#TankaTuesday Weekly #Poetry Challenge #Ekphrastic #PhotoPrompt #poetry #poetrycommunity #Shadorma @YvetteMCalleiro

Hello, beautiful readers! For this week's #TankaTuesday Weekly Poetry Challenge, Colleen Chesebro has given us a painting to inspire us. It is the Portrait of Lady Agnew of Lochnaw by John Singer Sargent.

Her eyes drew me in first. She appears to be looking right into your soul. But it was the tilt in her lips, and perhaps a look from her left eye, that inspired my poem. 

I chose to write a freestyle poem and added a Shadorma at the end. A Shadorma has six lines with a 3-5-3-3-7-5 syllabic pattern with no set rhyme scheme. It also has a title.

Misperceptions

Because I am wealthy, you think me

Privileged

Traipsing carefree with nary a worry

Adorned with silks and satins

Enjoying teas and cakes and laughter

Among friends

Because I am beautiful, you think me

Elegant

Skin as fair as snow 

Hair as rich as a starless night

Head held regally so all can enjoy my allure

Because I am a woman, you think me

Delicate

As fragile as porcelain

Needing to be coddled and cared for

Too naïve to make choices for myself

Dependent

Because you think

And do not know

You continue to placate me

Providing me a life of ease and comfort

Of wealth and power

But I am ready to take the reins.

~o~

Deliverance

posh lifestyle

high society

he owns her

controls her

arsenic is all it takes

heiress gains freedom

What do you see when you look at this picture? If you want to try your hand at writing a poem about it, click here.

Does she look as sinister to you as she did to me? I'd love to hear from you below.

#TankaTuesday Weekly #Poetry Challenge #synonyms #change #grow #tanka #poem #poetrycommunity @YvetteMCalleiro

Hello, beautiful readers! This week's #TankaTuesday Weekly Poetry Challenge asked us to use the synonyms of the words change and grow to write a poem. I've spent some time recently speaking to my students about how the choices they make set them on a certain path which leads to an outcome. We have discussed that sometimes they make poor choices, but they can correct their mistakes and find their way back to a brighter path. So, that inspired me to create this poem.

I chose to write a tanka poem. This poem has five lines with a 5-7-5-7-7 syllabic pattern. I've chosen to use the words reinvent, metamorphize, and nurture as my synonyms for change and grow.

(courtesy of Canva)

reinvent yourself

shed what no longer serves you

metamorphize now

nurture the good within you

become who you're meant to be

Would you like to try your hand at writing a poem? Click here.

Have you ever thought of reinventing yourself? I'd love to hear from you below.

#TankaTuesday Weekly #Poetry Challenge #Ekphrastic #poem #Crapsey #cinquain #poetrycommunity #rose #roses @YvetteMCalleiro

Hello, beautiful readers! This week's #TankaTuesday Weekly Poetry Challenge has us writing an Ekprhastic poem on a beautiful photo of a rose that Terri Webster Schrandt captured and then filtered. Colleen Chesebro invites us to use the rose as our inspiration.  

I've chosen to write an American cinquain. This poetry form has five, non-rhyming lines with a syllable structure of 2-4-6-8-2. The poem should build drama and turn somewhere within the fifth line. So, this is what I created.

Untended

petals

silky, soft flesh

open, vulnerable

yearn to be touched but neglected

wither

Would you like to try to write an Ekprhastic poem? Come join us here! Colleen gives plenty of help and pointers on how to write a poem.

Do you want to read other amazing examples of poems written about this picture? Click here.

What do you think of when you see this picture? I'd love to hear from you.

#TankaTuesday #Poetry Challenge Random Word Generator #Prompt #haibun #haiku #grief

Hello, beautiful people! I'm back today with a new poem for Colleen Chesebro's #TankaTuesday Poetry Challenge. This week, we are picking words from a random word generator Colleen created. The goal is to choose at least three words from the list below and create a poem. 

I sat with this a bit, mostly because I have not had much time to be alone in my thoughts. It's been a week full of very long days. Combine that with a full moon about to burst, and I'm beyond exhausted. The full moon always makes it difficult for me to sleep or feel well rested. 

Anyway, I guess because of my tired state, this is where my mind went. I've never written a haibun, and I'm not quite sure I did it correctly, so if it's wrong, please enlighten me so I can learn. From Colleen's cheat sheet, I read that a haibun combines a prose with a haiku (though I may have created a senryu instead). There are specific subject matters, and it can have different formats. This is what I chose to go with. I hope you like it. 

(image courtesy of @Begaji_Dukare on Pixabay)

Stormy Tears

I trace my fingers over the rough, brick façade of our fireplace. The dead logs lie within, cold and silent. Your needless death leaves me bereaved, trapped in my grief, alone in my suffering.

rainy days

tears stream down the glass

crushed heart aches

So, what do you think? I'd love to hear from you.

Are you inspired to grab a few words from the list and create your own poem? If so, join us here.

Would you like to read some of the other fabulous poems written by other authors? Check them out here.