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.
Here’s a pic of Atlanta’s Centennial Olympic Park, which I walked through several times a day at NCTE. This image makes me think of several things:
- dancing trees
- juice boxes with their little triangle flaps to lift up (the background building)
- a giant podium with no speaker (and lots of audience members waiting)
And here’s my first draft. That tree to the right of the tower looked like it was trying just a little too hard:>)
It’s your turn! Have fun and stick to 15 WORDS OR LESS! (Title doesn’t count toward word count.)
26 Responses
Maypole in July
Out of season
out of use
Sunlight puncturing
dusty memories
of days gone by
Lines 4 and 5 are just gorgeous! Great mood here, Amelia:>)
Amelia, I love how you saw the May Pole. I hope you have these all saved. I know you’ve been writing for years. How fast the time goes. So proud of you.
Amelia, yes! A maypole with dusty memories. Lovely.
Ha! Laura, I love your playful take on the trees. My eye was drawn to the tower dominating the scene.
YOUNGER SIBLING LAMENT
My sister thinks that she’s big stuff.
Wish that I could say “ENOUGH!”
and live.
Heeheehee. As the youngest of four girls, I SO get this poem. Love that line space before your ending. Brilliant.
Cindy, how I feel for my younger sister! GUILTY!
Looked like the ball pole on the playground, and the lights looked like kids ready to toss the ball up there… though I was intrigued by that square-headed owl in the background.
Net
towers high
Kids cry
.……owl spies.….
Basketballs look like
eggs to fry -
Oh, my!
Donna, love the spying owl, another take on the juice box. Basketball nets are seasonal too.
Ha! What a surreal scene!
Laura, your first impressions are loud and clear, the juice box and large audience, wonderful. The picture takes me to watercolors and art from the impressionists.
My Private Canvas
Blurred Images
yet so much to see
such fun I’ll have
selecting one for me.
I think impressionists and pointillists are my favorite groups of artists. Well, I do love very clean watercolor, too. But there’s something about that lack of detail, and you capture it perfectly in those first two lines.
Having trouble posting for some reason… hopefully this won’t appear twice.
Shine on, little tree!
I haven’t been here in quite some time, but I think it’s time to come back. Let’s call it a New Year’s resolution. 🙂
Cup or Cone
Caught staring
at the sweet cream sky,
God asks me,
“One scoop or two?”
So sweet Michelle. Welcome back.
Hi Michelle, Welcome back! I love your version of a God who is generous with the ice cream. That’s my kind of God. And “sweet cream sky” is lovely! Makes me want to go to Cold Stone, though.
Such cool takes on this, everyone! And Laura, I like the way you’ve been artifying your photos. 🙂
The spaceship waits
solemnly,
but the astronauts
never come.
—Kate Coombs
No wonder the tower looks so lonely. I too enjoy Laura’s photography.
Thanks, Kate. I like filtering them so that the shapes pop but I’m not overwhelmed with the real-life details:>) I like how slowly your poem demands to be read. Great sound choices!
I also saw your tower as a tree, Laura. Happy Thursday, all!
In the Rainforest
One treetop
towers above all
others
leaving underlings
to jostle and stretch
for light
Buffy, underlings jostling and stretching — perfect image.
Buffy, your poem made me think about the constant struggle in nature. Sometimes I’m lulled into thinking of nature as peaceful. It might be, in this instant, but it’s ever changing and shifting. Love this!
For First Grandchild Turning One
Biggest candle,
creamy cake,
poems await
when you wake.
Rise and sing,
my sweet everything.
I, too, have been away too long. Hope to join the Thursday poems again regularly.
Love seeing so many friends here. Special hugs to Laura and Amelia.
Welcome Janet and oh, did you touch my heart. My little great-granddaughter just turned one.
Oh, Janet–love this! You should put this on a card for her. Your granddaughter is such a beauty!
sky king
Syed
started to
cry
game of
chests
why yes
It does look like a rook, doesn’t it?