Endings and Beginnings [15 Words or Less]

Hello, and welcome to the final 15 Words or Less Poems day (for now, anyway!) (guidelines here). I’m glad you’re here now, and I’m glad you’ve been here. I’ve been posting these photos and inviting you to write poems to them for many years now! If you’re just now finding this and want to use it for yourself or your students, please visit https://laurasalas.com/cat-page-15-words-or-less-poems/ to see photos from the past! 

Photo: Laura P. Salas

I bought a new watercolor app for my phone, and this is one of my favorite pictures (taken on my birthday, I think). So even though it’s not seasonally appropriate, I want to end with fall leaves, which are one of the things in the world that bring me so much awe and happiness.

This image makes me think of several things:

  1. the beauty of endings
  2. skeletons
  3. backpacking trips on the Appalachian Trail in my childhood

And here’s my first draft. This one is to all of you who have visited and become part of this community over the years.

It’s your turn! Have fun and stick to 15 WORDS OR LESS! (Title doesn’t count toward word count.)

 

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26 Responses

  1. Good morning Laura and all. It’s a bittersweet morning for sure. After watching The Sound of Music over Christmas (for the umpteenth time), these words seem appropriate. “So long, farewell, auf Wiedersehen, adieu.”
    The photo is lovely and your poem screams “Laura” as I’ve come to know you. I’ve written about the meanings of colors; these words evoke emotions when I think of you and15 WOL.

    Laura’s Tree

    Purple ambition
    Orange creativity
    Green friendliness
    Yellow loyalty
    Red passion
    Brown warmth

    1. Oh, thank you, Martha–I’m honored. And as we gallop into 2020, I do hope you’ll continue to stop in and visit, as I’ll be sharing poems and also occasional invitations to write poems. AND I hope to visit OTHER blogs more regularly and take part more fully in the community, so I’m sure we’ll continue to create around each other:>)

  2. Laura, thank you so much for the years of 15WOL. I haven’t participated on line lately due to some technological glitches, but will miss reading your weekly posts and playing with the prompt in my notebook. That photo with the watercolor app is stunning, and your poem is the perfect adieu. Here’s mine:

    Revelation

    As winter nears,
    true colors emerge.

    From beneath
    deceptively bland veneers
    a rainbow appears.

    Wishing you the best in the coming year! Thank you again!

    1. Thank you, Molly Beth-this is lovely. It was only once I moved up north as an adult that I learned to appreciate the beauty of starkness and the subtle colors of winter. I always thought of winter as a lack of color (having grown up in Florida) before then. But winter is kind of like a poem–extraordinary in the ordinary, if you just look at it in the right way:>) Thank you, and see you around the kidlit community in 2020!

  3. I’m going to miss meeting everyone here and sharing words for your images. It’s been fun!

    Kaleidoscope cacophony
    Renders me in awe of tree;
    Finally approaching spare
    Stories betwixt branches stare.

    By Donna JT Smith

    1. Ooh, this speaks deeply to me about how getting rid of distractions allows creativity to bloom! Thank you, Donna!

  4. Sweet poem, Laura. I will miss this.

    Pushing Past the Finale

    Climatic blaze of color
    signals the end
    of fireworks and autumn.
    Onward, round the bend!

  5. Happy New Year, Laura!

    Perception

    You thought you saw me
    but you never saw,
    until now,
    what you were missing.

    © 2019 by David L. Harrison, all rights reserved

  6. As the rain falls here on this Boxing Day, I am feeling very nostalgic. Christmas was a whirlwind of activity and now there is a stillness. This has been a still place every Thursday morning. Whether or not I wrote a poem, I always stopped by. I will miss it (and you, but I’m sure we’ll connect in other ways.)

    Rainbows are not
    always a sign or promise.
    Sometimes
    they just quietly
    are.

    1. I love that this was a space for stillness. I’m working on something for my website about how reading a picture book or poem every morning can really impact our lives by giving us a moment to pause, enjoy, and focus. And appreciate what IS…

  7. Thank you for blessing my Thursdays with poetry Larura
    Love all of you

    poem By Jessicsa Bigi

    Poetry

    pages of
    folded memories
    patterned like leaves
    sealing Atom’s
    Sky’s

    1. Oh, a ceiling of sky…so wonderful. We all have a ceiling of sky, don’t we, and we send our words out to drift like leaves around the world. Thank you for being here, Jessica!

  8. The skeleton of that beautiful tree also reminded me of the web that you’ve woven, Laura. Thank you for the many years of inspiration. I looked back in my 15 word-or-less folder, and see regular entries from January 2010. I’ll miss this Thursday writing fun.

    15 words-or-less, for Laura

    strong as silk
    she weaves
    words
    images
    poetry
    creating friendship
    and community

    1. Oh, thank you, Buffy! I hope to keep weaving this community, just in a different tree, perhaps:>) Thank you for being here!

    2. Buffy,
      I’d not read yours before I wrote mine late this afternoon. My first title included the word WEB, I see our poems are similar.…thos was a lot of effort and work by Laura and I loved it. Will miss my chance to join in.
      Janet F.

  9. Laura, Thank you for 15 Words or Less. Now I wish I had participated more but I’m happy to go back and enjoy your treasure trove of posts from past years. I hope 2020 brings some wonderful new beginnings for you.

    Gradient shades
    of sunshine
    and tangerine

    Unite us in joy
    and beauty.

    1. Hello–I’m not sure who this is, but I’m glad you made it here when you could. Here’s to lovely new beginnings for all of us, and thank you for sunshine and tangerines. Love that!

  10. 15WOL Poetree

    Like lacey trees
    we grow.
    Veined leaves connecting
    poetrymoments
    in tiny bursts.
    Building our forest.

    I have been here off and on and mainly off of late but have ALWAYS loved it here. Thank you, Laura and friends for this community. I will miss it. I grew at a poet here because of so many of you and Laura’s supportive words.
    Janet Clare Fagal

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