2016 Found Object Poem Project: Day 3
Welcome to Day 3 of our month-long daily writing project. Newbies, this is an annual community writing project that I host every February. You don’t have to be a poet to participate. Short prose pieces are a great way to join in the fun.
This year’s theme is FOUND OBJECTS. For those of you who are new to the project, please read my introductory post. You’ll find more information and all of the Week 1 FOUND OBJECTS at this post.
It’s Day 3. Let’s talk about a new category of found item today, objects we spotted in nature.
FOUND: Moth Eggs
What caught my eye about these eggs, stuck on the passenger-side window of my mini-van, was how much the bottom group looked like the continent of South America. I especially like the photograph where the continent of eggs appears to be floating in a sea of sky.
The photo I posted as our prompt IS a bit mysterious. I’ll put more information about the moth at the bottom of this post.
The first person in with a guess was Diane Mayr, who said, “I have no idea what the Day 3 pic represents, so I imagined roe. ”
Roe Your Boat
By Diane Mayr
Peculiar, pearlescent,
gelatinous beads
are clustered in places
where sea creatures breed.
Place your feet gently.
Avoid, please, the weeds.
Sail your boats elsewhere.
Let fish life proceed.
Margaret Simon claimed to be “stumped” by today’s found object, but shared a haiku poem that made me look more closely at the image.
Please ignore my
provocative position.
My shadow self intrigues.
By Margaret Simon
I’m fascinated by all the interpretations of these little eggs. Here is Jessica Bigi’s poem.
Berry Picking
By Jessica Bigi
Bare legs scratchy thistles
Grandmother shadow curling
Under my feet
Tasseled fields of winding hills
Windy chimes brushing rose cheeks
Whistles of laughter swings from buckets
Sweetness of berries feel the breeze
Purple berry giggles
Let grandmother know I’ve eaten more
Than I’ve put in my bucket
At home just for fun
We count our berries
Looks like grandmother has berry giggles too
I tried to heed my own call for imagery of the five senses today. Did I get all five?
Found Object
By Laura Shovan
A continent of lemon drops,
sweet bite of foreign words
on my tongue.
Bath pearls spilled on mirror top,
waxy shells ready to release
their tangy scent.
A nest of snowy Tiger Moths
about to burst, consume, cocoon.
A blizzard of wings.
Like me, Mary Lee Hahn noticed that the bottom grouping of eggs had a very familiar shape.
Mysteries
The mysteries of the world are myriad.
Sometimes they look like little balls of butter.
Sometimes they clump together in the shape of South America.
The mysteries of the world puzzle us.
They make us take our glasses off and look so close
we dust our noses with them.
The mysteries of the world hold hidden ripeness.
Each might contain a new life,
or the possibility to change the weather patterns of the entire world.
The mysteries of the world cast shadows.
Hovering above, they block the sun
and send a chill through us as they pass over.
©Mary Lee Hahn, 2016
Molly Hogan wrote, “This picture was certainly challenging!” I wonder what you are all thinking, now that the mystery is solved.
Mystery Orbs
by Molly Hogan
I itch to pick one up
squish it with a POP
and see what oozes out,
feel the dripping liquid
sticky on my pinching fingers.
I yearn to bite
and sink my teeth
into pale, silken green
to discover
if they are as juicy
as they look,
sugar-sweet like candy
or tongue-zapping,
puckering sour.
God forbid they’re bacteria!
I like how choosing a setting for her poem creates a totally different feel in Linda Baie’s response.
The Art Opening
The beads leapt off the canvas.
Adults were amused observing the child
who reached out to touch the beads.
They wouldn’t admit their desire to touch, too.
Even the shadows felt like mistakes.
The artist was that good.
Linda Baie ©All Rights Reserved
DAY 4 FOUND OBJECT PROMPT
Thanks so much for joining me today, everyone. Wasn’t it fun to have a UFO: Unidentified Found Object to work with?
I’m heading out to a high school drama club meeting this evening. I’ll continue to post responses to FOUND OBJECT 3 as they come in, but may not be adding additional poems until tomorrow morning.
See you tomorrow for Day 4.
If you’d like to read what we’ve written so far, here are links to this week’s poems:
Monday, February 1
FOUND OBJECT: 100 year-old mailing box
Poems by: Diane Mayr, Molly Hogan, Mary Lee Hahn, Linda Baie, Jessica Bigi, Margaret Simon, Laura Shovan, Matt Forrest Esenwine, Catherine Flynn, Jone Rush MacCulloch.
Tuesday, February 2
FOUND OBJECT: Fancy peppers and produce
Poems by: Mary Lee Hahn, Jessica Bigi, Diane Mayr, Molly Hogan, Laura Shovan, Linda Baie, Matt Forrest Esenwine, Margaret Simon, Jennifer Lewis.
More about the moth:
It took me about fifteen minutes of internet searching to identify Mama Moth. She is a Virginian Tiger Moth, Spilosoma virginica. You can read more about her at Buglifecycle. There is a photograph of this moth’s eggs at the top of the page. They are a perfect match for our Day 3 FOUND OBJECT.
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