This month's challenge was to write a naani with an autumn theme. A naani is a 4-line poem containing between 20-25 syllables. I had a lot of trouble with this one, but then I generally have difficulty with short forms that are rather open-ended, so I shouldn't have been surprised. In the end, I ended up with a longer poem composed of several naani strung together.
An Autumn Naani Story
my favorite maple tree
blushes brilliant red
with immodesty
celebrating fall
oak stands quietly nearby
cloaked in orange and gold
dropping scads of acorns
for every passing squirrel
both silent witnesses to
a world in upheaval
sentinels of change
outlasting generations
Poem ©Tricia Stohr-Hunt, 2020. All rights reserved.
You can read the pieces written by my Poetry Sisters at the links below. As usual, life has gotten in the way for some folks, but they'll be back for other challenges.
- Tanita Davis
- Rebecca Holmes
- Sara Lewis Holmes
- Kelly Ramsdell
- Laura Purdie Salas
- Liz Garton Scanlon
- Andi Sibley
If you’d like to write with us next month, the challenge is to pick one of your old poems to revise and/or write a new poem in conversation with it. We will be posting on the last Friday of the month (November 27th, the day after Thanksgiving) and would love to have you join us.
I do hope you'll take some time to check out all the wonderful poetic things being shared and collected today by Linda Baie of Teacher Dance. Happy poetry Friday friends!
It just always, always comes back to the trees. Their steadiness, their long lives, their trustworthiness, their unspeakable beauty. THANK for this. I love the way you linked them...
ReplyDeleteI agree with Liz, the trees continue to help us through good times & bad. I like the rhythm you've achieved in this very wise poem, Tricia. It feels good to imagine the trees carrying on! I have a very old cottonwood outside my home, one main reason I bought this place! Thank you!
ReplyDeleteLook at you, stringing a necklace of naani. I don't know what I'd do without trees. We've been lucky to live in areas with gorgeous old ones, and I am in awe of their power and beauty.
ReplyDeleteI adore that immodest maple. They're my favorite :>)
ReplyDeleteI hear you - this was a form that kept me writing poetry because none of them were right. But, I love that you did three on a theme - they make a lovely naani set.
ReplyDeleteTricia, once I read"
ReplyDeleteblushes brilliant red
with immodesty
celebrating fall
I knew I would love the other naani poem stanzas.
If interested do you have a photo of an autumn tree to pair with the poem and offer to my #AbunduntAutumn Gallery?
Love the way these three nanni read together. And each one works well on its own, too!
ReplyDeleteI love your steadfast, faithful trees!
ReplyDeleteThis could be a poem from my neighborhood! Love the contrast of oak and maple.
ReplyDeleteI like how you created a story from the poems with two trees as main characters. I'm glad they had each other!
ReplyDelete