National Poetry Month: First Day Budding

Spring has sprung, and I wish I had a cherry tree. | Cherry blossoms at POSTECH (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

April is National Poetry Month. So, I thought I would attempt to scratch out at least one new poem this month as my contribution. With that said, today I am sharing an original poem inspired by spring:

First Day Budding

A blush of white on trees
on the way
to work.

Ice?

Not when it’s raining
like this.

Pink tinged,
as though every tree
on Earth
is about to burst forth
with cherry blossoms.

Tomorrow,
the whole world
will be green.

By Amanda L. Webster

Poetry Friday: Miss Kitty

This is Zelda. Don’t worry, I don’t let her roam about outside unsupervised. She just likes to hang out on the patio with me while I sit in my comfy chair and read.

It’s been some time since I’ve posted for Poetry Friday, but inspiration struck a moment ago, so I decided to pounce. Is it too soon to hope I’ve finally recovered from my bout with writer’s block?

Today’s poem is inspired by my kitten, Zelda, who is turning out to have quite the personality:

Miss Kitty

My cat thinks I’m her prey.

She stalks me through the house,
Crouching on the stairs
Or behind a curtain,
Just waiting for me to pass
So she can pounce.

~By Amanda L. Webster

Poetry Friday: Church on Time

Image via Wikipedia

For this week’s Poetry Friday, hosted by Writing the World for Kids, I am sharing another original poem. This is a rough draft I think could use some revisions, so I would love to hear any feedback you might have on how to make it better. I am especially having some problems with the rhythm in a couple of these lines. Please post your feedback in the comments below.

Church on Time

Red painted church marm in a
white Grand Prix
squeals around the corner and
glares at me.

Poetry Friday: Insomnia

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I wrote this poem in the middle of the night. I’m sure you can deduce what I was doing at the time from the poem.

Dear Brain

Please shut up so I
can sleep.

Poetry Friday: Saturday Scratch-off

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For this week’s Poetry Friday, hosted by Hey, Jim Hill!, I am sharing an original poem about a little girl and her grandmother:

Saturday Scratch-off

Come on, Grandma! Catch up!

I scamper ahead on
ice-slicked concrete. I am
impatient. She’s slower
than wiggly gummy worms
that will slither down my
throat on the way home from
the Stop-n-Go.

Poetry Friday: Tackling teenage pregnancy

Image by Nic's events via Flickr

For today’s Poetry Friday, sponsored this week by Wild Rose Reader, comes from real-life. I remember how “everyone” in my 8th grade class talked about the girl who had a baby over the summer, and I also remember wondering if I was the only person who didn’t judge her. I only wish I’d had the guts to speak up for her.

Poetry Friday: Solitary Muse

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For this week’s Poetry Friday, sponsored by A Teaching Life, I am sharing a poem about writing. This poem is written in the Triolet format which is structured as follows:

• ABaAabAB rhyme scheme.
• Often all lines are in iambic tetrameter: the first, fourth and seventh lines are identical, as are the second and final lines, thereby making the initial and final couplets identical as well.

Solitary Muse

Poetry Friday: Like Waves

Image via Wikipedia

For today’s Poetry Friday, hosted this week by Dori Reads, I’m sharing an original poem, written by moi:

Like Waves

Like waves, we lap
upon the shore,
licking the
bare feet
of life.

Poetry Friday already?

Wow, is it Friday already? I somehow lost an entire week in the shuffle of tieing up lose semester ends. For today’s Poetry Friday, sponsored by children’s author, Robyn Hood Black, I am sharing an original poem written by myself:

Hoard Horde

Sneaky spider in the night
softly spinning in moonlight.
Resting, dangling in the day,
watching, waiting for your prey.

Poetry Friday: The Cinquain

Image by juliejordanscott via Flickr

In my poetry class this semester, we have discussed several different poetry forms, and I even attempted a few different forms myself. I’d like to to approach this week’s Poetry Friday with a discussion of the Cinquain form.

In researching this form, I found that there are a few different acceptable approaches to writing the Cinquain, each with its own benefits and challenges. For my poetry assignment, I researched the various types and wrote three different poems using Cinquain patterns found on the Teacher Webspace website. The following is an explanation of each individual Cinquain pattern, paired with an original poem by myself: