Daffodil, Crow...and a Poem Grows
Hello and Happy Poetry Friday! Be sure to visit Elisabeth at Unexpected Intersections for Roundup.
You're invited to read my brand new post over at Highlights blog on How to Revise Poetry: 20 Questions to Ask. Hope you find it useful!
I've got my head down this week, closing in on a revision of a BIG historical novel, so my mind is full of the puzzle pieces that must fit together just so...
No wonder I wanted to write something short for this week's ArtSpeak: Animals poem.
Well. You know how challenging the short form can be, right? And with my brain a bowl full of mush, I've had difficulty deciding which effort is the best effort...so I decided to include ALL my efforts here today. :)
Maybe this gives you a bit of a picture of the poetic pathways in my brain, the imaginative leaps, the way I like to play with sounds and images...I think this kind of sharing can be useful for any poet studying the craft—how do we get from idea to poem? For better or for worse, here's this week's path.
Please let me know which version you prefer! (I formatted the last one, since that's where I stopped.) Thanks so much for reading.
Here's the art I selected:
untitled by Sohrab Sepehri (who was also a poet!)
1.
Hope is a crowfinding a daffodil
in the snow
2.
snow-dusted daffodil
smiles at a passing crow—
hello! hello!
3.eager daffodil
throws off blanket of snow—
hello crow
4.daffodil lifts head
from pillow of snow—
hello crow
5.crow doesn't know
to call it daffodil—another sudden sun
6.
what we call
daffodil
crow calls hope
7.
Daffodil in Love
She throws off
blanket of snow—
hello crow
8.
trembling daffodil
throws off blanket of snow
hello crow
9.crow is first
to notice daffodil rising
from snow
10.
crow is first
to notice new sun
climbing out of snow
11.
crow is first
to notice daffodil rising—
snow queen
12.crow is first
to notice bold bloom
breaking free of snow
13.
crow is first to notice
yellow petals burning
through late winter snow
14.
crow folds its wings
before yellow snow queen—
hello spring
