The Versesmith

One of my favorite places to "find" poetry is in the monthly Editor's Letter of magazines!  Found Poetry is finding words in other texts and using them in your own poem.  For me, I keep them in order.  You can even spell out a missing word you want, or add an "s" for a plural.  Actually, do what you want, Found Poetry is pretty rule-free!  Sometimes they don't make a lot of sense, and that's okay too.  It's fun.  This Found Poem is from the Editor's Letter in Better Homes & Gardens October 2023.  Yes, I rip them out and save them for later!   Time slows. My senses glide. Days angle, become blue and sweet. Such bittersweet, the first sounds, eerie, unseen. Distance erodes the sea. Run. Move fast. Don’t stop Let something pass by, unnoticed. ©2024 Lisa Smith Nelson. All Rights Reserved 

24 Seasons Syllabic Poetry Challenge, No.39 The Summer Solstice (June 21 – July 6) Geshi 夏至 " Your syllabic poetry writing invitation is to choose a kigo word or phrase from the seasonal kigo list on the post, or you can choose from the summer category on the 500 kigo word list links below. Share your kigo word on your post. " I chose the kigo words " Strawberry Moon " and " Cicadas ." I gather berries light from the strawberry moon sufficient this dawn loud in the dappled shadows  cicadas buzz their love songs ©2024 Lisa Smith Nelson. All Rights Reserved #tankatuesday #kigo #tankatuesdaypoetrychallenge #tankatuesday24seasons #tanka #syllabicpoetry #cicadapoetry #strawberrymoon  

  Petals of Haiku: An Anthology'  I am pleased and proud to have four of my haiku included in this volume, along with those of so many talented poets.  It's available now on  Amazon in paperback and Kindle. image: Amazon  My favorite of my four published is below. Thanks to Colleen at Tanka Tuesday for her wonderful near year-long "lessons" on kigo words and phrases.  "Geese returning" is a spring season kigo phrase.  I also owe my high school creative writing teacher, Hildegarde Buckette, a thanks, as she impressed upon her students the need to allude to a season, but not use the season word itself. I've always remembered that lesson. I think she'd be pleased.  we sit inside now wait for return of the geese to begin sowing ©2023 Lisa Smith Nelson. All Rights Reserved  The book and original painting of the cover will be displayed in the  Treasure House of the Rinsenji Temple.   Read more about that in this post by the b...