The Versesmith

I am thrilled to share these five poems that were  published  today on  I Write Her: The Short of It , edited by Susi Bocks. She “ aims to find those poets and writers with something big to say in as few words as possible .”  I wrote three haiku, one tanka, and a short free verse (4/4/4/9) in the style of a haiga .  These forms are usually not given titles, but have been here.  Feathered Messenger  poised on the lamp post raven's keen dark eyes stare down harbinger of news Benny  my house panther snores a big boy once, now wasted spends last days with me   Moon Music sultry summer night cicadas shrill serenade nocturne in moonglow Silent Muse   the poet fails, sobs words have left him, blank paper laying on his desk mock the once great man of verse his muse no longer whispers Portrait of a Nun The new submission cycle for The Short of It will open July 1, 2027. #haiku #tanka #theshortofit #iwriteher #shortpoems...

For  dVerse MTB : cinquains revisited The American cinquain "... is a... five-line poem with a syllable count of 2-4-6-8-2, but there are plenty of variations . You may use this form as a single stanza, you may reverse and/or do it as a mirror. When done well it also bridges into concrete or shape poetry, as it may be shaped as an arrow, you may even want to use it as the poem of a haibun." I have chosen to write a Butterfly Cinquain. 2-4-6-8-2-8-6-4-2 centered my Queen of the Garden saved from the neighbor's trash now stands regal in the garden golden armlet, a crown upon her head amid a scent of herbs among the bees she reigns ©2025 Lisa Smith Nelson. All Rights Reserved  #americancinquain #butterflycinquain #dverse #syllabicpoetry 

dVerse   MTB: Ubi Sunt and that Where, Oh Where?   And our MTB prompt today is simply to use this Ubi Sunt motif in your poetry as such: title your poem with the question – where are the/they… use the questioning within your poem, even with repetition DO NOT ANSWER it though – the questioning is rhetorical employ concepts of mortality, the transience of life, a sense of nostalgia ubi sunt is a term meaning "where are they??" taken from the Latin phrase "ubi sunt qui ante nos fuerunt," or "where are those who were before us?"   Where are the friends who promised forever? Who vowed a cradle to grave? Where are the sisters who pricked their thumbs? Who undying kinship gave? Have they forgotten those carefree days? Broken our childhood pact? Have they forgotten we were as one? Ignoring our solemn act? Where are the friends we used to know? Those we held so dear? Where are the ones on whose sides we stood? W...

  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 

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

 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 

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 

 H - Haiga Haiga is a Japanese form combining a painting or drawing and a haiku written directly on the artwork.  In English we usually include the combination to include photographs.  However, in Japanese there is a word for photo-haiku, shahai, haiku + photo . * 3 lines  * syllable count of short/long/short - traditionally 5/7/5, but can be 3/5/3, or 2/3/2.   * the haiku is the most important part of the haiga, and should not rely on the image to complete it, or make it understandable.   * no title, no rhymes, no punctuation (as in haiku) * include a kigo, or seasonal word or phrase (which all haiku need!) So, here is a haiga, or what in English we usually call a haiga, which is really a shahai. ©2024 Lisa Smith Nelson. All Rights Reserved 

 24 Seasons Syllabic Poetry Challenge, No. 24  Wintering Insects Awake (March 5 – 19) Keichitsu 啓蟄 " 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 spring category on the kigo word list links below. Share your kigo word on your pos t." It's been raining.  It's been snowing.  Then more rain.  It's muddy.  Very, very muddy.  So, what kigo phrase would be more fitting right now than Spring Mud ?  Nothing I can think of.   It was made for me considering I took the photo below just two days ago!  I wrote a h aiga . ©2024 Lisa Smith Nelson. All Rights Reserved #tankatuesday #kigo #tankatuesdaypoetrychallenge #tankatuesday24seasons #haiga #syllabicpoetry 

Ronovan Writes Weekly Haiku Challenge #498 Words: placid and wild © 2013 Lisa Smith Nelson calm winter morning placid dawning to my day wild snowfall by noon ©2024 Lisa Smith Nelson. All Rights Reserved #haiku #ronovanswrites #weeklypoetryprompt #syllabicpoetry #japanesepoetryform 

  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 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 

Poets and Storytellers United   Friday Writings #82 : Favorite Books "...write poetry or prose which includes  the complete title  of one of your favorite books. And if you’re feeling extra generous, tell me why your chosen title is a favorite." I sit at The End of the Pier gazing off into the distance, to squint past the hazy horizon.   There’s nothing to see; there never has been. The Pier is the End of the world.   I sit at The End of the Pier alone, no one ever sees me here to question why I come.   I watch the sun as it slowly drowns, coloring the sea blood-red   in its death throes.   I sit at The End of the Pier wishing I were sinking with the sun, longing to     step off the pier, to walk on moonbeams as they rise from the sun’s ashes. ©2023 Lisa Smith Nelson. All Rights Reserved The End of the Pier is by Martha Grimes.  If you are familiar with her as the author of the Richa...

  They say that March comes roaring in, then sheepishly departs.   I disagree for me, you see, it’s a month of fits and starts.   March warms the bulbs who peek their heads, then hide beneath the snow.   The peas I planted hoping spring, rot in the earth below.   March is fickle. March is cruel. Eliot was wrong.   April is the kinder month, March winter does prolong. ©2023 Lisa Smith Nelson. All Rights Reserved

Friday Fictioneers "The Challenge: Write a complete story in one hundred words of less." It's not a story, it's a poem.  But, the poem tells a story.  The story of a relationship in peril, all because of a baseball loving partner who just doesn't listen. photo prompt ©Rochelle Wisoff-Fields 100 words You told me there’d be a surprise. To be patient, shut my eyes. You led me to seats. You promised me treats. But, now I hear multiple cries.   I told you never do listen! Do you see my eyes start to glisten? You know I hate crowds, (and these have the louds), and also how heights give me frission.   I never liked baseball, I’m going to go AWOL. Your inconsideration’s a sting, since sports is just not my thing. I prefer a lovely pub-crawl!   To make matter worse, and I could just curse, the seats are right in the sun! ©2023 Lisa Smith Nelson. All Rights Reserved #storyprompt #fridayfictioneers #100wordstory #100words  ...

Poets and Storytellers United Friday Writings prompt:  "...write poetry or prose inspired by the title of the first book we read, are reading, or will read in 2023."   The Sunday Muse #243 Photo prompt of a burning house.  I'd written my response to the Friday Writings prompt, then saw this photo prompt for The Sunday Muse.  How could I not use it for a poem inspired by Light in August?  So, I did, and wrote an accompanying haiku. the burning farm house  shines brighter even than  the light in august ©Jocelin Carmes This August sun scorches, baking the rutted track beneath my bare feet. Each dusty step a blistering reminder of how far I’ve come, of how far I’ve yet to go. Only once in a while do I step into the scarce shade the droughtdry buckeye offer on the verge. Not often, for I have miles to go before fulldarkness, and my burden grows heavy under this August sun. ©2023 Lisa Smith Nelson. All Rights Reserved #inspiredbyfalk...

Poets and Storytellers United  Friday Writings Prompt: " ...create poetry or prose inspired by the words Reclaim, Rekindle, Rebirth ."  I thought I'd use one of my favorite "fun" forms, blackout poetry for this prompt.  I used William Wordsworth's Lines Composed a Few Miles above Tintern Abbey, On Revisiting the Banks of the Wye during a Tour.  July 13, 1798 (usually abbreviated to Tintern Abbey ).  Many of us today can relate to Wordsworth's speaker, as he reclaims former places, rekindles his love of, and experiences a rebirth in, the mountains visited years previously..  The blackout follows.  ©Lisa Smith Nelson   I hear the quiet of the copses, the hedge-rows, the woods. Beauteous. Tranquil.   I trust the mystery of the hills, the mountains, the deep rivers. Lonely. Loved.   I feel the nature of the light, the sky, the fair moon. Wild. Sweet. I remember the voice of the stream, ...