Photo: Laura Purdie Salas
Wake up your poetry brains with 15 Words or Less (guidelines here)!
This week’s image makes me think of:
1) A ferris wheel at night
2) Forest fire
3) Licorice snuck into a movie theater
And here’s my poem first draft:
September Campfire
autumn’s fires lick
summer’s final marshmallow days
swallowing sweetness
charring September with edges of
death–Laura Purdie Salas
What does this picture make YOU think of? Whatever enters your mind, just jot a quick 15 words or less poem and share it in the comments! Remember, your poem doesn’t have to describe the actual picture. Have fun with it!
Why are humans drawn
to bright red?
We reach for berries
and roses
and flames.
I had to jump in on this one.
Pingback: The Importance of Teachers: Poetry Friday #30 | Write. Sketch. Repeat. — Katya Czaja
FORCE OF NATURE
Fire doesn’t tire
scorching blades of grass
leaving clusters of humanity
crying en masse.
(c) Charles Waters 2012 all rights reserved.
Love this!
I love that clusters of humanity. Powerful image here, Charles.
I agree with Laura ~ very powerful.
‘edges of death’ wow very profound! Great poem, Laura.
I am the red frills on your headress
You are the warrior dancing at dusk.
Lovely images.
Thanks, Catherine! These two lines paint such a vivid picture for me. Love the detail that it’s dusk. I can read this so many ways–a metaphor for two different people and their roles in life/their relationship or the sun talking to a warrior or…
Love the use of “frills” and “dusk”, and the wonderful image you create in just two lines.
I’m so sorry I couldn’t cut this down to 15 words! I tried, but it didn’t feel right!
Dragon’s Breath
Dragon’s breath, eternal flame
flickers, burning, speaks the same
Deathly message to all who near
“Don’t intrude here”
I love this picture! Your poem was great, Ms. Salas. “Charring September” sent chills up my spine. Excellent!
Thanks, Amelia. You rule-breaking poet! Sometimes a poem has to be what it will be, right? It’s extra hard to get a rhyming/metered poem into 15. I like that its message is the same for everyone–and I love the “Deathly message.” That line break just before it makes that part esp strong.
I love this one, Amelia! It sounds like it’s telling a story.
Thanks, everyone!
Summertime
blades of grass
like rhubarb
stalks—
tall & slender,
pink & red—
sugar spun
to candy-
glass
This is great. I especially like ‘sugar spun to candy glass’
Thanks, Catherine!
Oh, Julie–this is lovely! So spiky and delicate. Those last three lines are magical!
Thank you, Laura!
This is beautiful. It does look like rhubarb and you described it perfectly with your poem.
Wow–thanks, Penny!
I have to agree ~ I like those last 3 lines the best. I also like the comparison to rhubarb.
Thanks so much, Janelle!
this reminded me of rhubarb too!
Green stalks bleed to red;
Tough seed heads watch
them wither;
Promising rebirth.
Great death/birth language, Buffy. I esp love the first line…
I like the first line, too, and also the last!
Laura, loved your last two lines. September does start winding down vegetation life. However, your picture made me think more of a springtime event. (Maybe I was hungry.)
Red stalks- poison at the top.
Discard leaves, then chop, chop, chop.
Why?
Rhubarb Pie!
Yum!
I like your rhymes.
Cute!
THanks for the feedback, Cindyb. What an interesting response–I’m going to have to see if I can tell what led to the springtime feel. I love hearing how one poem can come across so differently to different readers.
Fun poem–is rhubarb really poison at the top? Just bitter? I’ve only had rhubarb once or twice, in pies, I think. But I was just admiring the beautiful red stalks at the grocery store a couple of nights ago.
The leaves are poison- the stalks are eaten. I often wonder how this was figured out.
Very nice! Fun rhymes.
Laura, I had to giggle at your list of things the picture reminds you of — guess our family’s not the only one to sneak licorice into movie theaters!
I really like your poem, especially “marshmallow days” and “charring September”.
a crimson wave,
grass bows low,
then dances
with autumn’s breeze,
setting the field
afire.
~Janelle (Blue Sky, Big Dreams)
Oooooh, I definitely see this! Love crimson wave.
Thanks, Janelle, for the kind words–hehe, don’t tell anyone we’re cinema-criminals:>) I really enjoyed your crimson wave dancing and bowing. So much pretty movement in this!
Thanks, Laura! (And I’ll never tell…
)
‘Til Silk and Sunset
from wheat-web
rose arachnid troops
marching on rainbow legs
’til silk and sunset
~Penny Klostermann
Soda Straws
a fine crop of soda straws
shimmered
sipping up the sun
~Penny Klostermann
I love the images in both poems, and especially like the title/last line of the first, and “sipping up the sun”.
Lovely!
I love the line “sipping up the sun”.
Yay–a double-header from Penny this week!
These are both lovely, but that first one is so unusual! That’s the one that will stick with me. arachnid troops…rainbow legs…silk and sunset–such great images/phrases.
P.S. Congratulations on your Barbara Karlin honor–that’s awesome!
FYI – Laura this blog is so much fun – kudos to you and to all the awesome creativity within…
fireworks explode
in the darkened sky
threatening the earth
with happiness
-Geri Konstantin
I like how you saw fireworks in the picture! I can see them, too, now.
Thanks so much, Geri! I’m glad you enjoy it. I love seeing everyone’s creativity here, too.
Love these last two lines, especially. What an intriguing verb choice! I’ll be thinking a while about those lines–always the sign of a successful poem, I think!
Congratulations on “your daily poem” Laura. I read this am, & there was your poem for Rachel Carson. Seeing your books and then the photo today inspired me, as you will see. I like today’s poem, that ‘swallowing sweetness’ is just what happened this summer in my part of the US. Here’s my offering:
Lost
Fire-stricken blades,
Rustle, rattle,
cut.
A Leaf Can Be,
Green, words say.
Where?
I like how you used Laura’s book title, and also the question at the end. We haven’t had many green blades or leaves around here this summer, either.
Yes very clever and I love rustle, rattle, cut.
Aw, thanks, Linda–I’m honored! I love the strong language you used–those first three lines–wow. And then the funny/melancholy twist in the last three lines–terrific!
Two Teens Dye…Details at 11
“Omigod!”
“Wash it again!”
Running water.
Towels, ruined.
“My Mom’s gonna kill me!”
“Perfect!”
© Diane Mayr
This poem made me laugh, especially the title and the ending. It makes me glad my own teen hasn’t done that… yet!
Hahaha–love this one, Diane. My teen is big into tie-dying. We have had several small multi-colored stains around the house/yard. None too big, luckily:>)
Laura, you’re fortunate that it’s only a tie-dying project and not the purple, blue, or orange hair some of us have seen!
Try It
Sweet new treat:
Willy Wonka grass!
Thin red blades
that shine like glass.
–Kate Coombs (Book Aunt)
Mmm… Willy Wonka grass!
Fun poem!
Janelle, thanks for all the kind feedback you’re leaving people! I know for many of our poets, encouraging words here really give them excitement and courage to post the next time:>)
Lovely, Kate. I do like it when sunlight hits foliage and makes it look translucent:>) I love the exactness of the sounds in this poem–sharp and sleek, like candy grass would be.
Red-tinted grass -
result of drought?
Or what other color
would Martian grass sprout?
Love the images in yours, Laura, especially “marshmallow days.”
I like your rhyme and the questions.
Marsion grass is brilliant.
Thanks, Catherine, for commenting on some of the poems. It’s really appreciated. I’d love to get something going where people came and left a poem and then left brief comments on at least 3 other poems. Fun for people to get a bit of feedback, and I appreciate it!
Thanks, ellie. Of course this grass belongs on the Red Planet, doesn’t it? I like the natural rhyme you came up with!