 |
| Green on the spectrum of visible light |
" .... Green as mint jelly, green
as a frog on a lily pad twanging,
the green of cos lettuce upright
about to bolt into opulent towers,
green as Grand Chartreuse in a clear
glass, green as wine bottles ...."
Midweek Motif ~ the Color Green
~in 14-lines or less~
~in 14-lines or less~
The wikipedia entry on green includes a fascinating illustrated survey of the color green in science, history, art, and symbol. The English word itself "has the same Germanic root as the words for grass and grow." Pretty neat!
Your
challenge is to write a green-themed poem BUT! use only 14 lines or less!
“Green in nature is one thing, green in literature another. Nature and letters seem to have a natural antipathy; bring them together and they tear each other to pieces.”
Water and windmills, greenness, Islets green;—
Willows whose Trunks beside the shadows stood
Of their own higher half, and willowy swamp:—
Farmhouses that at anchor seem'd—in the inland sky
The fog-transfixing Spires—
Water, wide water, greenness and green banks,
And water seen—
Please:
1. Post your poem with a green motif (in 14 lines or less) on your site, and then link it here.
2. Share only original and new work written for this challenge.
3. Leave a comment here.
4. Honor our community by visiting and commenting on others' poems.
(The Next Midweek Motif will be Best Friends)
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The second half of my poem is written in invisible ink to comply with the unanticipated line restriction. Smack my hand with a ruler.
ReplyDeleteWow! How neat that I can read invisible ink. Welcome, jo-hanna.
Delete14 verses not 14 lines.. it's not easy being green..
ReplyDeleteAh, Kermit, I bow to you! Welcome.
DeleteSusan,
ReplyDeleteI cannot believe that I had already written the poem for today, knowing the prompt, but before I knew about the '14 Lines.' Just lucky!!!
Avoided all thoughts of Forty Shades of Green, in place of some realism:)
Eileen
Yes, that's harder and very welcome. I like the specifics rendered so powerfully.
DeleteThese comments already had me grinning before I headed out to read your poems. Each of which stretch the motif differently; each is moving and powerful. What a marvelous day for poetry!
ReplyDeleteI used song titles for this one!
ReplyDeleteGrin.
DeleteMy audio ignorance is showing: I tried to find connective tissue...
DeleteGreat prompt as usual Susan....linked up mine :)
ReplyDeleteThank you!
Deletedashed off a quick on for you susan....
ReplyDeletekermit got it right
BE GREEN
stenciled in (well what else)
green in the white frame
of a bumper sticker
on the back of a VW bus
at the grass pump,
all the little numbers
adding up---
hair down to his butt,
the driver thumbs out a cigarette
then pulls out
a thick black stain
on the concrete the only footprint
left in his passing.
Yes, very fine. I hate to say this, but a character in a car like that does not pause on a heated road to let the frogs pass by. grrr.
DeleteArgh..........everything at odds with his bumper sticker......loved this, Brian.
DeleteGood poem; nasty irony! :)
DeleteGreen is my second favorite color.... and I love that you set line limits, Susan. Thank you!
ReplyDeleteWhat's your first? Blue?
DeleteNever realized 'grass' and 'green' related to the verb 'to grow' in the West Germanic languages. Obvious now.
ReplyDeleteBTW. You've got mail !!
Thank you and thank you and again, thank you!
DeleteTo get around the line restriction, I pumped out three short ones....i have my little ways! hee hee.
ReplyDeleteYou sure do! Glad you are here.
DeleteIf anyone says 14 lines to me I immediately go 'sonnet'! *sigh* But tried something new - and think it kind of worked, so very curious to hear what you have to say. Great prompt, so versatile and - at this time of the year - so in your face (at least here).
ReplyDeleteBeautiful. I love sonnets, and liked the more complex form you tried because of how it intensifies your poem.
DeleteMine is 13 lines. I like shorter poems. I think poetry should be condensed thoughts. I wanted to try something a bit different with the color green.
ReplyDeleteLove it, Happy to see you, Mary.
DeleteI love color themes! Mine is up at: https://purplepeninportland.wordpress.com/2014/05/22/in-the-green/
ReplyDeleteI put you in Mr. Linky. I like all the colors of Green you captured here.
DeleteWell, what do you know? The bref double, which I'm practising lately, is 14 lines. :)
ReplyDeleteThink of that! Thank you for playing and for leaving a brand new poem, Rosemary.
DeleteI touched green slightly...thanks for an inspiration, Susan!
ReplyDeleteYou are welcome. Thanks for taking the prompt in such a unique direction.
DeleteSusan looks like you had fun..with Green..Enjoyed the Prompt
ReplyDeleteThank you for leaving a Raaga, Arathi. Very fine!
DeleteThank you Susan for this awesome prompt.
ReplyDeleteI made two attempts at writing a 14 line poem. The first attempt I had too much to say as thus the lines were too long for blogger's page formatting. So I wrote a second poem that somehow turned slightly cheesy lol. I am not used to following prompts.
Good training, this. Thank you!
I like working with limits at times, but sometimes it just cannot be done. Bravo for working with this one. As you visit the poems you'll see that we have a few rule-breakers, but for good reason. I think that the value is in the attempt regardless of the result. This prompt has generated diverse content, and meaningful poems. Fun.
DeleteHave you ever considered leaving more than one version in a posting?
DeleteThank you Susan, 14 lines was a real challenge, but it was rewarding, it made me alter structure and the convergence of some words. It was more rewarding for me and i have learnt a lot from it. Be Blessed and many thanks. Alan
ReplyDeleteThank you for taking the challenge, Alan, and for reading all of our poems. I enjoy the comment you left on mine. And your poem is stunning.
Deleteenjoyed writing on this lovely fresh colorful prompt Thank you
ReplyDeleteThank you for trying out the prompt.
DeleteWhat an interesting assortment, Poets! If you have more for this week, consider putting them in the Poets United Pantry tomorrow. I'll see you next Wednesday for a midweek motif on Best Friends. Actually, I'll be taking you with me on a train to upstate NY to visit family.
ReplyDeleteHi there my entry was not written especially for Midweek Motif but it has "the green grass of home" in it. I felt this is viable to join the fun. Am off to read your posts oh bugger I am too late anyway. Never mind....
ReplyDeleteups I promise I do it the right way next week :-)
ReplyDelete