A Ferny Surprise for Amy Ludwig VanDerwater

Posted on by Penny Parker Klostermann

Last week, Catherine Johnson asked if I would like to link to her blog today to be included in a Fernilicious post. She asked several of us to write fern poems as a surprise for Amy Ludgwig VanDerwater! “Yes,” I said. “Without a doubt!” I love Amy’s website, The Poem Farm. She has incredible talent. Catherine always cooks up excitement, so I’m happy to join in. What will Catherine feature on her post? A yummy fiddlehead frittata recipe in honor of with Amy’s fern poem that Catherine posted Monday. You can read it HERE!

“Fiddlehead!” I wondered. “What in the world is a fiddlehead?” Google here I come! I spent the next hour reading about fiddleheads. They are the furled fronds of a young fern. You know. . .the little curl before the fern frond unfurls into feathery leaflets. Fiddleheads can be eaten. From what I read, the ostrich fern is a fern with edible fiddleheads.

Catherine issued her invitation on May 13th. You won’t believe what my friend (and member of my awesome critique group), Mona Pease, posted on Facebook on May 15th! Photos of fiddleheads! I emailed her immediately and told her about the coincidence. She emailed right back and offered for me to use her beautiful photos in this post. She had been out foraging. So, I guess I can say my friend, Mona, is a foraging fiddleheader 🙂 Now, here are Mona’s photos and my poems, followed by a question that remains unanswered by Wikipedia. . .or any other “pedia” for that matter!

fiddlehead
Courtesy of Mona Pease

Royalty

Fiddleheads unfurl to feathered fronds—

crowning the kingdom.

~Penny Klostermann all rights reserved

fiddlehead2
Courtesy of Mona Pease

Flightless Fern

Ostrich fern awakes.

Fiddleheads unfurl.

Stretching. Strutting.

Preening plumage.

Feathers fringe the forest floor.

~Penny Klostermann all rights reserved

And the question: How many fronds does a fiddleheader forage when a fiddleheader forages fronds?

Jama Rattigan is hosting Poetry Friday at Jama’s Alphabet Soup! Thanks, Jama!

43 thoughts on “A Ferny Surprise for Amy Ludwig VanDerwater”

  1. What a lucky coincidence a friend posted photos at the moment you needed them! Beautiful poem (and photos). A fiddlehead is something new to me (looks too green to be in the desert, so that may be why I haven’t come across them before :))

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    1. Thanks for stopping by, Janna. I appreciate your visit to my blog. One of my sister’s name is Janna and she spells it with 2 n’s just like you, which seems more rare than 1 n!

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  2. Fabulous fiddlehead poems (and photographs), Penny! We don’t have fiddleheads here in the desert of Tucson (unless you count the drivers!) I love seeing green leaves/ferns. =)

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    1. Thanks, Bridget! We have some ferns in our backyard here in Texas, but I don’t think I would try eating the fiddleheads from them. I don’t think they’re the edible kind! But they are beautiful!
      Ha! Love the driver reference!

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    1. I’ve thought before how feathery ferns are…then when I read that the Ostrich fern was the one for edible fiddleheads, I was very excited about the possibilities for poetry! I’m glad you liked that line.

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  5. This fiddlehead poem adventure has been fun. Never knew there was such a thing. Now with graphics and fabulous fernilating forms, I know more than ever. Thanks to all the fancy fiddleheaders!

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  6. Love your fiddlehead poems, Penny–especially the second one with the delicious line “Feathers fringe the forest floor.”
    Mona and I were in an online crit group many years ago–please tell her I said hi (and that I like her fiddlehead photo!)

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  7. Not many fernalicious feathered fronds around here now – most of them have opened up – but yes, they are a spring delicacy! Thanks for sharing!

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  8. Fernilicious! I love both those metaphors. I think they’ll both come to my mind next time I see a fern-y forest floor. I can’t get enough of saying “feathered fronds.”

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  9. What fernalicious fun all around. Catherine had a great idea and everybody came through with wonderful poems. Nice coincidence with Mona’s photos too.

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  11. Pingback: the poetry friday roundup is here! | Jama's Alphabet Soup

  15. These are beautiful poems – “Fiddleheads fringe the forest floor” is simply lovely. And your tongue twister is tricky – we will all try to say it at dinner tonight. 🙂 Thank you so much for this surprise gift today. ‘Wish I could send you a fiddlehead frittata in the mail! xo, a.

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    1. Thanks so much, Amy. I really enjoyed getting to know all about fiddleheads!
      Good luck with the tongue twister. I think I finally have it down…but I’ve yet to try it with a mouthful of fiddlehead frittata!

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  17. Well, fiddle-dee-dee! What glorious poems my co-conspirator!
    Especially love the pairing with Mona’s photos. I snapped my fiddlehead photos on our last family forest walk because Amy’s poems were echoing in my head!

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  18. I totally missed the fern memo, people! But I’m so happy to see all the lovely things you’ve written. Penny, these are beautiful images, especially “crowning the kingdom.” Well done, you!

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  21. Penny they are beautiful! I knew you’d rock this surprise. That picture is really cute. Thank you!

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  22. Pingback: Fiddlehead Frittata | Catherine Johnson

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