The Versesmith

 Ronovan Writes Weekly Haiku Challenge #492 Words: night and bird  ©Lisa Smith Nelson 2023 owl - silent night-bird waits in the cedar watching too late vole spies him  ©2023 Lisa Smith Nelson. All Rights Reserved The image is of bones from an owl pellet found under my cedar trees.  Pellets aren't the only thing owls have left behind.  I've found several large birds without their heads. #ronovanwritesweeklyhaikuchallenge #ronovanwrites #haiku #haikupoetry #owlpoetry

 24 Seasons Syllabic Poetry Challenge, No. 11 Heavy Snow (December 7 – 20) Taisetsu 大雪 "... choose a kigo word or phrase from the seasonal kigo list on the post, or you can choose from the winter category (world kigo database) on the kigo word list links below. Share your kigo word on your post ." I have chosen two to include in a shadorma.  " North wind " from In the Sky , and " rosemary " from In the Ground and Water .  The prostrate rosemary will be blooming all winter in zone 8b. photo credit: Lisa Smith Nelson ©2023 ROSEMARY   Rosemary laughs in North Wind’s face. She laughs and flourishes, unmoved by Wind’s biting chill, his sharp icy gusts. ©2023 Lisa Smith Nelson. All Rights Reserved #tankatuesdaypoetrychallenge #tankatuesday24seasons #kigo #japanesepoetry #24seasons #taisetsu #rosemarypoetry 

  24 Seasons Syllabic Poetry Challenge, No. 10 Light Snow (November 22 – December 6) Shosetsu 小雪 " The 24 Seasons Syllabic Poetry challenge is inviting participants to write three dodoitsu, a form of Japanese poetry, following a 7-7-7-5 syllable count pattern. Each poem should contain a specified kigo phrase relating to either the northern or southern hemisphere ."  Use one kigo phrase in each of your three poems. #1: “early winter dusk” #2: “chilly north winds blow” #3: “warmth around the hearth” in the neglected flower beds the browned leaves swirl, a wild dance a last bright petal rises chilly north winds blow strive to keep my usage down make do with nature’s lighting it’s harder in December early winter dusk  sparks fly from the shifting log small out-of-season sparklers  children squeal in mock alarm  warmth around the hearth  ©2023 Lisa Smith Nelson. All Rights Reserved #tankatuesdaypoetrychallenge #tankatuesday24seasons #dodoitsu #kigo #japanesepo...

  24 Seasons Syllabic Poetry Challenge, No. 9  Light Snow (November 22 – December 6) Shosetsu 小雪 "...choose a kigo word or phrase from the seasonal kigo list on the post, or you can choose from the winter category ( world kigo database ) on the kigo word list links below. Share your kigo word on your post." I chose " woodsmoke " from the In the Sky list.   Woodsmoke was on my mind as colder weather has arrived and people are firing up their wood stoves.  While they seem like a clean, natural way to heat, back-to-nature if you will, and burning wood does smell wonderful, they can be a significant source of air pollution.  Years ago, in the mountains of California, the air was thick with smoke all winter.   image source Woodsmoke hangs heavy the valley shrouded in grey fragrant pollution ©2023 Lisa Smith Nelson. All Rights Reserved  #tankatuesdaypoetrychallenge #tankatuesday24seasons #haiku  #kigo #japanesepoetry #24seasons #ritto...

Tanka Tuesday 24 Seasons Syllabic Poetry Challenge No. 8   The Beginning of Winter (November 7 – 21) Ritto 立冬 "Below you will find the three kigo phrases (five syllables each). You can use them as the “turn lines” or “pivots” (third lines) for each of your three tanka, or as the first line of your tanka. You must use one kigo phrase in each tanka as either the first line or the pivot line in each of your three tanka poems." The kigo phrases are: #1: “the first month with sleet” #2: “late winter garden” #3: “blanket by the fire” the first month with sleet these early cold days are hard since I've been alone the nights are so much longer I don't know how long I'll last squash dead on the vine withered tomatoes turned brown late winter garden  hang up the garden hoses close the garden shed door tight the first cold morning mug of hot cocoa in hand blanket by the fire warms my legs and the old dog memories for when he's gone * ©2023 Lisa Smith Nelson. All Rights R...

  Ronovan Writes Ovi Poetry Challenge 19: MINE is your inspiration. Oh!  The days of roses and wine! Toasting our future, you were mine. When since then did I miss the sign your love for me had died? ©2023 Lisa Smith Nelson. All Rights Reserved #ronovanwrites #ronovanwritesovipoetrychallenge #ovipoetry #ovipoem #truthpoetry #syllabicpoetry #syllabicpoem 

  Tanka Tuesday 24 Seasons Syllabic Poetry Challenge No. 7    The Beginning of Winter (November 7 – 21) Ritto 立冬 "... choose a kigo word or phrase from the seasonal kigo list on the post, or you can choose from the autumn category... Share your kigo word on your post ." I have chosen " ramen " from the list In Our Lives , and " close the north windows ," found here . image close the north windows  let the panes fog with the steam  of fragrant ramen  ©2023 Lisa Smith Nelson. All Rights Reserved #tankatuesdaypoetrychallenge #tankatuesday24seasons #haiku  #kigo #japanesepoetry #24seasons #ritto

Tanka Tuesday 24 Seasons Syllabic Poetry Challenge No. 5  First Frost (October 23rd – November 6) Soukou 霜降 " ... choose a kigo word or phrase from the seasonal kigo list on the post, or you can choose from the autumn category... Share your kigo word on your post. " I have chosen " first frost ," as I am expecting my first frost tomorrow night.  One of the kigo phrases is " preparations for winter ," and I have switched that to " not prepared for winter ."   The photos are from last year. first frost due tonight I need to leave my warm house prepare the garden the faucets are still unwrapped I'm not prepared for winter ©2023 Lisa Smith Nelson. All Rights Reserved #tankatuesdaypoetrychallenge #tanka #tankapoetry #syllabicpoetry #kigo #tankatuesday 

Ronovan Writes Ovi Poetry Challenge 19: TRUTH is your inspiration. To say that sometimes truth will hurt is no excuse for rudeness curt, nor cover insults so overt, then say "I'm only joking."   ©2023 Lisa Smith Nelson. All Rights Reserved #ronovanwrites #ronovanwritesovipoetrychallenge #ovipoetry #ovipoem #truthpoetry #syllabicpoetry #syllabicpoem 

Tanka Tuesday 24 Seasons Syllabic Poetry Challenge No. 3   Cold Dew (October 9 – October 22) Shubun 秋分  "... choose a kigo word or phrase from the seasonal kigo list on the post, or you can choose from the autumn category... Share your kigo word on your post." I wrote two.  One, a haiku using the word "chrysanthemums." image public domain no color left save yellow chrysanthemums in the blue cloisonné vase     ©2023 Lisa Smith Nelson. All Rights Reserved The other is a shahai (photo haiku), with the kigo phrase  "birds head south," replacing "birds" with "geese," as they are heading noisily south over my house daily here in Southern Oregon.   #tankatuesdaypoetrychallenge #tankatuesday24seasons #haiku #shahai #kigo #japanesepoetry #24seasons 

Tanka Tuesday 24 Seasons Syllabic Poetry Challenge No. 2   The Autumn Equinox (September 22 – October 7) Shubun 秋分 "... choose a kigo word or phrase from the seasonal kigo list on the post, or you can choose from the autumn category... Share your kigo word on your post." I chose the kigo word "grapes" from the words for this season.  My wild grapes have just finished ripening here in Southern Oregon. My form of choice is a mondo. The grapes on the fence, the ones hanging in clusters,  who will be first to taste them? You planned tart wines and jars of jelly for Christmas, the raccoons left you nothing. ©2023 Lisa Smith Nelson. All Rights Reserved #tankatuesdaysyllabicpoetrychallenge #24seasonspoetry #mondo #mondopoetry #mondopoem #shubunpoetry 

 The Whirligig: Whirligig #442  Prompt words in red. Some mornings I wake feeling anything is possible , just ripe for the taking . Plans made will easily happen , no doubts. Wild horses won’t disturb the quietude of the day, not even if they’re riding bikes ! Nothing with catch me unaware on these days. I wake with a song on my lips. Even the tired whining of my children won’t irritate me.   Stop. Back up. Erase that last line. Speaking from experience, whining children will disturb my quietude .   Some mornings it’s not worth getting up.

 Poets and Storytellers United Friday Writings #96 The prompt for this week:  Do you too find that your sensual memories of the place you grew up in, when sparked, arouse that kind of nostalgia, at once sharp and comforting? Or did you perhaps live somewhere you couldn’t wait to get away from, to find a more nurturing home elsewhere? I took the prompt a different direction.  I'd love to be nostalgic for my childhood home, where I lived from age 2 until 18, and was only sold after my mother died when I was over 50.  However, the house was remodeled into non-recognition, the yard my father spend decades landscaping (growing much from seed in his lath house, using home made compost before everyone was making compost) bulldozed to flatness.  I can be nostalgic for the old downtown of my youth, but we're talking San Francisco East Bay suburb and progress was inevitable to make it the up-scale community it is now, so all those stores are gone.  I left in 2011 and...

 Tanka Tuesday 24 Seasons Syllabic Poetry Challenge No. 1  The Autumn Equinox (September 22 – October 7) Shubun 秋分  " You must use one kigo word or phrase in your poem.  Please add your kigo word or phrase on your post... You can create a poem from the 24 forms listed. " I chose to use a kigo phrase from the resource found here ,  https://worldkigodatabase.blogspot.com , first rains .  This resource is very helpful; I learned that rain itself   is not a kigo.  The first rain of the season happened just yesterday, after a long hot, dry summer in southern Oregon.  The photos accompanying the haiku sequence were taken this morning. right on time first rains usher forth winged termites   first rains bead to flow down petal revive rose petals gleam bejeweled by the first soft rains dampwood winged termites (alates) swarming ©2023 Lisa Smith Nelson. All Rights Reserved #tankatuesday #haiku #24seasonssyllabicpoetrychalle...

 Poets and Storytellers United  Friday Writings #94: Storm, Ink, Love " ...write poetry or prose which includes the words:  storm ,  ink ,  love . " image ©2023 by by son new tattoo fresh ink under my skin your love clouds my judgment a storm of regret tomorrow ©2023 Lisa Smith Nelson. All Rights Reserved #poetsandstorytellersunited #fridaywritings #tattoopoetry #tattoopoem 

 Tanka Tuesday No. 334 Colleen of Tanka Tuesday has provided the following instructions for this week's poetry challenge, as well as a list of kigo words to choose from.  I have chosen, from under Human Affairs, prayers for rain and from Sky and Elements, scorching,  used in a haiku sequence.  It's the story of my August. This week, choose a kigo (season word of seasonal phrase) and write your syllabic poetry using the word of seasonal phrase... Please share your kigo word on your post. stay inside thick smokes blocks the sun pray for rain   wildfire smoke snakes under the door dog sneezes   scorched garden withered Brandywines uneaten   ©2023 Lisa Smith Nelson. All Rights Reserved #tankatuesdayno334 #syllabicpoetry #syllabicpoem #kigo #haiku #haikusequence #summerpoetry #summerpoem 

Whirligig 436 Prompt words in red.  Camilla Comeau / Stained glass sunlight on tiled floor He was kneeling ,  his upturned backside reflecting the glory of God.  A Technicolor image of Moses  parting the Red Sea, reflected  light pouring through the rose window. Angels may weep,  but I’m no angel.  I was filled with escaping laughter ,  sounding to my own ears  like air from a leaky balloon. He turned, slowing regaining his feet,  and after soothing down both  his cassock and his thin white hair,  greeted me with a warm handshake. My recovery was swift. “ Sorry to keep you waiting ,  although it did sound as if you were enjoying your wait.” “ Yes, Father.   As the proverb says,  ‘ A cheerful heart is good medicine .’” ©2023 Lisa Smith Nelson. All Rights Reserved

 Somehow I neglected to post Wrath , the last of my Seven Deadly Sins poems until now.  The others date from April 2022 to December 2022.  If you are interested, click the Search at the top of the page and type in "sins." Here's Wrath . We are not to be wrathful, nor actions irrational. Yet, are we not prone to both? We are not perfect creatures, when true anger rages hot. Admonishments do nothing to cool fiery tempered heads. ©2023 Lisa Smith Nelson. All Rights Reserved

 Tanka Tuesday Weekly Poetry Challenge No. 332   "This week's challenge invitation is to explore the world of collective animal nouns." "Select one of the animal collective nouns and write your syllabic poem using the collective noun." one more skein of geese black stitches against grey sky honking their way south I glance up to watch them pass harbingers of cool weather ©2023 Lisa Smith Nelson. All Rights Reserved #tankatuesdayno332 #tanka #syllabicpoetry #syllabicpoem #goosepoem #tankapoem 

Tanka Tuesday Weekly Poetry Challenge No. 331  Synonyms Only words: flow and wave  I have written three, 5/7/5. on these summer nights my only cool breezes from circulating fans flapping banners high the vast crowd streams through downtown demands of justice the trickle tells all a pipe leakage underground my cash flutters off ©2023 Lisa Smith Nelson. All Rights Reserved #tankatuesdayno331 #haiku #zappai #syllabicpoetry #syllabicpoem #synonympoetry #senryu 

 Ronovan Writes Ovi Poetry Challenge 6: GOOD is your inspiration.  What things, when asked, would I term "good," things both unclear and understood? Forgive me please for if I should take so long deciding.     One thing I know is good for sure, with heart of gold and love so pure, who cheers me up, who is my cure, no surprise, it's Mickey!   He's by my side both night and day, placidly napping, or at play, comprehending most words I say. His vocabulary!   Yes, he's my dog, yet so much more, with a face you cannot ignore He's clearly not a Labrador, largely Border Collie. ©2023 Lisa Smith Nelson. All Rights Reserved I had a little fun writing this one today!   #mickey_chicky_boom_boom #ronovanwrites #ronovanwritesovipoetrychallege #ovipoetry #ovipoem #dogpoem #rhyme #syllablicpoetry 

  Tanka Tuesday Weekly Poetry Challenge No. 330 Ekphrastic Poetry "This week, using the painting below as your inspiration, please write either a syllabic poetry form or a freestyle poem, including a syllabic form (both on the same post) ." Wivenhoe Park , by John Constable  My ten line poem would ordinarily be called an etheree, however the last line repeats the first four lines, making it a dectina refrain.  Both the etheree and the dectrina refrain are invented forms.  You paid how much for this pastoral scene? Constable, you say? It should be Picasso at that price. Or a Warhol would be far cheaper.  Send it back. You wasted my money once again. You paid how much for this pastoral scene?   ©2023 Lisa Smith Nelson. All Rights Reserved As you can see, I am not a fan of Constable!  My son summed him up well this morning with, "It looks like a jigsaw puzzle."  Well, to each his own, I know he sells for incredible amounts of mi...

  Tanka Tuesday Weekly Poetry Challenge:  Specific Form  " This week's challenge is to write an Imayo poem.  Your subject must be about a bird!  I can be any type of bird."  (edit: an Imayo is four lines, and I realize my error.  I have no idea why I only wrote three!) ©Lisa Smith Nelson The crows in silhouette watch, silent as one crow their quiet disconcerts me, the un-crow-like calm gnarled toes clasp gnarled winter limbs, beneath dove grey skies                                                              ©2023 Lisa Smith Nelson. All Rights Reserved ©Lisa Smith Nelson #syllabicpoetry #imayo #crowpoetry #syllabicpoem #tankatuesdayno329 #poetryprompt