songs of chickadee and cardinal
lilting melodies carving the thick air
laying before her a path to a new day
Through broken fragments she finds
her way to the open door 

• • •

The morning is broken
by a thought that occurs to her
as she makes her way to the compost pile
A path strewn with squirrels’ playthings
with artifacts later collected by robins
to form vessels of hope
She thinks    what if the past was never mine


# # #



Dear Morning
I'm so happy to see you after an arduous journey of doubt
​

# # #


Upon Waking
Cicadas sound their whining buzz
catching the cool breeze coming 
through the screen door
spreading a thin blanket of remembering over me
I search myself for leftover shrapnel 
from elapsed panic attacks
but all I find is slow breathing 
and skin constructed of light
Wonder has replaced doubt
Tranquility has broken from a shell of fear
The intention of my ears is to hear god 
in the language of cicadas and in this moment 
I’m helpless to do anything else



Two poems on the theme of Snow published in Periwinkle Literary Magazine, January 2021
periwinkle_literary_magazine_snow.pdf
File Size: 31139 kb
File Type: pdf
Download File


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To enjoy my first chapbook, Being Here, Images in Words, email:  ​LilyHinrichsen at gmail dot com
Excerpts from Being Here:

Shortcut
skirting the truth
she took a path
through the woods
tripping over knobby roots
      the musky smell of wet leaves
filling her head with the whimsy of childhood games
      fantasy worlds built in apricot trees
      and the tall grasses of meadows

the woods hid her thoughts
      kept her utterances secret

among the maples and pines
she struck an oath
to never fear life
I listen to the darkness as it makes its trek from East to West spilling constellations from its pockets in its haste. The creatures of the night follow in its footsteps chirping from the tall grasses it brushed by. They are just waking, happy to assume their nocturnal duties, even as I close the book on mine.

# # #

Morning
Blades of grass
     each bejeweled with beads of morning dew
a carpet of luminescence as far as the eye can see.
This is my gift
     for rising with the summer sun.


Stitched Poems


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Visit my Art Studio Facebook page for up-to-date happenings.
​
​Copyright © 2022 All images and poetry property of Lily Hinrichsen and may not be used without permission. 
​LilyHinrichsen at gmail dot com
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