Five Cinquains

I wasn’t going to join in on Poetry Friday today, then went to Linda’s roundup, found her post on Adelaide Crapsey and the cinquain form, and decided to put something up after all.

The cinquain is one of the short forms I’ve written in when composing poems in response to the daily photography prompts I’ve been following. Here are five (in honor of the cinquain’s five lines) that I’ve written in the past few months. They’ll take you back to spring and onward. (Title is the photo prompt word or phrase.)

Fresh

Policeman’s helmet (Photo © 2017 by V. Nesdoly)

just washed
smell of laundry
policeman’s helmet grows
riotously beside the stream
fresh pink

Group

McBurney Lane art piece (Photo © 2017 by V. Nesdoly)

Teamwork
Community
Get involved, Lend a hand
Support, Help out, Volunteer, Care
Give back.

A helping hand

My viewing deck on eclipse morning (Photo © 2017 by V.Nesdoly)

Eclipse—
protect my eyes:
box, tin foil, white paper
pinhole camera in my hand.
Viewed safe.

Fencing

Bug on a fence (Photo © 2017 by V. Nesdoly)

After
stone-bottom burrow
this sleek white thoroughfare
is a bug’s sci-fi fantasy
new world!

Silver

Street vendor sugar bowl (Photo © 2017 by V. Nesdoly)

Silver
imperfections
can’t hide your sweet intent
like grey hair, wrinkled face of our
Granny

All the above © 2017 by Violet Nesdoly (All rights reserved)
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This post is linked to Poetry Friday, hosted today by Linda at Teacher Dance.

 

 

Turning

Despite the fact that my Summer Shorts project has come to an end, I’ve kept up with snapping a daily photo, and so far have managed to pair each photo with a bit of writing (“Fall Fragments”). No promises (to myself or anyone else) that this will continue so consistently. But somehow it’s a nice habit not to break.

“Turning” was the photo prompt for October 7th. Somehow all the squirrels dashing about in their hunt for winter stores caught my eye. And so a little tanka about the fall activity of these critters.

 

Path lined with chestnuts
prickly shells, shiny brown globes.
Squirrels everywhere.

They dash, climb, chase, leap, scurry.
Winter soon, better hurry!

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This post is linked to Poetry Friday, hosted today by 13 and the lovely and clever Irene Latham at Live Your Poem.

 

Shannon Falls Haiga

My sister takes amazing nature photographs. When I saw these on her Facebook profile yesterday, complete with haiku she’d written (her first she says), I told her she should write more and my thought was, I’ve got to share these with other lovers of nature and poetry.

Poetry Friday is the perfect place. So here for your visual and reading pleasure is a suite of Shannon Falls Haiga – photos and haiku by Bea MacPherson (shared with her permission, of course).

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This post is linked to Poetry Friday, hosted today by Kiesha Shephard at Whispers from the Ridge.

 

Cattails

fluffy, pale, shapeless
with just a hint of young self
cattails in old age

© 2017 by Violet Nesdoly (All rights reserved)

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Prompt – Inspiration
This haiku was inspired by the photo taken on a walk in March 2015.

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This April I’m celebrating National Poetry Month by posting some not-as-yet published poems from my files, along with what inspired them. If the prompt inspires you to write a poem of your own, you’re welcome to share it in comments. Whether you write or not, thanks so much for dropping by!

Save

 

Life between the rows

Pink hyacinth–appreciated indoors (Photo © 2017 by V. Nesdoly)

I look down at my garden
at tight pink hyacinths ready to pop
green spears of tulip
clumped in the randomness
of fall planting
but nothing stirs in me
except guilt.

I should be out there
softening the soil
letting in the air,
stirring it to a rich black backdrop
that will show off the colour to come.

But my healing hip
holds me in its prison
of ache and slow motion.
My body begs to sit and relax
stretch out, watch TV

like the May long ago
when newly received
perennial roots
grew dry and lifeless
as my body insisted
on time to grow strong again.

© 2017 by Violet Nesdoly (All rights reserved)

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Prompt – Inspiration

This is another poem I wrote in the spring of 2014 when recovering from my broken hip. The “between the lines” idea came from the poem prompt “Reading between the Lines” posted at Adele Kenny’s site. The poem begins:

While you were sleeping in the chair, perhaps
dreaming of an ageless character
from the unfinished novel in your lap,
the sunlight through the window lit your hair
surrounding your face in a brilliant halo.

Read entire…

~*~*~*~*~

This April I’m celebrating National Poetry Month by posting some not-as-yet published poems from my files, along with what inspired them. If the prompt inspires you to write a poem of your own, you’re welcome to share it in comments. Whether you write or not, thanks so much for dropping by!

Save

 

pink elephant corn

Blossoms at last – photo from Sunday,  April 2, 2017 (Photo © 2017 by v. Nesdoly)

pink elephant corn
childhood’s quick-vanishing treat
branches pop pink spring

© 2017 by Violet Nesdoly (All rights reserved)

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Prompt – Inspiration
This April 2012 haiku was prompted by Spring, of course. What more is there to say?

~*~*~*~*~

This April I’m celebrating National Poetry Month by posting some not-as-yet published poems from my files, along with what inspired them. If the prompt inspires you to write a poem of your own, you’re welcome to share it in comments. Whether you write or not, thanks so much for dropping by!

Save

 

Magpie

Poetry took a back seat this busy summer of being a mom and grandma first, writer second. But I did take lots of photos and tried to write a little something every day inspired by a photo.

Northeast B.C., where we spent the last three weeks with family, has many magpies. One morning one of them  was flitting about in a yard we passed on our walk. It is the subject of my poem for August 10th.

 

Did you know…

– Australian magpies swoop and buzz walkers, joggers and cyclists during nesting season.

– Magpies are known (along with other corvids) for their intelligence. The Eurasian magpie even recognizes itself in a mirror.

– In some countries (like China) people believe magpies (Pica pica) bring good luck. They also appear as characters in folklore, stories, and rhymes from around the world

– Some people love magpies but others don’t!

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This poem is linked to Poetry Friday, hosted today by Dori Reads.

 

Warm-up

The robins lilt
the blackbirds trill
from little sparrow’s
open bill

an aria
so sweet and round.
(how can that wee bird
make such sound?)

From somewhere high
the flicker drums
with rat-tat-tat
the forest thrums

The ducks afraid
of our bold pets
alarm their alto
clarinets

Steller’s jays rasp
the Kelp Gulls shriek
Blue Heron fishing
in the creek

mute audience
to warm-up glee
of spring’s sweet avian
symphony.

© 2016 by Violet Nesdoly (All rights reserved)

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I don’t think I’ll ever get tired of morning birdsong. Even on the dullest days their calls brighten our walk. They’re especially melodic on the section of path that follows the creek. Listening to them every morning is the perfect way to get tuned up for the day!

This post is linked to Poetry Friday, hosted today by Carol in her Poetry Garden at Beyond Literacy blog.

 

 

I Remember … (NPM ’16-Day 30)

Story time with Aunt Helen

I Remember…

I remember the holes in the green roll-down blinds
and how they looked like a starry sky.

I remember caramel-colored fly paper
hanging twisty from the ceiling
dotted with black.

I remember making cakes and cookies
when we got to play with water in the sandbox.

I remember lying sick on the couch
and how the flowers in the living room curtains
became faces.

I remember story time with Aunt Helen.

I remember angel food cake
and strawberries with whipped cream
for every birthday.

I remember licking the beaters.

I remember Saturday work
and how much I hated it.

I remember washing the cream separator last
and how slimy the dishcloth got
in old soap and lukewarm water.

I remember early wash day mornings
with the sounds of the chugging machine
and daddy playing quartet records
while he waited for another load
to hang on the line.

I remember starting the fire in the sleigh—
the smell of kerosene and smoke
and how one side of my leg
would soon be sunburn-hot.

I remember grape juice and pop—
our Christmas dinner “wine.”

I remember frosty spring mornings
and cracking crystal ice.

I remember spring evenings
full of the drone and ribbet of frogs.

I remember the smell of earth
and the wind holding its breath
just before a summer rain.

I remember the gentle sound of grazing chickens
on summer holiday mornings.

I remember how prickly nervous I got
gathering eggs from nesting hens.

I remember the smell of the kitchen
when Mom made pickles.

I remember the smell of wheat
in the fall when Dad was combining.

I remember the sweet-sour caramel crab-apples
Mom made for fall picnics.

I remember reading
till 2:00 or 3:00 a.m.
and wishing Anne of Green Gables
was my friend.

©2016 by Violet Nesdoly (All rights reserved)

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I decided to take the April 29th NaPoWriMo challenge of writing an “I remember’ poem:

“… write a poem based on things you remember. Try to focus on specific details, and don’t worry about whether the memories are of important events, or are connected to each other.”

I discovered, once I got started, it was hard to stop! The poem contains only a few of my memories. Are they anything like yours?

And with that I come to the end of  poem-a-day National Poetry Month 2016! It was fun posting a new poem every day, even though sometimes a little hectic. Of the 30 poems I published this April, 28 were newly written this month. Thanks for all who came by to read and leave a comment!

I’ll now get back to my usual about twice-a-week posting schedule.

 

Solomon’s Seal (NPM ’16-Day 24)

Solomon’s Seal

lacy petticoat
green leaves bower leggy height
cure for many ills

texture complements
pieris, hostas, roses
salve for green-starved eyes

© 2016 by Violet Nesdoly (All rights reserved)

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My sister gave me a Solomon’s Seal plant about a year ago. It did well. But when it came up this spring,  I had forgotten all about it and it took me a while to figure out what it was. Then I saw the telltale row of flowers under the leaves—so different from any other plant I’ve ever seen—and I remembered.

Solomon’s Seal has a reputation for being quite a healer. Ancients ground its roots to powder to made it into tea for stomach ailments, combined it with lard to smooth over bruised and freckled skin, expected it to aid in the healing of broken bones, hemorrhoids, and tumors. Despite its poisonous leaves and berries, it was credited with being a virtual medicine cabinet in one plant! Read more about it HERE.

I’m quite content to let it do its healing from a distance, with its beauty.