Refugee Camp Mural [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. 

Kofinou Refugee Camp
Photo: Laura P. Salas

Here in the United States, we celebrated our independence and freedom yesterday. (Hope you had a fun  holiday!) I thought this might be a good week to share an image from a refugee camp. A regional artist had gone to the camp and done this beautiful mural on one of the walls. Freedom and a life of safety is what most asylum-seekers hope for. 

This image makes me think of several things:

  1. superheroes
  2. seagulls
  3. artists

It’s your turn! And please DON’T feel your poems have to be about refugees or any other serious topic. Whatever idea this photo inspires, run with it! Have fun and stick to 15 WORDS OR LESS! (Title doesn’t count toward word count.)

 

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12 Responses

  1. A perfect and beautiful photo for today, Laura. Thank you. I’d love to know what filters you use to get such interesting photos. Maybe I just need to play with my phone more? Thank you for the weekly prompts. I love being in the habit of seeing and responding with a quick write. It really helps.

    I couldn’t leave the theme of refugees. They are so on my heart right now.

    See sky
    earth bound
    scorching heat
    deadened sounds
    hope flees
    to higher
    safer
    ground

    1. Thanks, Linda, for sharing that these weekly quick writes are fun and useful for you! I generally use PicsArt (on my Android phone) for the filters. Under Magic. Oh, your poem is devastating. It does feel like hope has fled to higher ground sometimes, leaving so many people vulnerable, exposed.

  2. Laura, hoping your fourth was just as you imagined. Few words, but the voice in your poem speak volumes, proving that less can be better.

    Gulls as Lighthouses

    Ray of hope
    from one so small
    to those who cope
    hear my call.

    BELIEVE!

    1. Martha, I love the idea of the gull answering the child and giving encouragement. Just lovely.

  3. Laura, who knows what happened. I’m visiting in GA and for some reason my verse shows as anonymous. Martha O’Quinn here, and my contribution is “Gulls as Lighthouses.” Sorry for the mixup.

  4. I don’t do prayers or acrostics.… someone else must have written this!

    Prayer for Hope

    Heaven-ward gaze
    Open our hearts to
    People of all places, all races
    Everyone welcome here

    1. Beautiful, Buffy–I love it when a form emerges that we don’t usually try! (Also, I deleted your first post and fixed title on second.)

  5. poem By Jessica Bigi

    our mother world
    infant wings
    carry us to safer lands
    like a mother bird
    cradling her young

    1. What a wonderful image, Jessica. If only our people could be as welcoming as a mother bird…

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