Tag Archives: springtime

Alphabetical April

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Day Eighteen of National Poetry Writing Month! Today’s prompt from NaPoWriMo.net:

write an abecedarian poem – a poem in which the word choice follows the words/order of the alphabet. You could write a very strict abecedarian poem, in which there are twenty-six words in alphabetical order, or you could write one in which each line begins with a word that follows the order of the alphabet. This is a prompt that lends itself well to a certain playfulness. Need some examples? Try this poem by Jessica Greenbaum, this one by Howard Nemerov or this one by John Bosworth.

My offering: 

April 
buds curling,
dense earth frees 
ground-harbored insects.
juncos, kits, larvae; 
Mother Nature opens,
poetic quatrains rustle,
spring’s timely unfolding,
verdant waves, 
xenial youthful zeal.

Sonnet Sunday

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Day Nine of National Poetry Writing Month! Today’s prompt from NaPoWriMo.net:

We’re calling today Sonnet Sunday, as we’re challenging you to write in what is probably the most robust poetic form in English. A traditional sonnet is 14 lines long, with each line having ten syllables that are in iambic pentameter (where an unstressed syllable is followed by a stressed syllable). While love is a very common theme in sonnets, they’re also known for having a kind of argumentative logic, in which a problem is posed in the first eight lines or so, discussed or argued about in the next four, and then resolved in the last two lines. A very traditional sonnet will rhyme, though there are a variety of different rhyme schemes.

My attempt:

For the Love of Springtime in Colorado

Boots sinking deep in mud-browned melting snow,
sweatshirt peeled off and knotted at my waist.
Spring’s dichotomy in Colorado.
Wool socks, sun shades; my rucksack packed in haste.

Crabapples bloom, spent petals drifting down.
Snow lingers where protected by thick shade.
As winter seeps into the thawing ground,
summer will drop like curtains on a stage.

I trek on, heedless of sign and season.
Despite spring breeze or autumnal bluster,
ubiquitous blue skies transcend reason.
I suck the thinning air, my strength mustered.

Toes white with cold, face tanned by sun, I smile.
Springtime in the Rockies keeps one agile.

And click here for a throwback to a previous sonnet I wrote.

Waking Up

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spring1

I awoke today
to warm sunshine,
and
birds singing and flitting through laurel hedges,
and
the soft coos of the Eurasian collared-dove,
and
tiny leaf buds forming on the dogwood tree,
and
daffodils, just about to blossom,
swaying on sturdy green stalks,
and
squirrels cavorting —  yes, cavorting — on the lawn,
perhaps in search of acorns
tucked away last autumn for safekeeping.

And I wondered if today
just happened to be the day that
springtime chose to burst forth
in all its glory and promise,
or
was it me just waking up this day,
groggy from a long, dark winter slumber, and
finally noticing
that spring is, indeed,
approaching.