Clunker Challenge from Linda Mitchell
Last week, Linda offered her clunker lines in exchange for a quick poem and a clunker line from each writer. I eagerly scrolled through the clunker lines and found two that looked appealing:
found a bit of sunflower & trees turned so orange the road looked blue
With these, I decided to write a pandemic poem since many bans were altered and the thought of summer travel seems so uplifting.
A ban lifts,
lives change,
travel surges.
Summer 2021 opens
for roads untraveled and
newfound destinations sought.
Adventures await so find the why of
breathing in freshness, basking in sunshine,
feeling the tingling sensation of salted seafoamed oceans,
and the pure pleasure of tousled hair and loud music on open highways.
Walk, drive, ride, fly, or dream of places where trees turned so orange
the road looked blue or places where a bit of sunflower carries a
memory. If travel is not an option, create a fantasy trip to a
secret garden with no boundaries. Be free.
Options are limitless. Find open spaces
Lve without fear of disruptors.
Gather nature's gifts.
Bring them indoors.
Honor the road
for it holds
your
©CV, 2021
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While I sent Linda this clunker, summer dressed itself in ..., I decided to use the prompt.
Summer's Fashion Statement
Summer dressed itself
in robes of golden sunrise.
Skyblue hopes
billowed in the breeze as
summer washed the woods
in dew-drenched sparkles.
Daylight-glow puddled
on delicate leaves.
A parade of stilled daylilies posed
in gardens rich with chocolate mulch.
At day's end, summer dressed night
in indigo dreams as serenity pillowed
under a moonlit canopy.
©CV, 2021
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Yesterday and today, I offered The Spiritual Journey Thursday community and guests an opportunity to celebrate summer with the topic, "Nurturing Our Summer Souls". As the host, I designed an advertisement with photos and artwork from Jan Annino, Donna Smith, Fran Haley, and myself to publicize the event. Please stop by to read my post and link up to other responders.
Then, visit the Poetry Friday Roundup at author poet Laura Shovan's blog. She shares her poem, "Millicent Patrick Speaks of Monsters," which won honorable mention in the Baltimore Science Fiction Society’s annual poetry contest. Look further to find more poetic goodness from other poets.
Woweeee! Look how you took those clunkers and shined them right up into that beautiful poem. I love the description of getting out qnd outside. I'm going on a drive to see family this weekend and that feeling of getting out is so motivating and freeing. You've captured that.
ReplyDeleteYou beat me to the commenting, Carol! The clunkers that Linda shared were so enticing. I love your celebration that now travel is coming, whether fantasy or real, it's the stuff of dreams for us this year! I just spoke with a volunteer at the store this week who has re-planned a censored trip to Africa. She's going in the fall! Though I love all the parts of your poem, I will always now look at this common thing in a different light, adore "chocolate mulch"! Have a wonderful weekend however you are celebrating Independence Day!
ReplyDeleteCarol, I love how you have incorporated Linda's lines into your (almost post) pandemic poem. It's playful and hopeful. As always, you have created a beautiful post here with so many images and words of grace and charm.
ReplyDeleteI hope to take your advice to "find open spaces," Carol. Being outdoors has been the best medicine during the pandemic, at least for me.
ReplyDeleteClunkers no more, Carol! I loved the orange trees and the blue road image. And pillowed as a verb. These poems are such a celebration of summer.
ReplyDeleteSo many clever people are making me sorry that I didn't participate in the gathering of clunkers. *sigh* I like this long line in the middle: "and the pure pleasure of tousled hair and loud music on open highways." It makes its own music!
ReplyDeleteI love both of your poems, but Summer's Fashion statement is my favorite.
ReplyDeleteI love how your first poem celebrates the opening of our personal horizons, and with such beautiful language (salted seafoamed oceans) and I love the sentiment of honoring the road that holds our journey.
ReplyDelete"At day's end, summer dressed night
in indigo dreams..."
This is just lovely! Thank you for painting a beautiful picture of summer for us today.
What a great response to the clunker challenge, Carol! Your first poem is such a celebration of opening horizons and I love how seamlessly you worked your in your inspiring lines. Love the verbs in the second poem and especially how you used "pillowed." Well done!
ReplyDeleteBeautiful poems Carol, I love this line from your first," a bit of sunflower carries a memory." Makes me want to slow down and reflect. And I also like how you incorporated your images into the poem. Lovely art you created for "Nurturing Our Summer Souls" thanks for all!
ReplyDelete