[15 words or less poems] Lifeboats

15 Words or Less Poems

 

 


Photo: Laura Purdie Salas
Wake up your poetry brains with 15 Words or Less (guidelines are here)!

I’m on hiatus for a month or so, but I’m posting pictures on Thursdays so you all can still participate if you want to:>)

Here’s what?this picture?makes me think of:

1)?Bumper boats
2)?Titanic
3) Buttons

And here’s my poem first draft:

Twilight
Evening unbuttons the stars,
sends them tumbling across
night’s jacket
–Laura Purdie Salas, all rights reserved

What do you think of when you look at this picture? Take any quick idea and jot down a 15 Words or Less poem. It doesn’t have to rhyme or describe this picture. It’s just about whatever you think of when you look at it.

68 Responses

  1. Quite lovely, Laura! The jacket is so unexpected.

    There was only the Titanic in my mind!

    Just After Midnight
    April 15, 1912

    “Yes, Ma’am.
    God bless you.”
    She watches
    the boat lowered,
    tasting at last,
    her freedom.

    © Diane Mayr

  2. Quite lovely, Laura! The jacket is so unexpected.

    There was only the Titanic in my mind!

    Just After Midnight
    April 15, 1912

    “Yes, Ma’am.
    God bless you.”
    She watches
    the boat lowered,
    tasting at last,
    her freedom.

    © Diane Mayr

  3. Oh, I like that, Laura! Have you read the picture book Pete the Cat and His Four Groovy Buttons? Very fun, and your poem reminds me a little of it.

    Orange

    Orange isn?t shy.
    He?s a song-and-dance guy.
    Bumping, banging,
    entertaining,
    high kicking to the sky.

    ?Kate Coombs

    1. Love this, Kate. I totally agree about the color orange–though I also assign it a little arrogance, I think:>) Here’s my poem from my book of color poems:

      Orange You Jealous of My Color?

      I?m flashy
      and clashy
      and beautifully
      splashy
      and everyone notices me!

      I?m bright
      and unwhite,
      quite a dazzling
      sight?
      I certainly hope you agree!

      Re Pete–I HAVE read it, but I can’t remember it–will have to check it out again.

      1. Love the bounce and fun of this one.
        And your “Twilight” poem. Imagining the sky unbuttoning and spilling stars…brilliant!

  4. Oh, I like that, Laura! Have you read the picture book Pete the Cat and His Four Groovy Buttons? Very fun, and your poem reminds me a little of it.

    Orange

    Orange isn?t shy.
    He?s a song-and-dance guy.
    Bumping, banging,
    entertaining,
    high kicking to the sky.

    ?Kate Coombs

    1. Love this, Kate. I totally agree about the color orange–though I also assign it a little arrogance, I think:>) Here’s my poem from my book of color poems:

      Orange You Jealous of My Color?

      I?m flashy
      and clashy
      and beautifully
      splashy
      and everyone notices me!

      I?m bright
      and unwhite,
      quite a dazzling
      sight?
      I certainly hope you agree!

      Re Pete–I HAVE read it, but I can’t remember it–will have to check it out again.

      1. Love the bounce and fun of this one.
        And your “Twilight” poem. Imagining the sky unbuttoning and spilling stars…brilliant!

  5. You are my
    Lifeboat.
    Your buoyant laughter, bubbling–
    blooming in orange blossoms,
    saves me.

    ? Andria W. Rosenbaum

  6. You are my
    Lifeboat.
    Your buoyant laughter, bubbling–
    blooming in orange blossoms,
    saves me.

    ? Andria W. Rosenbaum

  7. Shadow of a creature
    lurks in the sea,
    moves beneath a surfer
    silently.

    Patricia Podlipec

  8. Shadow of a creature
    lurks in the sea,
    moves beneath a surfer
    silently.

    Patricia Podlipec

  9. The almost-launched daughter
    sights distant shores.
    I tread water,
    a lifeboat
    on standby.

    Laura, love that image of evening unbuttoning the stars. Hope your hiatus was a good one!

    1. “almost-launched” — lovely, full of possibility. Thanks, Buffy! And I’m not really back from hiatus. Only for today’s poems:>)

  10. The almost-launched daughter
    sights distant shores.
    I tread water,
    a lifeboat
    on standby.

    Laura, love that image of evening unbuttoning the stars. Hope your hiatus was a good one!

    1. “almost-launched” — lovely, full of possibility. Thanks, Buffy! And I’m not really back from hiatus. Only for today’s poems:>)

    1. I’m intrigued, Donna…I found that H3GR is the call sign for a Carnival cruise ship. So is this the radio message of a ship in distress? Or an announcement on the ship as it has problems? I love acrostics!

    1. I’m intrigued, Donna…I found that H3GR is the call sign for a Carnival cruise ship. So is this the radio message of a ship in distress? Or an announcement on the ship as it has problems? I love acrostics!

  11. I have to agree with the others, Laura. I LOVE the imagery of stars unbuttoning and tumbling on night’s jacket! Here’s mine:

    Solitude
    drifting
    on open sea.
    Even
    together
    feels
    lonely.
    And some things
    not
    worth
    saving.

    © Michelle Heidenrich Barnes

  12. I have to agree with the others, Laura. I LOVE the imagery of stars unbuttoning and tumbling on night’s jacket! Here’s mine:

    Solitude
    drifting
    on open sea.
    Even
    together
    feels
    lonely.
    And some things
    not
    worth
    saving.

    © Michelle Heidenrich Barnes

  13. On vacation with my husband,so this is a joint poem.

    Big boat says,
    We’re going to save someone today.
    Little boat answers,
    Maybe.…maybe not.…

  14. On vacation with my husband,so this is a joint poem.

    Big boat says,
    We’re going to save someone today.
    Little boat answers,
    Maybe.…maybe not.…

  15. Today I’m dealt
    a blank-slate mind
    with the brain power of
    an empty orange rind.

    I did love yours, Laura, and as always, am impressed with the creative poems posted here on Thursdays.

  16. Today I’m dealt
    a blank-slate mind
    with the brain power of
    an empty orange rind.

    I did love yours, Laura, and as always, am impressed with the creative poems posted here on Thursdays.

  17. Water swirls,
    ripples, curls.
    Wave lifts.
    Boat drifts.
    Can’t reach shore-
    lost an oar.

    Loved “evening unbuttons the stars” and the image of them tumbling “across night’s jacket.”

  18. Water swirls,
    ripples, curls.
    Wave lifts.
    Boat drifts.
    Can’t reach shore-
    lost an oar.

    Loved “evening unbuttons the stars” and the image of them tumbling “across night’s jacket.”

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