15 Words or Less and Poem-a-Day: #19

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

Photo by Paolo Costa Baldi. License: GFDL/CC-BY-SA 3.0

I love this panoramic view of the Colosseum. It makes me think of:

1.?Gladiators, of course
2. Lions
3. The lens of a microscope

Here’s my poem first draft, in haiku to adhere to my Poetry Month Haiku-a-Day:>)

stone wall whisperroars
echoes of claws, teeth, applause
escape on soft paws
–Laura Purdie Salas

What does this picture make YOU think of? Whatever enters your mind, jot a quick 15 words or less poem and share it in the comments! Feel free to comment on each others? poems and tell what your favorite part is:>)

76 Responses

  1. Walls of stone
    Engulf me
    Lost in a maze
    of confusion
    and wonderment
    Beyond belief

    - Anne McKenna

    1. Love the maze and the walls of stone, Anne. And engulf. Give me those concrete nouns and verbs! They get across emotion more strongly than abstract/emotion words like confusion, wonderment, and belief. Your first 3 lines are strong!

  2. Walls of stone
    Engulf me
    Lost in a maze
    of confusion
    and wonderment
    Beyond belief

    - Anne McKenna

    1. Love the maze and the walls of stone, Anne. And engulf. Give me those concrete nouns and verbs! They get across emotion more strongly than abstract/emotion words like confusion, wonderment, and belief. Your first 3 lines are strong!

  3. playground of death sports
    salad bowl of misery
    ruins of ruin

    not very cheery, i must admit, but the challenge of a haiku lead me that direction somehow. i should try another.

    what sort of world
    would we live in today if
    romans played football?

    i grew up in los angeles when the rams were there and played in the colosseum. when i was young and would hear about gladiator battles in ancient rome and the other blood sports i was often confused about what was really going on in the stadium. ah, the confusions of youth.

    1. Great story! Huh. Maybe that explains some of the violence in L.A. :>) I love lines 1 and 3 of your first haiku. Nothing wrong with a not-cheery poem!

  4. playground of death sports
    salad bowl of misery
    ruins of ruin

    not very cheery, i must admit, but the challenge of a haiku lead me that direction somehow. i should try another.

    what sort of world
    would we live in today if
    romans played football?

    i grew up in los angeles when the rams were there and played in the colosseum. when i was young and would hear about gladiator battles in ancient rome and the other blood sports i was often confused about what was really going on in the stadium. ah, the confusions of youth.

    1. Great story! Huh. Maybe that explains some of the violence in L.A. :>) I love lines 1 and 3 of your first haiku. Nothing wrong with a not-cheery poem!

  5. Death by Indignity: the Colosseum

    Two thousand years
    withstanding the elements
    two hundred years
    suffering hands, feet,
    and tourists’ tushies.

  6. Death by Indignity: the Colosseum

    Two thousand years
    withstanding the elements
    two hundred years
    suffering hands, feet,
    and tourists’ tushies.

  7. bare bones
    of skeletal walls -
    once supported
    death watchers,
    once entombed
    the living dead

    - ellie (no — not zombies!)

  8. bare bones
    of skeletal walls -
    once supported
    death watchers,
    once entombed
    the living dead

    - ellie (no — not zombies!)

    1. Great image. Love the last word: retold. Gives your poem so much meaning.

      ellie

    1. Great image. Love the last word: retold. Gives your poem so much meaning.

      ellie

    1. Thanks, Renee! Yes, I was inspired on whisperroars by someone’s poem recently on 30 Poets/30 Days (or whatever it’s called) at Greg Pincus’ blog. Maybe it was Amy Ludwig Vanderwater’s poem? Glad you stopped by to read, even if a poem didn’t come to you!

    1. Thanks, Renee! Yes, I was inspired on whisperroars by someone’s poem recently on 30 Poets/30 Days (or whatever it’s called) at Greg Pincus’ blog. Maybe it was Amy Ludwig Vanderwater’s poem? Glad you stopped by to read, even if a poem didn’t come to you!

  9. Summertime Tourist

    Etched on stone pillars
    forgotten memories, ancient pain
    breathe deeply?
    then escape for Roman gelato.

    Many tries to capture this one.…..was drawn to the tourist dichotomy:voyeur on vacation.…or ancient history tour?

    1. I think you captured that dichotomy well. You have powerful, longlasting things, and then the whimsical, short-lived gelato…nice!

  10. Summertime Tourist

    Etched on stone pillars
    forgotten memories, ancient pain
    breathe deeply?
    then escape for Roman gelato.

    Many tries to capture this one.…..was drawn to the tourist dichotomy:voyeur on vacation.…or ancient history tour?

    1. I think you captured that dichotomy well. You have powerful, longlasting things, and then the whimsical, short-lived gelato…nice!

  11. What ancient carnivore
    feigns ruin,
    its jaws set to snatch
    the present
    and drag it to the dust?

  12. What ancient carnivore
    feigns ruin,
    its jaws set to snatch
    the present
    and drag it to the dust?

  13. Colosseum is fossil
    of Roman society
    an Emperor Nautilus shell
    tentacled in history

    - Violet Nesdoly

    It took me a while to grasp what I was seeing when I first saw the pic, but it eventually hit me: the cross-section of a chambered nautilus. Maybe the last line should read “tentacled to history”?

  14. Colosseum is fossil
    of Roman society
    an Emperor Nautilus shell
    tentacled in history

    - Violet Nesdoly

    It took me a while to grasp what I was seeing when I first saw the pic, but it eventually hit me: the cross-section of a chambered nautilus. Maybe the last line should read “tentacled to history”?

  15. This one is 16 words so it technically doesn’t count but I had fun writing it!

    COLOSSEUM

    Sterling dagger,
    trusty shield,
    Rival staggers,
    Fate is sealed.
    Romans hate
    Agitators
    Their best mates?

    GLADIATORS.

    © Charles Waters 2012 all rights reserved.

  16. This one is 16 words so it technically doesn’t count but I had fun writing it!

    COLOSSEUM

    Sterling dagger,
    trusty shield,
    Rival staggers,
    Fate is sealed.
    Romans hate
    Agitators
    Their best mates?

    GLADIATORS.

    © Charles Waters 2012 all rights reserved.

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