Photo: Laura Purdie Salas
Happy New Year, my 15 Words or Less people! I hope your 2015 is full of joy and adventure!
Wake up your poetry brains with 15 Words or Less (guidelines here)!
I took this pic in the cemetery next to my sister’s house on my recent trip to Florida to visit my mom during her cancer treatment. This image makes me think of:
1) my Grandma Foshee’s long, long, white/grey hair, which she always wore in a bun
2) cobwebs
3) a clutter of spiders
And here’s my?first draft.
Curtains
moss curls,
curtains a secret room
with oaken walls
and shadows for floors
-Laura Purdie Salas, all rights reserved
Now it’s your turn! Have fun and stick to 15 WORDS OR LESS!??(Title doesn’t count toward word count:>)??
miss willow
knits her
silver tears
into frosty
squirts
branches
knitting
green-leafed
stars into
snowflake
swatters
Poem By Jessica Bigi
Lauer I Love your first and last two lines of your poem
Happy New Year
Love the silvery tears and knitted snowflake swatters.
Jessica, I like that you gave the tree a name and a personality.
The idea of Miss Willow gives me a whole new look at the picture, Jessica!
Such nice language! Love the idea of branches knitting.
Did you possibly mean snowflake “sweaters”, instead of “swatters?”
Having “Miss Willow” knitting is a creative idea.
I did
miss willow
knits her
silver tears
into frosty
squirts
branches
knitting
green-leafed
stars into
snowflake
swatters
Poem By Jessica Bigi
Lauer I Love your first and last two lines of your poem
Happy New Year
Love the silvery tears and knitted snowflake swatters.
Jessica, I like that you gave the tree a name and a personality.
The idea of Miss Willow gives me a whole new look at the picture, Jessica!
Such nice language! Love the idea of branches knitting.
Did you possibly mean snowflake “sweaters”, instead of “swatters?”
Having “Miss Willow” knitting is a creative idea.
I did
Love the secret room and shadows behind the moss, Laura. Here’s mine:
ghosts
dangle from branches
in sheets of moss
guarding the graves
by day
I love the first 3 lines and ending
Ellie, I love the combination of grave, ghosts and guard.
The idea of ghosts being covered, hiding in sheets! Love the imagination.
Yes! Guarding the graves is perfect!
I like your creative take on the picture. “Ghosts guarding the graves” brings a little shiver.
Good job.
Love the secret room and shadows behind the moss, Laura. Here’s mine:
ghosts
dangle from branches
in sheets of moss
guarding the graves
by day
I love the first 3 lines and ending
Ellie, I love the combination of grave, ghosts and guard.
The idea of ghosts being covered, hiding in sheets! Love the imagination.
Yes! Guarding the graves is perfect!
I like your creative take on the picture. “Ghosts guarding the graves” brings a little shiver.
Good job.
Love the silvery tears and knitted snowflake swatters.
Love the silvery tears and knitted snowflake swatters.
I hope you had a wonderful visit with family.
Softly,
Silver strands snake-slither,
Swallowing;
Still –
Salient sunlight sinuates,
Sustaining
Sallowed sycamore.
Donna JT Smith, all rights reserved
Wonderful
Love the “s” sounds.
Wow-I love all the alliteration, Donna, but the choice of words, too, like “salient” and “sinuates”.
Love the alliteration! And snake-slither creates such a great visual.
All the “s” sounds suggest the sound of breezes moving through the hanging moss.
I hope you had a wonderful visit with family.
Softly,
Silver strands snake-slither,
Swallowing;
Still –
Salient sunlight sinuates,
Sustaining
Sallowed sycamore.
Donna JT Smith, all rights reserved
Wonderful
Love the “s” sounds.
Wow-I love all the alliteration, Donna, but the choice of words, too, like “salient” and “sinuates”.
Love the alliteration! And snake-slither creates such a great visual.
All the “s” sounds suggest the sound of breezes moving through the hanging moss.
Cloistered
souls sleep
loved ones weep
privacy entails
mossy veils
I love the last line
Martha, just beautiful, imagining this, & the rhythm & rhyme.
You captured so much with your words. Excellent! I picture the funeral…heads bowed under the veils.
You painted a picture with these words, and even used rhyme and rhythm.
Nice.
Cloistered
souls sleep
loved ones weep
privacy entails
mossy veils
I love the last line
Martha, just beautiful, imagining this, & the rhythm & rhyme.
You captured so much with your words. Excellent! I picture the funeral…heads bowed under the veils.
You painted a picture with these words, and even used rhyme and rhythm.
Nice.
Laura, I failed to mention the lovely phrases, moss curls and oaken walls in your verse; warm and comforting. Happy New Year one and all.
Laura, I failed to mention the lovely phrases, moss curls and oaken walls in your verse; warm and comforting. Happy New Year one and all.
Moss
Last night
Old Mama Tree
knitted herself
a shawl.
?Kate Coombs
Kate, quite fitting, the knitting. When I first looked at the photo I could see a nose protruding through the moss and you made it real without a mention!
Love this, Kate!
Beautiful image to contemplate.
Very nice!
This is wonderful she knittes sitting on a rocker wind
Oh, how perfect! A knit shawl. Yes, that’s what it looks like.
Moss
Last night
Old Mama Tree
knitted herself
a shawl.
?Kate Coombs
Kate, quite fitting, the knitting. When I first looked at the photo I could see a nose protruding through the moss and you made it real without a mention!
Love this, Kate!
Beautiful image to contemplate.
Very nice!
This is wonderful she knittes sitting on a rocker wind
Oh, how perfect! A knit shawl. Yes, that’s what it looks like.
Lovely poem, Laura.
Glow worms merge and crunch in sunlight
Whose idea was it to escape from the cave?
I like that ‘merge and crunch’, Catherine.
Ha! Very funny!
Glow little glow worms . . . . I’ll have that tune in my head all afternoon! Thanks for the smile.
Oh, what a different take on the picture, Catherine. I like it.
Glow worms merging and crunching. Ha.
Lovely poem, Laura.
Glow worms merge and crunch in sunlight
Whose idea was it to escape from the cave?
I like that ‘merge and crunch’, Catherine.
Ha! Very funny!
Glow little glow worms . . . . I’ll have that tune in my head all afternoon! Thanks for the smile.
Oh, what a different take on the picture, Catherine. I like it.
Glow worms merging and crunching. Ha.
I hope you had a lovely visit with your mother, Laura. It’s not easy with parents far away. I love the words “shadows for floors”. Because of the day today, here’s mine. Happy New Year!
With past power
and future hope
I navigated
the tangle-covered
threshold to the year.
Linda Baie ?All Rights Reserved
love the ‘tangled threshold”
Navigating the tangled threshold! Love this, Linda. Happy New Year!
Hope with power – what a way to begin a new year. Very nice.
I like your use of “past power and future hope”and then I liked how you worked in the word “tangled” like the moss in the picture. Good thoughtful poem.
I hope you had a lovely visit with your mother, Laura. It’s not easy with parents far away. I love the words “shadows for floors”. Because of the day today, here’s mine. Happy New Year!
With past power
and future hope
I navigated
the tangle-covered
threshold to the year.
Linda Baie ?All Rights Reserved
love the ‘tangled threshold”
Navigating the tangled threshold! Love this, Linda. Happy New Year!
Hope with power – what a way to begin a new year. Very nice.
I like your use of “past power and future hope”and then I liked how you worked in the word “tangled” like the moss in the picture. Good thoughtful poem.
Happy New Year to you, Laura, and to all other 15wol participants.
My brain is slow today. I keep coming with different ideas, but can’t decide.
Finally, I give up. Here’s one.
Container Garden
Moss is treated,
cleaned, dried.
No more critters
hide inside.
Can be used
to beautify.
Happy New Year to you, too, Pat. I like the idea of the usefulness of the moss, better than filling up the tree, right?
Yes, the tree would probably be better off, but I think that moss does serve a purpose for wildlife, too. All sorts of things can live in it, like chiggers, lizards, and even snakes. Birds take it for nests.
My daughter used moss to decorate our Christmas table. We were wondering if any tiny inhabitants might flutter out.
Yikes, I hope not. I read that it can be microwaved to kill pests if used in homes.
I always look to see if anything resembling life is hiding in moss I use inside. Good one!
Happy New Year to you, Laura, and to all other 15wol participants.
My brain is slow today. I keep coming with different ideas, but can’t decide.
Finally, I give up. Here’s one.
Container Garden
Moss is treated,
cleaned, dried.
No more critters
hide inside.
Can be used
to beautify.
Happy New Year to you, too, Pat. I like the idea of the usefulness of the moss, better than filling up the tree, right?
Yes, the tree would probably be better off, but I think that moss does serve a purpose for wildlife, too. All sorts of things can live in it, like chiggers, lizards, and even snakes. Birds take it for nests.
My daughter used moss to decorate our Christmas table. We were wondering if any tiny inhabitants might flutter out.
Yikes, I hope not. I read that it can be microwaved to kill pests if used in homes.
I always look to see if anything resembling life is hiding in moss I use inside. Good one!
Happy New Year, Laura. Glad you got to spend time with your sister and mother. Love your moss curtains! Especially the shadowed floor!
I used hyphenated words. So maybe that’s cheating a little…but I promise they were hyphenated before I checked my word count. So it wasn’t premeditated cheating 🙂
The City Tree and the Country Tree
fancy-limbed
tidy-trimmed
beside a white-washed fence
large-limbed
nature-trimmed
beside a forest dense.
I love the comparison of city tree to country tree, so true. I live among country trees.
I think hyphenation is sometimes our saving grace. Love the rhythm these make, Penny.
I love the differences your poem offers, and each beautiful in its own way.
I love this poem, Penny. I like the comparison idea, the rhyme pattern and great rhythm.
Wonderful job.
Happy New Year, Laura. Glad you got to spend time with your sister and mother. Love your moss curtains! Especially the shadowed floor!
I used hyphenated words. So maybe that’s cheating a little…but I promise they were hyphenated before I checked my word count. So it wasn’t premeditated cheating 🙂
The City Tree and the Country Tree
fancy-limbed
tidy-trimmed
beside a white-washed fence
large-limbed
nature-trimmed
beside a forest dense.
I love the comparison of city tree to country tree, so true. I live among country trees.
I think hyphenation is sometimes our saving grace. Love the rhythm these make, Penny.
I love the differences your poem offers, and each beautiful in its own way.
I love this poem, Penny. I like the comparison idea, the rhyme pattern and great rhythm.
Wonderful job.
Angel Hair
Tresses of gold
Flutter to the ground
Through the clouds
Creating gossamer trees
Love gossamer trees. Just recently learned that word. We used it in Halloween poems in my class. Great word!
It reminds me of beautiful hair & you described it beautifully!
Angel hair and tresses are so compatible.
As I do often on this site, I looked up the word gossamer. I had always connected it with a light, delicate fabric — like gauze. But definition said it could also be a fine, filmy cobweb floating in air or on a tree or bush. Either definition would fit here. Great job, Amelia.
Angel Hair
Tresses of gold
Flutter to the ground
Through the clouds
Creating gossamer trees
Love gossamer trees. Just recently learned that word. We used it in Halloween poems in my class. Great word!
It reminds me of beautiful hair & you described it beautifully!
Angel hair and tresses are so compatible.
As I do often on this site, I looked up the word gossamer. I had always connected it with a light, delicate fabric — like gauze. But definition said it could also be a fine, filmy cobweb floating in air or on a tree or bush. Either definition would fit here. Great job, Amelia.
Happy New Year, Laura. Thanks for keeping our creative fingers going. Your image is a familiar one to me. We have old oaks that are covered in more moss than leaves. I think about how these trees have seen many years.
Tangled fingers
on her aging hands
reach out
to hold another year.
–Margaret Simon
A new year with baby skin, as soft as your poem. Thanks Margaret
And I guess the moss is not damaging, Margaret? I love your poem, that ‘reaching out to hold another year’-just beautiful.
I love how the moss is compared to “tangled fingers on aging hands,”
and how those aging hands are reaching out for more years.
Touching thought.
Happy New Year, Laura. Thanks for keeping our creative fingers going. Your image is a familiar one to me. We have old oaks that are covered in more moss than leaves. I think about how these trees have seen many years.
Tangled fingers
on her aging hands
reach out
to hold another year.
–Margaret Simon
A new year with baby skin, as soft as your poem. Thanks Margaret
And I guess the moss is not damaging, Margaret? I love your poem, that ‘reaching out to hold another year’-just beautiful.
I love how the moss is compared to “tangled fingers on aging hands,”
and how those aging hands are reaching out for more years.
Touching thought.
Happy New Year, Laura and wonderful poets! Thank you, Laura for all that you do. You are truly an inspiration! I hope that your mother is feeling better.
FILIGREE BOAS
Nature’s filigree boas
dance in the in between spaces
tickling, turning,
swaying in God’s breath
Nice, gentle description Jennifer.
Nice image, that dancing in-between. Happy New Year!
“Nature’s filigree boas” — another creative way of seeing that picture.
Nice.
Happy New Year, Laura and wonderful poets! Thank you, Laura for all that you do. You are truly an inspiration! I hope that your mother is feeling better.
FILIGREE BOAS
Nature’s filigree boas
dance in the in between spaces
tickling, turning,
swaying in God’s breath
Nice, gentle description Jennifer.
Nice image, that dancing in-between. Happy New Year!
“Nature’s filigree boas” — another creative way of seeing that picture.
Nice.
Happy New Year all!
January 1
his beard as gray
as winter moss,
my tinsel-topped mop,
we toast the new year
Good one Buffy. Accurate from my perspective!
Yes. I saw a bit of myself and husband in this one… we’ve been called Mr. and Mrs. Claus a number of times while out and about.
a sweet comment, that tinsel-topped mop, Buffy, & the toasting by both. Happy New Year!
Oh, I love the way so many different ideas come from the same picture.
Now that moss is a tinsel-topped mop toasting the new year.
Love it.
Happy New Year all!
January 1
his beard as gray
as winter moss,
my tinsel-topped mop,
we toast the new year
Good one Buffy. Accurate from my perspective!
Yes. I saw a bit of myself and husband in this one… we’ve been called Mr. and Mrs. Claus a number of times while out and about.
a sweet comment, that tinsel-topped mop, Buffy, & the toasting by both. Happy New Year!
Oh, I love the way so many different ideas come from the same picture.
Now that moss is a tinsel-topped mop toasting the new year.
Love it.
Clinging, poking;
Like a lifeless tumbleweed
The old year
Must be sent on its way.
This is wonderful
I like the tumbleweed idea. Nice.
That lifeless tumbleweed really is gone, isn’t it? Wonderful thought that it clings & pokes!
I like the way you compared that hanging moss to lifeless tumbleweed.
Clinging, poking;
Like a lifeless tumbleweed
The old year
Must be sent on its way.
This is wonderful
I like the tumbleweed idea. Nice.
That lifeless tumbleweed really is gone, isn’t it? Wonderful thought that it clings & pokes!
I like the way you compared that hanging moss to lifeless tumbleweed.
New Year
Icicles disappear from eaves
Ornaments nestle in tissue
January first ritual tucks Christmas
Into hibernation
Lovely verse.
Oh what a lovely sentiment, tucking Christmas into hibernation. I just did that today, at least most!
Beautiful! Christmas gets tucked into hibernation.
Neat idea.
New Year
Icicles disappear from eaves
Ornaments nestle in tissue
January first ritual tucks Christmas
Into hibernation
Lovely verse.
Oh what a lovely sentiment, tucking Christmas into hibernation. I just did that today, at least most!
Beautiful! Christmas gets tucked into hibernation.
Neat idea.
The wind puts
On her icy crown
her gown of
Snow stars
She knits through
Oaks and birch
Her poem of
Winter yarn
Tangled glittering
Lights out side
Window- boxes
She untangled into
A new years
Wish
Poem by Jessica Bigi
I love the idea of untangling into a wish, Jessica!
I love “…knits..her poem of winter yarn” The poem/yarn (story) tickles my fancy!
I like your idea of the wind knitting through oaks and birches.
Nice ideas here.
The wind puts
On her icy crown
her gown of
Snow stars
She knits through
Oaks and birch
Her poem of
Winter yarn
Tangled glittering
Lights out side
Window- boxes
She untangled into
A new years
Wish
Poem by Jessica Bigi
I love the idea of untangling into a wish, Jessica!
I love “…knits..her poem of winter yarn” The poem/yarn (story) tickles my fancy!
I like your idea of the wind knitting through oaks and birches.
Nice ideas here.
Late to the party!
When cold air creeps
across the skin,
a bristly beard
helps warm the chin.
Late is okay Cindy. It delays the end for 15 WOL. Cold is certainly where we are headed for early next week. Happy New Year.
Late to the party!
When cold air creeps
across the skin,
a bristly beard
helps warm the chin.
Late is okay Cindy. It delays the end for 15 WOL. Cold is certainly where we are headed for early next week. Happy New Year.