Celebrating Picture Perfect Poetry

 Greetings everyone! It is Poetry Friday and I have some poems to share.

Today I'm sharing my delight with Carol Labuzzetta's anthology: Picture Perfect Poetry.  I have three poems in this beautiful book, and I'm proud to share two of them today.  Carol's anthology is such a beauty! It is an anthology of Ekphrastic Nature Poetry for Students. (Ekphrastic refers to writing that describes a visual art, in this case nature photography.) So, this is a thanks to Carol for including my poems, and a sharing of both poems and photographs.

Autumn's Hold

Pumpkins squat and bright and round
Gathered now in autumn's hold
Your droll expressions so renowned
Pumpkins squat and bright and round.
What lessons in this fall playground?
Leave a seed! Shine your light! Be BOLD!
Pumpkins squat and bright and round
Gathered now in autumn's hold.

© Karen Eastlund

A note about this one:  I just now had the idea to BOLD the bold!  Also, this is a form called triolet: the first line is repeated three times.  I love that Carol made the entire page orange for this one.

The next poem was inspired not only by the sunset, but by a prompt from an online workshop I took with Georgia Heard. She suggested we write a poem beginning with "Things to do if you are a ..."

Things to Do if You are a Sunset

Blush
Sneak in
Put on neon
Delight in feathered flight
Hopscotch from cloud to cloud
Inspect your reflection on water
Flash on last surprise
Dazzle
Fade

© Karen Eastlund

Thanks ever so much for reading and thanks to Patricia Franz for hosting today. Be sure to check in on her blog to read a wonderful poem about planting sugar pines in a national forest. Also, she has a great quote about being part of something larger. Poetry Friday is that kind of gathering, and you can be part of it also.  Find Patricia and learn more HERE.  

Duality

 It's that time of year when the weather is all over the board. Some days in the 60's, some nights in the teens. In between is a rollercoaster of everything: sun, clouds, rain, snow, furious winds. Crazy! 

I feel like I'm all over the board also. I can't concentrate. My mind flits from one thing to another, much like the weather. One morning I took our visiting canine out for a walk and it felt like a lovely spring day. By the time I headed home the wind had picked up, the temperature was dropping, clouds were rolling in and I found myself hurrying toward my front door.  An event later that day spawned the first poem below.

I decided to try a poetic form I had not tried... the triolet.  Here are two that crawled out of my pen. Once I put them on the same page they seemed to reflect the hot and cold duality of our weather as it zigzags its way toward spring.

I'm mesmerized by falling snow

Today high winds whipped up a squall

Bright sun and calm before it though

I'm mesmerized by falling snow

A few stray flakes took aim below

When next I looked, a frenzied brawl

I'm mesmerized by falling snow

Today high winds whipped up a squall

© Karen Eastlund

A flock of robins found my yard

They feast on holly berries here

Their visit's like a greeting card

A flock of robins found my yard!

A note of mirth, a spring vanguard

A lilting call that rings with cheer

A flock of robins found my yard

They feast on holly berries here

© Karen Eastlund

Image by Linda Mitchell

It's Poetry Friday at The Miss Rumphius Effect .  Thanks to Tricia for hosting, and for inviting us all to try a new poetic challenge next month.  Find her challenge at the link above.

Stay warm, stay safe, and have a good one!

Halloween 2020: Vegetables!!!

 Okay, let's face it... Halloween may not be to our liking this year. Yes, we are wearing masks, and some of us have been overdoing a bit on the candy, but that isn't really the point, right?  I did, however, get a cackle over this:

And speaking of vegetables, I helped with a pumpkin sale again this year. What is it about pumpkins? They always make me smile. Every one has a personality and a bright outfit. This one, for instance, seems to be blushing.

And this one is SO TALL!

What a swirl of delight!  

I learned this year that the gray-green ones are HEAVY!

But I do enjoy them... warts and all...

So... I took a challenge from Matt Forrest Esenwine and tried a triolet...

Pumpkins squat and bright and round

Gathered now in autumn's hold

Your droll expressions so renowned

Pumpkins squat and bright and round

What message in this fall playground?

Leave a seed! Shine your light! Be bold!

Pumpkins squat and bright and round

Gathered now in autumn's hold.

© Karen Eastlund

Join the Poetry Friday gang at Linda Baie's Teacher Dance for more Halloween fun.