The Versesmith

 Colleen of Tanka Tuesday has offered the follow syllabic poetry prompt.  This will be the last Tanka Tuesday Poetry Challenge as Colleen has retired the challenge.  "This week, we’re using the Native American Zodiac for inspiration. Find your sign and write a syllabic poem about your zodiac animal." Image from Threads  Based on my birthdate, my Native American Zodiac Sign is The Salmon.* So, for this last Tanka Tuesday, on the last day of 2024, I offer a haiku.  Fortunately, " salmon spawning time " is indeed a kigo phrase. Kokanee salmon in Kokanee Creek, B.C. Canada  where the salmon spawn water runs shallow and clear bear, osprey, gather ©2024 Lisa Smith Nelson. All Rights Reserved  Lockhart Creek Camp - bears and osprey need not heed the warning! *Photos are from a childhood vacation in Canada.  Other than salmon as food (and my dog refuses any protein but salmon!) these spawning Kokanee are my only experience with the fish.  I w...

Tanka Tuesday Poetry Challenge: Haiga This week Melissa asks us to create a "'... haiga using a photo or illustration and a haiku ."   She asks that we remember in a haiga " The image is not an illustration for the poem, nor is the poem a caption for the image! Each should be able to stand alone, and neither should need the other to complete it." photo ©2024 Lisa Smith Nelson #tankatuesdaypoetrychallenge #tankatuesday #haiga #photohaiku #haiku #syllabicpoetry 

 The Sunday Whirl  Wordle # 685   Prompt words in red.  In the remote and misty mountains the fresh snow dusts the path I follow . My candles provide minor light, but still the snow sparkles as if by magic , as the moonlight breaks through the clouds.  I reach the slippery steps leading up to a heavy oak door. It opens to my knock, and I hear the laugher from within. I carefully scrape the snow off my boots, leaving them in the entryway as I bask in the warmth of the fire within. my friends awaiting in the sunken living room strings ready to strum and crystal champagne flutes filled ready to toast the new year ©2024 Lisa Smith Nelson. All Rights Reserved

The creator of Wordsmith.org, Anu Garg, has said, " A ll the life's wisdom can be found in anagrams. Anagrams never lie ."  Frightening thought when you input your name and  come up with some pretty odd phrases!  I used  https://anagrammaker.com , searching with my married name, and again with my maiden name.  The results?  I'm not sure of the wisdom or accuracy, but it was fun!  Some lines contain the full phrases, others words often used within other phrases.  I'm linking to Poets and Storytellers United  for Friday Writings, but not on theme.   wordart.com I could inhale lime snot, or lint moss. I could list manhole sins, of which there are many, wax poetic on my tonsils, or my loins, (No! Never that!) in manliest slosh. Watch the line of ants go on a mission to hell, while I ponder lassos and holiness, loans and limos. In the end, it comes down to endless online shit slams. Lithe sad simian, aimless messia...

  Ronovan Writes Ovi Poetry Challenge 78: TEMPTATION is your inspiration. Temptations at this time of year include the cookies, I do fear. We offer up with our good cheer, and none are left for Santa. Sugar cutouts, gingerbread, frosting green and white and red. Save for later, or instead. let's eat them all right now! Hands are sticky, faces too, joyful children, baking crew. Messy house when we are through, but such a happy home. ©2024 Lisa Smith Nelson. All Rights Reserved #ovi #ovipoetry #ronovanwritespoetrychallenge #syllabicpoetry #syllabicpoem #ronovanwrites

  Tanka Tuesday Poetry Challenge: Photo Prompt For this week's Challenge " you’ll be writing syllabic poetry inspired by the following photo ."  I have written a  senryū. ©2023 Lisa Smith Nelson  glory days so bright in his mind faded star   ©2024 Lisa Smith Nelson. All Rights Reserved #tankatuesdaypoetrychallenge #tankatuesday #photopromptpoetry #senryu #syllabicpoetry #syllabicpoem 

Tanka Tuesday Poetry Challenge: Javanese Poetry Shalom, Friends! For those who may not know me, my name is David (‘ben Alexander’) Bogomolny, and I’m really happy to be hosting this week’s #TankaTuesday challenge. This week we are going to try a new (to us) poetic form. So, this week’s challenge is to compose a ‘Sekar ageng’ poem of your own, according to the following rules, as laid out by Murisopsis: Sekar ageng – This Javanese form is traditionally recited as a song. The modern form is comprised of any number of quatrains (4 line stanzas) with 17 syllables per line. Each line is divided by caesurae (breaks) after sections of 4 syllables, 6 syllables and 7 syllables in that order. potato soup / a simple winter meal / warm with crusty sourdough bread not my tubers / my neighbor shares with me / I'll save a bowl in return along with bread / it's the least I can do / to repay his gracious gift at the window / I watch the snow falling / grateful the day's chores are...

 Poets and Storytellers United #155 : May Bite! The prompt this week is "... create poetry or prose while considering the phrase “Careful: May bite! ” I shall wear a sign around my neck. " Careful: May bite !" No one will know if it's true, so, neither will they take the chance. I'd like to bite them, those nosy parkers, the " just thinking what's best for you " relatives. Go to hell Aunt Ruth, tell it to the devil.    It will be a big sign, made of chipboard, painted white.  Bold text in red, so they can't miss it, and tied with jaunty blue ribbon.  They’ll all deem me crazy and talk behind my back. It’ll be fair warning to back off. They’ve been warned before, but with this persistent bunch of meddlers, there are no guarantees. Let's only hope they'll leave me alone.  If not, next time I will bite.   2024 Lisa Smith Nelson. All Rights Reserved

TankaTuesday Poetry Challenge: Silver Linings This week Yvette asks us to " focus on creating a syllabic poem that centers around the idea of silver linings. You can choose to write a poem that contrasts struggles and blessings. You can also choose to focus on any contrast between dark and light ."  I thought I might be too cynical, however when I took this quiz  I was found to be only 29% cynical!  Huh... quite a surprise.  So, if I'm not cynical, maybe silver linings, the darkness before the dawn, the blessings in disguise, are just not a me thing.  So, a photo haiku cynical look at silver linings from a 29% cynical person.  ©2024 Lisa Smith Nelson #tankatuesdaypoetrychallenge #tankatuesday #photohaiku #syllabicpoetry

  For dVerse's Q213 , where we are asked to write a quadrille using the prompt word with .   A quadrille is a dVerse’ poetic form of 44 words, not including the title. With you. Without you. No telling which is best. After all our years together you would think it would be easy. With, you say you're whole. Yet, without you I am myself. Why can't with and without merge, to form a compromise for love?   ©2024 Lisa Smith Nelson. All Rights Reserved 

Tanka Tuesday Poetry Challenge: Specific Form Cheryl has asked us to write a syllabic poem using the form of the shadorma.  The shadorma is six lines with a specific syllable count per line.          3/5/3/3/7/5 Multiple stanzas are permitted and are called a shadorma series.  Shadormas are usually unrhymed.   Even though I have written shadorma poems before, the three syllable lines were the most difficult for me this time.  I tried several poems to end up with one I was pleased with.  These are my results, and I am not terribly pleased with any!  This is not fishing for compliments, just the truth. Speaking of truth... Liar I like rain. No one sees my tears, just wetness on my cheeks. They can't see my heart shatter when I say “I'm fine.” Winter Chill   Ice-cold breeze this November day. Blasts of wind, trees stripp’d bare. You'd think it was December seeing snowy hills. Spring is in the  Air  Mailbox  Cat...

 Ronovan Writes Ovi Poetry Challenge 73: DARE is your inspiration While we wait these troublesome days, oppose the hate, our voices praise. Soon enough they'll reappraise, and realize their folly. For hatred is a bitter seed, and on one's own flesh will it feed. Soon recognition that indeed their choice was idiotic! ©2024 Lisa Smith Nelson. All Rights Reserved #ronovanwrites #ronovanwritesovipoetrychallenge #ovipoetry #ovipoem #darepoetry #syllabicpoetry #syllabicpoem 

  Tanka Tuesday Poetry Challenge: Synonyms Only  I have written a tanka.  The synonyms are in red. your word is your bond yet I hear the double-talk  actions speak louder like an umbrella with holes  no relief from rain or tears   ©2024 Lisa Smith Nelson. All Rights Reserved #tankatuesdaypoetrychallenge #tankapoetry #syllabicpoetry #tankatuesday #synonymsonly

Poets and Storytellers United #151: "a box full of darkness"   Magaly invites us to write poetry or prose inspired by the following lines, from Mary Oliver’s “ The Uses of Sorrow. ” My unopened box of darkness, pushed to the furthest back of the shelf, beyond my fingers reach, was a gift. An unwelcome gift. I need no more darkness in my life. Gift me brightness and happy days. If not sunshine, at least give me rainbows with the rain. I have no use for sorrow, I’ve had my fill. My cup of sorrow ran over long ago. ©2024 Lisa Smith Nelson. All Rights Reserved #poetsandstorytellersunited #freeversepoetry #maryoliver

  Tanka Tuesday Halloween Poetry Challenge: Witch's Brew Poetry Colleen tells us " Witches and their potions are synonymous with Halloween. Let’s create a spellbinding poem. (longer syllabic forms work best). You can write freestyle, but you must include a syllabic form too! Write a syllabic poem about a witch brewing a potion. Include vivid descriptions of ingredients and their effects.  You can make the poem a rhythmic chant or incantation, enhancing the magical feel of your words. The idea is to have fun, so humor works! Feel free to use end rhymes on forms that don’t usually have them. Please let us know the form and if you’re using end rhymes. (The use of end rhymes is optional). For this challenge, if you’re using end rhymes on forms that don’t usually have end rhymes, you’re creating experimental syllabic poetry. Or, write from the perspective of an ingredient, expressing its fear or excitement at being used in the brew." A very good thing were are e...

The Sunday Whirl  Wordle #678 Prompt words in red.  P L Chadwick / Ancient & modern in the Crypt at Buildwas Abbey What a ghoulish night . The buried arise from within the crypt to spin their spells into tricks. Tricks of the un- dead . The wicked wind wrap s it’s gnarly fingers into all living beings this ghoulish night . Forced to breathe in the frigid spell s, the tricks , this night . This ghoulish night , when un- dead things under wicked spells , wrap their gnarled fingers in the cracks of the crypt , prying their freedom, to wreak havoc, to spin in the wind and feed. What a ghoulish night to be dead or alive. ©2024 Lisa Smith Nelson. All Rights Reserved

  The Sunday Whirl Wordle # 676  Prompt words in red.  image  This night , this Night of Night s, as the full moon rises, and the cat scratches to get in, the screeches in the walls rattle me. I stand before my kettle peering into its depth, into the simmering elixir within. The vessel is black with age, and ceased being shiny a century, at least, ago. Mist rises into the air, dampening the fringe of my tangled  locks . Slowly it gathers, swirling to form an image,  one long divined.   I  sigh , all my doubts allayed.  The image no longer mist, it solidifies into pleasing figures. Bird-like, yet not quite birds, my ghoulish swarm hovers, waiting for my command. This Night , this Night of Night s, we fly together. ©202 4 Lisa Smith Nelson. All Rights Reserved

 dVerse – Open Link Night 372 Ekphrastic Options Visitations: Majorette, Hand Stands, Gifts, A Slight Lapse of Purpose, Yea by Joseph Kinnebrew photo ©Jade Li Pixies dance by moonlight, their silhouettes to see. Gymnasts on pinheads gyrate (Acrobatic sprites!) to cricket music, the hoarse refrains of frogs. Pray do not join them, though their sport be joyful, and their music glad. Here’s the thing, up close they disappear, by daylight too, invisible. Those who follow pixies, or with the goblins dine, will find their mirth short lived. That path, deceptive, leads solely one direction, disappearing into mist.   ©2024 Lisa Smith Nelson. All Rights Reserved #dVerse #ekphrasticpoetry #freeverse #pixiepoem #dVerseopenlinknight

 Poets and Storytellers United #150 : How High is the Moon? "For your optional prompt this week, I invite you to write about the moon." I have written a photo tanka.  photo ©Lisa Smith Nelson #phototanka #tanka #moonpoetry #poetsandstorytellersunited 

  Tanka Tuesday Poetry Challenge: Word Garden Lisa Fox (aka JadeLi) is host of this week's #TankaTuesdayChallenge.  She has given us this prompt. "Today I would like you to choose three (or more) words from the given list and write a syllabic poem using them. Please feel free to add plural, past tense, etc. to the words as needed." My chosen words are in red.  I have written an etheree, and a reverse etheree, separated by an American sentence.  "There's a sea bird above you Gliding on one place like Jesus in the sky"  from Rock Me on the Water by Jackson Browne close-up of a vintage postcard in the author's collection   I walk the dunes alone d own by the shore I smell the seaweed washed up with the high tide salty slippery I step into the cold surf and listen gulls cry out their sorrow one by one d o they mock me? or imitate my grief? As they suspend in mid-heaven, what do gulls care of man's  misfortunes? t he waves will ca...

 It's Haibun Monday at dVerse .    The prompt is Fall foliage or Spring blossoms. Eleven months of the year I vainly attempt to rid my yard of Virginia creeper. Come October, I’m glad I failed! The vivid crimsons, and peachy-pinks of leaves, the berries blackest blue on scarlet stems are the clear winners in Autumn’s Color Contest. the unwanted one nuisance rambling vine redeemed in autumn splendor ©2024 Lisa Smith Nelson. All Rights Reserved #haibun #autumnpoetry 

  Tanka Tuesday Poetry Challenge  Synonyms Only & a Specific Form Selma has asked us to write a tanka using synonyms for Mindless and Humdrum .  After reading some of the synonyms (on  www.thesaurus.com ) I was reminded of something my niece's uncle said about the music at her wedding reception.   credit  no pleasing uncle he always criticized her down to little things called wedding music  white bread we just called him  moronic      ©2024 Lisa Smith Nelson. All Rights Reserved #tankatuesdayweeklypoetryprompt #tankatuesday #synonymsonly #tanka #synonyms

dVerse prompt for October 8. 2024   Choose an album cover...and use it  to pen a poem! There is no specific form required.    Write a poem of any style in response to the prompt. Post it to your  blog. Fair use, httpsen.wikipedia.orgwindex.phpcurid=1198858 You sit, rocking, (pun intended). Sixteen years old and you were my favorite. Now 50 years later, what can I say? You still rock it! ©2024 Lisa Smith Nelson. All Rights Reserved  Did you know the location depicts  Browne's childhood home, hand-built by his grandfather?      https://bigorangelandmarks.blogspot.com/2008/01/no-106-abbey-san-encino.html   #dverse #syllabicpoetry #jacksonbrowne #albumcoverpoetry 

Tanka Tuesday Poetry Challenge: Tanka Puente Theme: Best and Worst Moments  Robbie Cheadle is host for this first #TankaTuesday challenge in the new series.   "A Puente poem comprises of three stanzas with the first and third being separate thoughts but sharing an equal number of lines. The second stanza is the bridge stanza and is a single line enclosed in tildes (~) that acts as a bridge between the thoughts in the first stanza and the third stanza.  As this challenge is syllabic in nature, the first and third stanzas should be tankas in the standard form of 5/7/5/7/7. 1st stanza: separate thought, equal number of lines (5/7/5/7/7) 2nd stanza: one line enclosed in tildes (~) to distinguish itself from the last line of the first stanza and the first line of the third stanza. No syllable count, but keep it brief. 3rd stanza: separate thought, equal number of lines (5/7/5/7/7) The poem should be titled." I close my eyes, wish to dream, and far within sleep to chance u...