sharing a poetic LIFELINE with the world

Posts tagged ‘poem’

Make Visible: Inspired by Nature

My poem, “The Banquet,” was inspired by deer in our side yard.  As a writer, don’t be afraid of using nature as inspiration, especially as a jumping off point to a longer piece.  Your poem doesn’t have to be explicitly about flora or fauna, but could evolve into a metaphor about something else entirely.

Poetry prompt:  Go for a walk outside.  If something from the natural world catches your eye, start a poem with that image as the kernel.

The Banquet

The deer eat the weeds,
the apples, the lower branches of trees.
Such enthusiasm!

What feast have you set out
before them?
Like watching a puppy or a child eat.

Of the seven deadlies, gluttony…
Now it’s the ice cream aisle,
the frozen dinners and pizza,
the deli, the chip and pop aisle,
the white bread, the lowly potato.

You are laughing at us,
I know.

How disappointed you must be in us?
With our rice cakes, salads without dressing,
low-carb diets.
Come eat!
Life is a banquet, the table is set.
Are there no takers?
“Manna makes me fat.”
“Fishes go right to my thighs.”
So we starve in the desert,
refusing what you have offered,
this miracle.

© Anne Westlund

“Make visible what, without you, might perhaps never have been seen.”~Robert Bresson, French Film Director

Photo by Chris Westlund

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Make Visible, Uncategorized

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A New Way of Looking: Ekphrasis

I learned a new word  recently, courtesy of a friend and Wiki:

Ekphrasis or ecphrasis is the graphic, often dramatic, description of a visual work of art. In ancient times it referred to a description of any thing, person, or experience. The word comes from the Greek ek and phrasis, ‘out’ and ‘speak’ respectively, verb ekphrazein, to proclaim or call an inanimate object by name.

Nowadays it might be a snapshot of a scene, a work of art, or any creation that puts you in the head of the participants or an object and tell’s you what is actually happening within it.

So I thought, why not pick one of my collages as a prompt and write about it?

The one I chose is called “La Fleur” and here it is:

La Fleur

©2008 Lin Neiswender

Here is my poem about the collage:

The Photograph

Rose Pink my Papa calls me, his little blossom
I smile inside but not for the photograph
The buttons on my shoes are too tight and pinch my toes

My little dogs are lucky, they can run free with bare paws
On the fresh green grass, and rush into the house
When they are tired, heads out the window
Listening to the bird sing

But even they are dressed too fine for comfort
Tight bows of Mama’s fine silk ribbon tied
Around their necks, choking them as does
My lace collar choke me

Still a little girl’s first love
Is her Papa, and so I endure
The scratching of the lace,
The tightness of the shoes

All so Papa can take his photograph
Of his La Fleur Rose

©2012 Lin Neiswender

 

 

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Creative Writing, Ekphrasis, Inspiration, Lines by Lin, Poetry, Uncategorized

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Michele’s Musings

Turning Over Rocks

“Why be difficult
when you can always
be impossible?”

My family’s motto,
when I was growing up.

We lived in clouds,
ephemeral universe
All or nothing mind-set
badgered us into paralyzing inaction,
circular conundrums,
promises meant to stop questions,
not solve problem

“Don’t answer the phone!” admonitions
when I was home alone, sick,
escaping whatever had me
in its grip that day or week

Blame and shame
games and names
hiding in books read
by shadowed night-light
to tame the monsters
lurking under my bed,
in the closet,
beyond the toys
strewn across the floor
beyond the closed door
to my personal space and mind

Child of parents
whose fractured worlds
never resolved enough to give them
strength to shelter their offspring
the way this one needed

But I was loved
and encouraged to dream big,
reach beyond what was,
by my father
live his words
not the life we had

I gained my own,
tiny shard by shard
years later, loved,
protected, cherished,
with someone who believes in me,
loves me
without needing to understand
more than he does

learn to trust,
push past fears, worries
I’ll never be enough, do enough,
justify my own existence

Learn I have to prove
nothing to the world.
I have the right just to be,
eclectic, whimsical,
inconsistent entity
in love
with my life
as I inch
toward myself

Ⓒ Michele M. Graf
11-7-11

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Introductions

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Introducing Anne

Anne Westlund

Poetic Medicine

 
The songs of Frank Sinatra and U2
The dust off well-loved books
Flowers, fresh or nearly faded
Intimacies, profane and mundane
Words, sharp or soft or awkward
Charts, needles, leather, and locked doors
The spirit of poets past
Teenage loneliness and lost loves
Dreams, a stable full, and a day at the races
Chinese meals and Italian delicacies
Butt-numbing classes of classics
Indie films and MGM spectacles

That’s what my poems
are made of

©  Anne Westlund

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Introductions

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Meeting Mary

More Than What You See

“The man is only half himself, the other half is his expression”
~ Ralph Waldo Emerson

I am only half what you see –
you can’t learn all from a picture;
yes, you see my hair is blonde,
my eyes are blue,
perhaps estimate my height…
but my fair skin and features are not all
that make me who I am.

I am thoughts, ideas,
creations, emotions,
memories.

I am tears –
let loose so easily
but making me strong not soft.

I am survivor –
wrought in the fire
to strengthen my faith.

I am chiaroscuro –
not all light or dark alone
but the contrast and shadows they create.

I am love –
wrapped gently
around my husband and my son.

I am seeds –
blown from a dandelion
swept up by the air in flight.

I am words –
brewing inside of me
are ideas that will form poems and stories.

I am me –
take me or reject me,
but you cannot change me.

 

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Introductions, Mary's Expression

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