Tag: poetry swap

Ebullient flowers and Poetry Swap Art

Welcome to Poetry Friday, this week hosted by Molly at Nix the Comfort Zone HERE. This week she is sharing some thoughts about joy and creativity. Thank you, Molly, for hosting.

I participated in the Poetry Friday New Years and summer swaps this year. A couple of the gifts I received I never shared and would like others to enjoy them.

For the New Year, I received a card with a photo from Margaret Simon. The photo and I love the words “grace” and “wisdom” in this elfchen poetry form.

    GRACE
 BELONGS HERE
TELLING ME HOW
 GOOD I AM NOW
     ***
   WISDOM

© Margaret Simon

Another postcard I received last winter in the poetry swap was from Denise Krebs. I love her very cool, whimsical art work!

by Denise Krebs

Then earlier this week Denise sent me a summer swap full of treasures. Denise took the haiku and accompanying photos from my blog and made small bouquet of signs out of them! I was so touched by it as well as the poem she wrote to go with them.

My bouquet of haiku made by Denise.

Haiku Bouquet
A Triolet for Janice Scully
After her "Peony Bouquet"

Sing of beautiful photos with words,
words of poetry--bouquet of haiku
to reimagine flowers and birds.
Sing of beautiful photos with words
of history, life, and more--herds
of topics in poetry month gift--time to
sing of beautiful photos with words,
words of poetry--bouquet of haiku.

© Denise Krebs

Thank you Margaret and Denise. Each poetry swap provides ideas I can use in my future Poetry Friday swaps.

Now, I want to follow up on a previous post I made when I planted a pot of impatiens. Back in June I wrote when I planted some small plants:

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

© Janice Scully

I watered them and left them do what flowers do.

Two months ago

The same flowers today.

I wrote a triolet to celebrate using a word I don’t usually use, to try it out. Some readers may think it’s an exaggeration but that then again, they might not. 

AN EBULLIENT TRANSITION 


Surprising indeed how tall they grow,
in summertime ebullition! 
Red and pink in such a show,
Surprising indeed how tall they grow.
When they will stop, I don't quite know,
this sparse to full transition.
Surprising indeed how tall they grow,
in summertime ebullition! 

© Janice Scully 2024

Good luck to all the teachers and librarians returning to school. I always loved the first day of school as a child; it’s an exciting time and I hope the new year goes well.

Next week I will be hosting Poetry Friday. See you then! Thank you, Molly for hosting today.

A Poetry Swap gift and August Haiku

Welcome to Poetry Friday, this week hosted by Molly at her blog: Nix the Comfort Zone.

I have been away from Poetry Friday for a while and found I missed, not surprisingly, this community and its celebration of words, writing, and all things artistic.

I want to thank Tabatha Yeatts for organizing the summer Poetry Swap. Patricia Franzen sent me an amazing poem about a sugar pine tree, which is a beloved Sierra species. The poem came just after I visited California and had seen a Redwood forest that was returning to life after a forest fire. Patricia’s gratitude for her beloved Sugar Pine tree, which she has been observing over time, resonated.

pinus lambertiana

In death as in life

you find your home in a mixed-conifer forest

a fallen sugar pine’s twisted remains

nestled between friends

generous to a fault

you sacrificed cone and seed

to feed the insatiable

pocket mouse or ground squirrel

benevolent ruler of this alpine slope

stripped bare, yet steadfast

cavity nesters find a home

in your heartwood

Patricia Franzen July 15, 2023

She also sent a card with one of her photos of Lake Tahoe and some whimsical stickers. It was wonderful to hear from her!

This week I’m sharing a series of haiku inspired by an August of summer vegetables, brought to me in abundance from a generous neighbor. These, of course, are leeks. 

FARM TO TABLE HAIKU

1)
Fresh beets in a box
wearing thick mud from the field—
tender greens wilting.

2)
Found meandering
among tasteless and tough weeds,
sweet carrots and leeks.

3)
Not too long or short—
Green and yellow beans flourish.
Hurry up! Pick them!

4)
Bite marks on veggies
But corn and okra don’t care
if raccoons eat them.

5)
By myself cooking,
I slide the window open—
let in cricket sound.

© Janice Scully 2023

What are you celebrating this August? Have a great week! Thank you, Molly, for hosting Poetry Friday.

Two Nature Poems and a Postcard

Welcome to Poetry Friday, this week hosted by the brilliant and kind Mary Lee Hahn Here. Thank you for hosting!

First things first: a lovely postcard I received from Linda Baie:

I recognize the Colorado sky and mountains





This is good advice, to slow down and enjoy the journey. I tell my sons that, and they are too busy to hear which is ironic.  I’m just learning it. 





I will also share two poems that were published in December on the Dirigible Balloon website. 















MINNOW TAG 

By a boulder, in silvery slivers
swam some minnows, in the river.

I’d see if I could—give it a crack—
grab a few and toss them back.

I grabbed and I grabbed,
but they fled in a flicker,

like shooting stars
They swam even quicker.

©Janice Scully 2021











SOME SPIDERS


Not every spider spins a web
of silky sticky glue
to trap an unsuspecting fly
and gnats that wander through.

I’ve heard about some spiders, 
with fangs for hunting prey.
They don’t need a web at all—
just grab and chomp away! 

If I became an arthropod 
I’d think I’d hunt with silk.
I’d take a nap, pluck my prey,
and eat my snack with milk. 


© Janice Scully 2021





Take care. I hope everyone is healthy.