poem about nature – Susan Joy Clark

Creative Life, Poetry

Aurora Blush, #Tanka Tuesday, #Diatelle

glow

of light,

peeking bright,

aurora blush

through pastel clouds, shines white,

in early morning’s stillness hush

illuminating fields so green and lush,

an early riser’s treat, nature’s light show,

at eventide, the sky wears a pink flush,

tints from a watercolor brush,

sky’s a glorious sight,

in awe, we gush,

whether night

or light,

show

This was written for Colleen M. Chesebro’s Tanka Tuesday, with the requirement of synonyms for both “dawn” and “twilight.” I keep experimenting with different forms that are acceptable for the Tanka Tuesday challenge, so this time, I tried a diatelle, which, according to Colleen’s site, has this syllable pattern, “1/2/3/4/6/8/10/12/10/8/6/4/3/2/1” and this rhyme pattern, “abbcbccaccbcbba.”

Creative Life, Poetry

Conquering the Dragon(fruit)

Photo by Alexander Schimmeck on Unsplash

who

would have

guessed that past

your unfriendly

exterior was

a sweet reward for those

who adventured? who was the

first to make the discovery?

bright and beautiful, your scaly hide

suits the fierce creature for whom you were named,

even the plant which yields you is prickly,

unwelcoming, dangling and serpent-like,

was it a wanderer sick from thirst

who was the first to conquer you?

who knew cactus could produce

a sweet fruit, gorgeous in

fuschia pink color,

with juices that

dye your skin,

purply

red?

This poem was written for the dVerse Poetics challenge. We were challenged to describe a fruit’s exterior and interior in a form of our choosing. I chose a double etheree. Dragonfruit (pitaya) seems to be getting trendy in the U.S., but I have only tried it recently. I bought some frozen cubes of the fruit to use in a fruit punch at Easter, and it did dye my hands with its juice. It seems it can also be white on the interior as well.

Creative Life, Poetry

Stillness, #Double Tetractys, #Lucky Dip -Saturday Mix

Photo by Susan Joy Clark, Verona Lake in Verona Park, NJ

Stillness

is calm

and peaceful,

safe and serene,

where there is no fear of flood or high tide.

As David said, “beside the still waters,”

I know my God,

lovingly,

will guide

me.

This was written in a double tetractys format for Lucky Dip — Saturday Mix. According to their page, here is an explanation of the tetractys form.

“Tetractys, a poetic form invented by Ray Stebbing, consists of at least 5 lines of 1, 2, 3, 4, 10syllables (total of 20). Tetractys can be written with more than one verse, but must follow suit with an inverted syllable count. Tetractys can also be reversed and written 10, 4, 3, 2, 1.

Double Tetractys: 1, 2, 3, 4, 10, 10, 4, 3, 2, 1

Triple Tetractys: 1, 2, 3, 4, 10, 10, 4, 3, 2, 1, 1, 2, 3, 4, 10

and so on.

‘Euclid, the mathematician of classical times, considered the number series 1, 2, 3, 4 to have mystical significance because its sum is 10, so he dignified it with a name of its own – Tetractys. The tetractys could be Britain’s answer to the haiku. Its challenge is to express a complete thought, profound or comic, witty or wise, within the narrow compass of twenty syllables.’ – Ray Stebbing”