[15 words or less] Funnel

 

Photo: Laura Purdie Salas

Wake up your poetry brains with 15 Words or Less (guidelines are here)!

Three things this makes me think of:

1) The Wizard of Oz
2) Calla lilies
3) Doing India ink calligraphy with my big sister

And here’s my first draft!

Weekend Visit Home from College

She brought
…Paper
…Ink
…Pen

dip, stroke, dip

Time stilled in
Eagles logo’s precise lines

–Laura Purdie Salas, all rights reserved

Now it’s your turn! Have fun and stick to 15 WORDS OR LESS! (Title doesn’t count toward word count:>)

344 Responses

  1. FAIRY BED

    Open tiny eyes
    Stretch small limbs
    Push back petals from the head
    My Daylilly bed

    Made me think of one of those canopy beds…
    15 word limit really got me this time 😛 My first edition made a bit more sense but… Got to be creative with the limit! 🙂

    1. When I read the first line, I was looking at the eyes of a child. Love the surprise ending.

    2. Lovely, Amelia–I think it works, especially if you maybe add a colon or dash after head. That way, you don’t feel like there’s an “of” missing there:>) I really felt the limit this time, too. My original was 20 words, and it was much more clear that my sister and I were doing a calligraphy project (a cool logo for the band The Eagles) back in the 70s when she was home from college for the weekend. Poetry is a tough taskmaster! But I think you packed an enormous amount into your 15 words. Nicely done!

    3. I see a tiny fairy in her daylily bed here, Amelia. A perfect flowery spot for a tiny one. I like Laura’s colon idea. Since I love Thumbelina and my special Fairy Tale Book by Marie Ponsot and Adrienne Segur, this really speaks to me. Lovely poetry, Amelia. So happy to see you continuing regularly.

    4. Loved looking back on the image after reading your poem…and then my journey began! Can you truly imagine sleeping beneath folded day lily petals? I think it really would look like the picture — with light just barely seen through the layers and dark edges of each petal showing where they overlap. Nice! I want to sleep there!

  2. FAIRY BED

    Open tiny eyes
    Stretch small limbs
    Push back petals from the head
    My Daylilly bed

    Made me think of one of those canopy beds…
    15 word limit really got me this time 😛 My first edition made a bit more sense but… Got to be creative with the limit! 🙂

    1. When I read the first line, I was looking at the eyes of a child. Love the surprise ending.

    2. Lovely, Amelia–I think it works, especially if you maybe add a colon or dash after head. That way, you don’t feel like there’s an “of” missing there:>) I really felt the limit this time, too. My original was 20 words, and it was much more clear that my sister and I were doing a calligraphy project (a cool logo for the band The Eagles) back in the 70s when she was home from college for the weekend. Poetry is a tough taskmaster! But I think you packed an enormous amount into your 15 words. Nicely done!

    3. I see a tiny fairy in her daylily bed here, Amelia. A perfect flowery spot for a tiny one. I like Laura’s colon idea. Since I love Thumbelina and my special Fairy Tale Book by Marie Ponsot and Adrienne Segur, this really speaks to me. Lovely poetry, Amelia. So happy to see you continuing regularly.

    4. Loved looking back on the image after reading your poem…and then my journey began! Can you truly imagine sleeping beneath folded day lily petals? I think it really would look like the picture — with light just barely seen through the layers and dark edges of each petal showing where they overlap. Nice! I want to sleep there!

  3. Quilled

    ink
    will spill
    on the blank page
    forever
    making its mark
    across time.

    I don’t think Quilled is a word, but the image of a hand holding a quill pen and sweeping words across the page came to my mind. How once you put the pen down to the page, it’s there forever.

    1. I love “quilled” as an adjective here, and its meaning is perfectly clear whether it’s a dictionary word or not! Sets a mood, almost rhymes with spill…what more could you ask?

    2. Through a book or a poem, and our writing, we do (sometimes) manage to leave our mark over time. This reminds me of the power of reading. And how much we need to nurture the love of words in our children.

    3. Though quilled is a word, it isn’t used in this sense. But it should be! Like penned. Swirling ink as it is quilled and spilled upon the page… I can see it.

  4. Quilled

    ink
    will spill
    on the blank page
    forever
    making its mark
    across time.

    I don’t think Quilled is a word, but the image of a hand holding a quill pen and sweeping words across the page came to my mind. How once you put the pen down to the page, it’s there forever.

    1. I love “quilled” as an adjective here, and its meaning is perfectly clear whether it’s a dictionary word or not! Sets a mood, almost rhymes with spill…what more could you ask?

    2. Through a book or a poem, and our writing, we do (sometimes) manage to leave our mark over time. This reminds me of the power of reading. And how much we need to nurture the love of words in our children.

    3. Though quilled is a word, it isn’t used in this sense. But it should be! Like penned. Swirling ink as it is quilled and spilled upon the page… I can see it.

  5. This was a tough one, Laura.

    Twister

    Tearing through town,
    tumbling walls with wild breath,
    you shredded life,
    transformed survivors into
    family.

    ? Andria W. Rosenbaum

    1. Because of the flooding in Colorado, there has lately been tv stories about people getting to know each other for the first time although they were neighbors. You described this beautifully, & I like “wild breath”!

    2. I love how you kept the “t” words going, tumbling walls, transforming survivors, tearing through towns and making a family. I really like your poem, Andria.

  6. This was a tough one, Laura.

    Twister

    Tearing through town,
    tumbling walls with wild breath,
    you shredded life,
    transformed survivors into
    family.

    ? Andria W. Rosenbaum

    1. Because of the flooding in Colorado, there has lately been tv stories about people getting to know each other for the first time although they were neighbors. You described this beautifully, & I like “wild breath”!

    2. I love how you kept the “t” words going, tumbling walls, transforming survivors, tearing through towns and making a family. I really like your poem, Andria.

  7. TWISTER!

    This red sky at night
    gave us a fright,
    a whirling, swirling
    bone-chilling sight.

    1. Oh, I have never been in or seen a tornado and I don’t want to. I am always amazed at the sight of the destruction, truly bone-chilling.

    2. Twisters in the midwest seemed to come out of green skies, but this image of a blood-red sky tornado would be even more chilling a sight!

  8. TWISTER!

    This red sky at night
    gave us a fright,
    a whirling, swirling
    bone-chilling sight.

    1. Oh, I have never been in or seen a tornado and I don’t want to. I am always amazed at the sight of the destruction, truly bone-chilling.

    2. Twisters in the midwest seemed to come out of green skies, but this image of a blood-red sky tornado would be even more chilling a sight!

  9. Come reddened,
    sunset skies -
    black cape swirls
    to hide the wearer.
    Ding-dong.
    Trick-or-treat.

    1. Ah, the Halloween nights when I was young. Now, here, we can and do often get a snowstorm. The kids are hearty souls though. Brrrrrr. I wonder what it is like to see Halloween in warmer climes!!!

    2. Oh how funny, Ellie– I just wrote a comment on Cindy’s poem (before yours) about how it could work with a Halloween theme, and now here’s yours, presented to me as if you just read my mind! Amazing. 🙂

    3. Your poem made me smile. Yes, that picture could definitely set a Halloween theme.

  10. Come reddened,
    sunset skies -
    black cape swirls
    to hide the wearer.
    Ding-dong.
    Trick-or-treat.

    1. Ah, the Halloween nights when I was young. Now, here, we can and do often get a snowstorm. The kids are hearty souls though. Brrrrrr. I wonder what it is like to see Halloween in warmer climes!!!

    2. Oh how funny, Ellie– I just wrote a comment on Cindy’s poem (before yours) about how it could work with a Halloween theme, and now here’s yours, presented to me as if you just read my mind! Amazing. 🙂

    3. Your poem made me smile. Yes, that picture could definitely set a Halloween theme.

    1. Having been a dancer (not professional) I love this poem. I am sad I stopped dancing. This poems reminds me of the power of our bodies to express and how connected to the wider world it is. Love “silks in motion”.

    2. Your take on the picture is a good one. It does seem to represent movement.
      I love all the different ideas people have today.

    3. Love the way you show how her dance drew on the ancient and changed the future. And I like the tall, spare look of the poem, too…

      1. If I didn’t have to place the poem within a comment, I definitely would have tried to make it an echo of the flowing shape of the photo. I like to play with shape in a poem.

    1. Having been a dancer (not professional) I love this poem. I am sad I stopped dancing. This poems reminds me of the power of our bodies to express and how connected to the wider world it is. Love “silks in motion”.

    2. Your take on the picture is a good one. It does seem to represent movement.
      I love all the different ideas people have today.

    3. Love the way you show how her dance drew on the ancient and changed the future. And I like the tall, spare look of the poem, too…

      1. If I didn’t have to place the poem within a comment, I definitely would have tried to make it an echo of the flowing shape of the photo. I like to play with shape in a poem.

    1. Well, if Cinderella blushed, I am sure it wouldn’t have shown.…she is a princess in waiting after all and we all know princesses are just, different.…now the rest of us, hmmm.…Flushed, sweaty, hair askew.… I can see myself if I really dance all night and the aching feet in those glass slippers, probably none too comfy. As a child I would have wanted one of those gorgeous gowns!! Your poem pulled together the fantasy and the reality. Fun!!

    1. Well, if Cinderella blushed, I am sure it wouldn’t have shown.…she is a princess in waiting after all and we all know princesses are just, different.…now the rest of us, hmmm.…Flushed, sweaty, hair askew.… I can see myself if I really dance all night and the aching feet in those glass slippers, probably none too comfy. As a child I would have wanted one of those gorgeous gowns!! Your poem pulled together the fantasy and the reality. Fun!!

  11. Mother Nature’s Masterpiece

    Sailor’s red sky at dawn,
    backdrop for black funnel
    slurping up swirling,
    angry waves.

    1. Red angry waves.…no matter, I love the ocean! You can take the girl out of the island but not the water out of the girl. Your poem brings me back to childhood!

  12. Mother Nature’s Masterpiece

    Sailor’s red sky at dawn,
    backdrop for black funnel
    slurping up swirling,
    angry waves.

    1. Red angry waves.…no matter, I love the ocean! You can take the girl out of the island but not the water out of the girl. Your poem brings me back to childhood!

      1. Cyndy,
        I so agree with Linda!! I adore that burgandy is the new black, for a while, at least. Neil Gaiman has a piece you can find online about imagination and reading. It is from a talk he gave in England this past Mon. Fabulous.

      1. Cyndy,
        I so agree with Linda!! I adore that burgandy is the new black, for a while, at least. Neil Gaiman has a piece you can find online about imagination and reading. It is from a talk he gave in England this past Mon. Fabulous.

  13. I love that the photo called up a good memory, Laura, that “dip, stroke, dip”. I love the picture-much in it!

    One On One

    Sunset shadows settle,
    quieting contact.
    His trunk leaned in to feel
    exactly what I was.

    1. I love that we both saw an elephant, Linda. I also love how you brought in the contact, the peace, the idea that the elephant can be gentle and curious and knowing. Lovely. (Did not see any before I wrote, I never do.….also do you know how to leave a comment on Laura’s newer site here without having to fill in your details each time?)

      1. Thanks Janet-it is fun to see what others ‘see’ & I don’t look until I post. Yes, I don’t have to ‘fill in’ each time.

        1. When you can, please clue me in as to how to let WP know I want to just leave my comment. It gets time-consuming!!! It is the first time this has happened to me. Not sure if it is my computer or what. Probably should just “google” it, that appears to solve many problems these days.

    2. Like you, Linda, I post my poem before I read everyone else’s. What a pleasant surprise it was then to come upon yours! Your words make me want to run to the nearest elephant refuge and hug one of these gentle beasts.

    3. Thank you, Linda. I was so sad when my sister Patty went off to college. She would sometimes send me calligraphy things home, and I just adored them!

      This captures a moment beautifully. That last line is such a surprise, to discover that the narrator is THAT close.

  14. I love that the photo called up a good memory, Laura, that “dip, stroke, dip”. I love the picture-much in it!

    One On One

    Sunset shadows settle,
    quieting contact.
    His trunk leaned in to feel
    exactly what I was.

    1. I love that we both saw an elephant, Linda. I also love how you brought in the contact, the peace, the idea that the elephant can be gentle and curious and knowing. Lovely. (Did not see any before I wrote, I never do.….also do you know how to leave a comment on Laura’s newer site here without having to fill in your details each time?)

      1. Thanks Janet-it is fun to see what others ‘see’ & I don’t look until I post. Yes, I don’t have to ‘fill in’ each time.

        1. When you can, please clue me in as to how to let WP know I want to just leave my comment. It gets time-consuming!!! It is the first time this has happened to me. Not sure if it is my computer or what. Probably should just “google” it, that appears to solve many problems these days.

    2. Like you, Linda, I post my poem before I read everyone else’s. What a pleasant surprise it was then to come upon yours! Your words make me want to run to the nearest elephant refuge and hug one of these gentle beasts.

    3. Thank you, Linda. I was so sad when my sister Patty went off to college. She would sometimes send me calligraphy things home, and I just adored them!

      This captures a moment beautifully. That last line is such a surprise, to discover that the narrator is THAT close.

  15. savannah sunset

    beneath blazing sky
    elephant bends trunk, dips in
    to pool of water

      1. I have not read it yet!! But I have heard how incredibly powerful it is.….I have many great reads ahead of me.

    1. Oh my… so many elephant-themed poems in a row. Good thing I firmly believe you can never have enough elephants! I love that you sandwiched your elephant between extremes– the blazing sky and the pool of water. And your title is great too!

    2. Lovely, Janet. The two words “dips in” completely set the tone for me…that somehow delicate way elephants have of moving, even in harsh conditions and with their great bulk. Those two words matter so much…

  16. savannah sunset

    beneath blazing sky
    elephant bends trunk, dips in
    to pool of water

      1. I have not read it yet!! But I have heard how incredibly powerful it is.….I have many great reads ahead of me.

    1. Oh my… so many elephant-themed poems in a row. Good thing I firmly believe you can never have enough elephants! I love that you sandwiched your elephant between extremes– the blazing sky and the pool of water. And your title is great too!

    2. Lovely, Janet. The two words “dips in” completely set the tone for me…that somehow delicate way elephants have of moving, even in harsh conditions and with their great bulk. Those two words matter so much…

    1. I see the tipping glass, the spreading stain, the rush for the seltzer and salt. Bravo!!

    2. Super! I once spilled red wine twice in a row on a friend’s new carpet. The next party she bought me a sippy cup lol.

    3. Hahaha–as a perennial stainer, I loved this. If only my stains were elegant sauvignon ones. They are bbq sauce, usually:>) I like the alliteration and how line 3 is a nice break of all those s sounds.

    1. I see the tipping glass, the spreading stain, the rush for the seltzer and salt. Bravo!!

    2. Super! I once spilled red wine twice in a row on a friend’s new carpet. The next party she bought me a sippy cup lol.

    3. Hahaha–as a perennial stainer, I loved this. If only my stains were elegant sauvignon ones. They are bbq sauce, usually:>) I like the alliteration and how line 3 is a nice break of all those s sounds.

      1. SNOUT would have been better than tongue, then to up the ante on the sibilants I could have used SNIFFS for roots. Thanks Linda.

        1. Love how you are showing your revision process here, Joy! Fun to show my students, thanks!!

    1. Oh, my gosh… someone else saw an anteater! 🙂 I always write mine before reading the others, so am pleasantly surprised to find that another person saw the same thing I did.

      I like your rhyme and how you used the word “roots”.

      1. SNOUT would have been better than tongue, then to up the ante on the sibilants I could have used SNIFFS for roots. Thanks Linda.

        1. Love how you are showing your revision process here, Joy! Fun to show my students, thanks!!

    1. Oh, my gosh… someone else saw an anteater! 🙂 I always write mine before reading the others, so am pleasantly surprised to find that another person saw the same thing I did.

      I like your rhyme and how you used the word “roots”.

  17. I had to stare at this a long time before any ideas came.
    Pretty, but a hard one.
    Here goes:

    Collage

    Cut and glue
    blended colors,
    lovely hue.
    For swirl of drama,
    black will do.

    1. I saw that tissue paper collage, too, and LOVE what you have done with it, Patricia.

    2. Thanks to all for your kind words. I am blown away by the variety of wonderful ideas that have been posted today. This is a great site.

  18. I had to stare at this a long time before any ideas came.
    Pretty, but a hard one.
    Here goes:

    Collage

    Cut and glue
    blended colors,
    lovely hue.
    For swirl of drama,
    black will do.

    1. I saw that tissue paper collage, too, and LOVE what you have done with it, Patricia.

    2. Thanks to all for your kind words. I am blown away by the variety of wonderful ideas that have been posted today. This is a great site.

  19. Red velvet glows
    from darkest space;
    royalty emerges from dark hole:
    divine portal.

    1. Another new take on the picture ~ I love how different people see the same thing in many different ways. 🙂

      “Divine portal” is my favorite part.

    2. Oooh. Line 3 really grabs me. It has mystery and power. I can’t even come up with a meaning for this poem, but it sets such a mood…

    3. Oh, magic: a castle, a queen, a cape of velvet.….transported to another land.…maybe through the wardrobe???? Whose to know?

  20. Red velvet glows
    from darkest space;
    royalty emerges from dark hole:
    divine portal.

    1. Another new take on the picture ~ I love how different people see the same thing in many different ways. 🙂

      “Divine portal” is my favorite part.

    2. Oooh. Line 3 really grabs me. It has mystery and power. I can’t even come up with a meaning for this poem, but it sets such a mood…

    3. Oh, magic: a castle, a queen, a cape of velvet.….transported to another land.…maybe through the wardrobe???? Whose to know?

  21. My eye immediately focused on the narrow funnel end on earth and the wide open above in the heavens.

    A
    time to
    leave this earth
    a time to be released -
    raised hands in hallelujah.

    1. Such a totally different view and I like it a lot, Donna. Beautiful. Raised hands in hallelujah, a beautiful ending to your poem and to life itself.

      1. Thanks, Janet. I contemplated making the funnel shape the other way… but never got back to it. I did, however, obsess on the poem until I wrote more… posted it on my page to be done with it!

    2. Beautiful, Donna–and I like the concrete shape of your poem, which I’m thinking might have been centered, even though it didn’t translate that way? Anyway, it feels like a poem at peace.

  22. My eye immediately focused on the narrow funnel end on earth and the wide open above in the heavens.

    A
    time to
    leave this earth
    a time to be released -
    raised hands in hallelujah.

    1. Such a totally different view and I like it a lot, Donna. Beautiful. Raised hands in hallelujah, a beautiful ending to your poem and to life itself.

      1. Thanks, Janet. I contemplated making the funnel shape the other way… but never got back to it. I did, however, obsess on the poem until I wrote more… posted it on my page to be done with it!

    2. Beautiful, Donna–and I like the concrete shape of your poem, which I’m thinking might have been centered, even though it didn’t translate that way? Anyway, it feels like a poem at peace.

  23. Nice Laura! The lines that my poem refers to are not as precise, but just as memorable.

    ELEPHANT’S TRUNK

    I may not say much
    But give me a paintbrush
    I’ll draw you 1000 words

    © Michelle Heidenrich Barnes, all rights reserved.

    1. Oh, Michelle, I love this. Really!! I can just picture those brush-wielding elephants merrily painting away expressing themselves. Don’t they have soulful eyes? When a small circus came to town when my son was young, my husband rode on an elephant with my son, sitting right on the head. No cell phones or a camera in hand, sadly. You brought this long-forgotten memory back, thanks.

      1. Thanks so much for posting this Donna! I saw an elephant paint at an Elephant Rescue Refuge about an hour from where I live, but the results were far more abstract. This is incredible! I will definitely search out the poppy video too.

    2. Whoops! First of all I didn’t think it would embed. Secondly, I had the wrong url copied, so didn’t get you to the correct one (though this one is good, too). I’m not going to embed the correct video! Just do a search on YouTube for elephant painting poppies and you will get it!

    3. Oh how funny I hadn’t read this when I wrote mine 🙂 1000 words indeed.

  24. Nice Laura! The lines that my poem refers to are not as precise, but just as memorable.

    ELEPHANT’S TRUNK

    I may not say much
    But give me a paintbrush
    I’ll draw you 1000 words

    © Michelle Heidenrich Barnes, all rights reserved.

    1. Oh, Michelle, I love this. Really!! I can just picture those brush-wielding elephants merrily painting away expressing themselves. Don’t they have soulful eyes? When a small circus came to town when my son was young, my husband rode on an elephant with my son, sitting right on the head. No cell phones or a camera in hand, sadly. You brought this long-forgotten memory back, thanks.

      1. Thanks so much for posting this Donna! I saw an elephant paint at an Elephant Rescue Refuge about an hour from where I live, but the results were far more abstract. This is incredible! I will definitely search out the poppy video too.

    2. Whoops! First of all I didn’t think it would embed. Secondly, I had the wrong url copied, so didn’t get you to the correct one (though this one is good, too). I’m not going to embed the correct video! Just do a search on YouTube for elephant painting poppies and you will get it!

    3. Oh how funny I hadn’t read this when I wrote mine 🙂 1000 words indeed.

    1. I was reading a poem with kids the other day called Wild Wind, and part of it is whipping wind/ripping wind/please release your gripping wind, so it was funny to see a couple of those same words here in a poem that has nothing to do with wind but it based on a picture so much like a tornado (which is what Wild Wind is about). Anyway–I completely love that middle line. Bloodied hook–oh my god.

    2. We gotta’ love these cleaners. Nature’s little helpers. It’s a tough job, but someone’s gotta do it, right??
      I love your unique take on the picture. I can see it, all the blood and the beak!!!

    1. I was reading a poem with kids the other day called Wild Wind, and part of it is whipping wind/ripping wind/please release your gripping wind, so it was funny to see a couple of those same words here in a poem that has nothing to do with wind but it based on a picture so much like a tornado (which is what Wild Wind is about). Anyway–I completely love that middle line. Bloodied hook–oh my god.

    2. We gotta’ love these cleaners. Nature’s little helpers. It’s a tough job, but someone’s gotta do it, right??
      I love your unique take on the picture. I can see it, all the blood and the beak!!!

  25. Neat poem, Laura! I especially like “Time stilled” and “precise lines”.

    Immediately after seeing the picture, I thought of this:

    ANTEATER

    The ants go marching
    one by one –
    I gobble them up
    with my long tongue.

    Then I decided to come up with something else, since half of that poem is already a song, not my own words.

    DOROTHY’S TWISTER

    Ferocious funnel
    rips home
    from foundation:

    How one brief
    moment of film
    created life-long
    fear.

    1. Great twister poem. It is unfortunate how easily affected you can be by the media.

    2. I liked your anteater. I thought of the ant’s song too, but decided not to go there–it was too easy. Well done on both poems.

    3. Thanks, Janelle–hehe, I do love song parodies. On your second one, I love 1) the alliteration, and 2) how you made 15 words feel so long. The sounds really make you read slowly, and it echoes the theme of your poem. I even counted because I finished it and thought, “No way was that only 15 words!” Love that!

  26. Neat poem, Laura! I especially like “Time stilled” and “precise lines”.

    Immediately after seeing the picture, I thought of this:

    ANTEATER

    The ants go marching
    one by one –
    I gobble them up
    with my long tongue.

    Then I decided to come up with something else, since half of that poem is already a song, not my own words.

    DOROTHY’S TWISTER

    Ferocious funnel
    rips home
    from foundation:

    How one brief
    moment of film
    created life-long
    fear.

    1. Great twister poem. It is unfortunate how easily affected you can be by the media.

    2. I liked your anteater. I thought of the ant’s song too, but decided not to go there–it was too easy. Well done on both poems.

    3. Thanks, Janelle–hehe, I do love song parodies. On your second one, I love 1) the alliteration, and 2) how you made 15 words feel so long. The sounds really make you read slowly, and it echoes the theme of your poem. I even counted because I finished it and thought, “No way was that only 15 words!” Love that!

  27. He yearned to paint
    and no one had yet told him that
    Elephants don’t paint

    (Nevermind they actually do paint, go elephants!)

    1. Hah! Love that surprise of the last line. I heard a piece on Writer’s Almanac a couple of years ago about painting elephants. I had no idea!

    2. I bet your elephants look great, Catherine! Funny.….it isn’t it interesting how they do. I love their eyes as I said above…wouldn’t it be interesting to find out what they are really thinking. BTW I gave a copy of the animal book to my friend’s grandson and she reports that it is a favorite. He loves to tell you what they “say”!!!

  28. He yearned to paint
    and no one had yet told him that
    Elephants don’t paint

    (Nevermind they actually do paint, go elephants!)

    1. Hah! Love that surprise of the last line. I heard a piece on Writer’s Almanac a couple of years ago about painting elephants. I had no idea!

    2. I bet your elephants look great, Catherine! Funny.….it isn’t it interesting how they do. I love their eyes as I said above…wouldn’t it be interesting to find out what they are really thinking. BTW I gave a copy of the animal book to my friend’s grandson and she reports that it is a favorite. He loves to tell you what they “say”!!!

  29. With 160 comments so far, I don’t have time to read them all…but I do like the one you started us off with, Laura! Here’s mine:

    Amethyst Sky

    It carried her away just as before -
    but Dorothy knew
    she wasn’t in Oz anymore.

    - ? 2013, Matt Forrest Esenwine

    1. Hi Matt,
      We have similar titles, but I see an elephant’s trunk. I want to know where Dorothy has landed this time!!! And I hope Glinda is still able to help!! And of course she must get back to Kansas!!!

  30. With 160 comments so far, I don’t have time to read them all…but I do like the one you started us off with, Laura! Here’s mine:

    Amethyst Sky

    It carried her away just as before -
    but Dorothy knew
    she wasn’t in Oz anymore.

    - ? 2013, Matt Forrest Esenwine

    1. Hi Matt,
      We have similar titles, but I see an elephant’s trunk. I want to know where Dorothy has landed this time!!! And I hope Glinda is still able to help!! And of course she must get back to Kansas!!!

  31. Here I sit quietly
    With troubled mind
    Trembling with fear
    No answers
    Can I find !

    - Anne McKenna

    I also read the first poem which is in stark contrast to mine. I guess it all depend where your mindset is at the time of looking at each picture.

    (This picture is almost exactly what I see when I close my eyes to think or not think in this case)

  32. Here I sit quietly
    With troubled mind
    Trembling with fear
    No answers
    Can I find !

    - Anne McKenna

    I also read the first poem which is in stark contrast to mine. I guess it all depend where your mindset is at the time of looking at each picture.

    (This picture is almost exactly what I see when I close my eyes to think or not think in this case)

  33. Oh, closing your eyes and seeing red and the funnel. The lack of words, the white page, a total blank, yet in your mind fire and motion. Harness the power to write and find the muse. Your poems brings us a lot to think about, Anne.

    1. Thank you Janet I never thought of it like that. I do have a story under way maybe I am just over thinking. I will take you advice and see where it takes me.

  34. Oh, closing your eyes and seeing red and the funnel. The lack of words, the white page, a total blank, yet in your mind fire and motion. Harness the power to write and find the muse. Your poems brings us a lot to think about, Anne.

    1. Thank you Janet I never thought of it like that. I do have a story under way maybe I am just over thinking. I will take you advice and see where it takes me.

  35. Couldn’t decide which one, though I love the double meaning of “bittersweet.”

    FUNNEL OF FURY
    Funnel of fury
    Humanity cries ?
    Shards of wreckage
    Under mulberry skies.

    FUNNEL OF FURY #2
    Funnel of fury
    Humanity cries,
    Shards of wreckage ?
    Bittersweet skies.

    © Charles Waters 2013 all rights reserved.

  36. Couldn’t decide which one, though I love the double meaning of “bittersweet.”

    FUNNEL OF FURY
    Funnel of fury
    Humanity cries ?
    Shards of wreckage
    Under mulberry skies.

    FUNNEL OF FURY #2
    Funnel of fury
    Humanity cries,
    Shards of wreckage ?
    Bittersweet skies.

    © Charles Waters 2013 all rights reserved.

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