Moon and Sunbound

Hello, and welcome! This is 15 Words or Less Poems, a low-pressure way to wake up your poetry brain (guidelines here), and I’m very glad you’re here.  But because it’s National Poetry Month, I have a #wonderbreak poem to share, too! And it’s Poem in Your Pocket Day, too! So grab a poem (your own or someone else’s), print it out, and spread some poetry love today!

Here’s My #Wonderbreak Poem

I just never get tired of looking at the moon:>)

Moon

 

And Here’s 15 Words or Less

And now to our usual Thursday activity! Here’s a gorgeous sculpture right on harbor in Reykjavik, Iceland. It’s called Sun Voyager, and it’s by Jón Gunnar Árnason. I thought having a moon and sun-related poem on the same day would be fun!  This image makes me think of several things:

Sculpture: Jón Gunnar Árnason Photo: Laura P. Salas

  1. whale ribs
  2. drum corps in 2011 (our show was Valhalla, and this Viking ship brings it all back)
  3. tuning forks from orchestra–I never could make them work

And here’s my first draft. 

sunbound 15wol

 

It’s your turn! Have fun and stick to 15 WORDS OR LESS! (Title doesn’t count toward word count.) 

 

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33 Responses

    1. Love the spareness and parallel feeling of first three lines, and then the way you break the pattern with the ending. Nicely done!

  1. TEENAGE BOY’S LAMENT

    I’m so hungry,
    in a mood.
    Make me happy
    give me food!

    1. And watch me grow three sizes in a year! I remember this stage with my son.

  2. Oh, yes…sunward. When my mother passed, she made us promise that her remains would face East. At the burial, we asked that her casket be turned to honor her wishes. Your poem brought that moment back to me in a flash. It has that sacred…partly earth…partly spirit world quality to it.

    I looked up characters of Icelandic folklore for my simple haiku. I just imagined “spirits” or whatever exists there playing the Viking Ship at night.…kinda like we humans to to the beach.

    Hiding Places*

    Reykjavík sun
    drives Huldufolk to hide in
    ship bones …. lava rocks

    ** The ‘hidden people’ or Huldufolk are like elves. They look like humans and are believed to live in the lava rocks. According to legend, Eve hadn’t finished washing her children when God came to visit, so she had to hide the unwashed children away, and they were destined to remain forever ‘hidden.’

    1. Wow, Linda, thanks for the tidbit of research. I love that writing poetry can lead us to discovery.

    2. What an interesting history — nicely condensed into a haiku. Thank you for sharing it.

    3. Yes! We learned about this on our lava tube caving tour. When God asked if these were “all” her children (the clean ones she was showing God), she said yes. So basically God said that those would be her only children, so the unwashed ones became forever hidden because of her lie. At least in the version we heard. Love “ship bones” and all the /k/ sounds. VERY Icelandic:>)

      Thanks for sharing that lovely memory of your mom’s wishes. That sort of sacred, sort of earthly feel is exactly what I was going for. I love that mix.

    1. I was just reading about this. I like the bones of past and future in your haiku.

    2. I just read about this too, Margaret (NYTimes had an article yesterday)–so fascinating how they inferred humans (or human relatives) might have been present from mastodon remains! The word clue in your poem captures that mystery-solving approach.

  3. I love the softness of the moon picture and the lighting behind the interesting sculpture. However, it was your tuning fork idea that inspired me, Laura, and brought back a memory.

    The orchestra tunes
    to the oboe
    so I must play the first note -
    OH NO!

  4. Laura, your wonderbreak and 15 WOL poems are breathtaking. I can certainly see all three of the things the picture brought to mind. Hope no one is offended by the last line in my verse, written “in service to the poem.”

    Shamu

    Still standing
    proud and tall
    playied to crowds
    large and small

    Didn’t “wanna” no Jonah. l

    1. Whales would be so much better off with no human interference, though I love seeing whale and dolphin shows. Orcas are majestic!

      1. Sorry about the misspelled word. I don’t think playled is a word! Shamu played to the crowd.

  5. todays pic is so moving your poem is moving and powerful
    I love all the words you used Laura

    Poem By Jessica Bigi

    Freedom

    We rise from
    Brocken
    Back ships
    Cain’s Brocken
    Into freedom’s land
    We rise

  6. You are making me want to visit Iceland again, Laura. It’s more than forty years since I’ve been there. Your photograph is just breathtaking! I love it. And I, too, see bones.

    ON THIS DAY

    On this day
    God bronzed and polished
    the beautiful bones
    of what humans
    created.

  7. Love this photo (which looks nothing like a whirligig beetle, but for some reason that’s where my brain went.) Thanks for sharing more of your Iceland adventure!

    Whirligig

    Eyes above
    eyes below
    sunlit back
    glinting glow
    row your oars
    round you go!

    1. Love this nursery rhyme feel–I am off to look at whirligig beetles online! Eyes on top and below? Flounders and such freak me out with their odd eyes. A little frightened of what I might find for this creature:>)

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