[15 Words or Less Poems] Lion


Photo: Laura Purdie Salas

Wake up your poetry brains with 15 Words or Less (guidelines here)!

The lion in the MGM lobby at NCTE in Vegas was in a boxing ring to promote some upcoming big boxing match. It was an arresting image, this gold lion in a velvet-roped cage. Here’s hwat it makes me think of:

1)?Have I gone through the looking glass?
2) The crunching, tinkling, shattering noise that walking in fallen leaves would make if they were all stained glass.
3) The Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade.

And here’s my poem first draft:

Savanna
Velvet grasses ride the breeze.
I wait like stone
for lesser beasts
to venture
near.

–Laura Purdie Salas, all rights reserved

What do you think of when you look at this picture? Take any quick idea and jot down a 15 Words or Less poem. It doesn’t have to rhyme or describe this picture. It’s just about whatever you think of when you look at it.

I should be back here on Monday, January 7! I hope you’ve had wonderful holidays, and I’ll see you soon.

114 Responses

  1. Teensy tail twitches
    Impatience takes over
    He pounces! CRACK!!!
    Leaves left scattered

    I love your poem, Ms. Salas! Gives hunting almost a whimsical feeling. Good picture!

    1. I love the action–the teensy tail twitches, the pounce, and then the leaves.

  2. Teensy tail twitches
    Impatience takes over
    He pounces! CRACK!!!
    Leaves left scattered

    I love your poem, Ms. Salas! Gives hunting almost a whimsical feeling. Good picture!

    1. I love the action–the teensy tail twitches, the pounce, and then the leaves.

  3. Library Lion

    King of all
    that’s known
    he sits
    determined
    to fight for
    survival–
    qui legit regit.

      1. Love this Diane. I don’t know the words in Latin but they feel right in this poem. Strong and determined. {} Can you tell me what they translate into? Guessing…“What is legitimate is right?”

        -Pamela, who should know this but my 5000 years of espanol are not helping me here xoxo

        1. Pamela, it means “He who reads, rules!” I found it the other day in an old book and I love it! I googled it to find its meaning, and after I did, I found all sorts of uses for it. The poem is a personal comment on the role of libraries (and librarians) in the near future. We might have to change, but we prevail. And we will still read.

          1. That is a perfect quote and I believe you were born to discover it and use it: a picture book with that frame? A non- fiction mss? It is true and the — most- golden of rules. (())

  4. Library Lion

    King of all
    that’s known
    he sits
    determined
    to fight for
    survival–
    qui legit regit.

      1. Love this Diane. I don’t know the words in Latin but they feel right in this poem. Strong and determined. {} Can you tell me what they translate into? Guessing…“What is legitimate is right?”

        -Pamela, who should know this but my 5000 years of espanol are not helping me here xoxo

        1. Pamela, it means “He who reads, rules!” I found it the other day in an old book and I love it! I googled it to find its meaning, and after I did, I found all sorts of uses for it. The poem is a personal comment on the role of libraries (and librarians) in the near future. We might have to change, but we prevail. And we will still read.

          1. That is a perfect quote and I believe you were born to discover it and use it: a picture book with that frame? A non- fiction mss? It is true and the — most- golden of rules. (())

    1. I love this but I would lose the words still and forever to pack even more punch. Immortal shows forever.

    1. I love this but I would lose the words still and forever to pack even more punch. Immortal shows forever.

  5. Laura,
    I enjoyed your poem and admired your form. Here’s mine.

    Golden morning, Savanah grasses wave
    with a quiet breeze.
    The silence breaks–
    a lion
    ROARS.

  6. Laura,
    I enjoyed your poem and admired your form. Here’s mine.

    Golden morning, Savanah grasses wave
    with a quiet breeze.
    The silence breaks–
    a lion
    ROARS.

  7. Laura: I love your poem so much this week. It has a different feel and tone for me. The meter meshes so well with the words. It as if the lion wants to pounce out of the ring of your rhythm. Keep going.

  8. Laura: I love your poem so much this week. It has a different feel and tone for me. The meter meshes so well with the words. It as if the lion wants to pounce out of the ring of your rhythm. Keep going.

      1. Thanks, Janelle. I played The Cowardly Lion in a summer camp play. I was perfect for the role. I had zero courage. I’m still trying to get some. I’ve been off to see the wizard for 40 years and counting… :>

      1. Thanks, Janelle. I played The Cowardly Lion in a summer camp play. I was perfect for the role. I had zero courage. I’m still trying to get some. I’ve been off to see the wizard for 40 years and counting… :>

  9. Good Day!
    What a treat having waited for the poems and comments to build for 2 days!

    My contribution:

    Query

    “Well … let’s see…
    They’ve got the stool,
    the tamer.
    Where’s the fiery golden hoop?”

    Jeanne Poland

  10. Good Day!
    What a treat having waited for the poems and comments to build for 2 days!

    My contribution:

    Query

    “Well … let’s see…
    They’ve got the stool,
    the tamer.
    Where’s the fiery golden hoop?”

    Jeanne Poland

  11. Oooh, I love “velvet grasses”!

    I’m a huge Narnia fan, so this is what I thought of.…

    ASLAN

    All my life
    I’ve opened doors,
    wishing-hoping-praying
    I’d find you
    on the other side.

  12. Oooh, I love “velvet grasses”!

    I’m a huge Narnia fan, so this is what I thought of.…

    ASLAN

    All my life
    I’ve opened doors,
    wishing-hoping-praying
    I’d find you
    on the other side.

    1. Hehe–I was just reading the “Medusa” poem from MONSTEROLOGIST at an inservice the other day. And guess which poem I shared from POETRY FRIDAY ANTHOLOGY?

    1. Hehe–I was just reading the “Medusa” poem from MONSTEROLOGIST at an inservice the other day. And guess which poem I shared from POETRY FRIDAY ANTHOLOGY?

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