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.
I got so many beautiful holiday cards this year, and one of my favorites was from Poetry Princess Tanita, who sent one of those amazing pop-up cards I first saw on Shark Tank. Isn’t she gorgeous?
This image makes me think of several things:
- why snail mail connects in a whole different way
- fishing nets
- dragonfly wings
And here’s my first draft, about one of my favorite winter sights: bare tree branches against a clear blue sky.
It’s your turn! Have fun and stick to 15 WORDS OR LESS! (Title doesn’t count toward word count.) I’m at the dentist this morning, fixing my tooth that broke on a Little Debbie cake recently :>( I will comment on poems as soon as I can:>)
57 Responses
Laura, the card and your poem are both beautiful. “Catching heaven/in a net of earth”–love that! I know I’ll have those lines in mind as I enjoy the scenery on the way to school. Here’s my first draft.
Potential
With air, space
and care
Flattened cuts and swirls
Unfold in delicate glory
emerging
triumphant
love the word triumphant. That’s such a nice solid “stick” of an ending.
Thanks, Molly! Love the juxtaposition of “delicate glory.” Glory seems so strong, and it’s unexpected after delicate. Lovely!
I love “unfold in delicate glory.”
I, too, love “unfold in delicate glory”!
She is so pretty…and so is heaven in a net of twigs against the sky.
Paper folded
cut and again
make a message
fingers sing
hallelujah
hallelujah
angel wings
I love the idea of fingers singing! I have a poem in a forthcoming collection with Wordsong–this poem is about ASL, and the fingers compare themselves to birds and say they “soar and sing Rodrigo’s words.” I also love that this hallelujah is action, making things happen! Also, Linda, thanks for being on my blog tour. I can send out your book today–did you want it signed to you or anyone?
Please sign to me and remind me of the date you need me to publish
Love that “fingers sing”!
I also love the idea of fingers singing.
THE ANGEL’S MESSAGE
His promise is as golden as her hair.
“I am with you; you’re not solitaire.”
Mmm. Isn’t that so much of what drives us? Feeling like we are not alone? Lovely.
a beautiful angel message
His promise is golden. This is beautiful.
as golden as.…lovely
Laura, I love “catching heaven in a net of earth.” The word dragonfly caught my fancy this early, icy morning. (We are having our third snow day in a place that never gets snow, but the ice and freezing temps create havoc.)
Dragonfly
How does lace fly?
Folded open against the sky.
Air swifts
and lifts.
Margaret–this is a GEM! PS Do you want your blog tour copy of MEET MY FAMILY signed to you or anybody?
To my students in “Mrs. Simon’s Sea”. Thanks!
“How does lace fly?” What a great opening line!
I love this! a perfect image of a dragonfly!
This is just lovely, I can see your dragonfly lifting off on the breeze. Wonderful!
Catching heaven in a net of earth is comforting. I have always loved the words “gossamer wings.” Decided on an acrostic verse this morning. I imagine guardian angels are working overtime during our current weather situations.
Celestial Guardians
Always hovering
Never sleeping
Gossamer wings
Ensconse
Lovingly
Securely
I don’t even know if I believe in angels, but this poem makes me feel so safe and cared for!
Thank you Laura. For some reason I never received the “confirm” prompt when I submitted. I assume I’m still legal 😉
Received it on the reply to your reply. Maybe I just dreamed I did it correctly on the first try. Sorry!
No worries, Martha!
Is there ever a time when “gossamer” isn’t a beautiful word?
I am not big on angels in the form of a woman, but they are pretty.
They do remind me of those women who quietly endure and continue to care for others.
Blessed
She held
her breath
And curbed
her voice;
As she was
cursed,
She blessed.
By Donna JT Smith
Oh — the quiet strength in your poem. Wow! Those last three lines — powerful.
Donna, this is great!
Donna, what a great, powerful poem! Love it!
Donna it takes great strength to curb your voice, and still bless. Such a powerful poem!
Laura, I love the last two lines of your poem. Everyone’s poems seem especially beautiful today.
I also love the sight of bare branches against a blue sky, but somehow the picture made me think of lace.
whitecaps
waves leaving lace
in their wake
Beautiful take on the “waves leaving lace” from this image!
The lacy foam on a beach is magical, Lauren!
Laura-love poems about trees and yours evokes a lovely image. Thanks for this place to share our words.
A dragonfly spies her wings
reflected in water below
and wonders
“Where is my halo?”
By Ann Magee
I love this viewpoint!
Thanks, Ann:) Love this dragonfly/angel. The sacred in the ordinary…
I just loved your poem Ann.
Your poem made me go to the window and stare at some maple branches, Laura! Lovely image.
Paper into Lace
fold, fold, crease
snip here
snip there
snip, snip
stop
unfold, smooth
wonder!
Don’t you just love to fold, crease and snip paper? It is so much fun. Have you been here?
http://snowflakes.barkleyus.com/ I used to use this with students, too. So much fun!
I just went there and made flake #31107660.
I love how all the short, simple, everyday words lead to wonder!
This is so fun! It reminds me of making paper snowflakes. I don’t know why, but they always mesmerized me, even if all mind ended up looking quite square.
Buffy your poem brought back all those times I cut and snipped and made paper snowflakes.
Beautiful card
poem By Jessica Bigi
Friendly Getting
according wings of stain glass
arcing across sunny sky
birch parchment folds
snowflakes into paper angles
Oh, I love “accordion wings” and “folds snowflakes into paper angels”, Jessica!
Accordion wings– love the way you see things!
You make me homesick for Christmas—again. I just brought the little poinsettias downstairs to my indoor garden, where they will turn green and flourish.
Prayer
golden
delicate
folded
like an angel’s wings
like a letter
from me
to God
—Kate Coombs
Oh, lovely, Kate! I like the rhythm of the repeated “like” phrases.
Lovely! I’m so glad you liked the card. I’m not a huge fan of female angels, either — I prefer the reality Luci Shaw’s poetry expresses where she insists upon their androgyny — but those wings — filigreed nets capturing heaven — are lovely.
This is far more than fifteen words, but thought I’d share anyway
The Labors of Angels
Upon seeing the painting by Roger Wagner,
The Harvest Is the End of the World and the Reapers Are Angels
Plucking our meager treasures, grain
by grain, we disregard celestial messengers
to our jeopardy.
Sexless and muscular, angels
must wrestle, pitting light against
sinew and darkness. They arrive
without notice, blazing, terrifying us
with good news.
Barren or virgin
we bear our improbable children
and angels raise heaven like a song.
Still, angels can weep;
in your mind’s eye, see
their clear, mineral tears.
Against the indigo sky,
where judgment pulses
like an aneurysm, sunlight spins
horizontal threads across the field until
the yellows in the standing wheat stalks
match the low light. Harvester angels
cast huge wings of shadow,
scything a crop, lifting it
from the skin of an acre
like fleece from a sheep’s flank.
It is only later that they delicately
unhook teasel, thistle, burdock
from the heavy gold grain.
Luci Shaw
From Accompanied by Angels: Poems of the Incarnation (Eerdmans, 2006)
Wow. Those harvester angels are both beautiful and eerie. And judgment like an aneurysm…I wish my mind came up with stuff like this! Thanks, Tanita, for the card and the poem:>)
Laura, I really enjoyed your poem. I always enjoyed looking at the patterns the bare branches make on the sky. I don’t know why I must always find creepy (it’s a picture of an angel, for crying out loud!), but I was drawn to the slats in the background. It reminded me of a covering for an air duct or vent.
I sit and wait
Behind the grate
To watch you dream
Shhh..don’t scream
Oooh, I love creepy poems! This is awesome! The slats are blinds, which I will now be imagining serial killers hiding behind.
That is creepy! I really like how you focused on a different portion of the photo–though I don’t envy Laura her new-born serial killer worries.
Love your creepy take, and different perspective.
Laura that pop up card is beautiful and your poem is an equal match. I too love bare trees, especially when the sun shines through the snow covered branches.
Grace
Senses numb,
affect flat.
You popped into my life,
and raised my spirit.
Thanks, Jean. Your poem made me smile, and a picture of a flat tire that gets inflated popped into my head!