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 another photo from my wanderings of the Smithsonian Gardens. This image makes me think of several things:
- a cyborg eyeball–an eyeborg
- Journey to the Center of the Earth
- Horton Hears a Who
And here’s my first draft. Usually, I just use the photo as a jumping-off point, and my poem stands alone (at least kind of). But this week, I wrote a renaming poem, so the poem makes no sense at all without the image.
It’s your turn! Have fun and stick to 15 WORDS OR LESS! (Title doesn’t count toward word count.)
41 Responses
I enjoyed your poem that bounces this ball from metallic to art, abstract.
I woke up this morning tired and with a headache. Treating with coffee and a poem:
There’s a race car driver
inside my head
driving me,
shifting me,
acceleration force
alive.
cool idea of that movement inside. I like it. It’s different.…andI get it.
Love that imagery of that driver shifting inside us…it sounds like your driver is giving you a headache this morning. Those gears must have been turning all night!
Thanks Donna. I led a teacher workshop for 4 hours. It went well but I’m paying the price today.
I’m sorry about your headache, but I like the pounding, forming force in the poem. Hope you feel better!
Yes, the race car driver would have a helmet similar to the photo. I like the words shifting and acceleration! Varoom, as my little great-grandson would say.
That headache served your poem well—great take on the eyeball Art Margaret. Hope you are feeling better.
I love the sound of metallic meatball.
Our sphere
holds boxes
Inside, smaller boxes
of little boxes
with one
beating
heart
inside
Love the idea of going deeper into the layered boxes…and the unifying heart.
Linda, this is powerful. So many boxes and nestled shapes, but it all comes down to the heart.
Heart-rendering Linda!
I like the idea of this thing having a heart, you draw us in with the many layers of boxes and capture us/reward us with its heart.
For the first time, I read your poem and description before seeing the picture! I had fun trying to figure out what the image would look like…I figured it would be spherical, and not too lyrical. I was right! This is what I saw:
Mapping
“Use a push-pin
Show where we’ve been,”
said Mom-alien,
“We’ll return again
in 3010.”
by Donna JT Smith
What fun!
Fantastic! When we were in London last year, in a fish and chips place, there was a map on the wall for this purpose. Now I’m totally picturing an alien mom and kids scarfing down fish and chips and looking for their own planet to pin!
Love “mapping” the places I have been. And what a beautiful globe on which to do so. Great imagery!
Wonderful Donna and funny!
Oh, that’s great. I love how this is for kids. Spot on with this.
What a surprising picture today! I enjoyed the images in your renaming poem, Laura. Here’s mine:
must’ve been a living ship
since where the aliens crashed
new ships began to grow
Now there’s a scary thought!
I love it! The story grows.….
Oooh, I was listening to a bit of Jeff Wayne’s War of the Worlds musical (really, I just love the “Forever Autumn” song), and the ending of your poem has that same “voice” to it. Love this idea!
Now there is a good idea for a sci-fi movie, if there is not already one in the making. Who knows, a book first?
After the Orthodontist Appointment
Encased in metal
and rubber bands,
can’t open my mouth.
I talk with my hands.
This brought back aching-jaw memories!
Ouch Cindy. Good interpretation.
Fantastic photo and likewise your poem. I am drawn to the shiny, artsy motorcycle helmets so prevalent in our society today. Thus my first thought, even though I have never wanted to own one. But I do admire the adventuresome spirit that accompanies those who do.
Bittersweet
Fancy biker’s helmet
lures driver’s attention;
eyes off the road
possible life’s suspension.
Yikes! So much to distract us these days! On the other hand, isn’t it amazing how almost anything, even a motorcycle helmet, can be a work of art?
poem by Jessina Bigi
Inviable
If we hide
All that we are
Behind walls
Becoming reflections
In puddled-steps
Nothing is left
Wow. That last line really packs a punch, Jessica. So true–hiding our real selves from others makes us disappear, eventually.
So true Jessica. Nice verse!
So many choices in your renaming poem such beauty in “Art, abstract.”
Eye Spy
I was a spy,
A metallic orb eye,
Cloaked in disguise,
Until my demise.
Ooh, so creepy! Love it!
This looked like a cyborg knee to me, possibly because my brother (in Minneapolis!) is getting a new knee today.
An Ode to Joints
Shoulder, elbow
ankle, knee,
connect those bones
inside of me!
Yes! A ball and socket joint (or whatever it’s called). Hope his surgery went well!
I like all the images you drew from this abstract sculpture Laura. It took me in a different direction.
Depths of Beauty
Decaying beauty
shield your eyes—
Support nature
a natural beauty
without disguise.
Decaying feels like just the right word there, Michelle!
Thanks for the inspiration today, Laura.
Ambition
Geode hides shine
within ordinary unassuming skin.
No one knows his secret
but him.
Oh, I love this analogy. People are geodes, aren’t they?
Reflections of the world
All rolled into one
An abstract view
Of a confused mind
Anne McKenna
I love the use of view and reflections and rolled into one. Some very clever word choices here, Anne!