Maze [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. 

Maze
Photo: Laura P. Salas

A nearby park has what the map describes as a maze–which I think is overstating it a little! But it’s a sort of walking meditation path that is rather soothing. This image makes me think of several things:

  1. When I can SEE the building I need from the highway but can’t figure out how to get there
  2. How inefficient and roundabout much of our lives are–is that a bad thing?
  3. It feels odd to walk just looking at your feet

And here’s my first draft.  Gosh, I had fun with this! I started with shortest distance and was off on a philosophical thought about how the shortest distance isn’t always a line because things are complicated–but then wordplay took over:>) As I was writing this draft, I actually couldn’t even remember what the image was of, but that’s ok, because the picture is ALWAYS just the starting point. Then you take it wherever it wants to go.

shortest distance 15wol

 

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

 

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41 Responses

  1. Good morning Laura. I think I might be able to successfully complete this maze! I steer clear of corn and hay bale mazes.

    The Sequel

    Sleeping Beauty
    now wary of apples;
    witch, watching from woods
    admires perfect “pink” mushrooms.

      1. Thank you Lauren. I just love the many interpretations in the 15 WOL exercises. Pink, poisonous mushrooms certainly jumped out at me.

    1. There’s always some new danger, isn’t there? I love that SB is “wary” of apples. Ha!

    2. Fantastic, I love your fairy tale take on this picture. If it’s not apples, it’s pink mushrooms; Sleeping Beauty needs to stay sharp.

  2. Laura, I love your poem, your point and especially your ending. Great picture today too.

    Sweet distractions
    on unplanned paths
    reward those
    who dare to wander.

    1. Thanks for your “sweet distractions” to counter my ominous ones!!!!

    2. Isn’t it nice when distractions are a reward and not the enemy? Makes me want to go for a wander today!

  3. As a kid I used to make mazes in the snow after a new snow and kids would follow it round and round at recess time. Taught my students to make them too years later. That’s what this reminds me of.

    Amazing Recess

    Happily trudging
    Shuffling snow
    Winding a puzzle path
    To and fro

    This also reminds me of the empty summer playgrounds here, waiting for kids to come back to play.

    Gone for Now

    Round the school’s playground
    Chasing and calls
    These are the phantoms
    Of their winter footfalls

    1. I would have loved your snow mazes when I was little and lived up north. Your second poem captures that eerie feeling of an empty playground.

  4. Fun poem, Laura. I like “Survivors: strength”

    LIGHTING THE WAY

    Fairy footprints
    in the park,
    shimmer pink
    to light the dark.

    1. Ooh. I feel a need to watch a wonderful, magical children’s movie of some kind! Love the “fairy footprints.”

  5. poem By Jessica Bigi
    Steps of Faith
    Perhaps our lives
    steppingstones
    for other to follow
    teaching
    connecting
    careering
    one another
    across the world

    1. Love your second line. Where I live, a slip in a creek might feel nice on a hot day like today.

  6. I enjoyed your poem, especially the ending. The picture put me in mind of a flattened corn field. Here’s my little ditty.

    Crop Circle

    Said they’d be back
    A short trip ’round the sun
    I’m still sitting here
    Waiting

    1. Love that last line and the friendly feel of your poem for a topic often presented as scary.

  7. Laura I read your poem at work yesterday, but was too busy to post, so I’m posting today. That picture really caught my attention, and I like how you just let it inspire your poem’s path. Since I’m a nurse by trade, the maze picture took a bit of a medical journey.

    Healthcare’s Path

    Symptoms, diagnosis, disease,
    Opinions, GP’s, Expertise.
    Deductibles, Bills, ill at ease,
    Medical Maze Runner squeeze.

    1. Isn’t this the truth. I have a daughter with a chronic health condition, and sometimes it feels like life is one big healthcare plan. Nice rhyming–love ill at ease!

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