cherry-petal pink
lilacs tease green hearts,
kissing and telling
forsythia curls fall first
scattering like sunbeams
Copyright 2017 Brenda Davis Harsham
Notes: Happy Poetry Friday and thanks to Tara Smith at A Teaching Life for hosting! In honor of Mother’s Day this May 14, my daughter and I each wrote a poem for this picture, taken outside my door. Mine’s above and here is my daughter’s:
Fragrance glows and
flows in the air
like a little animal
has freed a song.
by A. Harsham, age 8
And a bonus snippet from People by Charlotte Zolotow which describes how my daughter makes me feel:
Some people touch your hand
and music fills the sky.
(Found in Knock at a Star: A Child’s Introduction to Poetry, X.J. and Dorothy Kennedy, Little Brown, 1999.)
My poem is a Tanka, a Japanese poetry form that has five lines with maximum syllable counts per line of 5, 7, 5, 7, and 7. In other words, a Tanka is a haiku followed by two seven-syllable lines in the second stanza. Purists find fault with any rhyming within the poem. The third line is intended to be a turning point, or a pivot, about which the meaning of the poem turns or changes.
Beautiful flowers in pink.. so pleasant to look..😍😍😍 happy Sunday ma’am
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Thank you! Happy Sunday to you!
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😊😊
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I can almost smell the lilacs here in Tucson, Brenda! You and your daughter have uncanny talent for bringing a moment to life with words. Brava to both of you. =)
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Thanks, Bridget! Hope you had a great weekend and Mother’s Day.
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Brenda, I love both your poem and your daughter’s. I was hoping both of you would offer those poems to Springsations as a mother/daughter team. How wonderful to create together.
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I’m glad you like them. I’m not sure how to present the two poems and the photo together. Are you thinking two separate badges or one that combines all three?
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Tanka is such an interesting form. I like the idea that you have a haiku, and then the final two lines serving as a kind of commentary. Your daughter’s idea that a fragrance can glow — a beautiful way of describing scent.
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Thanks, Laura. Happy Mother’s Day!
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Happy Mother’s Day! What a wonderful way to celebrate….side by side Mother & Daughter poems. You give me ideas!
Kissing & telling….oh, those naughty flowers. Fun, frilly poem for May.
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Thanks, Linda. Sometimes the simplest moments are the ones that bring the biggest smiles. Have a wonderful day!
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What an awesome project to do together! I love your individual takes. Also, the poem snippet you chose is perfect. Happy Mother’s Day!
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Thanks!
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Brenda, these poems (and your lilac) are gorgeous! What fun to write poetry with your daughter. Happy Mother’s Day!
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Thank you!
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Beautiful Brava.. 🌹🌹🌹😎
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Thanks, Dorna!
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It’s so fun writing with your kids, isn’t it? Ruth, thereisnosuchthingasagodforsakentown.blogspot.com
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Yes, indeed.
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No surprise you are raising a poet! (And ironic how you can see what age does to us — yours ends in a fall from beauty, and hers sends beauty bounding out into the world!)
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Yes, I suppose that’s true. I hadn’t noticed that, Mary Lee. Thanks for commenting!
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Thanks. My daughter is blossoming, for sure. Sorry for delayed response. This got hung up in my spam folder.
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A beautiful menagerie of poems Brenda, all around! I can taste the lilac, they are wonderful and intoxicating this time of year. I’m waiting for mine to come into full bloom. The snippet byCharlotte Zolotow is exactly how I feel about my daughter too, this is truly special! Happy Mother’s Day!
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Thanks for your kind words on my post. Happy Mother’s Day to you, too! I love this time of year.
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Love both poems. Your daughter’s ‘like an animal has freed a song’ is a wow moment! Love it! Your ‘cherry-petal pink’, and ‘forsythia curls’ are lovely. (But I keep wanting to read, ‘kiss and tell’. :P) Smiles for beautiful mother/daughter moments.
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Thanks and have a wonderful weekend!
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Your mother-daughter poems are just lovely, as is the photo! Happy Mother’s Day, Brenda.
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Thanks, Violet!
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Flows and glows, lovely. How fun to have a mother-daughter writing fest. I can smell those lilacs.
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Love lilacs. 🙂
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Love the forsythia’s sunbeams…very nice! And your daughter’s poem is outstanding!
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Thanks, Matt! Poetry to a mother’s ears. Hope your family has a wonderful mother’s day!
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We both did tankas! 🙂 Love those green hearts being teased, poor things. Gorgeous photos and poems!
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Thanks! Spring is a good time for Tankas. I find them harder in winter.
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It’s pretty special that Mom and Daughter share of special love of writing poetry. Both are wonderful, creative and with sweet sightings of spring time blossoms.
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Thanks, Mary!!
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How much do I love that you and your little girl write poems together! What a precious Mother’s Day present to each other. And what a wonderful gift to me, because the lilac bush that flourished in my backyard is one of my most fragrant and treasured memories of childhood. Thanks to you both. 🙂
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Thanks, Michelle. I love that my little girl likes poetry. 🙂
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Lovely mother daughter post — gorgeous pic (you are lucky to have flowers in your yard!). Enjoyed both poems; talent runs in the family. 🙂 Happy Mother’s Day!
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Thanks, Jama!
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I love both of these poems inspired by the same photo! How cool is it that your daughter writes with you.
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It was her idea. She is very into poetry right now.
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Love is all through this, Brenda. Knock At A Star is a favorite book, and your lilacs could inspire many a poem. I love each one, “cherry-petal pink” and “freed a song”, perfect!
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Thanks, Linda. Knock At A Star is a wonderful book, light, merry and full of good tips. My daughter wanted to get more “Poem Books” from the library because she’s read all of mine. When we went to the shelf, she wanted the thickest she could find, so she would be able to read a lot of poems. 🙂
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Reblogged this on Still Another Photoblog.
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A lovely photo and poem by you. Your daughter’s poem is so pretty – congratulations to her.
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Thanks, Robbie. I am proud of her.
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How beautiful! Poetry always makes the perfect gift, especially when it’s written by someone you love, and who fills the air with song. 🙂 Wishing you a very happy Mother’s Day!
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Thanks, Jane!
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That is one BEAUTIFUL lilac bush! The white lilacs in front of the library have just bloomed and the fragrance is heavenly. It’s great that you and your daughter write together and create memories.
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Thanks, Diane! Lilacs have a sweet and distinctive smell, don’t they?
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I love that your daughter shared the activity with you, and the poems complement each other so well! A great Mother’s Day moment.
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Reblogged this on By the Mighty Mumford and commented:
IF ALL CREATIVE WORK COULD SMELL AS SWEET!
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Isn’t that a pretty lilac? They are extra pink this year.
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Oh yes it is!!! The white lilac are pretty impressive out our way as well! 🙂
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Despite last year’s drought, all the trees flowered. Yay!
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oh, i love all of them and i think you get your talent from your daughter )
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LOL I sure do. She came along, and I suddenly started writing fairy tales. 🙂
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Wow… 3 great poems! I’d say if your daughter is writing like this at 8, she’s definitely talented as her Ma!
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She is pure magic to me. 🙂
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I imagine so!!
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Such lovely words and to think your little daughter wrote them!!! 💙
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Thanks!
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Perfect! so beautiful 😀
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Thanks, Andy!
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I can’t belive your eight year old is a poet already. you and your daughter are both amazing.
Much love,
N
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