Monday, July 11, 2011

Poetry Schmoetry Blogfest

Today, Shelly Brown is hosting a blogfest.


There are lots of cool people participating and it's not too late to sign up. Just go to her blog or click the picture above. You can also find the list of other participants and the rules there.

I wanted to post a couple of poems today, so bear with me. It's kind of the evolution of poetry in my life, as you can probably tell after reading.

First: a high school poem.

ODE To a SMELL

What foul stench is this?
She cried in agony.
I cannot quite figure
Why this smell bothers me.

Why do I have to 
Smell this all day?
Why can't this taste in my mouth
Go away?

There must be some reason
Behind this foul smell.
If I knew what it was,
Maybe you, I could tell.

This smell is invading my thoughts
Like some toy.
I figured it out.
This smell belongs to a boy.

Here's an entry from early college:

Moonrise

Peeking gracefully
from her bed of day,
she casts silvery fingers
across a chariot of clouds.
One by one,
the stars
align themselves
as horses to draw her
across her shadowy realm.
Like a swan,
she spreads her wings of light
through the blue-black 
lake of the sky
and begins her 
solitary journey
through the night.

And here's my most recent offering:
Fog
Today,
the sky was not content
to stare longingly
down at the earth.
Instead,
he reached down
with lingering tendrils
to silently caress her face.  

Shrouded in his mystery,
she shivers until the sun
uncovers this tender moment,
erasing every trace
in a shining, sparkling explosion,
until only a memory is left.

And there you have it. There's tons of angsty teenage poetry that I could share, but really, who wants to read all that "love is awful", "I'm so lonely", "why don't I have friends" stuff any way? Except me. And I laugh a lot while I'm reading it.

So friends, do you have any poetry hiding around? What do you like (or maybe dislike) about poetry?

28 comments:

Unknown said...

I loved all 3 poems, the 1st one the most. Ode to a Smell. BRILLIANT! I'm going to go pout in the corner now that you've reflected that my mediocre rhyming is actually crappier than crap. :P

Nina

Angela Cothran said...

Boys do smell--don't they. LOL! I also loved FOG. Beautifully written.

Summer Ross said...

My poem will be up tomorrow for this blogfest.

I really liked the second poem because of the imagery. The first poem was a fun read specially at it being a boy. and the way you phrased the third poem was lovely.

Amy said...

Great poems! :)

Unknown said...

Thanks for sharing! They were all great. I especially liked the most recent poem, fog, and the element of romance between the earth and the sky.

Kim said...

I like seeing the way your poetry has evolved over time :) Thanks for sharing!

Pam Williams said...

LOVED your Fog poem--so tender and beautiful. Thank you for sharing your gifts with us.
Pam at www.2encourage.blogspot.com

Dawn M. Hamsher said...

"The smell belongs to a boy" -- brilliant! LOL!

I also really liked the images with the fog.

The Write Soil

Tara Tyler said...

evolution indeed!
thanks for sharing them!

Precy Larkins said...

Lovely! I had to laugh at the first one--I swear I wrote something similar in high school though I don't have it with me anymore. :) I love seeing the evolution; it's like watching you grow from this teen who hates the smell of a boy to this brilliant, lovely writer. Thanks for sharing all three--it was a treat!

Unknown said...

Interesting metamorphosis of poetry talent.

Francine Howarth said...

Hi,

Hee hee: socks come to mind! ;)

best
F

Kimberly Krey said...

Very cool! Loved the one about the smelly boy; that's a joke we have around the house, so I'll have to share it with my kids. BTW, teen angst poems are where it's at! ;)

Anonymous said...

I love the progression from cute rhyming to flowery expression to experimental word play. It's always fun to look back at those old, terrible poems too, laugh hysterically, and then see how far you've come.

Brianna said...

Oh I love reading poems from different times in your life! Very revealing ;)

M Pax said...

The first one made me laugh. The second is my preferred subject matter, so I dug it. The third really spoke to me, too. Thanks for sharing these lovely jewels.

Randy Lindsay said...

I really enjoyed your high school poem. Ick. Boys.

Krispy said...

I love all 3 of these! The first one was funny, and the last 2 so very beautiful. I loved the mood and the delicate imagery. *loves*

(And thanks for sharing your angsty poetry at ninjachat. Angsty tween/teen poetry ftw! Haha.)

Anonymous said...

I loved ALL of these, for different reasons! Though I must admit the funny smelly one was my favorite.

Christine Tyler said...

Lol. Boys are icky, but that poem is not :D

Small Town Shelly Brown said...

Great fun. I like the evolution theme :)
I'm always game for a good giggle so thanks!
But I am kind of disappointed we didn't get a lonely friendless love hater poem, that would have ROCKED! ;)

Simon Kewin said...

Boys are great, surely?!

Fascinating to see how your writing has progessed. Lovely word-choice in the last one.

Tyrean Martinson said...

Loved all three, but loved the last poem best. I love how the sky longs to touch the earth - mmm, lovely imagery, and sweetly sad.

Anonymous said...

Beautiful poems! I especially loved Fog.

I have an enormous amount of poems on my hard drive. I started out writing poetry for about eleven months before I stated novels. So poetry has a very special place in my writer heart. ;)

Katie Dodge said...

Really, I loved all three. But Moonrise is sticking with me. Lovely! :D

Allison said...

I LOVE the first one :) LOL. Hilarious!

And the other two were beautiful!

julie fedderson said...

The first one was hilarious--boys do smell! I have the piles of laundry to prove it.

But the fog one, the line about the sky wanting to touch the earth's face, well, that just made me shiver. Very nice.

Brenda Sills said...

Your first poem made me laugh and I loved the surprise at the end! And your second poem is so beautiful and I love the rhythm! Thanks! I'm sorry I didn't get to your blog last week during Shelly's blog fest - I had a crazy week. But I'm so glad I got here now!