Category: poetry

poetry

Star Light, Star Bright

Sally25 Comments

Star
Faintly
Twinkling
In the dusky
Sky — You’re there even
When I can’t see your light
Like in the daytime, or night
When clouds obscure most ev’rything
I know comrade stars form animals
And warriors and women above me
Unseen Orion still wields his club aloft
While vain Cassiopeia admires herself
I can’t see them but that doesn’t mean they don’t exist
One little star
First star I see
Reminds me of
What is unseen
And beautiful
And just as real

W3 prompt: Write a “Tree of Life” poem about changes, impermanence and strength.

Tree of Life format:

  • An uplifting poem in 19 lines;
  • Syllabic: 1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8-9-10-11-12-13-4-4-4-4-4-4;
  • Unrhymed;
  • Alignment: Centered

I know that this poem isn’t about changes, impermanence and strength. I had an idea of what I wanted to write, but all of the sudden I had veered off in a different direction. Sorry. Not really sorry.

Actually, pretty sure this is the moon, but it will have to do.

poetry

Ekphrastic Etheree

Sally26 Comments

A year ago I didn’t know either of those words. Here are the definitions

  • Ekphrastic — a written response to a visual work of art
  • Etheree — syllabic poetry that has 10 lines, with the syllable count 1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8-9-10 –Mine is a Reverse Etheree because the syllable count goes 10-9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1

Tanka Tuesday prompt asks us to write an Ekphrastic Poem in response to this work of art: Eugene Manet on the Isle of Wight, 1875 by Berthe Morisot

And here’s my reverse etheree:

The world is a parade past my window
Strolling, walking, marching, riding past
Some in groups, trios, pairs, alone
Chatting, whistling, silent
An unsteady nonrush
I watch quietly
Inside my home
Unobserved
And sip
Tea

poetry

The Heron

Sally10 Comments

You blend in so well that I
Almost passed by, but my soul
Leapt as your head turned, follow-
ing me, swallowing a vole,

Or who knows why? I caught my
Breath. ’twas a sigh in reverse –
A moment of surprised awe
Then crows cawed and you dispersed.

Maybe I just blame the crows –
Maybe you arose in broad-
Winged flight because some other
Thing broke cover at your nod

Tanka Tuesday Prompt: This week, choose a kigo (season word or seasonal phrase) and write your syllabic poetry using the word or seasonal phrase. My word was heron.

I’m not sure I understand the whole kigo thing. I’m dense maybe. Or my head is too full of trying to learn Gaelic. And French.

However, I chose a Welsh form that I’ve used before: Awdl Gywydd. It calls for internal rhymes and end rhymes.

collage · poetry

Sunflowers

Sally22 Comments

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

poetry

Olaf the Cat

Sally21 Comments

I
Don’t sing.
My cat of
many years, Olaf,
Is always glad
To sing, to meow and yowl and
act like he is big

The W3 prompt for the week is to write a poem based on the piece of artwork show above, and, if possible, make it a Golden Shovel poem.

In a “Golden Shovel” poem, the last words in each line are, in order, words from a line of another poem. I chose an e.e. cummings poem. And struggled. Or should I say, i struggled

be-
causeif
ever
there was a poet
whos(tyl)e
set him
a- – – -part
it
was

eecummings

I wrote about an entirely fictional cat. I’m not really happy with it –the poem, that is. About as happy as I would be if I had a cat that yowled all the time. But I wanted to participate. [sigh]

The poetry form is called a Cadence. The rules are that it be written in 7 lines, that the lines follow this syllabic pattern 1-2-3-4-4-8-5, and that the end words be strong (no articles or prepositions). Well, two out of three ain’t bad, right?

poetry

Emotions

Sally10 Comments

Door half-open
Door half-closed
Shadow – light
All transposed

Cup half-full
Cup half-empty
Is it lacking?
Is there plenty?

It’s too hot
It’s just right
It’s too cold
What a plight!

Close one door
New one opens
Toying with
My emotions

Happy, sad
Frightened, brave
Peaceful, mad
Giddy, grave

Rarely I
Am only one
I’m a mix
Shadow-sun

This is my response to Sadje’s “What Do You See?” photo (above)

I spend way too much time with my counselor talking about emotions. At one point, she gave me a list of emotion words to help me identify what I’m feeling. It’s not that I don’t have feelings — it’s that I have trouble naming them. Well, I take that back — when I was going through a particularly challenging time, I shut down my feelings, and, as they have come back, they’ve sometimes re-emerge in a tangle.



poetry

Bagpipes — A Love Story

Sally26 Comments

The bagpipes loved the little girl
O skirly, whirly, twirly, sklirl
He hoped that he could catch her eye
As she went traipsing merrily by
She barely slowed, and so he sighed,
O skirly, whirly, sklirl

’twas lonely waiting to be seen
O skirly, whirly, twirly, skleen
The blue-eyed girl was now long gone
Off in the distance he could hear the song
Of bagpipes playing nrrrnn nrrrnn nhawn
O skirly, whirly, skleen

But who should now come into view?
O skirly, whirly, twirly, sklooo
The little girl tugging her mother’s hand,
“Mama, I want to be in the band!
To play these pipes would be so grand!”
O skirly, whirly, skloo0

She picked him up, nestling him dear
O skirly, whirly, twirly, skleeer
“Please, can I take this home with me?”
Mom started to say, “Let’s wait. We’ll see.”
But didn’t. She heard the lassie’s plea.
O skirly, whirly, skleeer

And now the rest is history
O skirly, whirly, twirly, skleee
Each is the other’s sole desire
Scotland the Brave, Mull of Kintyre
Making music all day — a girl-bagpipe choir
O skirly, whirly, skleee


This is in response to the W3 prompt this week: Write a nonsense poem with at least one invented word of your own.

poetry

Tyger…………………………………….. Tyger

Sally24 Comments

Tigers don’t like groups, you know

Company isn’t something they seek
It may seem strange, but it’s not unique

Most animals draw strength from their pack or crew
Being alone is strength that only a few
Understand. For loneliness does not ensue
When aloneness is simply a part of you

Groups of tigers are called Streaks
Or Ambushes. Silly names — and weak

Tigers don’t like groups, you know

This is in response to the Tanka Tuesday prompt to: Select an animal collective noun and write your syllabic poem using the collective noun.

The poetry form that I used is the Symetrelle.

  • It begins and ends with a single subject line that is 7 syllables.
  • It has two mono-rhymed couplets that lead you into and out of the subject with a 9 syllable count.
  • In the middle is a mono-rhymed 4 line quatrain with an 11 syllable count.
poetry

Pantoum for My Child

Sally13 Comments

I wish I could see inside your head
The swirl of thoughts all tangled there
I would take one tiny thread
I’d follow it to who-knows-where

The swirl of thoughts all tangled there
Twisted, matted, snarled, knotted
To follow one to who-knows-where
To open that which has clotted

Twisted, matted, snarled, knotted
Hopes and hurts and harms and healing
I want to open what has clotted
To understand what you’ve been feeling

Hopes and hurts and harms and healing
I wish I could see inside your head
To understand what you’ve been feeling
I would take one tiny thread

Any parent would understand this, but especially parents of older kids, parents of adolescents, parents of introverts, parents of kids who struggle for words.

This is in response to the W3 prompt — write a pantoum with at least four stanzas. A pantoum is a interwoven poem with repeats lines circling through the stanzas. Here’s the rhyme scheme for mine:

ABAB BCBC DCDC DADA