Hi teachers and writers! I’m offering something new in January for people who want to write (published, pre-published, no desire to be published–you are all welcome!) but who aren’t getting the writing done that they want to. It’s a low-cost Closed Facebook Group that will be full of encouragement and checking in to set and reach a writing goal in January. Start 2016 with a writing bang–join the Writer’s Resolution!
Now, it’s time to wake up your poetry brains with 15 Words or Less (guidelines are here)!
Here’s a close-up picture I took the other day.
It makes me think of:
- Meringue
- A flash-frozen fire
- Medusa’s hair
And, here’s my first draft. I was picturing some sci-fi story set in an environment where the temperature changes and weather were so extreme and so fast that a fire could actually freeze.
It’s your turn! Have fun and stick to 15 WORDS OR LESS! (Title doesn’t count toward word count:>) If you leave a poem in the comments, and if it’s 15 words or less, I’ll try to respond!
56 Responses
Love the ending of this one.
Merry Christmas.
Thanks, Linda–you, too!
Oz
If only
scarecrow
had a heart
they would dance
golden streets
Dorothy’s
ruby red-slippers
poem By Jessica Bigi
Laura I love you last 2 lines
Fun to connect with Oz. If only is right.
after posting I remembered that it was tin man that wonted the heart
Yes, Jessica, but the picture made you think of ruby red slippers. I like that.
Thanks, Jessica. Poor Scarecrow. I like the wistful opening of “If only…”
Flames lick
across icy skin
thawing my soul
while my heart burns
from within
That ‘flames lick” makes me shiver. Love this.
Amelia, I like the idea you have — flames thawing soul while heart burns.
I love the first and last 2 lines this is wonderful
We were on the same wavelength today, Amelia! I love lick and skin, the way the short i sound repeats.
Remember
December’s
Heart of stone
All alone
Shakes,
Awakes,
Remembers -
Light shone;
Warm
Storm,
Joyous embers.
By Donna JT Smith
I like the sounds, Donna, ‘shakes, awakes’ & December, remember, ember’. Great to real aloud.
Donna, I like “joyous embers.” Perfect ending.
I love how you can feel these words as you read them and joyous embers
This is lovely, Donna. For me, in 15 words exactly, you’ve made me think about the harder part of December and the way memories of wonderful moments throughout the year can still warm up a hard month. I love winter, but we have brown outside right now in Minnesota and a hard, clattering rain falling. In DECEMBER. What the heck?
Laura, is there a way to change the commenter’s image size or placement so that the comments — which at least on Thursdays are poems — keep their format? It’s distracting to read poems that have the first line or three pushed to the right. I usually space down four lines to avoid that, but forgot to today. Maybe it isn’t, but just a thought…
Dang…I also thought about adding extra lines too late today–wished I read your comment before posting!
No, there’s not. Well, you can do things like bold, italics,
etc., but I don’t think anything with tabs/margins, which is annoying. Sorry:>(
What on earth is this? But whatever, I stared at it and kept seeing those hands pushing and pushing.
And because I am feeling overwhelmed by all I have to do lately, I came up with this:
Trapped
Hands push,
struggle to be free
of confining web
of conformity.
I’m thinking it is a ice scalper like that you saw hands trying to free themselves
Hehe–it’s a close-up of a very pretty glass Christmas ornament–a horse–with lights on the tree sparkling behind it. I’ll post a regular picture of it with tomorrow’s post, if I can get to it! I like those last two lines and the con- words echoing each other, Pat. There are plenty of days, especially at this time of year, when my poetry diary poem is more a quasi-poem about my inability to think straight or write poetry than it is an actual poem. ‘Tis the season!
I have noticed that, Donna. (Will now space down a bit.)
Salamander
basks
in alchemist’s fire,
a coil
of glass beakers
ready
to make gold.
—Kate Coombs
I can see that coil and the red-hot beakers. Interesting take on the picture.
coil
of glass beakers
ready
to make gold. I like this
This one mesmerizes me. Why a salamander? So odd and yet, somehow, that’s the word that brings me back again. Love thecoil of glass beakers, too!
My “salamander” was the barn heater… probably not the salamander Kate was talking about, but the red-hot barn warmer would be one kind of salamander that fits! Look up “salamander heater” -
A little weird, I know! Salamanders are associated with fire in classical and medieval lore. Some thought that salamanders lived in fire and/or could put out fires with their cold bodies. Historians think this belief came about because salamanders often live in rotting logs, which might get taken and put on a human fire, at which point the astonished salamander would emerge. The salamander is sometimes used to represent the element of fire, and it shows up in a lot of contemporary fantasy, most notably (for our bunch, I suspect!) in Harry Potter: “Salamanders appear as magical beasts in J. K. Rowling’s Harry Potter series. They are bright-orange lizards that live in fireplaces and die after an hour without heat, except when they get chili pepper rubbed over their bodies regularly.”
I didn’t know this salamander lore, and I’ve also never heard of a salamander heater! I love how the two go together and how both could inform your poem!
I have a visceral distrust of portable heaters (no, I don’t know why) and also grew up in Florida, so maybe that’s why I’ve never heard of one?
Thanks–love learning new stuff from y’all:>)
Oh well, still have one line off!
(This photo made me thing of an actual human heart, with the major blood vessels.)
a transparent heart
pumps life
adds truth
and love
with every
beat
I saw a heart, too, Cynthia! Love the conciseness of this.
The picture does make a person think of a heart, blood vessels and all.
Lovely, Cynthia! I like your short lines that echo a beat.
Cynthia, I was just able to participate and, like you, I thought of the human heart. I promise I just read this, and submitted before doing so. For some reason I haven’t been prompted to “confirm” so it may be a moot point anyway. Your poem is lovely.
HEALTH CLASS
“Here’s the heart,”
His voice droned on.
Woozy,
woozy,
I was
gone.
My son fainted in health class- some like blood and body parts. Others don’t!
Oh my. I had an assistant faint once when we were dissecting eyeballs. I like the first person voice.
Oh, dear. Poor kid. Hope that class was not right before lunch.
Oooh. For career shadow day, I was with a veterinarian, and he did eye surgery on a dog. I was leaning too close in and got the anesthesia fumes and the icky view–got queasy and had to sit down for a while! Love the z sounds in this.
I like the idea of a fire frozen. Makes things feel so cold!
Double Duty
The heart,
a mystery till open,
reveals
a muscle miracle:
keeps body going,
love flowing.
Linda Baie ©All Rights Reserved
You saw a heart, too, and I like the way you described it. Also I like your rhyming last two lines.
Definitely a “muscle miracle”! And I love your last two lines — the rhyme and the two jobs of the heart!
“a mystery till open” — love the double meaning here…
Birthday-party clown
grants each guest one wish–
magical fingers spin
creatures
from skinny balloons.
I can just see those fingers flashing, twisting those balloons! I love how quickly they form those creatures. Nice “see”!
I love this–took me right back to when my kids were little and Ground Round restaurant often had someone walking around doing balloon animals for the kids! Love the word “spin” here–just right!
Chewing rubbery wad,
Popping stretchy rubber,
Everyone loves
Bubblegum.
by Kristi Veitenheimer
Hehe, Kristi–love that you saw bubblegum. So many fire and heart and hand poems, but only ONE bubblegum poem. Yes! Those first two lines are kind of clunky to say, which perfectly echoes the act of chewing gum. Nice!
Hi Laura. I’m late checking in today. What an awesome picture. Immediately thought of the human heart.
The Gift That Keeps Giving
Two chambers
two valves
synchronized to harmonize
pulsating veins
gifting life and love.
I see you also saw a heart today. It certainly does look like a heart. I like your “synchronized to harmonize” line.
This is lovely, Martha–both in words and meaning. I especially love lines 3 and 5.
I am growing
Yes It’s true
See my tiny hand
waving back at you
Anne Mckenna
I love how this mask poem makes me see a tiny baby without ever explicitly saying it!
THE VISITOR
Twilight’s crimson flame
washes over never-ending
stretches of sky.
© Charles Waters 2015 all rights reserved.
Interesting title, Charles–I love the personification of twilight but also think of other ways I could interpret that. Lovely!