APRIL

All flowers blooming,
purple pansies looming
right next to daffodils zooming
in the bending wind, then after
leave us with laughter.


     I've been playing with an acrostic poem based on APRIL today.  Can you try creating your own poem on an April theme?  What are some things that APRIL makes you think of?  Since there are five lines, you might want to shape your poem in one of the five line verses, like limerick or cinquain.  Have fun playing with poetry today.

Colonial Folk Rhyme

Kind Sir, let me take 
your keys to Harvard Square.
I will be the bride for you
when you meet me there.
Then we can walk along together,
from here to everywhere.


    It is Saturday, and I'm messing around with old verses.  I thought it might be fun to try writing my own.  Would you like to try?  See if you can find your own old English Folk Song and try writing your own poem in the same meter or using the same end rhymes.  It is a good day for messing around, who knows what you might come up with.  You're welcome to share your creation in the comments below, or leave me a link where I can find where you have posted your poem.  Happy weekend.

haiku

lizard meditates
upon a sunlit flat rock
disturb not his dreams


grasshoppers awash
in the cool golden moonlight
cry into the night


large ring neck lizard
greedily bathes in sunlight
watching flying gnats


hummingbird
my mother's spirit
observing her joy


can I cultivate
words, phrases, will this mountain
of verse disturb you?


     I'm still working on haiku as I work my way through another zen book.  I do enjoy combining my writing with reading.  You challenge for today is to take one of your poetry books and randomly open to a page.  Put you finger down in the middle of the page and look for the closest noun.  Can you write a short poem about that word.  Does the word strike a memory for you?  When was the first time you learned to read this word?  How did you learn the meaning?  Ask a friend what the word means to them.  Can you find a metaphor or simile for the word?  Have fun writing.

    For more poetry fun, Poetry Friday is being hosted today by Michelle Barnes on her blog, Today's Little Ditty .

haiku

clap of hitting limbs
my neighbor trims his bushes
ready for spring growth


Here is another.  On my morning walk I heard sirens and it got me to thinking.

shattering prom glass
life stilled to a long moment
sound of shrill sirens

I don't know why, but every time I hear sirens, my mind leaps to a story to explain them.  The stories are not happy ones, so I like to avoid that sound.  
  Your challenge for today is to spend five minutes outdoors trying to do nothing but observe nature.  Use your five senses and when you are done, make notes about how you felt.  Now, can you use the information to write your own haiku?  I hope your weather is a lovely as ours has been.  My son tells me the dogwoods are blooming in NC, and I saw in the paper the cherry blossoms are blooming in MD. What is going on in your neck of the woods.  

haiku

swallowing sunlight
chicks in the nest beg crop milk
from their dove father


no dress rehearsal
a baby quail pokes his beak
through the fragile shell


    I've been reading a really good haiku book, SEEDS FROM A BIRCH TREE, Writing Haiku and the Spiritual Journey, written by Clark Strand, copyright 1997, published by Hyperion.  I've really been enjoying the book and think I may need to purchase this book for my permanent library.
   In the book, Strand makes a strong argument for writing haiku in the traditional five, seven, five; three line form.
    Your poetry challenge for today is to find a poetry book you'd like to read and spend ten minutes reading.  It is your choice if you pick an anthology, a collection of poems by one poet, or a text on how to write poetry.  Have fun.  And what ever you choose, will you let me know what you are reading?

Quail Complaint

Out in the desert,
what have quail got?
The soil is too hard.
It's way too hot.
The quail complain
about lack of rain.
Their chicks are too many.
The air is too dry.
They can't find food
as they scuttle by.
When I hear quail
moan and wail,
I think I am glad
I'm not a quail.

     If you could be anyone or anything, what would you like to be?  Can you write a poem about that today?  Happy Poetry Month.

My Dog

My dog is outside.
He's barking again.
He needs me to know
he wants to come in.

So I stand up
and open the door
I don't want to hear
his barking any more.

But the moment he's in
my dog starts to pout.
Now he needs me to know
he wants to go out.


     I have an ageing Welsh Springer Spaniel and every evening when I sit to watch television, he immediately wants me to get up and put him outside.  Then after about a minute, he's barking to come in.  But then as soon as he comes in, and he doesn't even wait for the next commercial break before he wants to go out again.  He's such a silly dog.  Do you have a dog or cat?  Does the pet do anything funny or strange?  I had a dog once who had to push his kibble out of the bowl before he would eat it.  Can you write a poem about your pet?