Tag Archives: wordcraft poetry

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Unexpected #tankatuesday

The Expected One
1860
painting by Ferdinand Georg Waldmüller (Museum: Bavarian State Painting Collections) wikidata.org

Unexpected

the bookworm’s romance

fancies of her secret heart

inked in poetry

rise from the path of pages

with roses unexpected

After all the bookish posts, I thought I’d go with something short and sweet. I love these visual prompts. And I always learn something new about the featured artwork. Colleen thought the young woman might be holding a cell phone. Lol. I went with a book of poetry.

This is an example of ekphrastic poetry, a poem written in response to a piece of art. I wrote a tanka with a syllable count of 5/7/5/7/7.

To read more responses to the challenge, learn about syllabic poetry, or submit your own poem, stop by Colleen’s blog: Wordcraft Poetry.

Colleen is also sharing an announcement about the “Around the Campfire Literary Journal” which is accepting submissions through the month of May. I hope you feel inspired.

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Impressions of Spring #tankatuesday

Le Jardin de l’artiste à Giverny by Claude Monet
English: The Artist’s Garden at Giverny, 
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Artist%27s_Garden_at_Giverny

Impressions of Spring

beyond March’s window
limbs bare weathered bones
hoary fingers splayed in grim supplication
for an hour’s sun-shower
where only moss grows

last year’s papery stalks
lie swathed in brown leaves
the soggy gray detritus of irises
where rain drums a heartbeat
on dull amber grass

yet hidden in the loam
the earth awakens
pledging iris leaves and buds on cherry trees
an impression of spring
dappled with violet

Monet’s garden is not how my landscape looks at all. Here on the mountain, spring daffodils are weeks away. But there are hints of green, a new shoot here and there, leaving the impression that spring is on its way.

Ekphrastic poetry is written in response to a piece of art. Colleen Chesebro chose this prompt after seeing it on Rebecca Budd’s blog: Chasing Art.

I wrote a Double Ennead, a syllabic form created by Colleen. Each of the three stanzas has five lines with a syllable count of 6/5/11/6/5, (33 syllables, giving the entire poem a total of 99).

To read more responses to the challenge, learn about syllabic poetry, or submit your own poem, stop by Colleen’s blog: Wordcraft Poetry.

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Never Prim #tankatuesday

Portrait of Lady Agnew of Lochnaw (1865-1932) by John Singer Sargent, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Never Prim

Prim

Not she

Reposed so

Raising eyebrows

She flouts decorum

A curve of thigh exposed

Draped like silk upon her chair

She dares me to risk her boldness

My paintbrush craves her devil may care

Spellbound, I tarry, swayed by temptation

The authenticity of her essence

Her rebuff of feminine bindings

My colors bow to her allure

A force to be reckoned with

She teases with her smile

My intrepid muse

Her brazen gaze

Scandalous

Never

Prim

Isn’t this an amazing piece of art? To me, Lady Agnew’s posture and expression convey a dauntless challenge to acknowledge her power, her being. I wondered what the artist thought. Did he expect a woman properly dignified, stiff, and prim? Did he love her dare as much as she?

I love these Ekphrastic challenges. Ekphrastic poetry is written in response to a piece of art. Colleen chose this prompt after seeing it on Rebecca Budd’s blog: Chasing Art.

I wrote a stacked/double etheree, which is comprised of twenty lines with a syllable count per line of 1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8-9-10, 10-9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1. This poem looks like a diamond.

To read more responses to the challenge, learn about syllabic poetry, or submit your own poem, stop by Colleen’s blog: Wordcraft Poetry.

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Colors Unfettered #tankatuesday

Boughton, George Henry; The Lady of the Snows; Walker Art Gallery; http://www.artuk.org/artworks/the-lady-of-the-snows-97671

Colors Unfettered

demur flowers bloom

a tapestry stitched with spring

colors unfettered

on her chilly weather walks

old man winter cedes the day

It felt marvelous to write poetry once again for Colleen’s #TankaTuesday after months of absence. I love these Ekphrastic challenges. Ekphrastic poetry is written in response to a piece of art. Colleen chose this prompt after seeing it on Rebecca Budd’s blog: Chasing Art.

I wrote a tanka with syllable count 5/7/5/7/7. Here in Oregon, spring may be shy, but she’s on her way, and there’s no stopping her.

To read more responses to the challenge, learn about syllabic poetry, or submit your own poem, stop by Colleen’s blog: Wordcraft Poetry.

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Children Forget

Title: Russian Dancers
Artist: Edgar Degas (French, Paris 1834–1917 Paris)
Date: 1899 via https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/459097

Children Forget

women dance their prayers

crowned in wreaths of wild color

in whirling skirts of flowers

arms entwined with arms

else breaking hearts bleed red streams

and children forget

love exists and joy endures

the dark whims of violence

nightmare days of warring men

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The #TankaTuesday challenge this week explores Ekphrastic poetry inspired by visual art. The artwork was chosen by Colleen from WordCraft Poetry and poet and blogger Selma Martin. Their selection relies heavily on current events, however they wanted to be clear that their choice “is not a celebration of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine” and they both “support Ukraine in its efforts to maintain its sovereignty.”

This poem is a syllabic form called a chōka with syllable counts of 5-7-7-5-7-5-7-7-7.

I chose to write about women as the bearers of hope, the guardians of children, and the protectors of joy and love during the dark days of war. (I know countless men share these qualities too).

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A Learned Girl #TankaTuesday

The Crystal Ball painted by John William Waterhouse

(A short break in the TBR Challenge reblogs for a little poetry)

A Learned Girl

She is fortunate to read at all. Her slender fingers stray from the pages, unblemished but for a random papercut. Beyond her window, other women toil until their skin toughens into leather, and raw knuckles wear down to bones. Their spines crack beneath the weight of necessity, poor lots destined from the day they were born. She is privileged. This she knows. Granted by happenstance her wish to learn the arts of anatomy and history and politics. To peruse through pages of poetry and philosophy, to dip her quill and tally accounts. She will excel in the learned world of power. But she is still a girl.

studies surrender

lost in red velvet daydreams

murmurs of passion

love’s silk breath blushes her cheeks

wishes in a crystal ball

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Thank you to Colleen over at Wordcraft Poetry for the lovely image to use as an prompt for this week’s Ekphrastic poetry. Ekphrastic poems respond to a piece of art. I went with a tanka prose poem. It has one paragraph and one tanka with 5/7/5/7/7 syllables. 

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Solstice: #Tanka Tuesday

pixabay image

Solstice

Winter dawns, heralded by dreary skies and the sun’s retreat. Wind-whipped rain blusters, casting free the remnants of autumn’s crinkled leaves. Woodland creatures burrow into the roots of things, latent, enduring, and twinkling colors gleam in frost-rimmed windows, a warm false-light to see us through the darkness. Oh, do not despair during these days of dying, for the magic of this wise world welcomes the first day of winter with the return of light.

mornings by moonglow

shadows hushed in shades of blue

twilit afternoons

winter’s darkness shrouds the day

while solstice promises spring

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This tanka prose is in response to Colleen’s #TankaTuesday challenge. A “tanka prose” is a piece of prose followed by a tanka with syllable count 5/7/5/7/7. For inspiration, she prompted us to write about any festival or tradition we celebrate during the month of December. Happy Solstice!