A daily poetry practice to generate and sustain the Life/Lines among us, for published and novice poets alike
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Prompt
Write a short poem (rhyming not necessary) that includes each of the following 5 words (anywhere and in any order). Poems should not exceed 7 or 8 lines.
crow
swallows
moan
lavender
dive
Send us your poem via our Submissions page or post on Twitter or Facebook using the hashtag #lifelines.
Today’s words were contributed by guest curator January Kiefer, who has long been involved with the St. Louis arts community as a teacher, writer, artist, storyteller and workshop leader, and who has carried her work across the nation. She is as inspired by the headline images of Life/Lines as she is by the contributed words themselves and sometimes uses them as a sixth “visual word” to spark a poem.
Poems submitted for April 27
Yogi
In her ceremonial manner
She inhales the scent of lavender
And humbly bows
Exhaling vows
Of facing fears only she could know
Bending over into bakasana crow
Confidence thought to be unshaken
However, her balance was mistaken
As she takes a nose dive into her mat
Onto her face and falling flat
Letting out a long low moan
She gives thanks that she is alone.
She swallows her pride
Puts ego aside
And lifts herself up to give it another try.
— J. Thomas 4/27/21
***
What I Like, in the Spirit of Barthes
Mornings, forests, that co-op health food store smell,
Midday masturbation and warm, kind eyes
Lavender, lemongrass, chamomile, school supplies,
Dive bars, balmy summers, and pent-up desire,
Reading in my underwear while it rains outside,
Crow footprints in sand, swallows, the moon
Making you tremble, making you moan
***
All at once my capacity to disregard
took a bitter dive. In the treeline the swallows
rose up and down like the tide going out
and a crow on the telephone wire encouraged me
to give up. And if I do? I asked him, but he only
shrugged. All I have left to me are these
lavender moans, which come unbidden
in the early morning, and do not leave
until that first hint of dawn.
Gwyneth Henke
***
Yogi
In her ceremonial manner
She inhales the scent of lavender
And humbly bows
Exhaling vows
Of facing fears only she could know
Bending over into bakasana crow
Confidence thought to be unshaken
However, her balance was mistaken
As she takes a nose dive into her mat
Onto her face and falling flat
Letting out a long low moan
She gives thanks that she is alone.
She swallows her pride
Puts ego aside
And lifts herself up to give it another try.
— J. Thomas 4/27/21
***
December Inversion at Grand Canyon
Jo Schaper
Ice blue clouds fall over the cliffside,
Pour over vermilion cliffs, below blue skies.
Five thousand feet below, the hikers
Believe it is a cloudy December day.
Here on the rim, chill sunshine kicks in:
Staff watch the swallows dance and dive
Marvel at the temperature inversion:
Crow picks up a beer tab, collects his fee:
Tourists moan they cannot see the canyon
The sun heats the fog into lavender mist.
***
Trees whipped and flexed
as a gale swept through the wood.
Ominous creaks and groans echoed
from huge branches stressed to their limit.
Below the swaying canopy of oaks,
the lavender blossoms of redbuds
smoked and drifted amidst the green.
Above the treetops, in the full force of the gale,
the morning circles of swallows had disappeared,
but crows,
rising, diving, looping, whirling in wide circles,
let the wind carry them,
without effort, barely moving their wings,
seeming to play on the wind,
as I watched in envy.
Warren Hauff
***
The evening you left us
slowly, breathlessly, not unexpectedly
I thought perhaps the world would finally be stilled
confused by the sudden void
but it held its spinning course
and the moan and snap of frogs and crickets filled the air
the arc and dive of swallows cut a strange lavender sky
a lone crow rested on a pole and called out for its unresponsive other.
Steve Givens
***
Today I saw swallows
and I live in the city
at the same moment I heard a guttural moan
A crow I think
clearly this was a deep dive
into my psyche where
Lavender dreams live
or it is a story I can dine on for years to come.
Sara Burke
***
Nevermore, I muttered,
trying to ignore the crow,
pretending he’s no raven.
I dive under the lavender
duvet, holding back a moan.
He swallows before cawing
outside the chamber door:
Nevermore!
Dr. R.C. Wood
***
The crescent-winged swallow dives among the lavender,
Catching the gnat in mid-flight.
The canny crow waits for the full moon
Making the garbage dump his feast.
The tufted-eared lynx makes a sound like a moan
And eats animals bigger than itself.
O, Philosopher, who is the more free?
Robert Henke
***
Sailing in the Open Ocean:
Dive with me to deeper waters
Where the sun turns lavender by the sea
And swallows us up until eternity ends.
Sail with me where the crow shall never go
Until the earth is nothing but a distant moan
Loosening it’s grip until the waves fall silent.
— Nicci Mowszowski
***
Night Owl
Inside the dive bar where
he used to crow she swallows
a moan of memories as
lavender as a faded bruise.
Linda O’Connell
***
nothing to crow about
for him who swallows everything
no right to moan
before a deep dive
into lavender
by Lloyd Klinedinst
***
A BAD TASTE
A moan rose from the gallery
Though she would have groaned
As she swam to the side
From a dive she‘d once owned.
Her lavender suit overstated her skills
Though others she’d cruelly daunted,
But ‘twasn’t her flop
Splash or score made her ill.
From onion and garlic bad taste will persist
And from that bad breath usually follows
Here bad taste in her mouth wasn’t from food
But from the crow she consistently swallows.
TED
***
No swallows posing on the wide entrance steps.
Instead, perched is possibly
a cardinal or a not truly blue robin.
Small ovoid belly birds that occasionally dive
but more often flutter from moaning trees
and over,
squat, potted prickly lavender plants.
L. Dennis
***
Spring Song
Through the blooming fields of lavender,
where the graceful swallows sing;
the wind moans softly, joining the chorus.
As the crow dives deep into the trees;
you can almost hear the earth’s heartbeat,
from the center of the primeval forest.
Susan Lively
***
Simply,
there is delight blossomed
in other than we.
No, nothing glistens of metal
in the turned caramel-brown soil.
But new life buds and, thus,
portends a growing hope.
Lisette Dennis
***
The crow lighted on the branch
of the sandalwood tree
Hearts break as loved ones moan
On the outskirts
of the crematorium grounds
Hands dive into pockets
To throw lavender onto the
smoldering mango wood pyre
Swallows and smoke
soar into the sky
Amidst the swirling of spent souls
K.J. Boehler
***
Standing in fields of Texas lavender,
I look to the crow's loud caw and wait for his companion's response.
Hindering my view, I moan and duck as the swallows dive at me
sensing a misperceived threat.
Laurie J
***
April 15th
Summertime by Diana Haemer
Descend upon us now,
O angels of this ice cream season,
And free humanity from the
Egoism with which we view
Our entanglements with others
And let us be proud of our lounging
By the sea!
***
Swallows climb and dive,
But a crow wants to spoil that.
Lavender blooms in the spring sunshine.
Hear the moan of the wind, chasing clouds.
Margaret Fourt Goka
***
Comes a Crow
As the crow dives
she swallows a bit of lavender
along with a beetle.
She startles at the sweetness.
Moans.
--Rita Winters
***
lavendar dive
a crow swallows
a moan
Terrie Jacks
***
Out on the pond
glide swallows by
and barely nip the surface.
Opens with a soft moan
does the water to the past.
Squats a crow by my side
who will dive to the bottom
in search of treasure lost:
a lucky coin, a forgotten face,
an endless field of lavender.
—John Randall
***
Texas Hill Country Lavender Festival
Intense sun, hot and bright.
Fields of purple flowers, standing upright.
Their fragrance makes me moan with delight,
While barn swallows dive and swoop in flight
And a lone crow caws loudly with all his might.
I hope this poem is not too trite!
Pam Hughes
***
coming of spring…
amid moans, the lavender
has survived winter
a crow caws as swallows
dive into the lake
John J. Han
***
Lavender scented sunscreen
Sunlight off the water
The jubilant youth crows delight
Gracefully dives
The water swallows him whole
The next youth moans
The platform’s high
A belly flop’s assured
— Chad Savage
***
Out on the pond
glide swallows by
and barely nip the surface.
Opens with a soft moan
does the water to the past.
Squats a crow by my side
who will dive to the bottom
in search of treasure lost:
a lucky coin, a forgotten face,
an endless field of lavender.
—John Randall
***
lavendar dive
a crow swallows
a moan
Terrie Jacks
***
Comes a Crow
As the crow dives
she swallows a bit of lavender
along with a beetle.
She startles at the sweetness.
Moans.
— Rita Winters
***
Swallows climb and dive,
But a crow wants to spoil that.
Lavender blooms in the spring sunshine.
Hear the moan of the wind, chasing clouds.
Margaret Fourt Goka
***
Standing in fields of Texas lavender,
I look to the crow's loud caw and wait for his companion's response.
Hindering my view, I moan and duck as the swallows dive at me
sensing a misperceived threat.
Laurie J
***
Super
The lavender moon rises,
swallows night in its bright mouth
and laughs like a crow. Earth can moan
and cry for perfect darkness
but until this orb decides to dive
into the ether it owns this sky.
— M.E. Hope
***
The crow lighted on the branch
of the sandalwood tree
Hearts break as loved ones moan
On the outskirts
of the crematorium grounds
Hands dive into pockets
To throw lavender onto the
smoldering mango wood pyre
Swallows and smoke
soar into the sky
Amidst the swirling of spent souls
K.J. Boehler
***
When your friend swallows
a bunch of lavender pills
you take a deep dive into
cleanliness. You moan and wail,
you crow all over about the miracle
of having been passed by.
— Matthew Freeman
***
When the swallows
dive and fly low
storm's a' comin'
when the clouds rumble
and the air moans
and the lavender sky
turns swiftly
black as crow
storm's a' comin'
storm's a' comin'
head home
lay low
If we're lucky
rain will follow
pound the parched earth
if we're lucky
green will grow
J. Kiefer
***
Stopping suddenly
with a low moan
She knows
Knows she has to go back
Knows he will crow over her return
Knows she will be diving into debris
years in the making,
Knows she will be digging up
secrets long buried
Knowing it is time
she swallows her pride,
picks sprigs of sweet-smelling lavender
to mask the stench
and turns back to begin the exhumation.
Carol Haake
***
he swallows more beer
in a dive whose name he’s forgotten many beers ago.
taking careful aim with his lavender cue stick,
then
he moans,
and they crow.
d. bates
***
Swallows moan
Every time
Lavender takes a dive
The crow
Endures
Our nicknames becoming
ridiculous
james goodman
***
Headline image: Alice Butenko via Unsplash