After writing together for almost twenty years, our group of five remaining women (two members had passed away) decided it was time to publish an anthology. We celebrated our book launch for Writing in Place: Prose & Poetry from the Pacific Northwest the summer of 2019.

April is Poetry Month and the perfect opportunity to feature a poem from the anthology by Monda Van Hollebeke, who we fondly anointed the Edmonds Poet Laureate for her dedication to the craft and consistently writing breathtaking poems.

I chose this poem as it captures the transition between winter and spring with its personification of winter as it “opens its fist,” and the expectancy of the reader for signs of spring. I will never see whitecaps again without remembering Monda’s closing image, “and glittering small hands wave from Puget Sound.” I’m delighted to share this poem with you.

What from the poem speaks to you?

If I Were Able to Describe with My Poor Words the Morning

The earth in resurrection mode at dawn is cold.
Only the upper gables of houses are lit,
one black cloud pushes against the blue.
Stiff-fingered, the sweetgum waits.
Its oily tips are green, its secrets furled.
Furry with dew, a new version of an old lawn
greens as the light moves down,
painting whole houses now in yellow gold.
As I breathe in the air, I wonder
why I’m always so surprised
when winter opens its fist,
as if it didn’t mean anything by it.
Expectant, the pink dogwood begins to show and glittering small hands wave from Puget Sound.

— Monda Van Hollebeke

Monda Van Hollebeke spent her early childhood on a wheat ranch near Great Falls, Montana. She earned a BA in English from Gonzaga University where she edited the literary magazine Reflections and an MA in American Literature from the University of Washington. She has enjoyed a career of both writing and teaching at Seattle University and Edmonds Community College. She took early retirement to pursue her writing career.

A winner of several poetry prizes from the Shoreline Arts Council, the Edmonds Write on the Sound conference, and Writer’s Digest, she has been published in numerous Northwest literary magazines and makes poetry the main focus of her writing. Her poem, “October Snowfall,” first appeared in the 4th Annual Writer’s Digest Poetry Awards Collection, in 2009. “Clear Day” was originally published in the Edmonds Community College literary journal, Between the Lines, in 2013. In 2005, ByLine Magazine published the poem “If I Were Able to Describe with My Poor Words the Morning.” The poems “Lost” and “Last Flight” won prizes in the 2012 and 2013 Write on the Sound Writing Contests and her Sonnet, “Clear Day,” won a prize in a contest sponsored by the National League of American Pen Women in San Francisco.

Monda is preparing her first chapbook for publication, Highwood, Montana: A Mid-century Album of Black and White Poems. In recent years, Monda has taught interactive poetry workshops, participated in community environmental activism, and volunteered at a local homeless shelter. Monda and her husband Dick moved to Edmonds in 1977 where they raised six children. Dick passed away in January 2021. Monda enjoys nine grandchildren and seven great grandchildren.