Time of New Birth

The décima challenge this week is “Birth” in one of the D rhyme spots. It’s a timely prompt, as it’s April. Last time I went to the park, I noticed a profusion of new flowers and multiple ducklings! Linked also to today’s Writers’ Pantry.

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Sun rises earlier each day:
It has been hesitant to wake
Yet lately decided to make
The most of it, a better way.

And later the sun also stays,
Shining its rays upon the ground,
Illuminating all around.
Now this April springtime-green Earth
Is filled with blossoms and new birth:
Even more beauty will abound.

Ducklings with their Mama Duck

Spring Flowers

I colored this picture for Linda G. Hill’s coloring club this month and wrote a limerick to go with it. Pusheen the cat is probably only smelling the fragrant flowers, but to me, it looks like she is chomping on it!

Wilting Lily

I wrote this in response to Angie Trafford’s Writing Wednesday and also because my Easter lily really is looking sad (picture is from a few days ago). 

Notice this wilting Easter lily,
Sad during such a happy season,
Yet there were weeks it brought levity —
Monitor its soil for a reason.

Lack of sun or water could cause
This plummet of vitality,
Or, the plant ought to take a pause —
It could just be its time, clearly.

A Lesson

Today’s poem was actually inspired by yesterday’s one-word challenge from Fandango, which was “never.” I guess this also builds off of yesterday’s post, in which I mentioned that we could learn from those strawberry flowers. Here’s something else to learn from them.

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Growing Strawberries

I wrote this string of haiku after observing the strawberry plants in my family’s garden. We have many berries growing and a few flowers on the plants. 

I wrote this poem, in a way, to the little flower and about them. The interesting thing about them is that, even though there are many fully-grown berries by them, they do not compare themselves, and they never think that they are growing too slowly, nor think of themselves as failures. There are lessons that flowers can teach us, I think. And by “us,” of course I mean “me.” 

 

Heirlooms

This week’s paint-chip poetry prompt is a free-write, with only three paint chips: heirloom tomato, stepping stone, and grandma’s hydrangeas. I wrote this poem as a response and also inspired by this prompt about weather. 

The Solitary Walker

Happy World Poetry Day, fellow readers / writers! This is the first I’ve heard of it, but that’s fine because I’m always up for celebrating poetry. The poem I have today is for FOWC: Solitary and was also inspired by MLMM’s Sunday Writing Prompt: Lost. Linked with PSU’s Writers’ Pantry (which is where I learned about today’s special celebration 🙂 ).

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The solitary walker,
Whether she is noticing
Flowers on the edges of concrete,
Or is fully immersed
In grass or tall trees,
Loves to get lost
Along those winding pathways,
Loves those many moments
Multiple yet precious,
When God smiles through
Nature, throughout creation,
When she again realizes
She is not solitary.

photo by Walter Sturn, on Unsplash

Looking Back

This is in response to this prompt about “rear view mirrors.”
I am also sharing with DVerse open-link night.

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The rear-view mirror is colored rose,
Forgotten is most trials’ sting,
Only the best is what it shows,
Is it better than now? Who knows?
Every age of life has something
Painful, causing tears or trembling.
Another house stands down the road,
Flowers and thorns fill life’s abode.

Ghazal: Folly

After posting the paint-chip ghazal earlier today, I remembered this one, written about a month ago, on January 16, 2021.

Photo by cottonbro on Pexels.com

Forgive my folly, veritable wells of it!
Let it be written down, say not farewell to it!

Before its end, all pens would use their ink;
Were I given all time, I could not tell of it.

See how the heart makes passion come in waves —
Behold the ocean deep, the ebb and swell of it!

Even if you are not my Beatrice,
Could you not be my Virgil for the hell of it?

Now all that’s left are roses pressed in books:
One such sweet scent — this writer brings to life the smell of it.

Light: A Ghazal

Linda Kruschke has a wonderful poetry prompt for us this week: writing a ghazal using paint chips!  I love, love, LOVE ghazals so was overjoyed to read this prompt on Friday. I not only used a paint chip for the repeating part at the end of each couplet but also used a few others interspersed among the 5 couplets. Linked also with the Writers’ Pantry at PSU.