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.
Sometimes I think I have more accidental images on my phone than I do intentional ones!
This image makes me think of several things:
- time travel
- a slinky (see it up at the top of the image?)
- our planet spinning
And here’s my first draft, which is also my daily haiku for National Poetry Month!
It’s your turn! Have fun and stick to 15 WORDS OR LESS! (Title doesn’t count toward word count.)
31 Responses
Dizzy Spell
Small ballerina
Spinning with her chin raised high
Point turns not yet learned
This made me think of point turns from ballet classes many years past…
I love this take on the prompt and the sounds and rhythm in that final line.
I love the choice & total at the end in the small children spin with, looking up at the ceiling or the sky:)
So sweet Amelia. My gears quickly shifted to my 3‑year old daughter’s ballet recital! Ancient memory.
Love the haiku, Laura, and also how you turned a random blurred “mistake” into poetry inspiration! Super rough draft as I race out the door to the last day before spring break–what a month this has been!
Spring Break
So busy
I’m dizzy
No time to be
Spring break?
No mistake?
Hooray, I’m free!!
© 2018 M Hogan
Love the feeling of escape!
I love the excitement in this, Molly. Have a fantastic Spring Break!
Enjoy your freedom. I felt your frenzy and joy!
DISAPPOINTING BIRTH ANNOUNCEMENT TO BIG BROTHER
Don’t understand it.
My mind’s in a whirl.
My baby brother-
turned into a girl?
Hahaha, I LOVE this, Cindy! Astonishment comes through so clearly in the words and the punctuation!
Cindy, you nailed it. I was 7 when my baby brother was born. My sister and I begged for a brother. Our wish was granted; but I remember thinking, but not saying aloud, “I won’t love it if it’s a girl.” To this day I remember that horrible thought.
Good morning, Laura! I found your 15 Words tweet right below Amy’s “beautiful glue” comment–I wonder if you were inspired too…
squeezed and smeared
between two views
these words become
the beautiful glue
that holds it all together
I tried to take out two words to get down to 15 but I’m too in love with my rhythm : )
Heehee, I love your admission that you’re just too in love with the rhythm to cut it! This is beautiful and mysterious. I did not see Amy’s tweet, as this auto posts to Twitter. Though Amy does constantly inspire me:)
Lovely Heidi. Sometimes personification takes hold and refuses to let go! You added to the stability of Laura’s verse.
Here’s my secret when I’m too enamored with my words to cut to 15: hyphenate! squeezed-and-smeared counts as one word in my book. (Shh.…don’t tell Laura!)
In the mixer
Spinwhirling fast
The egg of me
is now long past -
I’m battered.
by Donna JT Smith
Mercy. This one gets me–could be literally lighthearted egg poem or a much more personal poem about time, busy-ness, being burned out or worn down. Not sure which you meant (I think probably the lighthearted one), but I love both, so it doesn’t even matter:>)
Ah, then it did its job! I was going for the double-entendre. So it IS both.
I’m with you Donna. Adding to Laura’s second take, I’m scrambled!
LOL!
Laura, your verse is such an assurance of stability. That prompted me to add to our planet’s beauty. You saw something in this photo that resonated with you. I, on the other hand, would have probably hit “delete.’ 😉
The First Canvas
Ivory backbone
red sunrise
blue firmament
white sand
azure sea
green life
Mother Nature smiles!
I delete a ton of them, Martha–don’t feel bad:>) Oh, this is stunning. Somehow that ivory backbone brings everything else into such specificity and relavance. Beauteous:>)
this pic makes me fill like I’m spinning
poem By Jessica Bigi
Fond sad mother
you say putt one
hove in of the other
spinning ground
falling
Learning to walk is hard! There’s nothing cuter than baby steps–in human or animal:>)
Love the word glued in your haiku. But dang, this photo is my life.…
Out of Focus
Click-here-click-there,
minutes, hours, disappear.
Stop that clicking–
time is ticking!
Concentrate! Persevere!
Oh, mercy, isn’t THAT the truth! I hope your birthday you were totally focused on having a wonderful day!
Okay, I ended up writing two stanzas, spinning on past those 15 words. So here’s the first stanza!
Spin and spin
and then fall down.
Now the world
is spinning round.
—Kate Coombs
Right back to my childhood:)
Something about the photo reminded me of an airport. Maybe the lights?
whirry
blurry
running late
in a hurry
where’s my gate?
I like the rhyme!
Love this, JoAnn, because all the airports I’ve gone through over the past few years are just big blurs!