Tag: Ekphrastic poetry

POETRY FRIDAY IS HERE: New Poetry Anthology by Carol Labuzzetta

Welcome to Poetry Friday!

What is Poetry Friday? It’s a group of bloggers who write about poetry and share their work. Find out more about Poetry Friday Here.

This week, thrilled by the warm weather, I finally bought a few impatiens and planted them in pots. Due to the local deer population, I’ve curtailed my gardening ambitions, restricted my flowers to the porch. These healthy plants look small, but with time they will fill the pot.

GARDENER'S QUESTION 

humble impatiens--
should I count buds everyday?
or be more patient? 

© Janice Scully 2024

But let’s get to the heart of my post. Two weeks ago this book appeared at my door, my awaited copy of a new anthology of poetry for students by Carol Labuzzetta. There is already a buzz on Poetry Friday about this book. Available on Amazon, it is full of nature photos and poems inspired by them. Carol did a wonderful job showcasing each poet’s work. I have no favorites but will share one of my poems and two others from the book, all about animals that will interest kids.

Thank you Carol for your careful editing as you put this book together. Below are three photos and poems inspired by them.

I took this photo in Santa Cruz, California:

AN AFTERNOON NAP
by Janice Scully

   What a comfy pillow
     comrades make,

  when my belly is full of
     squid and hake.

     Snoozing on
  this slippery bed,

  with clouds and seagulls
      overhead.


NOISY GUESTS
By Sally Murphy

What's that ruckus
   in my yard?
  A feathered trio
   laughing hard.

What's that rumpus
   I can hear?
 They're carolling
 that rain is near.

What's that riot
  on my fence? 
  Kookaburras
 making sense!

I love that kookaburras are “making sense.” Animals are sensible and do things that help themselves as a species survive. Here’s a poem and photo by Carol Labuzzetta

LEOPARD FROG
by Carol Labuzetta

Mossy leopard frog

Hiding near the water's edge

So still and quiet

Until footsteps approach you

Jump! Splash! Off you go to swim!

I was reminded when I used to walk next to a nearby stream just after a rainstorm. Hearing my footsteps, frogs would jump from the soggy water’s edge and hide in the stream with a plunk, plunk, plunk.

I hope everyone is finding time to be outdoors now that spring is here. If you have a blog to share, add your URL below.

Self Portrait

It’s another Poetry Friday, this week hosted by Matt Forrest Esenwine at Radio Rhythm and Rhyme. Thank you, Matt, for hosting!

I hope everyone in the poetry universe is healthy and well. I am supposed to attend a Highlights poetry workshop in a week, led by Gail Carson Levine. Only ten people have signed up and I suspect that it will not be cancelled, but who knows? I have been so looking forward to it. Fingers crossed. It’s an uncertain time, for sure.

Meanwhile I have a short post for this week. I’ve spent way too much time with the news, thinking about my sister in California and my son in New York City.

My oldest son, Philip, was supposed to be born on April 4th. But I never made it, and he was born early on April Fool’s Day, which he found to be a delightful birthday. Maybe that’s why he was blessed with a good sense of humor. Anyway, since it will be April soon, I will celebrate him by posting a self portrait he painted in fourth grade and a poem I wrote inspired by it. Of course, being Phil’s Mom I hardly look at the painting with objective eyes, but I’ve always loved this self portrait. It makes me smile.

Philip’s self portrait.

SELF PORTRAIT
 

 It’s a painting from school, 
 a picture of me
 displayed in our house
 so my family can see. 
 
 Not happy or sad,
 what does that boy think?
 He stares into space
 and never a blink!
 
 He used to be me,
 the boy I was then.
 Maybe it's time
 to paint me again. 

©Janice Scully 2020

To end, check out and enter the NPR ekphrastic challenge. Kwame Alexander has chosen two paintings. Choose one that speaks to you and write a short poem inspired by it. Your poem might win and your words just might be heard on NPR.