Elfchen poems

Welcome to Poetry Friday on this last Friday of the year. Thank you Michelle Kogan for hosting! Check in with her Here.

I was away last week visiting family. I hope everyone had a joyful holiday. Since our return, my husband feels under the weather. He’s OK, and so far is so far Covid negative but who knows? I’ve noticed that friends here and there are getting covid, though no one is very sick.

Let’s move on to elfchen poems.

This week I will contribute a few. The form is described Here. It’s a short five line poem and the directions made me think:

First line one word: A thought, object, a color, smell or the like.

Second line two words: What does the word from the first line do?

Third line three words: Where or how is the word from line one?

Fourth line four words: What do you mean?

Fifth line one word: What results? What is the conclusion?

I saw the most brilliant blue in the stained glass at the Sagrada Familia, a cathedral in Barcelona last year.

MEDITATION

blue
deep calm
colors evening skies
children will sleep tonight
peace

© Janice Scully (draft) 2023

Pumpkin pie with cinnamon.

PUMPKIN PIE

Cinnamon.
Holiday memory.
Ancient amygdala triggered.
Take a deep breath.
Delight.

© Janice Scully (draft) 2023

This lilac tree looks down for the count. 

DREAMING OF SPRING

Lilac,
playing dead.
Gray,cold December.
Fragrant purple flowers gone.
Deceiving. 

© Janice Scully (draft) 2023

I have one last one I wrote after listening to a radio story here on the show 1-A, about laboratory grown, cultivated, chicken. It is worth a listen. Cultivated meat is being tested in two restaurants, one in San Francisco and in Washington D.C. 

Chicken.
Lab grown.
No slaughter required.
Reportedly tastes the same.
Try?

©Janice Scully 2023

Since food production requiring slaughterhouses and the killing of animals contributes to 20% of green house emissions, it would be significant in the fight against global warming. I’d definitely try if it is ever available.

Well, as for the elfchen, I look forward to reading more. I found that most of my lines were end-stopped. I wasn’t sure to punctuate or not.

Happy New Year!

11 thoughts on “Elfchen poems”

  1. I liked all of your elfchen’s Janice, and especially your MEDITATION for the Sagrada Familia stained glass window–reminds me of all the children that need a safe place. My husband and I were in Spain for our honeymoon so very long ago. I love your pic of it with the decorative work above the windows, and the stained glass reminds me of Mondrian. I also heard the article on NPR about the lab grown chicken–sounds interesting to me too, I’d try it. Hope your husband feels better soon. Happy New Year!

  2. Janice, it’s wonderful to see so many Elfchin poems at your site and others. Your pumpkin pie holiday memory caught my eye right away. I make pumpkin pie and cookies from roasted pumpkins. It’s a process but worth the effort. This year, I was given white pumpkins and I turned those into yummy white pies. Each of your Elfchens discusses a unique topic that I would never have thought of. Thinking of spring so soon but I guess that is to be expected in Syracuse unless you are a skier. Have a wonderful New Year. I am mailing the holiday poem swap package to you tomorrow. Thanks for being patient.

  3. I have one granddaughter who loves pumpkin pie for her birthday, so when I see a poem about them, I share with her, Janice. The reference to the ‘amygdala’ is terrific! And I enjoyed your clever lilac “playing dead”. All are interesting looks at things! Happy New Year!

  5. Janice, my family did a Finders Seekers (kind of an escape room in a box) about Barcelona and the Sagrada Familia over the past few days, so your first one just flooded me with joy. And thank you for telling me about lab-grown meat. That would make my carnivorous taste buds happy and my guilty heart less guilty! Happy New Year! (PS In poetic forms that require a word or syllable count for each line, I also tend to write end-stopped lines or at least try to have a complete thought/phrase and use the line breaks very purposefully. To me, if you just take an 11-word poem and arrange it to fit the elfchen form, that’s not really making use of the form. That’s the challenge. I’m not always good at *meeting* the challenge, but those are the things I think about. Your thought on punctuation makes me realize in a next draft of “December,” if I do a next draft, I’d definitely want end punctuation on several lines…)

  6. Janice-your elfchen poems are delightful! I especially love “Dreaming of Spring.” There was a lilac bush behind one of my childhood homes. My mother loved it and filled the house with lilacs. They still remind me of spring. Happy New Year!

  9. Janice, you found so many interesting elfchen topics for your poems. That “Meditation” poem is stunning. “children will sleep tonight” Powerful!
    And lab created chicken is such an interesting thought. Wow. I would try it!

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