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. Today is International Peace Day, so check out the #peaceday hashtag and also the Peace Padlet. It’s also, appropriately, my daughter Maddie’s birthday, and I just videocalled her in Cyprus, where she’s living, doing charity work, and working toward peace. We are SO proud of her!
I blogged yesterday about making some peace sign safety pins. Here’s one.
This image makes me think of several things:
- diapers and our very brief attempt at reusable diapers–ack
- Greece (the colors, I guess?)
- peace
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.) And your poems do not have to be about peace. Whatever the image inspires you is just right and is welcome!
45 Responses
I love the idea of your peace pins!
Intertwined like beads on a wire
stronger, more beautiful
together
What a beautiful poem with a beautiful message!
Yes, stronger together!
What a delicate, beautiful metaphor, Buffy.
I remember having safety pins with more pins with beads hung from them making classy designs.…
Here’s my peace offering today — an extended acrostic:
Rosary of Peace
Prayerfully pinned peag
Encircling, entreating -
Artfully appealing,
“Come, Comfort,
“End Evil eternally”.
By Donna JT Smith
I had to look up peag. Nicely done acrostic with alliteration and peaceful message. Wow!
Donna, this is beautiful. I tried for an acrostic, but it just wouldn’t come. Love your extended version. Looks tricky to do! I especially love the mood of your first two lines.
I love the idea of peace pins.…can’t wait to get started on making some. Remember when we all were wearing safety pins to show we were safe people? I kinda got out of the habit. But, I think a peace pin is a really nice way of getting back into it.
Donna, your poem is a prayer. Lovely.….and Buffy, yes! stronger together. My favorite slogan!
A sea
of faces
happy, sad,
angry, confused.
Yours
safe…
a peace pin
Thank you.
I don’t remember the “safety” pin idea, only the beaded hanging safety pins lined up on a pin.
I love the moment of recognition, perhaps a familiar face, certainly a friendly face among the others creating unease.
Yes! Linda, this is exactly how I want people who see the peace pins to feel. Thank YOU for putting it into words:>)
Love your pic and poem The pines are
wonderful symbols of our peace
poem by Jessica Bigi
Peace
Love
Hope
each bead
Tiny worlds
safety pined
inside our
human hearts
How sweet! I love lines 4 and 5.
I like the thought of each bead being a tiny world.
Oh, this is gorgeous. The little white beads made me think of planets, but I didn’t do anything nearly as lovely with that thought.
Very sweet.…the kind of sweet we want. Lovely.
I wrote 2. Love this prompt!????
Wear this pin,
Darling,
to symbolize
The Peace
I see
in
you.
Wear this pin,
Darling,
to remind
the world
of what
could be.
I’m so glad you shared here, Kim! Just a heads-up that you shared them in a reply to another person’s comment, so other folks won’t see your poem unless they happen to read the entire string of comments. When you have the blog post open, you just scroll all the way to the bottom of the comments and find the already opened box that says “Enter your comment here…” You don’t have to click on Reply unless you want to reply to someone else’s Comment. It can be confusing at first! Anyway, that’s just a note for the future, as I hope you’ll be back to share frequently:>) I love the affection in your poems!
Thank you Laura! I quickly ran out to a craft store and obtained materials for my 150 seventh graders to make peace pins today. We will be writing a group peace poem in the air. My verse to start them off:
Peace like the sun
rests on shouldertops.
Lovely! I hope they have fun!
This should be something that gets them focused! Fun day! Maybe post your poem on Friday??
Kim, that’s amazing. YOU are amazing. I hope their peace pins come out beautifully. I know your poem will. What a lovely beginning.
A rainbow
of people
and cultures
fastened together
with love
Simple and beautiful, Amelia. I like your choice of “fastened.”
…each color is different but blending at its edge…
Oh, Amelia, I LOVE this! I wish I had written it–much more elegant than my own attempt! So simple and lovely.
I love the peace poems and the pins. My thoughts went to abaci (is that the plural of abacus?) and in a more negative direction…sorry!
Without Peace
Quick fingers calculate
with slick, clicking
beads
Counting lives lost
Collective sorrow
Like people are pawns. Love quick, slick, click leading to those important last two lines. Without Peace … sorrow! Sigh.
The beads as abacus is wonderful!
Molly, no apologies needed! This is beautiful indeed, and sad. I like all the hard ick sounds. They feel appropriate.
awwwww, sometimes sad fits the bill. Really, writing sad and reading sad helps express what needs to come out.
Good morning to all. What a timely post Laura. Love your poem and I especially love the comment about the use of safety pins with regard to cloth diapers. I got through the diaper phase with both my children (showing my age). I boiled them for sanitation and I loved hanging them all in a row on an outside clothesline. I still buy cloth diapers (yes, one can), not for their once intended use but they make the best cloths for cleaning windows. My contribution to “Thursday Trivia” which I am sure will show up with “your comment awaits moderation” – I have done everything I know to make that go away, even changing the E address that I use.
Nuclear Disarmament
Seize
Every
Moment
Agreeably
Placidly
Harmoniously that
Offers
Reciprocal
Equality
I applaud your acrostic that sends a signal with letters like flags: the meaning I am taking from semaphore, the peace I am taking from your poem. Very nice.
Frustrating to await moderation. My posts once did, and then it changed. I hope this changes for you as well, and soon!
Thank you Lauren. Believe me, there are more frustrations in this world than my little “awaiting” one! I suppose I was in a literal mood more than a figuratively one this morning. I appreciate your comment.
Oh, Martha, I’m sorry that even changing emails didn’t work. I always try to keep an eye out for pending comments so that you don’t have to wait forever for yours to show up! I tried to do a peace acrostic and couldn’t get anything I loved. How cool that you did this one! So many great words in here: harmoniously, reciprocal, equality…
I love your peace pin and the peaceful thoughts here today. If any good can come from the horrible natural disasters of late, it might be that people begin to remember we all are fellow humans and help each other, putting political and personal disagreements aside, however briefly.
Harvey, Irma, Maria,
earthquakes!
In their wake of devastation -
people helping people
conflicts forgotten.
The natural disasters of late seem to be a shaking up of awareness… a slap in the face to bring people back to their senses and focus on what’s important?
Lauren, this is great. One of my favorite–if you can have a favorite–things about natural disasters are the fact that when we humans are battling nature, and we have a common obstacle, we do seem to band together and treat each other more kindly. Love your internal rhyme of earthquakes and wake!
Happy Birthday to your daughter. It sounds like she is working hard to make a difference. I am loving all the peaceful poems! My poem comes off a bit cynical–but I’m not actually! it’s just the first thing that popped into my head when I saw the pin. 🙂
Peace Pin
Many say
Let’s work together
Some say
Let’s put a pin in it.
Thanks, Rebecca–she is. I’ve heard the phrase “put a pin in it” once or twice but had to look it up to see what it actually means. Putting a pin in it so we get to it later…lots of people think peace is a “someday” goal. I used to, too. But it’s feeling more urgent all the time, isn’t it? And no excuses needed. Whatever pops into your head when you see the pic is always great! That’s totally the intention here.
Oh, the irony.…sharp.
Hi Laura, this is just my shy try on your wonderful prompt…Love the pin you made and the message it holds. So needed in almost each corner of our planet at this turbulent time.
Tiny beads,
shiny droplets of life,
Safely surounding a Peace sign,
Promiss
Love and happiness.
“droplets of life” — that is gorgeous! Thank you for playing and sharing!
Oops! I PROMISE that I will (at least) spell check my post next time. 🙁
Thank you for your kind comment, Laura.
Not to worry Laura. “Awaiting moderation” will go away on its own at some point. Oh, and my comment about “Thursday Trivia” was not related to your post for today, but to my comment on diapers as cleaning cloths. Peace is certainly not trivia.