Thursday, September 26, 2024

Poetry Friday - Poetry Pals Challenge - "Looking"

    It's Poetry Friday, and Irene Latham is hosting HERE on her blog Live Your Poem.  She's sharing about a new anthology coming soon, a poignant poem about a youthful mistake, and a lovely Artspeak poem, also about youth! Thanks for hosting, Irene!

       Tanita Davis shared this last month: Here is the #PoetryPals challenge for next week, the last of September!

             Poetry Peeps! You’re invited to our challenge for the month of September! Here’s the scoop: We’re wandering through Wallace Stevens’ “13 Different Ways of Looking…” at something. Maybe it’s not 13 ways – maybe it’s only seven. Maybe it’s not a blackbird or anything alive, but something inanimate. Whatever happens, your way of looking will be different than mine, and I’m here for it. Are you in? Good! You have a month to craft your creation and share it on September 27th in a post and/or on social media with the tag #PoetryPals.


             Be sure you find all the #PoetryPals to see what they have seen!   Tanita, Laura,  Mary Lee,  LizSaraTricia, and Kelly.  Thanks for the prompt!




13 Ways of Looking at Leaves

 

1)   The tiniest hint of green, now seen–

That’s my view of leaves in spring.

 

2)   Sunlight meals leads to unfurling;

trees, with moisture, bring more curling.

 

3)   Each one chooses shapes they need

to bring in sunlight for a leafy feed.

 

4)   Soon, leaves shade for kids in play,

and blankets spread for picnic days.

 

5)   While looking long, green pigment fades.

Leaves start their shift to fall parades.

 

6)   A blast of color signals change;

sleepy leaves must rearrange!

 

7)   Conserving water in colder climes,

so trees release the leaves on time.

 

8)   They swirl and twirl when breezes sigh,

a performance finale of goodbyes.

 

9)   Now they lie at feet below,

bringing the autumn crunch I know.

 

10) Goodbyes from trees already said;

time for raking into flower beds!

 

11) While elders meet their mulching fate,

winter comes; new buds await.

  

12) When springtime bursts, I spy leafy newborns.

The cycle’s recharged, no longer forlorn.

 

13) Again they unfurl, like children grow.

Hungry leaves munch sunshine. Hello! Hello!

 

 Linda Baie ©



17 comments:

  1. Dear Linda - #6! Love! Wake up, you sleepy leaves! Thank you for this celebration of the season. xo

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  2. Linda, I enjoyed your artful stroll through the seasons arm-in-arm with a leaf. I think we are at #5 right now in my backyard!

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  3. Wonderful, Linda. I like the joy and affection you express in your poem. Since Stevens's "13 Ways" is one of my fave poems, this was especially fun to read.

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  4. Thanks, Irene, Tracey, & Jama. I didn't get to put in all that happens, but was amazed when I did more research to see what trees & their leaves do all year round to keep healthy & growing! It was fun to write about this!

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  5. LOVE this - especially 'a blast of color signals change.' That's so evocative and I can just imagine the leaves rustling to wakefulness from long summer somnolence, and shifting to new chlorophyll content. LOVELY and joyful - so fun.

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  6. "...elders meet their mulching fate..." -- I love thinking of all these leaves as relations, Linda. Generations and generations that leaf and leave us.

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  7. Linda, what a fun format, loving the playful rhyming couplets. I enjoyed the poem and your comment where you mention the research you did. It is a wonderful mentor poem of using what we learn to share it in a different format. One of my favorite couplets is #5 - with the rhyming of "pigment fades" and "fall parades."

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  8. I love the way you combined rhyme with Steven's 13 ways to make it your own. We are starting the swirling, twirling autumn crunch.

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  9. Thank you, Tanita, Patricia, Denise, & Buffy!

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  10. Love this journey through the seasons studying leaves. Especially love #5.

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  11. #5 is fabulous--I love a colorful leafy parade. Wonderful ways of looking at the leaves. I'm saying goodbye telling them I will miss them until spring.

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  12. Couplets--amazing! And I love those fall parades. Thanks, Linda!

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  13. Thanks, Rose, Linda, & Laura! It was a great challenge, and fun finding a way to share what I discovered!

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  14. Thanks for this wonderfully delightful poem about trees 🌳 and 🍁 with so many info buds unfurling, lovely!

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    Replies
    1. Thank you, too, Michelle, for taking the time to comment on your busy days!

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  15. Leaves munching sunshine! Hello to a fabulous image! :D

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