Wake up your poetry brains with 15 Words or Less (guidelines here)!
Last week, I went with Maddie one day up to Duluth, a harbor town on Lake Superior, to take care of some stuff for her visa. She leaves for 2–3 years in only a couple of weeks:>(? Anyway, we made a day trip out of it, and one thing we did was the Great Lakes Aquarium. We had a great time, and one of the cool things I loved was this cast of a fossil of the skull of a giant armored fish (Dunkleosteous). I made Maddie pose behind it, and she humored me. It makes me think of:
1) Jonah and the whale (of course)
2) an archaeology trip–I’d love to take one
3) a cool prison in some fantasy novel, where the fossil or skeleton of a giant dragon or other scary beast is actually a prison cell
And here’s my?first draft.
It’s your turn! Have fun and stick to 15 WORDS OR LESS!??(Title doesn’t count toward word count:>) If you leave a poem in the comments, and if it’s 15 words or less, I’ll try to respond!
Here’s another picture of it, from the side:
63 Responses
Dunkleosteous
Die no — dragon
Universal- mystery
Nightmares
King-fish
Lowing
Affinity
Opera-quean
Stores
Enormous
Ocean
Unknown
Story
Poem By Jessica Bigi
Jessica, I love this! Nightmares, King-fish, and Opera-queen are my favorite. (Check your spelling, though–the Affinity line should be an E, and you’re missing a T line. Awesome acrostic, though!)
1. Dunkleosteous
Die no – dragon
Universal- mystery
Nightmares
King-fish
Lowing
Extent
Opera-quean
Stores
Temper — Teeth
Enormous
Ocean
Unknown
Story
I love ” enormous ocean — unknown story”!
Makes you start thinking!
I never thought of doing an acrostic-wonderful this! Love the ‘temper-teeth’.
if you try one will you shear it would be neat to se what you would come up with
thank you all I I like your poems as wail it is so amazing all the different poems from the same pic
An acrostic — how impressive. Love the descriptions as I go down the list of letter beginnings.
Clever Jessica. I like acrostics.
Imprisoned by my own self-doubt
thrashing to escape.
Rescue must come from within.
So glad you and Maddie had such a fun day. Praying for her and her mission work!
Ooh, love this, Linda–especially thrashing! Thanks for good wishes and prayers:>)
Thanks, Laura!
Yes, self- doubt rescue can only come from within! And it does involve some thrashing about! Nice!
Thanks, Donna.
Fishy struggle, wonderful.
I can identify with this Linda. A little self-therapy called for.
Giant teeth
leave little doubt:
once you’re in
you don’t get out!
Ha! Ha!- as I read your poem, I thought “wonderful- all that in 15 words!” I thought about counting- but then read your confession. 🙂
That would be quite a sight from the other side of those teeth!
For some reason, I always loved imagining the Jonah story, maybe reluctantly knowing it wasn’t possible. Your poem makes that real! No release through those teeth!
love the last 2 lines I guess not
Steel trap for sure — nice rhyme.
Love it. This could hang on a sign around the neck of a cartoon armored fish! It was so bizarre how the parameter of 15 words just completely flew out of my brain. I wanted to do a cinquain, and those usually fit into 15 words, no problem. But then during the process, I decided to do a diamante, and I don’t think word count entered my mind for a single second after that. Sheesh!
Loved your “skeletal cell”!
And glad that you are fitting in some good times with Maddie!
Delayed Gratification
Pish!
I’m just a fish
Who made a wish
For some delish
Nutritious dish
Swish!
Love all the rhyming, and the end, too, Donna.
love the rime
Very apt. Love it.
Nice rhymes–you rocked it. This has a fun little self-deprecating voice to it. I can picture a cartoon of this fish saying these words:>)
Just for you, Laura!
1. For cheating on the word count today! I’ve finagled my own word count!
2. Hmmm… Was this a bit of sub-conscious working through “letting go” of your daughter??
3. For being a ” Poem- Eater!
How Ya Gonna Keep ‘Em?
Laura-Laura, poem-eater
Had‑a daughter
Couldn’t keep’er
Put’er in fishy-cell
But that didn’t work too well!
Donna Smith
Fantastic wording Donna!
Oh, this is too funny, Donna. I’m going to have to show this to Maddie! And you’re right, maybe the jail cell imagery is a reflection of my wish that I could keep her in this country, at least…
This one cracks me up, except for how we wish we could keep our kids — just a little longer.
Patience is Virtue
Bide my time
ignore bait on line
due diligence I exert.
Bingo!
Here comes dessert.
You’re excused Laura, you corrected yourself. Thanks to Maddie for supplying “food” for thought.
Love the ending, Martha, great imagination!
wonderful I like the 2 line
LOVE this! Though this narrator’s idea of dessert is very different from mine (which is more like bomboloni, as shown in post earlier this week).
Funny Laura. All of that bomboloni would not even begin to fill a cavity in this guy’s mouth.
Too true!
How cute! Great ending.
I like the idea of that ‘skeletal cell’, Laura. What a lovely day you must have had! I did imagine Jonah, but added in a little Disney, too.
Jiminy Cricket!
It’s big enough for me.
But I refuse
to keep Jonah company.
Linda Baie © All Rights Reserved
this is so cleaver love it 🙂
A little Disney is always fun! Jiminey makes a nice addition for Noah.
Hehehe–Great mashup!
I remember Jiminy Cricket being in there with Jonah — wait — or was that Pinocchio? Ha! I loved that movie!
Laura,
Love “skeletal cell”!
Dunkleosteous and the Dentist
Open wide.
Look inside.
Must excavate
rotten plate.
Don’t be glum,
I’ll numb your gum.
Penny Parker Klostermann 2015
Interesting fish! Among other things, I read that instead of teeth the Dunkleosteous possessed two pairs of sharp bony plates which formed a beak-like structure. Must have been a challenge for a Dunkleosteos dentist. 😀
Love the idea, Penny. The dentist could just crawl in!
I like this line (Don’t be glum)
One could definitely crawl inside to perform most anything. Fun image Penny.
Wow, you’ve got a whole little scene here. I love the idea of this beast being nervous about dental work:>)
Dentist as excavator! Fun!
Very good use of research!
… Unless it Eats Me First
Cast my line.
Feelin fine.
Caught a fish-
What a dish!
Mine to dine
Unless…
Ellie, I love the title/last line interaction — clever!
Hey, I love the way the last line leads back to the title:>)
I like how the end leads to the begging and the tidal
Awesome use of the title!
Wow, 2–3 years–that must take some work to wrap your mind around (at least we live in the age of Skype.) Glad you are getting to spend time with Maddie before she goes.
We are enjoying a family trip–a week at a cottage on Beaver Island in Lake Michigan, which inspired this poem.
On Beaver Island
Toes sink in sand
waves lap ankles
fingers lift quarry
eyes ferret.…
fossils!
I love the distinct way each object moves and does something…like disarticulated bones:>)
I love the movement in the words
Really? That sounds like a great time at the lake. Exciting!
This one was inspired by a photo I took during a backpacking/fishing trip!
https://www.flickr.com/photos/monica-sharman/7813096176/
Fishing tip: don’t look
for the trout but for its shadow—
evidence of its presence.
This makes me imagine a sunny day and clear water. Lovely.
What a cool image! And lovely poem. Reminds me of space studies and science in general, how, when looking at the very tiny or very long past, we often have to assume based on the evidence, since we can’t actually see the presence.
UNDERWATER PRISONER
Submerged in steel cage
Gazing down great white’s gullet
Underwater prisoner.
© Charles Waters 2015 all rights reserved.
Ooh, it’s Shark Week! Love it. I always think those cage divers are insane.