Happy Poetry Friday! Welcome, everyone! (Wondering what Poetry Friday is? Click here.)
So, this month, our Poetry Princess challenge was a skinny poem with the theme or spring or looking ahead. I love skinnys…sometimes. They’re one of those forms that for me either work right away…or don’t work at all. I wrote one earlier this month I was really happy with. This one, despite the #waterpoemproject hashtag, was NOT written as part of that project, but I guess I copied over the credit line. Oops. Anyway, I’m not totally happy with it, but it did capture how important outside is for me right now. I look out my window all day as I work, and I get out for a brisk walk, too. Focusing on nature during this time lets me kind of ignore humanity and all its problems–and isn’t that a blessing! I also just realized that I left out the word “is” from the first line when I rearranged the last line. [Addended: And I don’t even have the right number of lines! What on earth happened here? This is not a skinny.] Oi. But you know what? I’m going to give myself a bit of grace and just say, At least I came up with something:>)
Here’s what my poetry sisters came up with!
Kelly
Liz
Sara
Rebecca
Tanita
Tricia
Andi
Click here to see all our previous Poetry Princesses collaborations.
Christie Wyman at Wondering and Wandering is gathering us all for the Poetry Friday Roundup this week. I’ve been enjoying visiting more posts than usual this month. Lovely to see what everyone comes up with/shares. Stay well, friends!
27 Responses
I just saw this on twitter, and liked it, especially that you wrote about ‘out your window’. Those are things I guess we are celebrating & glad to have the views. I’d like to hear those warblers, too. I hear the sparrows & chickadees, crows of course, no warblers! Have a nice weekend, Laura!
No warblers here, either. At least, not out my window, but I did a bit of research and saw they come in early spring (for Minnesota, that is). So they’ll be here soon. I love watching the little birds out my window and on my walks, but they’re mostly brown, or robins, which are lovely, but I wanted something different and slightly more realistic. So I just went searching for the right bird to put in my poem :>)
I was not going to post today, but you’ve just inspired me to look up what the heck a skinny is, and write a draft. Thanks for the inspiration and the warbler celebration!
Hooray!
Oh, I like that one very much!
Here’s to the celebration, and that adorbs wee birb!
Hmmm a skinny is new to me, as well. Love your poem and inspiration. Thank you.
Thanks, Amy–I did it wrong, so make sure you visit the poets I linked to, who did a much better job of following the actual form. Which is not that complicated, so I don’t know where my mind was!
I quite like your last line and didn’t notice the missing is, so I think you’re safe! I love your shortened form of the skinny. It’s less repetitive and gets right to the heart of the matter. I’m celebrating opportunities to get outside as well.
Holy mackerel–didn’t even realize I’d shortened this until you said that. Geez. I’m losing it. Oh, well. I got a good laugh at it!
This little warbler melted my heart! Your poem is a celebration of it and the whole of nature in just a few words.
Aw, thanks, Janice!
Skinnys are so challenging! I love this peak out your window and of course, the celebration of nature.
Thanks so much, Leigh Anne!
And I will CELEBRATE with you…why not? I’m tickled at how you made such a big party in such a skinny poem! P. S. My walks are keeping me in good spirits, too. I don’t know how I’d make it without my alone/outside time.
Thanks, Sara. Yep, I’m grateful things are warming up here. I love winter, but getting outside is much simpler now that I’m not wondering if it’s gonna snow. It’s just, do I need a jacket or not. Whee!
How lovely for that yellow throated warbler to pose for a photo to illustrate your skinny! I love that your repeated word is “celebrating.” Yes!
Thank you, Linda. Choosing the right repeated word is always the key for me–even when I totally mess up the form as I did here!
You did come up with something, and your something is lovely. Thank you for sharing the benefits of you nature break with us. : )
Thanks, Bridget :>)
Thanks for introducing me to a new poetry form, Laura. I love your poem! Anything about birds catches my eye.
Sure, Rose–just make sure you don’t follow my rules since I got the whole thing wrong. Dang. Not even sure how that happened:>)
Sometimes rules are made to be broken. I’m with you on this post–I am finding my best sanity in nature, and love the daily walks with my daughter. And I find skinnys difficult. When the work (not often for me), they are amazing, and when they don’t, it just doesn’t happen.
Thanks, Kay–I was kind of disheartened to realize how badly I goofed on the skinny. But then I thought…oh well. At least I made SOMEthing. Ha! Keep enjoying those daily walks. I sure am:>)
Laura, your snow envy skinny is wonderful from the title on. I, like many others, loved the introduction of the word unsanitized. It is a poem for the times. As for this shortened skinny, it is a wonderful celebratory poem and I really liked the change up from the first line.
Thanks so much, Carol. I like my snow envy one much better. Now I just need to get my act together on what the actual form is!
Beautiful! I am spending the day looking out my window at birds and trees also, and look forward to my afternoon dog walk around the neighborhood. I feel so blessed to have so much green space to “distance” in these days. Your poem is lovely.
Thanks, Andi! I’m jealous–wish I had more green space around…