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 glad you’re here.
Randy and I went downtown (Minneapolis) a week or two to attend a concert by Cantus, a choral group. The did covers of some pop songs plus the entire Pet Sounds album by the Beach Boys. So cool! Anyway, while walking to the venue, we passed by this wooden sculpture inside a building.
This image makes me think of:
- ringlets of hair
- roller coaster
- tracks for Matchbox cars
And here’s my first draft.
It’s your turn! Have fun–go off-track!- and stick to 15 WORDS OR LESS! (Title doesn’t count toward word count)
49 Responses
Laura I love your poem and pic I like the way your words sound to gather
Poem By Jessica Bigi
Cornflakes’
Curvy
Looping
Red kais
Scribbled
Across
A empty box
My boll
Is empty too
DAD
Love the empty box, empty bowl and shout for Dad to help. Sorry, but I am not sure what kais means.
K’s
Laura I love your poem and pic I like the way your words sound to gather
Poem By Jessica Bigi
Cornflakes’
Curvy
Looping
Red K Scribbled
Across
A empty box
My boll
Is empty too
DAD
Definitely a corn flakes’ color Jessica.
Thanks, Jessica (my own poem reminds me a bit of the Trains book you gifted me!). I love the drama of this kid’s breakfast tragedy :>)
Laura, love how your words follow the design!
DON’T JUDGE A BOOK BY IT’S COVER
Didn’t look like much-
sorta out of touch,
but when he said HI!
Oh my!
I like the prize at the end
surprise
Great last line. Sounds like a beginning. 🙂
Sharp eye Cindy. I see the Hi and I like Lauren’s comment that it sounds like a beginning.
It took me a while to see the “Hi”–so cool!
Thanks, Cindyb. Hehe! This makes me think of Buffy’s poem this week. Mind and heart not always on the same track. You think one thing, but then your heart says another! What fun:>)
Laura, all three of your first thoughts were fitting and I like the way your wording style provided sights and sounds of those roaring engines and crowds.
After the Party
Golden curly cue
a cleanup miss
scooped up
as a memory;
fifty years of
wedded bliss.
wonderful poem
The golden anniversary — that’s lovely.
Yes, I can see that as ribbon confetti. Lovely thought.
Thanks, Martha! Ooh, I love the details you give us, and I love knowing that it’s specifically a 50th anniversary party. Lines 3 and 4 just sing in my mind:>)
So I’ve figured out that if I write a long enough sentence, or two sentences, here at the top, then my poem will lay out correctly below. Yay!
Words
Scrolling, swooping
swirls and curves—
I can make letters,
golden words.
—Kate Coombs
Love how the words are golden — truly a treasure.
Yes- and I saw the word Hi. 🙂
Four spaces will do it Kate. Love your golden letters making golden words.
Now you just have to compose a little intro every week, Kate:>) I love the movement in this poem, and then that last descriptor of “golden.” Magical!
First Haircut
Golden ringlets litter floor
Two-year-old son a baby no more.
Oh, this is so sweet!
I never liked those first haircuts on my sons. Nice take on Laura’s picture!
Tears in my eyes for sure Marian.
I waited so long before cutting my second son’s golden curls…this is the perfect image!
Awww…so much story and emotion in so few words! Nicely done, Marian!
Love the picture and the energy in your poem, Laura.
Here’s mine:
A curvy slide
like those at school,
but this one drops me
in the pool!
Ha! Fun poem!!
How perfect Lauren, and on a day when we will probably set a heat record for June.
I LOVE pool slides! Fun:>)
A velvet dress
A starry stare
And curlicues
Of perfect hair
Reminds me of dolls I had growing up!
Ahhhh! The dolls with golden ringlets. What memories Amelia.
Wonderful! That starry stare…:>)
From Here to There
The mind stays on a
straight
track,
the heart strays–
a loopy, veering
wobbly
tack
I like the straight track/wobbly tack comparison. Very thoughtful.
Heart over mind Buffy. Kind of nice. Sweet!
Nice! I looked at this picture a long while trying to figure out what I could write about that would show this idea–two paths so different in their approach. Love this.
Oh, Buffy, this is lovely and unexpected. I hope your heart has been healing a bit, dealing with the loss of your friend…
Thanks, Laura–I appreciate it. There was a “celebration of life” service yesterday in her memory. She led a full life, with much to celebrate.
Don’t we all hope friends say that about us after we depart…
Mobis
strip
turns,
flips,
slides,
hops,
never stops.
Keeps going
round.
Quite a connection Joy, pun intended.
Love the cool, looping rhythm of this, Joy.
When I was in elementary school, I remember thinking that writing in cursive was the sign of being big–no more babyish printing for me! We were not allowed to write our names in cursive until our teacher had taught the perfect swirls of our name’s upper case version, and in my memory it took almost all year to get to the letter E!
third grade
the lure of
looping letters
curl of cursive
impatient for permission
to write my name
What a wonderful story and poem. Yep–third grade, the cursive year. Now many schools don’t teach cursive at all!
I wrote camp letters to grand kids at camp, and after I mailed them, I started wondering- do they know how to read cursive? Your poem brings back how it used to be.…