poetry – Page 3 – Susan Joy Clark

Creative Life, Poetry

What Do I See?

Hermann Rorschach, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

I think I only see a smudge

Or aliens guzzling down fudge,

Seahorses kissing sea urchins

or seaweed undersea lurking,

Eiffel Tower by Picasso,

An odd man with green mustachios,

Strange one-clawed acrobatic crabs

With ostentatious derby hats,

What malady’s inflicting me?

Imagination’s all I see.

This is for dVerse’s Monday quadrille challenge. By their definition, a quadrille is a poem with exactly 44 words. Our poems had to include the word “smudge.”

Creative Life, Poetry

Cabin in the Woods, #Paint Chip Poetry Rondelet

Cabin in the Woods

Sweet cabin mine,

Hidden among the forest trees,

Sweet cabin mine,

Surrounded by divine design,

By day, I observe honeybees,

By night, a firefly’s light I see,

Sweet cabin mine.

The challenge from Linda Kruschke of Another Fearless Year this week is to write a rondelet, using one (or more) of the pictured paint chip colors, and using “cabin in the woods” as a title.

According to The Poetry Dictionary by John Drury, a rondelet is …

RONDELET (ron-deh-lay’; French, “little rondel”) A form consisting of seven lines, with a refrain and only two rhymes. The rhyme and refrain scheme is AbAabbA (capital A = refrain). The refrain lines (A) each contain four syllables; the other lines (a and b) each contain eight syllables.

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

The Reluctant Adventurer

I would really like to travel,

And I would like to stay at home.

I would like to have adventures

But don’t want to do them alone.

I would like to go exploring,

But I don’t like getting lost.

I would risk a business venture,

But I am fearful of the cost.

I relate to Bilbo Baggins,

Reluctant adventurers we.

A little worried of troubles

That I can or can not foresee.

In spite of all these worries,

In fresh waters, I dip a toe,

While stretching my parameters

As far and wide as they will go.

Just as I was ready to post, I noticed this quote and image in my WordPress Reader feed from Elena of Short Wisdom. It seemed so appropriate. Check out Elena’s site for other quotes.

This poem was written for the dVerse Poetics challenge, with the requirement that it had to include the word “risk.”

Creative Life, Poetry

Rain Rhythm, #Light Verse

Rain splashes on my hat,

Rat-a-tat, rat-a-tat,

And soaks up the door mat,

Rat-a-tat, rat-a-tat,

Going splish and then splat,

Rat-a-tat, rat-a-tat,

With rhythm like jazz scat,

Rat-a-tat, rat-a-tat,

It rains both dogs and cats,

Rat-a-tat, rat-a-tat,

It soaks up my socks. Drat!

Rat-a-tat, rat-a-tat,

I look like a drowned rat,

Rat-a-tat, rat-a-tat,

I’ll go back to the flat,

Rat-a-tat, rat-a-tat,

And that’s it, and that’s that!

Here is another silly poem/light verse. It was partly inspired by the new dVerse challenge for a poem using repetition, but this doesn’t quite use the technique requested. I thought I’d post it anyway and perhaps enter a different poem for that challenge. Americans don’t usually call an apartment a “flat,” but, well, apartment didn’t fit. “‘Apartment’ didn’t fit. Rat-a-tat, rat-a-tat, I’ll pretend I’m a Brit, Rat-a-tat, Rat-a-tat.” 🙂