[15 words or less poems] Hay there!

Photo: Laura Purdie Salas

Wake up your poetry brains with 15 Words or Less (guidelines here)!

I was driving home from a school visit in outstate Minnesota when this hay-filled truck passed by. Took a few pix without looking, and this one came out ok. Here’s what this picture makes me think of:

1) A little critter who was nibbling on hay and suddenly finds himself zooming down the highway
2) If the truck turned over and all the hay spilled, we could end up with a meadow instead of a highway. Well, not really. But you know, kind of.
3) If this truck parks at a truck stop and the driver goes in for lunch, a whole herd of cows could descend on the truck from surrounding farms and eat his whole cargo.

And here’s my poem first draft:

How I Nibble
Nibble hay.
Nibble my way.
Munching, crunching
in my shy way.
Nibble, nibble
down the highway.
–Laura Purdie Salas, all rights reserved

Shoot. I’m one word over–oh, well. What do you think of when you look at this picture? Quickly jot down a 15 Words or Less poem. No polish, no pressure. Just a bit of wordplay:>)

[15 words or less poems] Eeek!

Photo: Laura Purdie Salas

Wake up your poetry brains with 15 Words or Less (guidelines here)!

Oh, my funny brother-in-law and sister-in-law. When we went to their house for games shortly after Easter, they stashed this Easter decoration in the tub so that I almost had a heart attack when I went into the bathroom. I’m the easiest person in the world to scare–just ask my husband, who’s always sneaking around corners and making me scream. Anyway, here’s what this creepy picture makes me think of:

1) Hide-and-seek gone wrong
2) Voyeurs of the animal kingdom
3) A shy kid on the first day of school who hides in the bathroom

And here’s my poem first draft:

First-Day Escape
Strangers, loudspeakers,
cubbies, hall passes–
I sneak book to bathroom
and breathe free
–Laura Purdie Salas, all rights reserved

What do you think of when you look at this picture? Take any quick idea and jot down a 15 Words or Less poem. It doesn’t have to rhyme or describe this picture. It’s just about whatever you think of when you look at it.

[15 words or less poems] Hard-Headed

Photo: Laura Purdie Salas

Wake up your poetry brains with 15 Words or Less (guidelines here)!

I love this sculpture inside a building in downtown Minneapolis. I don’t usually like art of people, but abstractions like this are fun. It makes me think of:

1) Decorated skulls and bones in Europe
2) The framework of a skyscraper
3) An X-ray

And here’s my poem first draft:

I Am Art
my steel skeleton,
azurite eyes,
welded skin
needs admirers

I tip my hat
to you

–Laura Purdie Salas, all rights reserved

What do you think of when you look at this picture? Take any quick idea and jot down a 15 Words or Less poem. It doesn’t have to rhyme or describe this picture. It’s just about whatever you think of when you look at it.

I’m teaching at a Young Authors Conference all week and won’t be able to comment on your poems. I hope you have fun with them!

[15 words or less poems] Juliet?

Photo: Laura Purdie Salas

Wake up your poetry brains with 15 Words or Less (guidelines here)!

Last week’s photo: That was a set of plastic Easter eggs, opened, and placed on top of my open laptop. We recently went to a Gordon Lightfoot concert at the State Theatre in downtown Minneapolis. Each time we go there, the architectural details amaze me. I always think, “Why would they spend so much time on all of this if you’re supposed to be looking at the stage?” It’s beautiful, in an over-the-top way. Here’s what it makes me think of:

1) Romeo and Juliet, of course
2) Craftsman whose job is working on the same building for his whole life
3) The fun a kid (or grown-up) would have playing in an empty theater.

And here’s my poem first draft:

You Missed a Spot
Gold filigree
for balcony
must be refined:
luxe defined,
so stories bewitch
the idle rich.

–Laura Purdie Salas, all rights reserved

What do you think of when you look at this picture? Take any quick idea and jot down a 15 Words or Less poem. It doesn’t have to rhyme or describe this picture. It’s just about whatever you think of when you look at it.

[15 words or less poems] Who Knows?

Photo: Laura Purdie Salas

Wake up your poetry brains with 15 Words or Less (guidelines here)!

I think you’ll know right away what this is, but I’m not going to say in case anyone doesn’t know. It’s fun to write poems inspired by an ambiguous image! Here’s what this one makes me think of:

1) A caterpillar toy for babies, where each segment is a different color
2) Pregnant bellies, all lined up in a row
3) Candy

And here’s my poem first draft:

Doctor’s Waiting Room

Why schedule five
pregnant women one
morning?
We wait, uncomfortably
wedged into unsuspecting
non-expecting chairs.

–Laura Purdie Salas, all rights reserved

What do you think of when you look at this picture? Take any idea and jot down a quick 15 Words or Less poem. Have fun!

[15 words or less poems] Is That a #2 Pencil?

Photo: Laura Purdie Salas

Wake up your poetry brains with 15 Words or Less (guidelines here)!

I took this pic at a winterguard show (the activity color guards do over the winter, performing with flags, rifles, sabers, and other props) a few weeks ago. Here’s what it makes me think of:

1) How hard school is for some kids
2) As a kid, you feel too little for everything
3) BIG writing dreams

And here’s my poem first draft:

Advice to a Young Poet
Write–
on walls,
on wind,
on world.

Never erase.
Never regret.

Stay sharp.

–Laura Purdie Salas, all rights reserved

What do you think of when you look at this picture? Take any quick idea and jot down a 15 Words or Less poem. It doesn’t have to rhyme or describe this picture. It’s just about whatever you think of when you look at it.

[15 Words or Less Poems] Tracks

Photo: Laura Purdie Salas

Wake up your poetry brains with 15 Words or Less (guidelines here)!

This pic is a close-up of some footprints I noticed on our driveway after a flurry a couple of weeks ago. It makes me think of:
1) Quilting
2) A little prey animal trying to get away
3) Jets in the landing pattern near a big airport

And here’s my poem first draft:

Airplanes
Silver needles
Stitch sky
Quilting here
To somewhere–
Layered
Together
–Laura Purdie Salas, all rights reserved

What do you think of when you look at this picture? Take any quick idea and jot down a 15 Words or Less poem. It doesn’t have to rhyme or describe this picture. It’s just about whatever you think of when you look at it.

[psvid] “Kisses” (Robert Weinstock)

For all you 15 Words or Less folks, your mission is to watch the Poem Starter Video and take on its challenge in 15 Words or Less (but you only have to include your sound effect at least two times). 

Happy National Poetry Month! Thanks for dropping by my Poem Starter Video party.

Today’s poem comes from Can You Dig It?  (Hyperion, 2010), by artist/poet Robert Weinstock. I met Robert a couple of years ago at a TLA Poetry Roundup and got to hear him read from this very funy collection of poems about caveman times (which also includes dinosaurs in his very purposefully unscientific exploration!). Lately, he’s playing with “interstitial art”–maybe you’ve all heard of it, but not me. Anyway, it’s super-amusing! Check of the interstitching of Mao Zedong and Robert’s dog Ruby on his website.

Last week, I saw Jurassic Park 3-D (loved it), but I did not want to kiss any of the dinosaurs. This poem, though, has great art of a museum security guard planting a big one on a dinosaur fossil’s…lips–or where lips would be if dinosaur fossils had lips!

Kisses
I kissed a brontosaurus twice
And will admit I found it nice.
I skooched along its stretched-out spine,
And smooched its dainty chin. Divine.
One tiny peck and then a smack…
I swear I think it kissed me back!
–by Robert Weinstock, all rights reserved

And here is my Poem Starter Video:

Sound_Effects_Kisses_Weinstock

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[psvid] “Moonlit Raccoon” (Deborah Ruddell)

For all you 15 Words or Less folks, you have two choices: Watch the Poem Starter Video and take on its challenge in 15 Words or Less, or write a totally different poem with the title “Moonlit Raccoon,” also in 15 Words or Less. You can do it!

Happy National Poetry Month! Thanks for dropping by my Poem Starter Video party.

Today’s poem comes from A Whiff of Pine, a Hint of Skunk: A Forest of Poems (Margaret K. McElderry Books, 2009), by Deborah Ruddell. I love Deborah’s whimsical, nature- based poems! I’m hoping our paths will cross at some conference soon so I can chat about poetry with her. I’m sharing a beautiful, moody poem with a twist, called “Moonlit Raccoon.” This poem reminds me of the time my husband and I heard a ruckus on our 3rd-floor balcony and went out to see a raccoon perched on the railing. Ack!

Moonlit Raccoon
In a watery mirror
the rugged raccoon
admires his face
by the light of the moon:
the mysterious mask,
the whiskers beneath,
the sliver of cricket
still stuck in his teeth.

–by Deborah Ruddell, all rights reserved

And here is my Poem Starter Video:

Surprise_Ending_Moonlit_Raccoon_Ruddell

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[15 words or less poems] The Mystery of the Sphinx

Photo: Laura Purdie Salas

Wake up your poetry brains with 15 Words or Less (guidelines here)!

Here’s a shot from outside The Luxor in Las Vegas, from my NCTE trip. This sphinx makes me think of:

1) Riddles, of course!
2) Having a root canal (something about that structure under his chin reminds me of my aching jaw from years ago!)
3) Elizabeth Taylor. I do not know why.

And here’s my poem first draft:

Things To Do If You’re a … (a riddle poem)
open wide
scarf down leftovers
squeeze between counter and oven
twirl spin steam
shine

–by Laura Purdie Salas, all rights reserved

Can you guess? It’s fun to mix two forms, like a Things To Do If list poem and a riddle poem!

Now, what does this image make you think of? Take any idea and jot down a 15 Words or Less poem. No polish. No shine. No pressure. Just have fun!