Windflower
opens
eye,
seeing
first
butterfly.
Butterfly
first
seeing
eye,
opens
windflower.
Notes: The photo is a windflower (Anemone nemorosa). The poem is a reverso, a poetic form that Marilyn Singer makes look easy in her book,
Echo Echo: Reverso Poems About Greek Myths
Written by: Marilyn Singer, Illustrated by: Josée Masse, Published by: Dial Books for Young Readers, 2016.
The form employs two opposing voices. The first reads top to bottom. The second flips the order, the meaning and the perspective. Punctuation and capitalization are generally changed, but the words are the same, just in reverse order.
Thanks to Doraine Bennett at Dori Reads for hosting Poetry Friday this week! Come back Saturday when I wave my magic wand and add line 15 to the 2017 Progressive Poem!
56 thoughts on “Reverso Poem”
Comments welcome!
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Friendly Fairy Tales 
Nicely done…loved it
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Thanks!
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Finally made it here! Busy week and weekend! But it was well worth the wait and determination!
Love that you tried and succeeded so well at this form. It is tough, but it is also one that really opens up the brain to work. I’ll bet that it has given you a desire to try another even! I also love the format of the “card” with the two colors and words separated onto the two sides. Very effective and love the viewpoint of each!
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Thanks, Donna. I’m using this month to face my fears instead of trying to write every day. I’m trying new forms, participating in daunting enterprises and generally having fun doing it. 🙂 Happy Easter, a day late.
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The care you took is evident in this one, Brenda! Not just the structure, but the beginning idea of butterfly and flower discovering each other.
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Thanks, Heidi. I feel proud that I managed one, since I’ve been thinking it was beyond me for a long time. 🙂
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Brenda, you never cease to amaze me!! That’s just too fun and I’m sure VERY challenging! I never heard about that form before either so learned some new and something pretty 😃
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Thank you! It was tricky, but fun. It was challenging to not just create a grab bag of words on the second side. 🙂
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I can’t even imagine!!
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I have never heard about this kind of poetry before. It looks simple, but clearly probably is not 🙂 Beautifully done – and I love the colour in that flower!
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Thanks, Louise. I first saw this form in Singer’s book, and I thought, NO. No, I won’t ever write one of those. 🙂 You just never know, I guess.
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Wow! Your two poems look deceptively simple, but I am in awe of the careful construction that goes into it.
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Thanks, Kay. I struggled to give both sides opposite meaning for a long time. And to have them make sense. Even to use language in a surprising way. It’s the toughest form I’ve tried. 🙂
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Those reversos are tough, but fun, aren’t they? Nicely done!
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They are tough!
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Well done! I love the way you used the two colors, too!
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Thanks, Mary Lee, it felt a bit like a rubicon writing one of these. I’m committed to widening my horizons farther than fear recommends. 🙂
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Nice job! I admire you for taking on the reverso. Not an easy task.
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It was fun, though. I liked how important each word became.
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Good job, Brenda. It’s not easy getting those things to work. Wow, that’s a beautiful flower. I’ve never heard of a windflower. Would it grow in the south?
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I think the anemone is Greek, and probably loves heat. You’d have to look into it, though. It wasn’t a flower I studied.
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Well done, Brenda! That photo is stunning, too.
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Thanks!
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Gorgeous photo and cool reverso! You are brave for trying that form. 🙂
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Thanks, Jama. It was fun trying to get it to work.
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Short, lovely and perfect, Brenda. Spring celebration!
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Yes! We are going to listen for the spring peepers today, if I can get my kids off the computer! 🙂
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Lovely! Ruth, thereisnosuchthingasagodforsakentown.blogspot.com
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Thanks!
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Awesome and Magnificent!
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Wow, I’m blushing! Thanks, Dorna!
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Appreciations for this magical duality. It leaves me reading & re-reading to see how these two mirror each other. Brava!
And also, thanks for giving me a new wildflower – windflower – with a stunner of an image!
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Thanks, Jan! I’ve been wanting to write a reverso since I read Echo Echo, and I was too scared. I’m glad I finally took the plunge.
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I have started reversos a number of times… but never finished. I must. One day… 😉 Lovely presentation to accompany your poem.
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Reversos are very hard, especially for a wordy person like me. I only succeeded by boiling everything down to bare bones. It was a good process for me.
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Your end result is a tribute to your diligence, Brenda. Great job of word weaving.
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Thank you, Carol.
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Lovely, Brenda! Reversos are tricky but so much fun to play around with. Your anemone is stunning!
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Thanks, Molly. It was fun! Terrifying, but fine.
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Well done — such a difficult form! Gorgeous presentation, too.
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Thanks, Tabatha. It was difficult, but it surprised me, too. There is something to reversing things that is magical.
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Interesting and beautiful
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Thanks, Dan. It’s not a form for the faint-of-heart. 🙂
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I can see that. Well done!
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Truly beautiful!
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Thank you! 🙂
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oh, i love this and know it must be a very challenging form!
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Yes, it was hard revising something that had ripples in two places. I kept making it simpler. I’m so glad you like it!
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I love ❤️ this! First seeing eye echoes creation. Lovely
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It’s a mysterious form with such surprising twists. I can see why Marilyn Singer loves it. It terrified me!
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I’m so impressed by your ability to make such a complex poetry structure seem so effortless!
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Thanks, Jane. It wasn’t effortless. It was struggle, dissatisfaction and fear! LOL Then something clicked. I appreciate your words that make it seem it clicked for you, too.
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Love it. 🙂
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Thanks!
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Very cool:)
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Thanks!
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