Hanging on,
don’t want to fall!
I’m good here,
up where I’m tall.
I’ll stay till spring,
can’t get me down!
I’ll wave and nod
And be the crown.
Copyright 2015 Brenda Davis Harsham
Note: This is for Poetry Friday, hosted this week thanks to Carol’s Corner!
.
flight
one perfect moment
remembered
fingers curled in longing
to relive one’s height
Copyright 2015 Brenda Davis Harsham
Do you have one time in your life you would relive if you could?
If you get simple beauty and naught else,
You get about the best thing God invents.
The
Opposite
Of greening
Must be browning.
Cold settles into fibers
And olive-brown blooms,
Likewise the heart slows,
Older passions fail to flow.
Snow settles on fading green,
Leaves sagging with resignation.
Even the pungent sage withers.
Yet, the possibility of vitality
Withdraws into the roots,
Lingers to bloom again.
But not love – love is
Evergreen.
Copyright 2014 Brenda Davis Harsham
Grow old with me! The best is yet to be.
— Robert Browning, Sage and Poet
Note: This poem is a concrete poem, about leaves, in the shape of a leaf.
Once we accept our limits, we go beyond them.
storm wind gusts
shakes leaf from its anchor
it falls, giving thanks
Copyright 2014 Brenda Davis Harsham
Note: Happy Thanksgiving to those in the United States, and Happy Fall to everyone else. This was inspired by the air spirits in the Carpe Diem #611 Haiku challenge, Sylph.
Oak
Leaves bloom
Fiery Red
Artful couture
Fall
Copyright 2014 Brenda Davis Harsham
Note: This poem is a lantern poem (also spelled lanterne), a Japanese form, in the shape of a lantern, with five lines and a syllable count of 1, 2, 3, 4, 1.
It is a second spring when every leaf is a flower.
Citrine, amber, sage, russet, claret,
Green of tree and brown of earth:
Every autumn shade gleams
Between its yellow veins.
Tiny fairies ride wind swells on it:
A magic carpet to buzz bushes and skim ponds.
Three baby hedgehogs with shivering quills
Hide beneath it, from a cold rain.
Then it’s sewn into a cape for the Harvest Queen,
She of the forest and glen,
It swirls like an autumn rainbow.
Its folds flash between dancing courtiers,
As all the fairies make merry.
Soon the bitter winds will blow.
Copyright 2014 Brenda Davis Harsham
small oak sapling sways
leaves bob in the bitter wind
frosted with snowflakes
waving to fallen leaf friends
oak leaf lingers to kiss spring buds
Copyright 2014 Brenda Davis Harsham
Note: A Tanka is a Japanese poetry form that has five lines with syllable counts per line of 5, 7, 5, 7, and 7. In another way of thinking of it, a Tanka is a haiku with two longer seven-syllable lines added as a second stanza. Some 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. I don’t know if my poem achieved that or not. I enjoyed learning about it, and I hope you’ll give it a try, too.
References:
http://www.edu.pe.ca/stjean/playing%20with%20poetry/Hennessey/how_to_write_a_tanka_poem.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tanka
http://examples.yourdictionary.com/reference/examples/examples-of-tanka-poetry.html
http://www.poetry4kids.com/blog/news/how-to-write-a-tanka-poem/
Little leaves
Buried in the snow,
Peeking out
Like children,
Dressed in their red pajamas,
Throwing off covers.
Copyright 2014 Brenda Davis Harsham
Note: This poem is called a Shadorma, which is a rhythmic six-line poetry form, each line having specific syllable counts of 3, 5, 3, 3, 7 and 5. It may be modern; it may be a revived older poetry form. Some attribute it to Spain, although to me it sounds Indian, for no other reason than it rhymes with Lamb Korma. No authority I found gave it a definitive origin, and I offer it to you as a beautiful form, allowing a licentious 26 syllables instead of the austere 17 permitted by haiku. It’s a heady freedom!
References:
http://risinghawkspeaks.wordpress.com/2013/12/22/noreaster/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shadorma
http://www.poetrypages.com/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?t=16872
http://www.writersdigest.com/editor-blogs/poetic-asides/poets/shadorma-a-highly-addictive-poetic-form-from-spain
http://popularpoetryforms.blogspot.com/2013/01/shadorma.html
http://caraholman.wordpress.com/tag/shadorma-poetry/
Leaf
Falling,
Citrine dream.
Windy swirling,
Gold honey blizzard,
Swirls of a fairy’s cloak.
Restless spirits soar higher
With each dancing leaf falling down
To the shifting, shadowy hemline.
Surfeit of beauty looking at fall’s gown.
Copyright 2013 Brenda Davis Harsham
Note: This poem is an Etheree, starting with one syllable on the first line and increasing to ten, one syllable per line.
I was the maple
green, strong, making food from light,
Then came the changes.
Longer nights chilled me,
what cold did change, color and more,
Called forth a new me.
Who am I now, tree?
Or a lone leaf? One of many,
Many leaves falling.
Yes, falling alone,
Under this tree gathering,
Until the wind comes.
Copyright 2013 Brenda Davis Harsham
Hydrangeas bowing,
Blushing with autumn kisses;
Fallen leaf ignored.
Copyright 2013 Brenda Davis Harsham
Leaf golden orange,
Fell slowly and lightly down,
Shadows hug, let go.
Copyright 2013 Brenda Davis Harsham
Friendly Fairy Tales 