A photograph of a sunflower was the prompt for Tanka Tuesday. I immediately thought of the sunflower field near us. People constantly stop to photograph it — it’s so lovely. Recently, on Facebook however, there were a number of nasty comments about the people stopping to look at the sunflowers. It’s dangerous, they said — and they were probably right.
But doggone-it, the sunflowers are so pretty.
I wrote a poem about the controversy (kind of) and shaped each stanza like a petal, using syllable counts 1-2-3-4-5-4-3-2-1. Then I cut them out and put them in a collage.
Below, the poem in text form. Below that is my collage.
some
people
see the field
of sunflowers
and are in awe of
their beauty but
others see
the cars
that
pull
over
to the side
haphazardly
because somebody
in the car caught
sight of the
flowers
and
could
not help
but to slam
on the brakes and
climb out of their car
to draw closer
to the gold-
en beaut-
y
they
are drawn
by flowers
and more flowers.
they’re intoxicated
by the beauty
and don’t see
danger
to
self
or to
others – the
ones who are just
on their way to work
and don’t have time
for flowers
or they
are
weighed
down by
too many
cares — so they don’t
care or remember
to care, to see.
this world is
so so
rich
rich,
I say,
in beauty
golden yellow
living miracles
that came from seeds
and grew taller
than even
you or
me
Hot Dogs and Marmalade 
Love your creativity 🌻
Thank you!
Such a cool idea. Love your poem too
loving the structure… and a wonderful poem too🤍
Thank you! I don’t know if it’s a legit poetic structure. I made it up and it worked for me for this project.
not sure myself. still learning about structure buts it’s really great… perhaps we could borrow your structure 😁
would make for lovely experimenting.
my pleasure, Sally🙏🤍
This form is a wonderful way to show the conflict between flower, people and cars. I love the petal shapes the stanzas form, echoing the sunflower. Really good, Sally 🌻
Thanks, Lesley! I am happy with the way the petal verses worked.
What a wonderful idea, it turned out beautifully. Those little sun flowers with the smiles are just too adorable too. 🙂 🌻
Thank you!
When I collage, I used old children’s books that are destined for the landfill. Those little sunflowers came out of a nursery rhyme book. Aren’t they cute?
They really are! That’s a wonderful hobby, making beautiful things out of what was headed to the landfill. 🌻
Life is so much richer when we pause to see the flowers. Beautifully done, Sally! 💞💞💞
I have to photograph some sunflowers before they go.
Ours are already past. Their heads are all heavy and bowed. I imagine they’ll come to harvest soon.
Sunflowers are everyday miracles, and I like how you show how some are attuned to them and others not.
Sometimes I wonder how many miracles I walk past every day, totally oblivious to them.
It’s like strands of DNA (the shape of your poem). Maybe you’ve invented a new form.
I LOVED this. Beautiful poem, Sally.
Thank you!
Sally ~ I am BLOWN away by this. Amazing, beautiful, creative!
❤
David
Thank you, David! You are always so kind.