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.
I took this pic in an airport a couple of weeks ago. Want to take a guess? I’ll reveal the correct answer (if I can remember exactly what it was) in next week’s post.
This image makes me think of several things:
- slime molds (they move in search of food!)
- effluorescence on our old basement walls
- “Life finds a way.” (Jeff Goldblum in Jurassic Park)
And here’s my first draft. I was really inspired by the thought that living creatures are almost all moving. Even plants and other things we don’t necessarily see move. (I love Plants Can’t Sit Still by Rebecca Hirsch!)
It’s your turn! Have fun and stick to 15 WORDS OR LESS! (Title doesn’t count toward word count.)
31 Responses
Great picture and 15 WOL–makes me think of going home for the holidays.
Is it a close up of pottery of some sort?
Tree branches or cracks in ice
poem By Jessica Bigi
Poison Ivy
red stars in the forest
Mom says never touch
one bump two bump three
itching crashing for mounts
Jessica, I like how the one bump line made me think of counting leaves AND counting itchies!
Jessica, my first thought was also of tree branches. I like the “one bump.”
Oh, no! See what happens when we don’t follow Mom’s directions? :>) This is delightful and funny–but that pretty first line is still my favorite!
Oh, that is rich, Jessica. Watching the bumps spread—what torture! Great feeling in this with the “Mom says never”.
Lately loss has been in the forefront. I am thinking a lot about how we heal, how we hope, how we become better through these hard times.
Cracks in glass, in me
Healing scars become beauty
from inside to out.
#haikuforhealing
Beautiful haiku Margaret, especially the second line.
I love this! I’ve had my sappy December days lately as well and your poem just might add a little more healing to my scars! Thanks!
This is powerful, Margaret. I have been thinking a lot about strength, cracks, breaks, healing, and power for a pb project I’m working on. I’ve been pondering the beauty of kintsugi, and your poem brought all this to mind, too.
While I slept
frost crept
o’er all things still
and chilled;
now meets rosy dawn
Gorgeous Rebekah!
Rebekah, I love the cozy feeling of this, even while discussing the cold! It’s a whole little drama, in 15 words. Well done!
Lovely image Laura. My first thought is definitely seasonal and fits well with one of the beautiful sights here in the mountains of western NC.
Rime Ice
Bare branches
encrusted with frozen fog
share their beauty
from a myriad
of colored lights.
Oh, Martha, rime ice is one of my FAVORITE things in the whole world! I get to see it once every few years here in Minnesota–thank you for giving me a mental peek at it with your poem.
Thanks for the inspiring pic Laura, beautiful poem!
bare branches glisten,
winter’s upon us
celebrate with light.
Thanks, Michelle. This is lovely, too! The first two lines especially sparkle to me. They feel a bit stark and yet filled with beauty, like winter itself.
Beautiful photo. It could be so many things-love the way your feet, fins, stem suggests that. I saw a delta.
Homecoming
You journey from mountaintop
through creek, stream, river
rill, eddy, oxbow–
then slip into sea.
Buffy, this feels so…big! So epic. Lovely.
SNEAK A PEEK BEFORE CHRISTMAS KID STYLE
Groping in the dark of night,
Wishing for a spark of light.
In despair- where????
LOVE! This brings back some childhood memories, Cindy:>)
First thought was ET teaching out a fingertip… no idea what would be at an airport that looked like this.
Connections
Voices reach
Like fingertips
Miles closed
Lightning fast
You can be
Almost there -
Phone home.
By Donna JT Smith
Lovely, Donna. Those first two lines especially enchant me:>)
I’m late to the party! What a beautiful photo and so many different interpretations! My brain went from lightning to trees to dendrites.
Electrical impulses
crackle in spectral colors
dendritic lightning
Birth of an idea
I’m late, too. My internet was down all day! Love this, Molly! I always picture “brainstorms” just as you’ve described this.
Brainstorm is the perfect title!
Clouds over the mountain,
Frosted windowsill,
Shadows and moonlit dancing tendrills
relish Winter’s chill.
Welcome, Sylvia! This poem feels so full and meaty–wonderful word choices. Hard to believe it’s 14 words! I especially love “tendrils” and “relish.”
Love “moonlit dancing tendrils”
Oops. I forgot to write a poem on Thursday! Oh well, nice to stop grading papers and write something. 🙂
Memories connect
like twigs and branches,
a life’s growth
in ice and sunlight.
—Kate Coombs
Those concrete, sensory words of lines 2 and 4 ground this concept beautifully, Kate.