Here are the cards.
Monday, December 07, 2015
Monday Poetry Stretch - Flashcard Inspired Poetry
Late Saturday I got to poke around in one of my favorite shops, Parcel in Montclair, NJ. It is a quirky little shop where you can open cupboards and drawers and find all kinds of interesting bits. I found a pile of old flash cards and thought they might make an interesting poetry prompt.
Here are the cards.
Choose any form that works for you. The only rule is that you must use these three words or some form of the words. I hope you'll join me this week in writing a flashcard inspired piece. Please share a link to your poem or the poem itself in the comments.
Here are the cards.
Trees Sung Dark
ReplyDeleteThere is a flash,
a moment
when all the cards fall
into place.
Stars align themselves.
Train tracks into infinity
meet.
Birds dance to their own tunes,
and trees sing
into the coming dark.
Are you surprised?
The world is more full
of contradictions
than shadows.
It is sogged
with memories
and moment.
And trees—
tall and imposing
as Marian Anderson,
sing
in and into
the rising dark.
©2015 Jane Yolen all rights reserved
Wow! I especially like the Marian Anderson lines.
DeleteThe beauty of hope!
DeleteI love those trees singing both In AND into the dark, Jane.
DeleteLullabies
ReplyDeleteHushhh, shushhh, the trees sang
in swaying bough voices.
They sang lullabies to themselves
but they could not go to sleep.
Then the wolves howled
their lullabies in the dark:
Oh-oooooo and Oh-oooooo.
Gently the trees fell asleep
to the wind-song of the wolves.
—Kate Coombs, 2015
all rights reserved
A wolf lullaby--lovely!
DeleteLove this game. I went with a zeno:
ReplyDeleteIn December, the forest wore
no finery--
only
bark.
Trees sang of spring,
hid their
dark
thoughts behind sun’s
morning
spark.
--Laura Purdie Salas, all rights reserved
Oh, I like this! The bark/dark/spark rhyme works in such a cool way. (And that hint of strangeness, the tree's dark thoughts.)
DeleteI think the trees were thinking of shade, Laura.
ReplyDeleteAnd Kate "wind song of wolves." YES.
Jane
CHRISTMAS TREES
ReplyDeleteShafts of moonlight keep unsold
Christmas trees entertained
after a mockingbird quartet
sang their last song, then flew
to another performance.
As clouds drift over to block
the moon’s crescent-shaped smile,
these proud evergreens stands in the dark …
alone with their thoughts.
(c) Charles Waters 2015 all rights reserved.
Love the pull through of the music metaphor.
DeleteJane
When I say it's dark
ReplyDeleteI mean even the trees
stop singing, their roots
won't sing, bark won't, limbs won't,
not even the idea of a tree sings,
not even the dream, not if it's dark,
and it is dark.
And when I say singing,
I mean just that: the song we hear
leaves sing, though not in the dark,
and it is dark.
This one reminds me of of some of Cummings (except with punctuation!!!) Thanks.
DeleteJane