Laura Purdie Salas

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Tree Neighbor [15 words or less]

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?15WOLs?

Photo: Laura Salas

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

I hope you all had a fabulous Christmas yesterday if you are a Christmas celebrator! I did, and I totally forgot about today’s post. Oops! Sorry. Anyway, belatedly, here we go.

Last fall, while walking Captain Jack around the block, I saw this tree person. Love it! Here are 3 things this photo makes me think of:

1) how when you’re a kid up in a tree, you see and hear all sorts of funny things in your neighborhood because nobody realized you’re there
2) that maybe being forced to be still lets you connect with people (like those folks who hang out on their porch in old books and movies)
3) Ents, from Lord of the Rings

And here’s my first draft!

Too Much Time in My New Treehouse?
By July’s finish,
my eyelids blinked bark
and my hair rustled
in the wind
—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:>)?

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Comments

  5. It’s here now, guess you fixed it, Laura. Hope your Christmas was good! I love “eyelids blinked bark”, that idea of spending so much time in the treehouse, becoming one with the tree. I didn’t have a treehouse, but sat on a platform in a tree quite a bit as a child, reading, reading. Fun memories.

    Forest walking,
    seasons circling,
    trees murmuring-
    spring storming,
    summer singing,
    fall fretting,
    winter whispering.
    Linda Baie ? all rights reserved

    • THanks, Linda, it was! Hope yours was delightful, too:>) My treehouse was really a big platform atop huge posts/pipes and connected to several surrounding trees. It was very cool, and I spent many, many hours up there. Yes, mostly reading, too:>) I love all your -ing phrases, and most of all, I love that second line. It gives me the big picture for all the wonderful verbs that follow. Captures that timelessness of nature. Wonderful!

  6. It’s here now, guess you fixed it, Laura. Hope your Christmas was good! I love “eyelids blinked bark”, that idea of spending so much time in the treehouse, becoming one with the tree. I didn’t have a treehouse, but sat on a platform in a tree quite a bit as a child, reading, reading. Fun memories.

    Forest walking,
    seasons circling,
    trees murmuring-
    spring storming,
    summer singing,
    fall fretting,
    winter whispering.
    Linda Baie ? all rights reserved

    • THanks, Linda, it was! Hope yours was delightful, too:>) My treehouse was really a big platform atop huge posts/pipes and connected to several surrounding trees. It was very cool, and I spent many, many hours up there. Yes, mostly reading, too:>) I love all your -ing phrases, and most of all, I love that second line. It gives me the big picture for all the wonderful verbs that follow. Captures that timelessness of nature. Wonderful!

  9. Here it is 10:00, I’m at work, and suddenly it hit me–it’s Thursday, NOT Monday! I’ll try to get back later after I get off work.

  10. Here it is 10:00, I’m at work, and suddenly it hit me–it’s Thursday, NOT Monday! I’ll try to get back later after I get off work.

  11. Laura, image never appeared from your original post, but I found it by clicking guidelines in the December archives. Go figure. That’s why I call it “sigh” berspace.

    The Autumn of My Life

    Heavy canopy
    eyelids droop
    nose runs
    mouth agape.
    Hurry winter
    lighten burden
    for spring’s rebirth.

    • Liked your poem- I can relate to “nose runs mouth agape.” (I’m getting over a head cold.) I really liked your “sigh” berspace! Ha Ha! I will hang on to that and use it often!

    • Just got in from a chilly walk with kleenex soaked. I did enjoy the brisk walk but look forward to spring.

    • Very nice Martha. You’ve painted two side by side pictures for me. One of someone sitting on a couch with their grandmothers hand made quilt wrapped around them, over a netipot. The other of a growth of trees dressed in hues of fall. Very nice.

    • How bizarre! I admire your persistence, though:>)

      Oh. My. This poem cuts deep, and in so few words. That first line and then “lighten burden” are my two fav lines. It’s beautiful and painful. I’m SO glad you came back, Martha…

  12. Laura, image never appeared from your original post, but I found it by clicking guidelines in the December archives. Go figure. That’s why I call it “sigh” berspace.

    The Autumn of My Life

    Heavy canopy
    eyelids droop
    nose runs
    mouth agape.
    Hurry winter
    lighten burden
    for spring’s rebirth.

    • Liked your poem- I can relate to “nose runs mouth agape.” (I’m getting over a head cold.) I really liked your “sigh” berspace! Ha Ha! I will hang on to that and use it often!

    • Just got in from a chilly walk with kleenex soaked. I did enjoy the brisk walk but look forward to spring.

    • Very nice Martha. You’ve painted two side by side pictures for me. One of someone sitting on a couch with their grandmothers hand made quilt wrapped around them, over a netipot. The other of a growth of trees dressed in hues of fall. Very nice.

    • How bizarre! I admire your persistence, though:>)

      Oh. My. This poem cuts deep, and in so few words. That first line and then “lighten burden” are my two fav lines. It’s beautiful and painful. I’m SO glad you came back, Martha…

  13. Nice poem, Laura- I liked “hair rustled.” I can picture it full of sawdust and bits of leaves.

    Ol’ Miss Wooden’s
    complexion: a fright!
    Pretended to be rough,
    bark worse than her bite.

  14. Nice poem, Laura- I liked “hair rustled.” I can picture it full of sawdust and bits of leaves.

    Ol’ Miss Wooden’s
    complexion: a fright!
    Pretended to be rough,
    bark worse than her bite.

  15. I kept checking back to see if the image would appear. Knew it would eventually. It’s so nice to have the luxury of coming back to this post with my fairly free day.
    In our backyard is an old oak, registered as the Grandmother oak. She holds a great rope swing.

    Grandmother oak
    calls from the backyard,
    “Come, little children,
    swing on my branches
    alive
    carefree.”

    • I, too, thought of a “talking tree.” But I like your idea to have it be a “grandmother” oak better. It matches the picture very well. And it came from real life, too.

    • Glad you came back, Margaret–don’t know what I did wrong, but I was relieved the pic finally showed up! This is wonderful–I love the voice of Grandmother oak.

  16. I kept checking back to see if the image would appear. Knew it would eventually. It’s so nice to have the luxury of coming back to this post with my fairly free day.
    In our backyard is an old oak, registered as the Grandmother oak. She holds a great rope swing.

    Grandmother oak
    calls from the backyard,
    “Come, little children,
    swing on my branches
    alive
    carefree.”

    • I, too, thought of a “talking tree.” But I like your idea to have it be a “grandmother” oak better. It matches the picture very well. And it came from real life, too.

    • Glad you came back, Margaret–don’t know what I did wrong, but I was relieved the pic finally showed up! This is wonderful–I love the voice of Grandmother oak.

  19. You really do come up with interesting topics that make me think. Thank you for sweetening my thursday morning coffee.

    NORTHERN ROOTS

    SUCH A TREET

    FACEING THIS WAY

    I BARK AT THOSE I MEET

    BUT THAT’S OAKAY

  20. You really do come up with interesting topics that make me think. Thank you for sweetening my thursday morning coffee.

    NORTHERN ROOTS

    SUCH A TREET

    FACEING THIS WAY

    I BARK AT THOSE I MEET

    BUT THAT’S OAKAY

  21. Notes of a Chickadee

    Squirrel knows
    much more than me.
    His best friend, Oak–
    shares eavesdropped secrets
    like
    acorns.

    Andria W. Rosenbaum/ all rights reserved

  22. Notes of a Chickadee

    Squirrel knows
    much more than me.
    His best friend, Oak–
    shares eavesdropped secrets
    like
    acorns.

    Andria W. Rosenbaum/ all rights reserved

  23. My tree

    listens to my secrets,
    hugs me when I’m sad,
    and rejoices my first love
    forever.

  24. My tree

    listens to my secrets,
    hugs me when I’m sad,
    and rejoices my first love
    forever.

  27. Laura, I like your use of “hair rustled in the wind.” Certainly goes with a “tree” poem.
    Late in the day, but my company has all gone swimming. So I am so addicted, I just had to come look at the site. I do appreciate the time you take to do this. It has helped me think outside the box. (sometimes.) Here’s my thinking on this picture.

    Tree Talk

    I’m so lonely.
    Can’t you see?
    Come in my shade
    and sit by me.

    • Pat, I knew you would have a clever reply to this one. I feel a children’s poem in the making.

    • Thanks, Pat! Glad you’re here:>) I absolutely love mask poems. I can totally imagine the emotional life of unemotional objects all the time. If it weren’t so cold out, I’d go sit by my back yard tree right now!

  28. Laura, I like your use of “hair rustled in the wind.” Certainly goes with a “tree” poem.
    Late in the day, but my company has all gone swimming. So I am so addicted, I just had to come look at the site. I do appreciate the time you take to do this. It has helped me think outside the box. (sometimes.) Here’s my thinking on this picture.

    Tree Talk

    I’m so lonely.
    Can’t you see?
    Come in my shade
    and sit by me.

    • Pat, I knew you would have a clever reply to this one. I feel a children’s poem in the making.

    • Thanks, Pat! Glad you’re here:>) I absolutely love mask poems. I can totally imagine the emotional life of unemotional objects all the time. If it weren’t so cold out, I’d go sit by my back yard tree right now!

  29. I’m home, but I have to run out again, so here goes:

    Crab Apple

    Winter
    bare, no
    blossoms,
    no fruit,
    its bark
    not loud
    enough
    to chase
    the deer.

    Diane Mayr, all rights reserved

  30. I’m home, but I have to run out again, so here goes:

    Crab Apple

    Winter
    bare, no
    blossoms,
    no fruit,
    its bark
    not loud
    enough
    to chase
    the deer.

    Diane Mayr, all rights reserved

  31. Introvert

    Solid and stoic
    she stands,
    but she shakes and shimmies
    In her dreams.

    ~~Barbara J. Turner

  32. Introvert

    Solid and stoic
    she stands,
    but she shakes and shimmies
    In her dreams.

    ~~Barbara J. Turner

  33. THE TOOTHLESS GREAT-GRANDMA
    Pucker up
    Buttercup,
    Don?t be scared
    Dwight,
    I?m all bark,
    I can’t bite.

    (c) Charles Waters 2014 all rights reserved.

  34. THE TOOTHLESS GREAT-GRANDMA
    Pucker up
    Buttercup,
    Don?t be scared
    Dwight,
    I?m all bark,
    I can’t bite.

    (c) Charles Waters 2014 all rights reserved.

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