Tag Archives: verselove

Interrupted: NPM26 #27

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After a day of serious, serial interruptions, Dave’s Verselove invitation was to write about…interruptions. Classrooms are notoriously places of interruptions (at least from my insider point of view)…and I’m not even talking about technology!

Questions bombard me

missiles propelled

From every direction 

     Is she dead?

     Can I have a bandaid?

     My dog is named (fill in the blank) too

All in the course 

of reading a book to my class

Hands in my face

A tug on my hem

My name called over and over and over

     I need help

     Is this good enough?

     What’s next?

As I launch into today’s lesson

Not to mention

vibrations, bells, unexpected

visitors

     stops and starts

     emotions overflowing 

     phones that ring and ring and ring

Send her to intervention

He’s being picked up to go to the 

     dentist

     doctor

     Disneyland 

Wait!

It’s time for lunch…

@kd0602

My Place: NPM26 #22

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Inspired by both Verselove‘s onomatopoeia poem invitation by Margaret and NWP’s Write Out Write Where We Stand Challenge, I took a mental walk on the beach this afternoon. The beach is truly my place.

Funky fishy salty smells

feel like my favorite pair of jeans,

an old friend, familiar and cozy and comforting.

Whistles and squawks harmonize,

sea songs narrating bird stories

from water to shore.

Pop, pop, crunch

kelp floats explode under my feet.

When I hear the rumble-whoosh

whisper of waves lapping the shore,

I know I am home.

@kd0602

Week’s End Soup: NPM26 #17

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Add fish with bones

and birds with feet

slugs and jellies will 

make it sweet

salted liberally

and splashed with foam

warmed from above

then left alone

Stirred and paddled 

upwelled and churned

downside up and turned around

best served with a firm sandy crust 

Dip your toes

slowly at first—tasting the cool

then plunge

whole feet up to your knees

cleanse the work from

knotted shoulders 

clenched jaw

breathe in the briny broth 

delight in the umami funk

while tossing off

the work week funk

slurp up the pleasures of sand 

and salt and wind and water

make it a whole body experience

It’s the weekend 

@kd0602

Cascading Kelp: NPM26 #15

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Playing with form when writing poetry is always interesting. Today’s Verselove prompt introduced a poetic form called a cascade. (Check out the Verselove post for more details.)

I love the native giant kelp (macrocystis pyrifera) that grows in our coastal waters. It’s know for its fast growth–up to a foot a day–in ideal conditions. Unfortunately, conditions are not so ideal these days. As our water temperatures rise, kelp struggles. And like a forest on the land, a kelp forest supports an entire ecosystem. Some piles on the beach are normal, but too many piles ignites worry about this special place. I’ve been teaching my young students about this unique algae for years…and have fallen in love with its special qualities. Maybe I’ve illustrated some of them in this cascade of a poem.

It lands on the shore in a heap

Golden fronds etched with waves

Once an undersea forest filled with life

Bubbles bob and float catching rays 

Enormous algae growing at top speed until…

It lands on the shore in a heap

Tiny brittle stars call holdfast home 

With snails and urchins among

Golden fronds etched with waves

Delicate ecosystem depending

On cool Pacific waters

An undersea forest filled with life

We must protect this watery treasure trove

@kd0602

Anemone Haibun: NPM26 #13

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Deceptively benign to view, sea flowers blossom in the harsh environment of the tide pool. These beautiful flowers are actually sea anemones, described as “predatory marine invertebrates,” animals designed to paralyze their prey with their venomous tentacles. These carnivorous chameleons sometimes cover themselves in shells—looking like sprinkle-covered donuts rather than fierce, long living sea life. I love to photograph them, noticing the ways their colors change with the light and water, and reveling in their resilience. 

Disguised as flowers

Beckoning prey with a wave

Anemone strikes 

Lots to Worry About: NPM26 #11

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After I posted Cormorant Convention yesterday, a friend and environmentalist reached out to let me know about the seabird starvation event that is happening in coastal California. Cormorants, pelicans, and murres are being affected–not able to find sufficient fish to keep them healthy. The Verselove prompt this morning was about love (or other abstract concepts or emotions) and worry started weaving itself into my writing brain. (I encourage you to check out the mentor text–both the original inspiration and the one written by Kate.)

I worry about birds

the kind of worry that sprouts wings

and flies close to my heart.

Worry doesn’t limit itself though

it grows round

and orbits the sun.

Can I actually enjoy summer weather

when it comes in February

without the dread of what will come next?

Worry snakes itself around my lungs

keeping my breath shallow.

Am I doing enough for the planet?

Does re-using, re-cycling, re-ducing, composting, picking up trash

on my precious beach

make a difference?

Does it really matter?

When I am delighting in the golden glow

of giant kelp

or the colorful quirkiness

of a nudibranch

am I not worrying enough?

I swat at worry

a gnat, a fly, a mosquito bluzzing

determined to make me itch.

Worry is exhausting.

Let me rinse my feet in the cool briny sea

letting hope and possibility

drip into my pores

urging me forward.

I still worry about the birds.

@kd0602

Cormorant Convention: NPM #10

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I had planned to write about a place I love, the beach, in line with the Verselove prompt. But then during my end-of-the-work-week beach walk this afternoon I noticed a cormorant standing on the beach. Cormorants aren’t really common beach birds and are not regular visitors to our local beach. So seeing them always send a shiver of concern up my spine. I worry that they are sick when I see them on the beach. Of course I took a few pictures and then continued my walk. Then, looking out at the waves (good sized today) I noticed the tons of birds in the water…I thought they would be pelicans. That would be usual. But no, they were cormorants! They bounced with the waves. Some flew by and others were making their way out of the surf and parading toward the beach. It was obviously a cormorant convention! What brought them? I have no idea. Maybe a delicious delicacy in the waters? Or maybe simply a need to commune on the beach or the hope of catching a glimpse of the Artemis II spacecraft on its way to splashdown?

Cormorant Convention

They ride the waves

like pepper sprinkled on avocado

bobbing in the salty sea

They’ve arrived for the convention

making their way to the shore

waddling, bird by bird

to join the others

gathered

maybe to witness history

the splashdown of Artemis II

into the nearby sea

@kd0602

Alliterative Play: NPM26 #7

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A playful prompt from Verselove: pick a photo and begin and end with alliteration. When our garden teacher brought this delightfully huge lacy looking cauliflower into the lounge, I had to snap a photo. And the poem is some fun word play.

Wild white wonderful

cauliflower vegetably 

meandering through the school garden

growing to enormous proportions 

wandering wistful wondering

Am I a veggie kids will embrace?

Playing with Opposites: NPM26 #5

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I love to visit bookstores, so earlier this week while I was on Oahu I came across da Shop, a wonderful eclectic bookstore with so many fun books to browse (and buy). I was on the verge of buying this interesting picture book about the Japanese poet Basho called, A Pond, A Poet, and Three Pests by Caroline Adderson. It’s a cute story imagining what Basho was experiencing when he created his famous Haiku:

Old pond–

Frog jumps in

Splash!

Or some version of that. There are many different translations. Today’s poetry prompt at Verselove suggests creating an un-found poem or an Antonymic (one using antonyms) version. While I’m not so sure I actually followed the directions, I did have fun playing around with my own Haiku-ish poem inspired by Basho’s The Old Pond.

Human-filled beach

Modern pterodactyl lands

Air becomes breath

@kd0602

Great Blue Heron