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.
I usually filter my photos because I like the way that makes them a little surreal and more open to interpretation. But this coloring was so startling, I’m just keeping it as is!
I thought these were all hydrangeas, but maybe not. I took this pic while walking Jack, so I couldn’t stop to examine it. Maybe that white flower is just a different kind of plant entirely. Anyway, this image makes me think of several things:
- when someone wears a lot of makeup, and her face is a totally different shade than her body
- a flower ghost
- the kid who’s always hanging out at his best friend’s house
And here’s my first draft. I’m not quite sure why, but I felt a little hostile toward that pristine white flower!
It’s your turn! Have fun and stick to 15 WORDS OR LESS! (Title doesn’t count toward word count.)
47 Responses
I enjoyed your rhymes, Laura, and fresh-bleached smile. Sometimes those teeth are too white. I decided to feel sorry for the misfit flower.
end of summer
everyone else
has a tan
lol! I love the analogy.….some of us are just too pale for our own good. Made me laugh
Clever take! Enjoyed this!
I love your empathetic take, Lauren. I hear the voice of a 12 year old girl bemoaning the start of the school year here.
Yes Lauren I can so relate. Very funny.
Oh, my mom and her silk flowers.…..so many memories! Great rhyme in your poem with style pile smile.
Late to the Party
Flora never did
bloom on time.
Fine.
.
She’s late for
her own funeral
again.
Oh, “She’s late for her own funeral” is perfect!
Linda, this is brilliant. The wry, slightly sniping voice is so distinctive. Clever play on words, too!
Clever name choice for your late bloomer.
Linda I just loved this. “…late for her own funeral.” So clever.
Shyly edging into the crowd
Enveloped and allowed
To dance
Despite differences
Sweet. If only.…
This is lovely, Amelia. I adore the word choices in the first two phones and the alliteration in the last two!
Laura, loved your “perfectly petaled pile”!
BRAINSTORMING
Been there,
done that.
Nothing new,
old hat.
Whoa! What’s this?
Fresh idea!
Bliss!
Oh, this is great! Bliss is a wonderful ending word.
I like your hopeful approach. When my loved ones trudge through their days, I try to imagine ways to perk them up. Today I will bake cookies. That should help.
I like your take on this…who doesn’t love a fresh idea!
Love how this captures the joy of that moment of inspiration!
I have a bed of hydrangea. They are blue, lavender, and pink. I’ve never seen this odd reddish color, but I do know that the minerals in the soil determine the color.
Inspired by Laura’s quick rhyme, I gave it a shot (in the dark).
Sprinkled with baby powder,
her braid speaks louder
Momma couldn’t be prouder.
I’ve only ever seen a blue pink and white hydrangeas. And now I’m trying to remember if these ones used to be pink before autumn set in. And maybe they’re just not even hydrangeas! I love the detail of Mama putting baby powder into her daughter’s braids. I wore two braids from probably kindergarten through third-grade, every single day. I lived in them. So this brought back fond memories! Even though I never had baby powder in mine:)
Thought of another scenario- one that actually happened to me! 🙂
OFFICE UNIFORMS
Oh my,
No way!
I thought we wore
white today!
Oh no. That makes for a long day. Great rhyme.
Well, that’s one way to stand out in a crowd!
bwa ha ha! It IS after Labor Day, ya know. Great humor.
I love these. Such different takes and all such fun. Here’s mine, quite short:
Woodland Hatrack
A fairy mantle perches
Amidst
Stalked elvin caps.
What fun, Beth! I love how your title sets it all up.
Beth I thought it looked a bit like a elf’s hat as well. I love your title!
My thought first was of those bleached white teeth, too! Love it!
Then it looked like a snowball had struck the flowers or maybe someone was eating a big snowcone in the bunch.
Decided to go with the snowball…
Hi, Drangea!
What’s this?
So cold!
I want to know
Who threw
that giant ball
of snow?
by Donna JT Smith
Love that! The snowball. Wouldn’t it be perfect if the picture were actually of a Snowdrop flower?
Such a variety of views on this image; provocative choice Laura, and stands on its own, thanks.
Nature accepts
individuality,
even in a sea of sameness-
Mirror your mind’s choices
with nature.
Hi Laura, this is my comment, Michelle Kogan, not sure how it slipped in without my info, I thought I filled all in.
Oops, and your poem is actually in a comment on someone else’s poem, so not sure how many people will see it this week, Michelle. Some mornings, that’s how my tech goes:>/
So true. This makes me think of the beginning of A Wrinkle in Time and how Calvin describes himself, or I guess Charles Murray describes him, as a sport, a naturally occurring oddball, basically. I especially like sea of sameness because it really put that picture in my head of the sea spreading out and how you can’t distinguish one drop from another. Lovely.
Laura what a picture! Loved your poem. That is some floral style indeed.
Shadowy, cool winds blow,
beauty molts.
Who says you can’t wear white after labor day?
Thanks, Jean. Oh I love the sensory words and also bolts for your verb. Nice!
I love reading all these poems…so inspiring!!
Here’s my attempt:
Cooler air creeps
as summer retreats
One last peep
Before winter’s sleep.
I just love fall!
Thanks for the exercise, my brain needed to wake up this morning.
Michaela
I love all the eep sounds here, Michaela. And the idea of just one last peek, like summer is Colombo!
your pic has me thinking I have to go out and tack some pic
I love everyone poems today
poem BY Jessica Bighi
A Gift
Millions of
Petals turned
Into wings
Making wishes
They flew
Into the sky
I love picturing this!
What a gorgeous image, Jessica. Flower petals turning into wings and spreading wishes. Love!
Beautiful photo (I think they are all hydrangeas.) Love petaled as an adjective.
autumn warmth–
white hydrangea lingers
others rust and rest
Love the “rust and rest” line.
I love your ending
Thanks, Buffy. Oh that last line is wonderful!
I so love the images, and the difference of images, that all these offer. Such a great prompt and responses.
I was just writing a description of the seashore for another project, so maybe that’s why some sea creatures slipped into my poem.
Coral has crept
into my garden.
White sea snail
crawls over its
bumpy blooms.
—Kate Coombs
Oh, I LOVE how you’ve melded the two worlds of sea and garden together. Surreal and beautiful!