Tuesday, March 29, 2011

March Is a Fickle Mistress

"In like a lion, out like a lamb; in like a lamb, out like a lion" notwithstanding, we Midwesterners never really know what to expect of March. This year has been a prime example. When I left nearly two weeks ago, March was warm enough to make me wonder why I was going. When I returned, snow nestled in the shaded places around hedgerows. And this year isn't so different from past years in that respect. Here's a poem about a childhood experience:

Winter Violets

On a cold and blustery mid-March day
The wind whirled the snow away,
And there, hidden among the leaves,
Grew violets in winter.

copyright 2011

Saturday, March 19, 2011

On the Night of the Supermoon

I'm late with my post because the world and I have had a very busy week. But tonight the moon will rise over the prairie appearing bigger than it has or will for many years. In its honor, I'll share this poem with you:

Moonrise

She blushes as she rises,
Naked,
And pulls a filmy cloud
Across her face.

But modesty is not her virtue.
Soon the blush has faded,
The cloud is cast aside,
And she strides
Silver, shameless,
Across her sky.

copyright 2011

Monday, March 7, 2011

Itty Bitty Poems Pique My Interest

For years I've been writing very short poems I called vignettes for lack of a better word. They didn't fit into the structure of haiku or any of the other accepted short forms of poetry. Most of them were intended just to paint a picture with a few brushstrokes, and I enjoyed them, but nobody else seemed to take them seriously. Then along came Twitter....

Recently I've discovered an entire community of poets who write Twitter poems, some of which are haiku and similar forms, but some of which are hashtagged #micropoetry and seem to fit none of the established forms I know about. I'm not sure if the micropoetry hashtag is an open community, so I haven't used it, but I have tried tweeting a couple of my vignettes. Twitter doesn't have enough characters for titles, but the first one is "Carpe Diem" and the second is "View From My Bedroom Window--Broken Bow, OK."

Purple thumbprint clouds / Like bruises / On the smooth pink flesh / Of sunset....

The moon, somewhere above my sight / Mocks the darkness of the night; / A thousand clouds reflect its light / To turn the earthen road to white.

copyright 2011