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. Even though I’m not! I’m at a family wedding in Atlanta and won’t be able to reply today! But I hope you still participate. This is such a lovely and welcoming community!
I suppose I should have gone with something love-related for Valentine’s Day, but, well, there’s plenty of that floating around. So here’s something a little different!
This is a five-ton Olmec head outside the Natural History Museum in DC. This image makes me think of several things:
- heavy thoughts
- the entire universe concentrated in one tiny, unbelievably dense speck just before the Big Bang
- disapproving parents
And here’s my first draft.
It’s your turn! Have fun and stick to 15 WORDS OR LESS! (Title doesn’t count toward word count.)
29 Responses
I went straight to disapproving parent before reading your thoughts, Laura. lol Guess I still have a guilty conscience from my childhood. Here’s my quick silly thought…
I see her face
I face my doom
I forgot again
to clean my room
I feel her pain! I was a very messy child.
Likewise, but I give my mom credit for a bit of leniency during the week (during school days), but on Saturday and during the summer it was an everyday thing.
My Mom is my Barber
Bowl on head.
Clippers clip.
Very sad
I won’t be hip.
This made me laugh!
Of course Cindy! Poor kids.
Laura, enjoy the wedding! Happiness wishes to the bride & groom.
A Reverso
Proud stone
square jaw
Olmec culture
Ancient
vulture
Ancient
Olmec culture
square jaw
proud stone
Love this Linda.
I love your reverso!
Welcome to Atlanta Laura. Wishing you a delightful visit and congrats to the newlyweds. I felt a pang of regret after reading your verse and your #2 thought. Hopefully my children have forgiven me for “making” them eat something they hated, thinking I was being a good parent! The tiny speck before big bang is powerful.
Secrets
You resist a smile.
“If only you knew,
we might reconcile
how I became you.”
What an interesting twist in that last line. Great rhyme too.
brilliant!
Revolt!
No peas for me–
ice cream instead!
Too late
I’ve dumped pea bowl on head!
This made me laugh! Perhaps the first known “pea bowl” haircut?
Suzanne, that does look exactly like a bowl of something on the poor guy’s head. Funny!
a haiku
all those cruel things
you ever said to me
etched on my face
No poker face here. Love your haiku!
Oh how sad. So much pain in just a few lines.
thanks, Jean!
Not trying to reduce this impressive olmec head to adolescent angst, but that’s where my brain went. Happy Hearts to all!
Morning Mood
My brain controls the weather
that shines upon my face.
Swirling clouds and thunder
lift without a trace.
What an interesting first line. Love the upbeat mood of your poem.
Laura have a great time at the wedding!
Incomplete
Stone cold thoughts
I often dread,
Like, “why is my body
detached from my head?”
I was trying to write something like this. Love the chill feeling I get from your poem.
What fun to be in Atlanta for a wedding, Laura.
Better late than never with my poem, I hope. This sad face stuck with me today.
Here I wait
and hope and pine.
Won’t you be
my Valentine?
poem by Jessica Bigi
Mandela
I life When
you danced rainbow
your children
yore freed
your rainbow- heart
is beating forever
poem By Jessica Bigi
Mandela
in life
when you
danced rainbows
your children were freed
your rainbow
heart beets forever
When you reformatted this and changed “is beating” to “beats, it really made it even more powerful. Love this.
Thanks for this fabulous rock sculpture prompt Laura! I like your poem’s parental p.o.v. Hope you are enjoying your mini wedding retreat.
History lies heavy
on my head–
Heed my words
take action
cautiously…
2019 Michelle Kogan
Hi guys! I haven’t been around for a while—it’s so nice to see your latest poems!
Stone thoughts,
ponderous
as the universe,
heavy as night.
—Kate Coombs