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.
Hello, writer and educator friends. As I’m clearing out loads of stuff, I keep coming across things full of memories–of my mom, of my kids when they were little, of my own school days, etc. My mom was a quilter, and this tag on the back of one of our quilts says, “Merry Christmas to Laura, Randy & girls, with love, Mom, 1996.” (Annabelle and Madeleine are long names to fit on a heart on the back of a quilt square!) This image makes me think of:
- stitches made out of steel
- the tied wedding quilt she made us, in country peach and blue (combo of which now makes me shudder a bit), which is well-loved and falling apart
- when Maddie had to get stitches in her back (just the word stitches took me there)
And here’s my first draft, which ended up having nothing to do with quilting or stitches, but was instead inspired by all the different ways that parents show their love for their kids.
Blanket statement for July/August. Hope you’re having a wonderful summer. Mine is overwhelmingly busy and emotional. When you Comment, I get an email, and I will be doing my best to read every poem you guys write. But my availability over the summer to comment on each poem will be limited. I hope you’ll write because you love it and enjoy this community. Please know I value your participation, even if I am not able to respond much this month.
It’s your turn! Have fun and stick to 15 WORDS OR LESS! (Title doesn’t count toward word count)
11 Responses
FOREVER AND ALWAYS
A mother’s love holds fast
stretching from the past
enduring
assuring
memories that last.
I love your poem for its specificity and that little tear it makes in my eye.
Stitched into your heart
between the beats
a fountain of love
Sending love to you, Laura, through this tough time of clearing out and Mom memories.
Carefully placed
With loving hands
Stitches that hold us
together
Good morning Laura and 15 Words or Less community. Thankfully quilting is still alive and well and will provide sustenance for generations to come. The date on your quilt,1996, is the year I lost my dad, mom and grandma, in that order. Your quilt generates feelings of joy and precious memories, despite my verse for today.
Loss
Hearts and flowers
fill life with love
in preparation
for the mourning dove.
How wonderful to have those well-worn treasures made by your mom. I still have the tattered quilts that my grandmother made for me more than 50 years ago (and that covered my daughter’s bed for many years.) Love the peanut-butter scented notes in your poem, Laura…and the laugh lines remind me of the photos you’ve posted of your mom.
Buried Treasure
In the garden
beneath the redbud
hidden by sedum and fall anemones–
a heart-shaped rock.
Bits and pieces
stitched together,
sometimes random,
sometimes planned.
Family.
Love.
Life.
Such lovely, heartfelt poems here today put me in a reflective mood.
From injury to surgery,
the child’s stitches -
a scar
on the mother’s heart.
Pencil on batik, scissor through lines, repeat
pattern, repeat colors into rhythms—
bright cover.
Thinking about you and your family, Laura. Sending lots of hugs from Gotham City.
MOMMA’S QUILT
Embroidered hearts stitched
across Momma’s flowered quilt –
a blanket of love.
© Charles Waters 2016 all rights reserved.
Sorry this is so long but it is what I felt when I saw the prompt I was given my quilt about five years ago but was never allowed to use it as a child
My Raggedy Ann and Andy Quit
Eyes of wonder sparkling
A Very special Quilt My Quilt
But partly a secret
Kept tucked in cabaret
Out of my reach
My Quilt partly a secret
I a child longed it rape my quilt
Around me to keep it on my bed
My Quilt Kept tucked in cabaret
A secret keep
My quilt they ley my bay niece
Lay on in her crib but not me
Tears streamed my young eyes
That’s my quite a gift for me
Kept tucked in cabaret
A secret keep
A gift from my birth mom
A secret keep
A Very special Quilt My Quilt
But Kept tucked in cabaret
A secret keep from me
Poem By Jessica Bigi My Raggedy Ann and Andy Quilt
Eyes of wonder sparkling
A Very special Quilt My Quilt
But partly a secret
Kept tucked in a cupboard
Out of my reach
My Quilt partly a secret
I a child longed to wrap my quilt
Around me to keep it on my bed
My Quilt Kept tucked in a cupboard
A secret keep
My quilt they laid my baby niece
Lay on in her crib but not me
Tears streamed my young eyes
That’s my quite a gift for me
Kept tucked in a cupboard
A secret keep
A gift from my birth mom
A secret kept
A Very special Quilt My Quilt
But Kept tucked in a cupboard
A secret kept from me