Heidi Mordhorst hosts our Poetry Friday today HERE at her blog, My Juicy Little Universe. She is celebrating her birthday with spectacular poems, candles, and a few lightbulbs - Huh? Thank you, Heidi! I hope the day has been absolutely grand!
It was near seventy earlier this week, now we have a big snowstorm on its way, all weekend. Time for me to enjoy all the PF posts and some reading of some poetry and prose, too!
Trees are sprouting, too. I am really looking forward to that beginning green haze, then the leafing, every spring like a miracle! Are you preparing for April, Poetry Month? Here's a peek at the poster.
Here's a challenge for you if you're staying in and writing:
Rhopalic Verse: (from Greek "rhopalon"--a club which is thicker at one end)
Lines in which each successive word has more syllables than the one before it.
Trees
To define,
so many ideas-
branched complexity
each species demonstrates
surprising variety.
Bark displays
rough edges,
smooth symmetry,
and nature’s coloring.
Leaves’ ID
as palmate, parallel, trifoliate
and pinnate.
Leaf colors illustrate
lime, chartreuse, emerald, asparagus.
Trees offer
shade, cover, oxygen,
but mostly
eye candy.
Linda Baie ©
Oh Linda - your poem is 'eye candy' as much as its subject is . I love that it is both a shape poem and rophalic (new word and form to me!). That must have been quite a challenge.
ReplyDeleteI'm whooting out loud from your marvelous success with your Rhopalic Verse and shape poem–quite a challenge and your poem is Fantastic!!! Your "Tree" poem is definitely "eye candy," and I love the asparagus color in there.
ReplyDeleteI love this tree-poem, for I love trees themselves and the poems they are. Every line is a wonder; these are my favorites, like a summation of trees: "so may ideas/branched complexity." Thank you for sharing this intriguing form.
ReplyDeleteHa! I love how brainy your poem is until those final two lines that made me laugh. Yes, eye candy! Sweet. I am excited to see my friends, the leaves, again. I look forward to a good spring and summer with them.
ReplyDeleteLove this! I love learning something new, of course, and this is an interesting challenge. My favorite part is
ReplyDeleteBark displays
rough edges,
smooth symmetry,
and nature’s coloring.
Palmate, parallel, trifoliate/ and pinnate. You have some unusual words in this and I imagine the form had you looking for multi-syllabic words. Love your green leaf colors!
ReplyDeleteKudos to you, Linda, this form is quite a challenge, & I would be so woebegone without trees. I especially like "branched complexity", which reminds me of https://www.diygenius.com/fractals-in-nature/#:~:text=A%20fractal%20is%20a%20pattern,the%20biodiversity%20of%20a%20forest.
ReplyDeleteBe safe in the big storm... spring will come...
As a fellow tree lover/hugger, every line's perfect. My favorites:
ReplyDeleteLeaf colors illustrate
lime, chartreuse, emerald, asparagus.
I love noticing all the shades of green found on trees. It's a fascinating quest.
What a tricky form you've mastered! I love the topic & the perspective as well as the language.
ReplyDeleteThis is my first look at the poster! I love it!
ReplyDeleteAnd your tree poem is wonderful - all those greens!
Eye Candy! I love and how I have to look this up, " palmate, parallel, trifoliate
ReplyDeleteand pinnate." What a fun new-to-me form!
This is so fun! I didn't know this form, Linda, and I love how you've done this in a way that makes the line breaks feel natural! And, while spring isn't my favorite season (it's mostly a season of mud here in Minnesota), I do love those days when you look down a tree-lined street or highway and it's a "beginning green haze" of lime green. Like a watercolor or impressionist painting. It only lasts a few days, and I always savor it! Stay cozy this weekend!
ReplyDeleteWow, yet another cool poetic form! What a splendid job you did with it too. How did you manage to construct a concrete poem on top of everything else? Wonderful!
ReplyDeleteWhat a clever form--and your poem is brilliant. Like many others, I love how it flows through the shape and syllables to create some eye candy for us as well as its eye-catching imagery.
ReplyDeleteWow. This is terrific, Linda! I love how you've made this new-to-me form also a shape poem. And it's original in so many ways. I wouldn't have thought to use asparagus as a color. Well done!
ReplyDeleteHope you stay safe in the storm.
To Everyone, Thank you so much. I'm glad you enjoyed my poem. I do love trees, have a very old cottonwood right outside my home, one of the reasons I bought this place! Happy Sunday & Daylight Savings Time!
ReplyDeleteOh, Linda - you and your trees! What an uplifting post and wonderful poem. Thanks for sharing, as well as your "every spring like a miracle" - gorgeous, and - yes!
ReplyDeleteHere's another WOW! You knocked this new form out of the ballpark! I love nonets and etherees, so this is one I'm definitely going to try! Have fun in the snow!!
ReplyDeleteThank you, Robyn & Mary Lee.
ReplyDelete