Ladybug, Ladybug [15 Words or Less]

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 am on the third and final day of a poetry residency with 4th- and 5th-graders today, so I won’t be able to comment on poems. This spring has been so crazy that I’m realizing perhaps I should have gone on a 15 Words or Less hiatus. And, in fact, this might be my final year for 15 Words or Less. I’ve been doing it since 2009, though I only have archived the past 6 years or so on this blog. In that time, I’ve only missed 4 or 5 Thursdays, and that was only when the lovely Susan Taylor Brown could host in my place. We have such a lovely little community here, but it is ever-shrinking. I’m feeling the itch to perhaps do something different. We’ll see. Anyway, the upshot is that I won’t be here today, but I hope, as always, that you enjoy playing!

 

ladybug
Photo: Laura P. Salas

This image makes me think of several things:

  1. so many lovebugs in Florida last weekend!
  2. foil-wrapped chocolates are wearing a suit of armor
  3. painted Ukrainian eggs

And here’s my first draft. When I was a kid, my sister Patty made the most detailed and beautiful painted eggs!

painted egg

 

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

 

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8 Responses

  1. You have to look close to see it–
    ladybug on a leaf–
    Nature’s stop sign.

  2. Morning Laura, enjoy your time with the kids today! I love working with kids as a specialist in a school. I get to do the fun stuff without the daily grind. My library partner calls us the grandparents of the school. LOL.

    As much as I enjoy the 15 word challenge once a week, I understand ending the 15 word challenge.

    It’s OK! There’s a season for everything.

    I think you have some options.
    ‑just end it…and be done
    ‑pass the baton to someone else for their blog (with credit to you)
    ‑do “pop up” 15 words or less whenever you feel like it.

    It’s wonderful that your success is leading you to other activities. I’m so happy for you! I think we all are. We just want to see you keep succeeding.

    I am down with a head cold.…not too sick to go to work…but definitely not well enough to be my full shiny self. I HATE that. Hopefully, the weekend will bring some relief.

    My 15 words for today:

    You bug me
    tease me
    foil wrapped treat
    quick unwrap
    you melt fast
    chocolate sweet

  3. I enjoy the poetry push Thursdays give my brain. Appreciate the many years you’ve done this, and wish I’d been in on it from the beginning!

    Everywhere in my House

    Ladybugs spend hours
    hiding in my flowers.
    But when it’s cold,
    they turn bold!

  4. Good Morning Laura and your 15WOL community. Should you decide to discontinue this venue, let me say “thank you” for so many Thursday morning adventures. I’ve loved every moment of it. We change, times change, obligations change … but deep down, there is a little (selfish) voice within me pleading “please don’t go away.” Now, for this Thursday. Love foil-wrapped chocolate ladybug. My little 3 yr. old great-granddaughter loves everything ladybug.

    Ladybug’s Lament (a silly little ditty)

    She loves,
    she strokes,
    my fur all gone;
    I feel naked
    down to the bone.

  5. As much as I would miss your 15 wol prompts and encouragement, ten years is a long time! Thanks so much for all you do to support other writers.

    Redtime

    Red ladybug crawls
    red oak leaf grows
    red cardinal calls
    red evening glows

  6. poem by Jessica Bigi

    why ladybugs
    don’t make
    good puzzles
    you place
    pieces together
    butt they fly away

  7. What a gorgeous and delectable looking ladybug Laura and fun poem! Hope your final day of the poetry residency went well.

    Here’s a short and sweet ditty from your pic…

    Momentary pleasure
    wrapped like a treasure
    ladybugs beware…

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