Different types and forms of poetry I have written
Today
While in my path
A stranger I did meet
Speaking a language not my own
Smiling
I hushed the cute brown pup
Whose ire I’d arisen
By walking near
His home
Butterfly Cinquain
NaPoWriMo Day 13–Prompt: “Someone Said” write a poem about a conversation with a stranger.
Ah, Sunshine and flowers
Are most wondrous things
Among which I can sit for hours
Ah, Sunshine and flowers
Watered by springtime showers
Sweetest sererinty brings
Ah, Sunshine and flowers
Are most wondrous things
Triolet
NaPoWriMo Day 12–Prompt: Triolet
Leaves surround me
As I walk thru my garden,
Those of Bleeding Hearts
And Roses of all colors,
Lilacs and Lilies,
Leafy green Vincas and Ferns,
All speak to me of life,
That in the dark days of winter
Seemed lost, but was asleep.
Choka
NaPoWriMo Day 11–Prompt: significance of flowers, but I chose to write about the leaves instead as they are what are most prominent now, since many plants aren’t blooming but are leafing out.
Legions of angels
Stood aimed, battle ready
To strike at command
As the Son of God
Stood in the dark garden and
Faced His accusers
His disciples ran
His betrayer kissed His cheek
Yet He was silent
Triple Haiku
He was oppressed and He was afflicted,
Yet He opened not His mouth;
He was led as a lamb to the slaughter,
And as a sheep before its shearers is silent,
So He opened not His mouth.
Isaiah 53:7
I see
Patches of hope
White clouds of promise
Floating above the virus
Look up!
Rise up
Above the
Gloom and doom that’s creeping
Set your focus higher, freedom’s
Coming
Shape, Concrete, Double Cinquain
NaPoWriMo Day 9–Prompt: Concrete Poem
During quarantine
Learning the value of our
Ordinary objects
Cookbooks, ovens, dinner plates
Become familiar
Tanka
I grew up in a time when people rarely ate out, at least those I knew. My family always ate meals at home around our big Formica kitchen table where conversation was shared along with mom’s wonderful home cooking.
I learned to cook and bake from my mom and aunt, most of my friends did also. It was just an ordinary part of life back then.
High School had Home Ec classes and Shop classes as part of our learning experience, to prepare us for living as adults.
There were some restaurants, but our family rarely ate out. A treat for us was to occasionally eat a light supper out on a Friday night shopping trip downtown at Woolworth’s lunch counter. We would order toasted egg salad sandwiches with pickles on the side and potato chips. As we waited for our food we would watch what was called the “dumb waiter” open and close as it carried food up and dish tubs down as the kitchen was downstairs from the counter above.
So cooking my meals at home during this time of quarantine has not been a big change for me at all, as that is what I usually do anyhow. I feel it tastes better and is less costly to do so, although I do occasionally like to order a pizza or sub sandwich at a local restaurant as a treat.
But many people during this time of virus, are having to learn to cook as they stay home in quarantine. It is a new experience for them as they were accustomed to frequently eating out. They are now sharing recipes and pictures of their dinner creations on Facebook. The family dinner table is being restored, and ordinary things like ovens, and mixing bowls, are being used again.
That is the good I see coming out in all of this. That is the part of this I hope has some lasting effect, as immediate families grow closer together and spend more quality time at home, and life slows down to bring appreciation of ordinary things.
NaPiWriMo Day 8–Prompt: Ordinary Things
An imaginary conversation between my cat Naomi and my dog Trixi.
“Sorry, wasn’t my fault!
I really didn’t mean to bite!”
Naomi meowed loudly.
“She pushed me right at you!”
“She only wanted to
Make us be friends” said Trixi
“Then why did you growl,
And snap at me? It scared me!”
“I wasn’t feeling friendly then”
“But now you are?”
Naomi indignantly hissed.
“Yes, we owe her that,
Don’t you agree, Naomi?
After all, your bite
Could’ve locked up her jaw!
We could have lost her!”
“Yes, but It still wasnt my fault!
Cats don’t want dogs for their friend!”
Double Choka
NaPoWriMo Day 7–“Prompt: “How the other tells it”
Remember an encounter with an animal.
Write a poem about the way the animal describes the encounter to its friends.
When I was about six years old I made the mistake of trying to make my newly acquired cat and my older dog to become friends.
I was holding my cat and put her up close to my feisty rat terrier dog thinking I would get them acquainted, and then hopefully they would become friends.
Just as my mom yelled at me to stop, the dog growled and snapped at the cat. The cat got scared and instead of letting her jump away free to run I held on to her and she turned on me and bit me on my cheek close to my ear.
This resulted in a very quick trip to the doctor who was a 30 minute drive away and me getting a shot of penicillin. The doctor said if mom hadn’t gotten me to him right away I might have gotten lockjaw and possibly died. This was in 1950.
I learned a hard lesson that day which I never forgot. Don’t try to force friendships on anyone, especially animals!
In my
Grandpa’s kitchen
A Sarsaparilla
As my reward, I sit kneading
Oleo
Cinquain
I was 4 years old, and it was my delight to have grandpa ask me if I wanted to come inside his old country kitchen and knead his package of margarine for him.
As a treat, he would reward me with a bottle of sarsaparilla from his refrigerator.
During World War II there was a shortage of butter in the United States, and oleomargarine (later called Oleo) became popular, except the dairy farmers banned the artificial colorings put in it that made it look like butter, therefore it was not yellow looking like butter, it had a whitish un-appetizing look kind of like lard. So to get around that law and enable a change to its looks, to make it more marketable, margarine makers created a capsule of yellow dye and placed it inside inside the plastic package of margarine.
After purchasing, the consumer could break the capsule that was inside the package, and then knead the package to distribute the dye, thus turning the margarine to a yellow color.
Around 1955, the artificial coloring laws were repealed, and margarine could once again be sold colored like butter.
That is when Oleo became very popular and was banned in many dairy states across the US.
I grew up in Lake County,
Illinois, just one mile from the Illinois-Wisconsin state border.
In Illinois Oleo was legal, in the dairy state of Wisconsin, it was not legal.
During the early 60’s there was a lot of illegal Oleo buying going on across state lines. People would come from Wisconsin into Illinois to buy cases of Oleo.
Many of the Truck Stops and gas stations along the border would sell Oleo and thus “Oleo Wars” took place as businesses would compete with each other to have the lowest prices.
NaPoWriMo-Facebook Page–Day 6–Prompt: Grandparent’s Kitchen
Margarine–
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Margarine
Sarsaparilla Soft Drink–
Perhaps to the world
You have been deemed
As “Non-Essential”
But in God’s eyes we
Are all “Essential”
We ALL Matter to Him
Syllabic Verse
Are not two sparrows sold for a copper coin? And not one of them falls to the ground apart from your Father’s will.
But the very hairs of your head are all numbered.
Do not fear therefore; you are of more value than many sparrows.
Matthew 10: 29-31 NKJV
Snoopy never gave up the fight
Though the enemy came on strong
Attacking all that was good and right
Snoopy never gave up the fight
He fearlessly fought with all his might
Against the things he knew were wrong
Snoopy never gave up the fight
Though the enemy came on strong
Triolet
I drew this picture for my daughter who has been a #Snoopy fan since she was a little girl.
She saw a picture yesterday of just Snoopy’s doghouse, no Snoopy on top of it as he was “Sheltering in Place”.
It made us both feel so sad, 😥 that I told her I would draw him as the Red Baron with a mask on, signifying he was staying strong and not giving up.
#UnitedWeStand #staystrong #wewillprevail💪 #never give up #thistooshallpass
Leonas Lines--Poetry Plus 