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.
Thank you, everyone who sent such nice thoughts of the death of our dog, Jackie. It’s been a painful week, and your touching notes have helped ease my distress.
What do you think this is? This image makes me think of several things:
- fettucine
- my cheerleading days
- a ganglion
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.)
52 Responses
LOL. That’s a great punchline to your poem. This photo makes me think of ribbon salad.And, it makes me feel silly.
Which salad would you like today, ma’am?
psychedelic ribbons garnished with spam.
(no dressing, please)
Love the word psychedelic. Reminds me of the 70’s.
I’m with Margaret, here! This is a flashback to the 70’s! Nice surprising rhyme, too!
Thanks for sharing your silliness and making me smile. Now, I’m going to have to check into ribbon salad.
Silly is good Linda. Spam – hmmmm? Double entendre. Wonderful.
Love your first line, Laura! The shredder caught my imagination, too.
TEACHER RETIREMENT PARTY
Worksheets, homework, essays,
all red-ink crisscrossed.
Gathered, stacked and shredded-
Confetti to be tossed!
Oh, that’s good! I can’t even imagine how much paper .…maybe tons? has crossed a teacher’s path before retirement. Great concept and love that it’s confetti!
I love this, too. Some day I’ll be throwing this confetti, but not yet.
Oh, what a great idea for a retirement party! As a first grade teacher, I could have had a very colorful mixture with all that construction paper in my closet! (add in a bit of glitter…)
What beautiful confetti! Your perfect title pulls it all together–I find titling poems to be such a bugaboo! Well done!
Oh my goodness—soooooooo much paper–sometimes I feel like I’ll be swallowed up! What a great spin on a teacher’s relationship with paper!
You have captured the joy of the last day of the school year and magnified it for the retirement party. Love that!
Good idea Cindy. Confetti is always fun.
Recently, a friend of mine posted a list of fun words. I’ve been dying to use them so here’s my silly draft.
After their New Years Eve
brouhaha,
a kerfuffle
of confetti spaghetti.
Brouhaha and kerfuffle should be used at least once a year in a poem, don’t you think?
Brouhaha is one of my favorite words! Kerfuffle is fun, too!
Such delightful word play, Margaret, and you bring it all together beautifully. This is such fun to read aloud and to envision!
Excellent words!
Ha! brou ha ha is fantastic!
Isn’t it fun just to play with words for the sheer joy of it? I adore confetti spaghetti!
Fun words Margaret.
What fun words to read out loud!
I am so glad I chanced upon your delightful word play. First I read with my eyes, then with my mouth and the sounds made me smile as they rolled off my tongue. Then I laughed out loud at the image of “confetti spaghetti.” Thank you, Margaret.
#1: This is what came to mind immediately.
Follow Your Heart
When I was young
I wondered
Which road I would take
There were so many.
#2: And then this one emerged, probably due to my need for more structure (otherwise known as resistance and persistence)…
Good or Bad
Step out
On the path
Of most resistance
And you’ll
Be rewarded
For your persistence.
(one way or another — you WILL be rewarded…good or bad, LOL!)
Happy New Year, All!
I like your first poem, with the image of those tangled roads leading every which way.
Like the ideas in both–they go together so nicely.
I really like your first poem, Donna, with the emphasis on choice and so many possibilities.
I like both! The first is more mystical in tone.…the second is more grounded. Both are great. Both show the individual making choices.
Haha! So true. The second one is catchy and I like it, but something about the voice of that first one… It really captures the awe and slight overwhelmingness of all the possibilities of life.
Good morning 15 WOL community. I imagine a good part of our country is either digging out or getting slammed. Stay safe and warm. Laura, your poem fits perfectly. Love each and every line. I wore French braids for the first four years of my school days. Every morning I read books aloud to distract from the combing and pulling and braiding, ending with the colored ribbons to hide the rubber bands at the ends,
Goodbye to Grosgrain
French braids
grades one through four
fifth grade brings
grown-up hair
ribbons no more!
Oh, oh! I love this, Martha especially as I have the same memory of my first four school years… only I didn’t read out loud. My brothers wouldn’t have stood for that.
Thank you Alice. Actually I developed my love for books and reading from those years and my mother was responsible for that routine for both me and my younger sister. Our brother was just a toddler and couldn’t have cared less!!!! Funny thing is, the grosgrain was infamous for coming untied and mother would become so put out that no one thought to retie the bow before that year’s school picture was taken. I have those memories in black and white, not the pretty colors in Laura’s picture (even though the grosgrain always matched clothes).
So many fabulous, creative entries today! I immediately thought of pasta gone rogue when I saw the picture but a different, darker poem emerged as I wrote. And, wow!, I had a really tough time with the 15 word limit today!
I’m not loving the rhythm of it, but here’s my first draft:
Once we were trees…
Deep-rooted
ground-bound
Then confettied into
rainbow flight
giddy delight
Til euphoria passed…
Now we’re trash
I love ground-bound, especially in connection with the last line.
“a poem lovely as a tree.”
Molly, I love this. The cycle of paper, from trees and nature into celebratory confetti and then finally into litter. So many great specific words in here!
This I love, even though it hurts to think about! I love trees…good thing I don’t give as much thought to the grass or I’d be crying about mowing the lawn, too! Somehow, trees are different, aren’t they?
As the kids say these days, trees are my jam!
I just love this! That’s quite a journey for your tree. Sad ending though.
I like yours, Laura — it made me smile. 🙂
All I can think of is mess–what’s left on the floor, refusing to be swept up which means needing to drag the vacuum cleaner out when you really don’t want to drag the vacuum cleaner out
I know. Whine, much?!
Party prep
Puts pep
In my step
Til time to cleanup
Then I just schlep.
Definitely!
I really enjoyed your shredder poem. The ending line is great!
The image made me think of confetti, celebrating, and tapeworms (EWWW!! They’ve always freaked me out). So I thought about how a tapeworm would feel this time of year.
Parasitic Depression
January is always gloomy
For a parasitic roomie
New healthy declarations
Make for tenuous relations
Oh my gosh, Rebecca. This is the perfect combination of grotesque and funny. Love it! Though I’m awfully glad I don’t have a parasitic roomie!
Laura this picture immediately reminded of the colorful pinatas I would make for my kids birthday parties. Your Shredder poem was a delight to read.
Piñata, piñata piñata,
yellow, purple, and blue.
Candy filled papery treasure,
constructed of floury glue.
I can just hear kids chanting or singing this at a birthday party, Jean. Terrific rhythm!
frosty drizzles
crisp crackles
dragon breath
toasting s’mores
glitters of stars streaming
new years night
Ooh, I love the image of shooting stars–beautiful!
Well, speaking of teachers, I’ve been substitute teaching and some days are pretty crazy. (True when I was a regular classroom teacher, too!) Here’s my little stress poem.
How do you untangle
the intricate strangle
of shout-slamming days,
stop the wince-worthy brangle?
—Kate Coombs
Hmm, that didn’t post. Hopefully it doesn’t go up twice! I’ve been substitute teaching lately, and some days are pretty crazy. Of course, they were pretty crazy when I was a regular classroom teacher, too!
How do you untangle
the intricate strangle
of shout-slamming days,
stop the wince-worthy brangle?
—Kate Coombs
It was held for moderation because it was anonymous:>) I LOVE line two, Kate–boy, it puts me right there, and the words are so unexpected together!
Tangled
Tangled like
A web of confusion
waiting to meet
our fate
whatever that may be.
Anne McKenna
Love “web of confusion,” Anne.