HAIKU

yellow sunshine hangs
heavy on the lemon tree
time for lemonade


My lemon tree has so much fruit this year that some of it is going to the birds.  I've eaten all the oranges, but the lemons seem to just keep coming.  I guess I should make lemon bars and lemon cake.  What else can I do with the lemons?  Can you write a haiku, an acrostic or a couplet about your favorite fruit?  Have fun.

PEACH

copyright 2014, Joy Acey

Wrinkled-pit peach
how do you grow?
Your taste is delicious
with a fuzzy warm glow.

     I've been writing peach poems today.  I think peaches are my favorite fruit.  What is your favorite?  What vegetable do you like best?  Can you write a fruit or vegetable poem today?  Is there a fruit or vegetable you don't like?  Growing up, I never liked grape jelly, I still don't.  What is your favorite jam?

Pink Lemonade

Spring is coming,
what do I see?
Citrus blossoms
on my tree.

When I look
to my delight
the fruit and leaves
are green and white.

Cut open the lemons,
and what do you think?
The fruit on my tree
is lemonade pink.


     My lemon tree smells wonderful.  Every time I see fruit growing on the tree, I feel like I've got a special tree and the King of Spain's daughter is going to come and visit me--all for the sake of my little lemon tree.  Here is your challenge for today.  What is your favorite nursery rhyme?  Can you take that rhyme and re-write it to modernize the poem? 

I have a little lemon tree
and nothing will it bear
but some juicy lemons
for bees buzzing there.

When I cut it open
nothing can I see
but the pinky fruit
waiting there for me.

     Oh well, you get the idea.  What if you tried Humpty-Dumpty?  Have fun writing.

ORANGES

On this chilly morning
Red clouds
Arch the sky
Near citrus trees
Growing globes of fruit
Erupting in the 
Scent of sunshine


     Do you like the smell of oranges?  I do.  I couldn't think of what to write this morning and I was eating an orange.  I was going to write a haiku about oranges, but then I thought an acrostic would let me say more.  It is hard to write a short succinct
haiku that says everything you want it to.  So, here is your poetry challenge for today, can you write your own acrostic about a piece of fruit?  Can you use the letters to tell us something about the fruit, who eats it, or what it is used for or smells like?  Have fun writing your poem.

Navel Oranges

The oranges 
on my citrus tree
are big and round, 
bright and shiny.

I cut one open,
it tastes delicious.
I wish you were here
to try it with us.

    It does seem strange to me that as much of the US braces for a winter of snow, my little orange tree is just coming into its own.  We planted this tree two and a half years ago and it is finally bearing fruit.  Today's poetry challenge is to write a poem about your favorite fruit (or vegetable).

WINTER COLD

Tonight it might freeze.
The citrus trees
Could loose their leaves.
Could lose the fruit too.
What to do?

To keep  the trees
Away from harm,
We put lights on
To make them warm.

Then for more heat
And lots more drama
We dressed the trees
In pink pyjamas.


     This was a fun poem to write because at first I had a hard time finding a rhyming word for pyjamas.  At first I thought about moving that word, so it wasn't my end word.  But, the pyjamas is the whole point of the poem and it really needed to be the final word.  So I went to my rhyming dictionary and there were several options.  Can you write a poem today about what you do to keep warm?  Have fun.

Apples

Apple pie,

     Apple Betty,

          Apple crisp,

Make them ready.

I can eat apples

    every day.

It is how I keep

    the doctor away.



     Are apples your favorite fruit?  Bananas?  How about watermelon?  Lately I've been thinking about writing concrete poems (shape poems) for fruit and stressing the color.  Red apples, yellow bananas, pink watermelon (maybe orange cantaloupe would be a better example.)  Do you want to try one?  Draw some circles for purple grapes and put one word in each grape.  Maybe, round, globe, sweet, world, ball, lavender, puce, egg plant, sugary, wine, fruity, crisp.  (I could continue with all the words to describe wine.) I forgot raisin.  Do you get the picture?  What other purple words can you think of?  Crayon? Rainbow? Indigo? Violet? Harold?  Have fun making up your own concrete poem. 

More Fruit

Please

eat 

all the

ripe fruit,

soon.

Oranges are juicy.

Oranges are sweet.

Remove the peel

before you eat.


     I'm still going crazy over fruit.  I'm thinking mangoes, pineapples, papaya, cantaloupe,  watermelon, and bananas.  What is your favorite fruit?  I wonder if you help the fruit to your ear, what story would you hear?  Can you find a poem to write somewhere in all this good fruit?  Happy Friday.