The Versesmith

 dVerse Poetics:  Have You Ever Seen the Rain? Prompt from Li(sa) : Your challenge for today, if you choose to accept it, is to choose... your way with the weather. Use it as a framework. Or a metaphor. Or as a vehicle to get you where your muse wants to go. Any form or length is fine. I would love to see someone take a favorite weather song and pay tribute to its lyrics or melody. Please put attribution on your page if you choose that path. I’m very much looking forward to reading your poems. Going with the suggestion of taking a weather song, I have taken two.  One is mostly fiction, one is mostly fact. A Golden Shovel using a line from  November Rain by Guns N' Roses. And it's hard to hold a candle in the cold November rain A Golden Shovel is an invented form, created by Terrance Hayes.  It is written by taking a line or lines from an existing poem and using each word as end words in your poem. The words are kept in order.  Credit is always given....

 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 

  24 Seasons Syllabic Poetry Challenge, No. 23  Snow Becomes Rain (February 19 – March 4) Usui 雨水 " Your writing invitation is to choose one of the 24 Forms for your poem. (You can select 3 different forms for the 3 suggested kigo word phrases, if you’d like). You can use the kigo words and phrases from the Part I challenge post..., or you can use the phrases I’ve created..." Kigo phrases for the Northern Hemisphere. early spring [insert an early spring flower name] spring flowers lingering snow leap day photo ©Lisa Smith Nelson, taken in February 2019 leap day garden stroll winter's overstayed his time  yet more snow forecast lingering snow slush crunches under my rain boots dismal day ahead early spring crocus bright jewels on frozen ground my morning replete  ©2024 Lisa Smith Nelson. All Rights Reserved  photo ©Lisa Smith Nelson, taken in February 2019

 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 

  Tanka Tuesday #291   "Here we are for another #TankaTuesday poetry challenge! Are you ready for a theme prompt? Sangeetha from Mindfills blog selected this month’s theme:" The Nature of Lightning I chose a Tetractys.  The Tetractys is an invented* form of at least five lines with syllables 1/2/3/4/10.  It may be written with more than one verse, inverting the syllable count.  That's where I made my error.  I wrote a Double Tetractys, 1/2/3/4/10/10/4/3/2/1, then instead of starting the next verse with 1, I started with 10 by mistake.  So, this is not the Triple Tetractys I'd planned it to be. © Lisa Smith Nelson   Bright lightning at midnight divides the sky, dazzling my bedroom as a summer noon. My dog awakes and looks to me confused. Too soon to rise. Night returns. He lays, sighs.   I lay awake some hours more to listen for the thunder, and to count seconds 'tween. ©2022 Lisa Smith Nelson. All Rights Res...