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.
So, the picture I posted last week was a filtered image (as usual) of some frosted glass with a coral‑y design on it. I think it was at my Minneapolis-St. Paul Airport, though I’m not 100% sure. It was just on a glass wall or door, but the shapes caught my eye. Here’s another picture, also, I think, from my airport. (If not from mine, these are from the St. Louis Airport.)
Isn’t that cool? There was a whole fleet of these hanging from the ceiling near one of the gates. This image makes me think of several things:
- an origami stegosaurus
- the Hindenburg
- the beauty of a freshly sharpened pencil
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 HAPPY HOLIDAYS, everyone!
32 Responses
Pencil sharp enough
to deflate
the blimp it has brought
into being
ooooooh, clever!
This one made me think! Love it.
The power of the pen (cil)! Clever!
DAYDREAM MOMENT
In the glass journey…
Hybrid vessel a thousand destinations
Mind wanders free.
I love how surreal this is. I’m working to get a little more of that into my own poetry.
Oh, I do love a freshly sharpened pencil.…the feel and the scent and the scrape of the point on paper. Thanks for this image, Laura. It’s really cool. I’m digging the origami scene you’ve painted. I took the sharpened in the direction of pencils.
Freshly sharpened airships
of our stenography pool
wait poised for shorthand
across wide, bright skies
Linda, I wrote a reply haiku to your poem.
Galaxy of poems
ride inside our airships
revealed by starlight.
Oh, Margaret, this is delightful! So spare, but so full!
love it! responses to writing are the best!
Love the analogy. Paper is always a sky to fly ideas in!
Merry Christmas to you, Laura, and to all my poet friends! ( in fourteen words!)
CUPID ON PATROL
Missiles speeding through the night
gather stars to give them light.
Love darts
piercing hearts.
Love darts piercing hearts! ????
Love this picture, Laura. And your origami
dino is great–I like how the last two lines go together–ancient and modern
The picture made me think of a steampunky Star Trek crew.
Colonists
swept along
by silent sails.
Still searching–
we’ve left no mark
save stardust swirls.
Stardust swirls- wonderful!
Thanks, Rebekah. Oh, this is gorgeous. I love all the alliteration and beautiful language–those second and third lines are dreamy!
Laura, the sharpened pencil is perfect. The visual takes me back to daydreaming at the pencil sharpener in the classroom and the teacher bringing me back to reality with the adage “waste not want not;” also the temptation
to stick the eraser end of the pencil into an electric sharpener. Ouch! Never did. I saw an alien spaceship under the right point of the ship.
“Earth to Mars: Come in Please”
Do we fear you,
prepare to fight?
Maybe
too much punch
and party last night?
So many of our attitudes are affected by things that have nothing to do with the actual issue at hand, right? And yes to daydreaming at the pencil sharpener! You are my sister:>)
A dino love poem, perhaps? Happy Holidays, everyone.
I’ll stick stars
on my spine
to shine
a path
between us.
I love the sweet earnestness of this voice, Lauren!
Pencil Point
The pencil scratches.
Sharp words
Shoot to the offender.
Point made.
Our words have such power. Thanks for playing, Susan!
Happy holidays to all–I so enjoy your prompts each week, Laura, and the responses that everyone shares. May your sharp pencils discover new adventures in 2018!
The Journey
Voyagers sail
through sea and sky
traveling aboard
the mind’s eye
Really nice.….mind’s eye
Thank you, Buffy! Ooh, this is fun. I’m hearing the old-school Star Trek narrator (was it Gene Roddenberry who did the opening?) proclaim this poem in my head!
Love your last line Laura
poem By Jessica Bigi
Teacher I swear
I tried to wright my
poems but my pen
ate all my paper
Thanks! Haha–that’s one excuse a teacher would never hear from you, Jessica!
I loved all your ideas! I immediately went to the writing of ideas as being light as air, like the model, and your pencil fit right in!
Thoughts
Delicate as air -
Caught with flair
To spare
Thoughts
To ink blots
Repair.
Donna JT Smith
I love how most of your words feel airy, Donna:>)
I feel like there’s a story in this one, about tiny denizens of airports. Happy Holidays to all of you!
Small starboats sail the cloudways,
made quaint by the passing
of vast human airships.
—Kate Coombs
Oooh. I feel like that first line could be the mentor text for a fun activity where kids make unexpected compound words and then create poems from them!
Laura this picture is beautiful! Sorry to have missed last week, and be late this week, but grad school finals are killers. Your origami poem made me laugh, with grazing on the dresser. Those beautiful ships fit right in with my research paper I had to write and was my inspiration for my poem.
Research
Pointed vessel spearheads,
hypothesis driven.
Seeking what is unknown,
the answer may surprise you.