Grassy [15 words or less]

Photo: Laura Salas

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

15WOLs

I took this picture at drum corps rehearsal last week. The little medians inside a parking lot had this tall grass that made it look like a miniature meadow!

1)?ocean waves (of course)
2)?tiny snow-covered evergreens
3) archery at camp

And here’s my?first draft.

Archery Time

Feather brushes cheek
Meadow spreads, rustles

Time
Stops

Arrow leaps ahead
Leaving?me behind

–Laura Purdie Salas, all rights reserved

Now it’s your turn! Have fun and stick to 15 WORDS OR LESS!??(Title doesn’t count toward word count:>)?

100 Responses

  1. Adorable, Laura!

    Peaceful,
    Quiet
    Until you dare to jump
    on Monster’s hairy back.

  2. Adorable, Laura!

    Peaceful,
    Quiet
    Until you dare to jump
    on Monster’s hairy back.

  3. Breathy touches
    F e e l, p i c k m e
    Feathered kisses
    T o u c h, h o l d m e
    Grassy meadows
    L o v e m e d e a r l y

    This picture reminds me of the fields near my house and the way I used to run through them and love the tickly feeling of the grasses… Great choice 🙂

    1. I love your poem and story makes me think of when I was child running bar foot through the field near my grams we would fly kites in those fields

    2. Aw, I love the delicacy of the extra spaces between the letters, and the romantic language applied to nature. Feels very classical. You should get out there and run through those fields again soon:>)

    3. Yes, I remember how grass like that can feel as you run through it.
      It also can cut and scratch. I like the way you described the good feel of it.

  4. Breathy touches
    F e e l, p i c k m e
    Feathered kisses
    T o u c h, h o l d m e
    Grassy meadows
    L o v e m e d e a r l y

    This picture reminds me of the fields near my house and the way I used to run through them and love the tickly feeling of the grasses… Great choice 🙂

    1. I love your poem and story makes me think of when I was child running bar foot through the field near my grams we would fly kites in those fields

    2. Aw, I love the delicacy of the extra spaces between the letters, and the romantic language applied to nature. Feels very classical. You should get out there and run through those fields again soon:>)

    3. Yes, I remember how grass like that can feel as you run through it.
      It also can cut and scratch. I like the way you described the good feel of it.

  5. Song of morning

    A million chimes
    Sweep across fields
    Father harvest our lade
    Mother’s hands
    Needing gold wheat

    I rely like your poem Laura

    1. Those million chimes are such a gorgeous, unexpected representation of morning. Love it!

  6. Song of morning

    A million chimes
    Sweep across fields
    Father harvest our lade
    Mother’s hands
    Needing gold wheat

    I rely like your poem Laura

    1. Those million chimes are such a gorgeous, unexpected representation of morning. Love it!

  7. Laura, love the tiny, snow-capped evergreens image, especially with our current heat and humidity. I felt enticement.

    Safe Haven

    You wave me
    into your world,

    void of lawn mowers,
    weed whackers,

    into ethereal lightness.

    1. I rely love your first two lines makes me think of someone making a basket

  8. Laura, love the tiny, snow-capped evergreens image, especially with our current heat and humidity. I felt enticement.

    Safe Haven

    You wave me
    into your world,

    void of lawn mowers,
    weed whackers,

    into ethereal lightness.

    1. I rely love your first two lines makes me think of someone making a basket

  9. A tanka:

    oh, the heat…
    toes in the grass
    uncurl
    root into the dirt
    dispersing his words

    Diane Mayr, all rights reserved

    1. Wow. That feels like so much more than 15 words, both in language and in thought. You compress so well! Love the last line especially.

  10. A tanka:

    oh, the heat…
    toes in the grass
    uncurl
    root into the dirt
    dispersing his words

    Diane Mayr, all rights reserved

    1. Wow. That feels like so much more than 15 words, both in language and in thought. You compress so well! Love the last line especially.

    1. Aw, I love the poignancy of that last line. It’s a joyous poem and somehow a little bittersweet at the end, too.

    1. Aw, I love the poignancy of that last line. It’s a joyous poem and somehow a little bittersweet at the end, too.

    1. This is so sweet I just a saw a bunny yesterday wail walking

    1. This is so sweet I just a saw a bunny yesterday wail walking

  11. Laura, i really love your last two lines.

    ATTACK THE SNACK

    Little hands reach to the sky.
    Mommy holds the ice-cream high.
    Share,
    Compare,
    No fair!

    1. Thanks, Cindyb–love that you saw some keepaway ice cream here:>)

      1. The grass tops looked like reaching hands to me, and what is there to reach for but something chocolate and sweet? I’m thinking she was giving out ice cream sandwiches, and no matter what it is, some kid thinks they got shorted. 🙂 At least, my kids were that way!

        1. I love all this drama! Thanks for sharing the behind-the-scenes story:>)

  12. Laura, i really love your last two lines.

    ATTACK THE SNACK

    Little hands reach to the sky.
    Mommy holds the ice-cream high.
    Share,
    Compare,
    No fair!

    1. Thanks, Cindyb–love that you saw some keepaway ice cream here:>)

      1. The grass tops looked like reaching hands to me, and what is there to reach for but something chocolate and sweet? I’m thinking she was giving out ice cream sandwiches, and no matter what it is, some kid thinks they got shorted. 🙂 At least, my kids were that way!

        1. I love all this drama! Thanks for sharing the behind-the-scenes story:>)

  13. Beautiful poem, Laura.
    Interesting picture. Reminds me of my Granny’s field where
    my cousin and I played many years ago.

    Hide and Seek

    Quick!
    Run!
    Hide!
    See the field?
    Slip inside.
    Here we go.
    Stay down low.
    Sh-h‑h.

      1. Thanks, Jessica. I noticed from one of your comments above, that you also have memories of playing in a field by your grandmother’s.

  14. Beautiful poem, Laura.
    Interesting picture. Reminds me of my Granny’s field where
    my cousin and I played many years ago.

    Hide and Seek

    Quick!
    Run!
    Hide!
    See the field?
    Slip inside.
    Here we go.
    Stay down low.
    Sh-h‑h.

      1. Thanks, Jessica. I noticed from one of your comments above, that you also have memories of playing in a field by your grandmother’s.

    1. I love the use of bruise here, Jeanne, and then how tossing is the less violent option! Lovely.

    1. I love the use of bruise here, Jeanne, and then how tossing is the less violent option! Lovely.

    1. One of the things that waving grass always makes me think of is The Ghost and the Darkness, the movie about the (real-life) man-eating lions in Africa. You know, where you see tall grass moving, and that’s the only physical evidence of some beast traveling below? I love your happier take on that and how you worked ocean/ship imagery into each line.

    2. Makes me won’t to be on that boat braking through the grassy fields of my childhood

    1. One of the things that waving grass always makes me think of is The Ghost and the Darkness, the movie about the (real-life) man-eating lions in Africa. You know, where you see tall grass moving, and that’s the only physical evidence of some beast traveling below? I love your happier take on that and how you worked ocean/ship imagery into each line.

    2. Makes me won’t to be on that boat braking through the grassy fields of my childhood

  15. The Wild Grasses

    Overgrown
    unmown
    they shimmy
    in wild gyration
    untamed and
    unrestrained
    free from
    civilization

    ~~Barbara J. Turner

    1. I can see these images as I read your words just bueautiful

    2. Ooooooooh, Barbara. Lovely. The sounds in here, the rhymes, the meter, the imagery–and in 13 words. Holy smoke! I especially love lines 3 and 4.

  16. The Wild Grasses

    Overgrown
    unmown
    they shimmy
    in wild gyration
    untamed and
    unrestrained
    free from
    civilization

    ~~Barbara J. Turner

    1. I can see these images as I read your words just bueautiful

    2. Ooooooooh, Barbara. Lovely. The sounds in here, the rhymes, the meter, the imagery–and in 13 words. Holy smoke! I especially love lines 3 and 4.

  17. wispy weeds dance
    In the wind
    To the shrill
    Of distant birds
    Calling their names

    - Anne McKenna

    1. Oh, this is lovely, Anne. One of my favorites of yours, because I can actually see and hear this–nothing abstract at all. The wispy weeds, the shrill birds, and the way you connect the two on the last line. Excellent!

  18. wispy weeds dance
    In the wind
    To the shrill
    Of distant birds
    Calling their names

    - Anne McKenna

    1. Oh, this is lovely, Anne. One of my favorites of yours, because I can actually see and hear this–nothing abstract at all. The wispy weeds, the shrill birds, and the way you connect the two on the last line. Excellent!

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