THIS IS YOUR PROMPT. WHAT DOES IT SAY TO YOU?
Thanks to Barbara Young for use of her photo.
If you are interested in submitting a photo for consideration as a future photo prompt, please see submission instructions at: http://poeticbloomings.com/2013/01/10/call-for-photos/.
MARIE ELENA’S HAIKU
even the eagle is unable to soar until it is free © Copyright Marie Elena Good – 2013WALT’S EGGS-AMPLE:
ESCAPE
The eternal question:
“Which came first?”
The answer is unclear,
but my guess is here,
the chicken has left the building!
© Copyright Walter J. Wojtanik – 2013
POETIC BLOOMINGS 
Responses
You caught me at a good time. It’s 7:30 PM here. We’re just calming does after a long, full day. 🙂
Growing Up
She’s left the nest, and egg, behind her,
Looking for a fresh start, her wings
Spread the first time without her mother,
Unsteady at first, slowly beating.
She’s growing up, almost sixteen,
Finding new interests, setting a quick pace;
It’s hard for a mom to watch her daughter growing,
I see it in her loving, worried face.
© Copyright Erin Kay Hope – 2013
Lovely! I enjoyed the first stanza. “She looking to spread her wings for the first time”. Excellent.
Thank you so much, Benjamin! Glad you liked it. 🙂
No problem.
“…I see it in her loving, worried face.” That’s a Mom…!!
Sure is. I’m just beginning to realize that my decisions and ideas affect a lot of people – including my parents. Thanks for reading! 🙂
Oh, such wisdom at such a young age… !
Lovely, Erin. If only every mid-teens girl and guy had such wisdom!
Hugs!
Marie Elena
Thank you, Marie. I really appreciate your words!
Sweet, Erin!
Thanks, Kate!
Super Erin! We were thinking along the same lines it seems… the beauty of yours is that it is personal and now.
Thanks for reading, Iain! I’m heading down to read yours. 🙂
Oh, that worried mother look. It’s written all over my face including every wrinkle. This is insightful.
Thanks, Jlynn. 🙂
A touching piece, Erin…and I agree with, Marie. ♥
Thank you so much, Hannah! You and Marie are sweet. ❤
You’re welcome, Erin…so are you!! 🙂
Such truth, emanating from the eggshell prompt. Motherhood evolves through many different shapes and moods – until the situations reverse and the child becomes her mother’s parent.
How wonderful!
Beautiful offerings Walt & Marie Elena!
Meg……YES!! Walt, 🙂 !!
Delightful examples, Marie Marie and Walt… true and funny!
Thanks again, Ben-n-Hen! 😀
Marie Elena
Hee, hee…
Walt: eggs-ample? Hardy harr harr! 😀
Marie Eeee
Just had someone tell me that this prompt might fall into the category of egg-phrastic poetry! Definitely cracked me up!
Eggxactly! 😀
LOL!!!
How did this get so punny so quickly? Erin, your poem is lovely and as a Mom I feel it.
Whipped up a quick one this morning, will attempt to concoct something a bit lengthier later on. 🙂
Sometimes a good egg,
Scrambled by life’s twists and turns,
Finds herself broken.
Mary, this is awesome. A “wish I’d written that!” Wow…
Marie Elena
Thanks so much! 😀
Yes, and broken eggs are new beginnings… maybe hatchlings, maybe breakfast; both good!
This is amazing, Mary! You packed so much into those few words – I really like it.
So true.
I echo Linda and the rest…you captured this well!
!!!!!
I love this, Mary!
Marie!!! *sigh* you have my vote for bloom…I LOVE your response. ♥
Aww! Thank you, sweet friend! Check out Mary’s though … a total WOW.
Marie
Hi! This morning was too fast…I had only read the prompt and your poem before dashing off into my day! I agree with you, Mary’s IS excellent! You had me at Eagle though! 🙂
I totally agree, Hannah! Marie, your poem is delightful!
:)!
Succinct – love it.
WHEN THE TIME IS RIGHT
when the egg is broken
determines what you will find
breakfast yolk or gold chick
all of life is in the timing
those distractedly deaf
to the opportune knock
cannot go back in time
and kindly request
a second hearing
in that moment
when you can show kindness
do so without hesitation
#
Oh, I like this, especially the ending. And I’m laughing because I had just had the same thought as the one you begin with!
You mean the “when the egg is broken determines what you will find”, Kate? Great minds, eh?
Excellent offering this morning, Sal!
Marie Elena
Lovely, Sal!
SO true! Great message, Sal.
Oh, I Love this Sal, especially your last stanza… definitely words to live by… !!
An eggshell
Lying in the grass
Discarded
Ancient past
But yet once so important
Requesting respect
This is nice, Connie. Really good!
The meaning of this little gem was not readily taken in by my mind on first read. Nice work, Connie.
Marie Elena
I’m with Marie…this one hits the mind in layers…great work, Connie!
…”…But yet once so important/Requesting respect” !! Love this !!
Good one, Connie!
[…] for Poetic Bloomings Prompt #105: Ekphrastic Poetry – 2013 Photo Prompt #3. Posted for day 58 in 100 Days of Spring – […]
BROKEN
(a piku)
All that’s left
is
an empty shell.
2013-04-28
P. Wanken
Nice, nice, nice. So much said in so few words.
I agree. Love this.
Very nice!
So much meaning. So much power. So few words. That’s our Paula. ❤
Marie Elena
Agreed. ♥
… ! …
Pardon my bluntness. I just learned we again have an abortion clinic in Kansas performing late-term abortions. The next e-mail I opened was this prompt.
Abortionists cut short God’s plans
before one day is lived.
Abortionists ply their trade
while they tell themselves
they’re “Doing a service.”
Who are the really serving?
So sad… I hate abortion. 😦
… and my heart sinks.
Marie Elena
It is devastating. How apt an image to pair…thank you, Sally. ♥
The last line should read:
Who are they really serving?
Two Birds
Some hearts break
like eggshells, cheap plates—
they fracture
crack, splinter.
Mauled hearts can bear pain, learn joy,
freed for feathers, flight.
I so enjoy the way you put words together–the rhythms and the sounds; alliteration, rhymes and near-rhymes and all that!
Ditto that. Brilliant as always, Jane!
Marie Elena
Jane, you’ve done it again. I love this! It is so true and so beautifully put.
Thanks, friends. It’s fun seeing how many are shadorma and shuffle on over to PA today 😉
Forgiveness is powerful…great response, Jane!
Jane, those last two lines are beautifully written.
Love your, Walt and Marie. I’ll follow Jane’s lead:
Shardoma
On the ground
lies a broken shell.
Mother bird,
feathers dull,
no longer sings her Spring song.
She sees the cat’s smile.
Oh, this touches my heart.
Oh no!! This is heartbreaking; the poor bird…
Oh no! 😦 We have a cat in our neighborhood that we named “Hitler.” He is black and white with a black Hitler-style mustache, and he is always on the prowl for birds and critters. 😦
Marie Elena
I watch our housecats envy the feral stalkers outside. That last line…
Instincts and the wild kick in even after they’ve been fed! Captured vividly, Nancy!
Treasure Hunt
She came upon the eggshell in the grass,
All broken and forlorn
Yet proof of something born
This dew-specked morning.
Don’t bother her today, our star-eyed lass.
She’s hunting for a pet,
A baby dragonet:
New dreams a-borning.
(I’m tempted to make this longer, or to make a variation on the theme… but here’s this, so far!)
Kate
Lovely, Kate! Your first stanza is pure magic!
Thankee, Erin!
Your word play and cadence draw me in always! Yes … please make this longer. We want more.
(“We want more. We want more. Like, you really like it and we want more!”) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OnA3C9Af_oc
Marie Marie
Well, okay then! ^_^
Ooo…there’s an entire story in this character! Katie, I love it!
Yes…
“The poet’s heart”
The poets’ heart is a fragile form
nested upon wings of instinct
and prosody,
lay bare in fractured patience
listening to the
silent tender voices the world
never notices.
Nice one, Jlynn!! First line is beautiful.
Thanks, Erin!
Lovely, creative, and meaningful! Thanks for this, Janice!
Marie Elena
I should be thanking you. So . . . thank you, ME!
Poets have such open and ready to feel hearts…very nice, jLynne!
… Lovely truth…
You went to a heartfelt place with this one.
On the Spreading of Young Wings
From cradle to grave
there will be dependence
on the love of guardians
on the wits hard earned in the school of hard knocks
on the strength of a beloved partner
sharing trials and tribulations
on the doting offspring when dotage sets in
Time nurtured in the nest
comes to its end sooner than believed
for the loving caring parents
at last and none-to-soon
for the fledgling eager to
go their own way
Once the time has come
then there is no holding the young
they must spread their wings and fly forth
they must break free the loving shackles
and become themselves
show the courage instilled by example
show the good grace and consideration
instilled by love
but nevertheless the time arrives
and it’s time to leave home
Words of wisdom ring clear and loud in the inner ear
you can’t make an omelette
without breaking eggs
you can’t do it all by yourself
learn from your mistakes
take the rough with the smooth
and when your time comes
to nest
nurture
love
teach
and when their time comes
set them free
Iain
Splendid, Iain! I see what you mean about ours being similar. I love the last part: “…and when their time comes, set them free.” Something my mom reminds me of often. 🙂
Thank you Erin 🙂
Hear, hear! Wisdom, beautifully expressed.
Marie Elena
Thanks Marie
I must echo Marie here, Iain!! Excellent poem!
Thanks Hannah 🙂
You’re welcome, Iain!
Beautiful, Iain…!!
Thank you Hen 🙂
‘breaking free of loving shackles’ is an incredible thought. Just beautiful, Iain.
Thank you purple, I have no idea where this stuff comes from…it just sort of oozes out of my fingers 🙂
Cool!
Beyond Repair (A Shadorma)
A shell of
her former self, she
was lost in
a field of
gray, a void, she didn’t know if
life was possible.
So sad and touching, Michelle.
Marie Elena
This echos of empty and ache…well done,Michelle.
Such sadness… Well written, Michelle! I love the Shadorma form!
Painful sadness…
Little Bird, Free
“I’m youth, I’m joy, I’m a little bird that has broken out of the egg.” ~J.M. Barrie
The story
goes a bit like this:
I am free.
I’ve broken
out of my shell. I can fly
on my own.
###
Aww! LOVELY “little story!” 🙂
Marie Elena
Super sweet RJ!!
Sweet, RJ!! I love the quote as well. 🙂
🙂 !!
He Was A Good Egg
His name was Shell White
A good old egg
As eggs go
A little scrambled at times
But always upbeat
Living on the sunny side
He loved to yoke around
Until one day
His son, Little Shell
Told him a funny joke
And it cracked him up
Oops
The rooster
stood his post in pen,
gave loud crow
calling hens
to safety of the hen house.
He did not know me.
With head high,
he waited to see
what I’d do,
why I’d come
and eyed the kitchen scraps I
threw o’re fence.
He left post
to check offering,
gave low coo
calling hens
to come out. It’s dinner time.
Do come eat.
(The egg shells were returned to the hen yard for the hens to eat, because the calcium in the shelled helped to harden shells on future eggs produced.)
Nice one! Are these your own? My little granddaughter Sophie loves chickens. Her grandpa on he daddy’s side of the family has some.
Marie Elena
Thanks Marie – actually it was from my uncle’s farm, I spent time there as a young girl. It is where I took the picture (2010)of the 35 MPH sign. When I went by the hen yard – the rooster crowed the hens all into the hen-house as he gave me the evil eye. 🙂
Oh my! 😀
Marie Elena
Nice!! I love watching the way chicken community works…nicely captured, Marjory!!
Thank Hannah. Yes, I played a bit of a game with him. I’d leave – out came the hens, I’d return and he’d send them back in!
Marjory!! This has me laughing…what fun!!
Ha, ha… I Love watching animals living life…
This is great, M!! My uncle and aunt also have chickens. They are pretty fun to watch. 🙂
Lol! Quite lovely.
“He Was A Good Egg” Giggle giggle giggle!
Teehee! Fun poem, Earl!
Marie Elena
Yes, Earl – Fun bit about being a Good Egg. 🙂
Funny, Earl!
So adorable!
BY LEAPS AND BOUNDS
The shell has been broken…
Our only memory of her kindness.
Her former timidity remains vacant.
When the time came she flew the coop by leaps and bounds.
Very deep and poetic, Benjamin. Nice work.
Marie Elena
Well thanks for egging me on! Lol.
HA! 😀
Makes me wonder more about this character…intriguing, Benjamin!
Hee hee… Glad you had some suspense.
Yes! Me too!!
Lovely, Ben!! Is there a sequel? 😀
LOL!! Sure I’ll work on it.
🙂
🙂
Very well done.
Thanks Sarah.
Existing / Life
By David De Jong
Delicate, protected
Frail in a shell
All appears well
But to fully taste it
You must crack it
And pour it out
So much wisdom in these few words. I enjoy the pacing and sound of this as well. Well done!
Marie Elena
Thanks Marie!
So very true…we really do have that choice, too!! Great one, David!
Oh, I Like this!!
I love this, David!! As Marie said, so much wisdom… Thank you!
Broken
Lying broken
in the clover
cast off
an empty shell
without meaning
or purpose
stripped of my core
my being
then tossed away
Oh my … striking, biting piece. EXCELLENT, Mark!
Marie Elena
Excellence Mark.
Sad…happens to so many.
I hurt with this one…
Sad but beautiful…
Robert Lee Brewer’s Shadorma prompt for today inspired me to write another.
SHE (shadorma)
Just wishing
To be cracked open –
Freed from this
Lonely shell
Of her own making, but not
Of her own choosing.
© Copyright Marie Elena Good – 2013
I like this take on it Marie. Those shadormas addicting aren’t they?
Heart breaking. ♥ Poignant.
…yes…
Yes! For this prompt we are blessed with TWO gems from Marie Elena! Wonderful!
This is poignantly lovely, Marie… I love it!
Marie, this is wonderful!
Thanks so much, all. You’re all so sweet and your kind comments mean a great deal.
Marie Elena
[…] the Poetic Bloomings Image Prompt the image really helps to understand the […]
New Life
Tiny, blue
eggshells, with little
dark speckles
in teeny
shade shadows of little leaf
clusters, in the grass.
Another double winner! Very picturious. I ‘see’ what you are saying. 🙂
Oh, thank you M!
Yes, signs of life. I love this take on the prompt as well. Thanks for your gems.
Thank you, Ben!!
Beautiful descriptions, Hen!! I just love that you’ve filled this black and gray image with color…a piece of your heart! 🙂
Oh, Hannah… I thank you… !! 🙂 !!
You’re so welcome!! ♥
!! 🙂
Yes! Robin’s eggs, Hen? They are lovely…and so is your Shadorma! 🙂
Aww… thank you, Erin!! 🙂
I echo this comment, Hen.
Marie Elena
Thank you, Meg!
Lovely!
Aww, thank you, k !!
I’m enjoying these takes on the pic. Loved yours, Marie and Walt.
Of Use
Walking, she
found half an egg shell
picked it up
inspected it
imagined it with seedlings
tucked inside, fed, safe.
Such a great use for one! Nice visual, Jane. 🙂
!! … I can relate…
Very visual, as Hannah said. Lovely, Jane!
Very nice, Jane.
Marie Elena
Walt and Marie, Eggscellent!
You cannot see me
up here, out on a limb
of a different tree.
won’t you be surprised
when you carry dinner
home to our nest, only
to find what you thought
would never happen.
Your last egg–with some
determination, mind you–
finally cracked his shell
and left the nest.
“what you thought
would never happen.”
This caught me…I bet it will feel like that. Great job, Sarah!
Thanks, Hannah!
!!! 😀
Back atcha!
ha, ha… 🙂 !!
This is sweet, Sara! 🙂
Thanks, Erin!
Way to get inside momma’s head, Sara. Nice!
Marie Elena
Thanks, Marie!
[…] PROMPT #105. Ekphrastic Poetry – 2013 Photo Prompt #3 […]
Sufficient
When the world and all its crazy becomes stifling,
sing of an ivory-shelled beginning.
When life and its quick winged way forces its design
resign to the small hollow center where truth resides.
Find for yourself a feather loosed in the woods,
discover an egg, fallen, empty and glowing white;
a beam of sun shines through the dense canopy-
womb’s illuminated on russet pine needled floor.
It sits near the roots of grandfather oak,
place yourself in near silence and soak in this presence.
There’s authenticity in this natural sanctuary,
there’s certainty in this empty shell,
symbolism in this unoccupied casing;
the Life we seek has broken free
and its sacred attributes are ours to attain-
If we gaze deeply we’ll surely find Peace.
Copyright © Hannah Gosselin 2013
Oh… I am There… I can smell the pine needle floor and Feel the Peace… Thank You, Hannah!!
Oh, wonderful, Hen!! Thank you for saying so! 🙂
🙂 🙂 !!
Beautiful, Hannah! I love how you started with crazy, and then went on to describe our beginning. So lovely!
“sing of an ivory-shelled beginning”
Hannah, your mind is just such a beautiful place. A lovely write.
Marie Elena
Thank you, Marie!! Warm and happy “Hannah-smiles,” to you! 🙂
Barbara!! Thank you for sharing your image with us!!
Great writing everyone!
Thank you for leading the way Walt and Marie!!
:)’s to everyone and a happy week!
… and to you, Hannah… 🙂 !!
Thank you!! 🙂
You are very welcome, Hannah! 🙂
[…] Written for Poetic Bloomings. […]
Six of One
Not everything bent
is broken, not everything
cracked gets tossed.
Not everything spent
is spoken, not everything
broken is lost.
So much truth, so well said!
yes!
Well said, De! Lovely. 🙂
Truth in De-language!
Spot on, Sara. Spot on.
Another amazing piece, De.
Marie Elena
Starting Point (a Shadorma)
Everything
Has a beginning,
A fragile
Starting point;
And everything, at sometime,
Leaves that point behind.
© Copyright Erin Kay Hope – 2013
! OH, Spot On!!
Thanks so much, Hen!
🙂 !
Erin, you remind me week after week that you are wise beyond your years, and gifted with words.
Marie Elena
Thank you so much, Marie! I can’t tell you how much your comments mean to me. They give me such encouragement and hope. Thank you!! 🙂
(Presented with apologies after watching too many episodes of the BBCs “Sherlock” back-to-back.)
“Elementary”
There is no bird, Watson.
But . . .
No.
Open your eyes
to what is there to be seen
and see it
without bias.
An egg tooth makes
distinctive marks
during pipping
as it presses outward.
Outward.
Seeking release.
These marks
were made by teeth,
inward
and notice . . .
I do not wish to notice.
But this is life
laid bare
if only you can see.
“… if only you can see.” !!
Oh, I love the Holmes and Watson idea and “this is life laid bare”.
Lovely! Those last few lines are very powerful.
Truly! Always wonderful to read your fabulous work, Chev.
Marie Elena
This is priceless, Jerry!
Brokenness
Broken egg shell, empty –
tells a story. Happy or sad?
Proud Mom or grieving?
Successful raid or normal release?
Nature gives clues and we fill in the blanks.
Either way, I feel a strange sadness
at the broken shell and don’t know why.
I echo that feeling, Debi. You never can tell. Lovely poem though. 🙂
“…and we fill in the blanks…” !
I love the simply stated honesty of this, Debi. Beautiful.
Marie Elena
Little One, Wait, Wait…
Why the hurry, the impatience, the unbridled
Eagerness to get out, out, out into that brightly
Beckoning world?
Why this carelessness in tossing the past away,
that safe, comfortable world where you were
surrounded by love and your every need was tended?
Oh, tender little birdie, are your wings strong
Enough, fast enough so you can sail yourself
Away from danger’s desperate grasp?
Will you recognize danger when it comes
Calling, a snake whispering through the grass,
A vulture crying from above, the soft, padded
Footsteps of every mammal beneath the sun?
Little one, little one, in your haste do not
Forget to look around, list en to that voice
Inside your head, the words your mama
Told you “Careful,” she said, “Take care”
Listen! Stay as still as you can and you
Can still hear the love surrounding you.
…It’s soo difficult to let them go without worrying about them!!
Such a nurturing poem, Marian. Just lovely.
Marie Elena
I finally made it. I always have such a good time doing this form. Thank you Walt and Marie for bringing it back.
Remnants
Half an Easter eggshell,
Ju-ju bean left
Hiding under a leaf,
A tiny yellow bead
Fit for little girl’s gem;
Remnants of her
Passing this way on
Her path elsewhere,
Toting her Barbie
Overnight case and
Dora’s explorer jacket,
Making a matched set.
Sweet, Claudsy! I can totally visualize this scene. 🙂
So glad, Erin, and thank you.
You are so welcome, Clauds!
🙂 !
Such a realistic picture… and so sweet. Nice,claudsy
Thanks, Debi. Glad you liked it.
Clauds, I can read this more than one way. One is just darling and upbeat. The other is immensely sad. I’m not sure which way you meant it, but it’s an excellent piece either way … and both ways.
Marie Elena
Thank you, Marie. Actually, I don’t know that I meant it more in one direction or the other. It was merely an observance of how circumstance and interpretation determine our view of the world and our place within its confines.
Our lives do play out in both the light and the dark, of day and night, of good fortune and the not-so-good fortune. How we roll with the punches, how we look at our memories gathered over our lifetime influences whether we see an end in death, bad fortune, or worse, or merely in the darkness of night at the end of the day.
It really is up to interpretation. However you view it, it does make one think and that was it’s first purpose.
Sorry, Marie. For some reason I thought you were commenting on a different poem.
Let’s start again. On this one, I meant it as upbeat and sad. The upbeat with memories of such a little girl and those things left behind during that stage of her life, but also the passing of her from little girl to older girl who would never again leave behind such tiny memories of mementos such these given.
Love and enjoy the old memories even as the little girl grows up to make new ones. I suppose that’s the message.
Yes. I can see both, Clauds. This is truly a gripping little piece. Thanks so much for the input.
Marie
Thanks, Marie. I always appreciate the comments I get on my work, and the support of those poets here.
One other thing, Marie. When I was writing this one, my thoughts were on a certain small female playing at Grandma’s house.
Freedom is Scary
I’ve busted out
I’ve been set free
What in the world
Will become of me
I was all snug
Tucked inside
Expanse to explore
Where can I abide
I can’t go back
Scary to go on
I guess I’ll survive
One step at a time
Good one, Iris. One step at a time is a good idea. 🙂
Makes you wonder if that is how the little bird feels, eh? Nicely penned, Iris.
Marie Elena
Emptiness
Bright white and so visible
Against the dark background
A curious three leaf clover
Ganders inside at the emptiness
Of this empty half shell
Wondering what once was there
And where it may have gone
Lovely, Earl! Good descriptions here.
I like this, Earl. A curious three leaf clover? Clever!
Marie Elena
A Broken Memory (a Garland)
She found
A little egg
That stirred a memory,
A fragment of her childhood:
A piece:
Broken,
A broken egg,
Just like her porcelain doll
She used to play with so often,
Shattered.
She stooped
To pick it up,
And held it to her heart,
Just like that memory that stirred
In her:
That day,
That someone lost,
That shattered day she wept;
She softly put it back in place,
And sighed;
She turned,
Started to walk
Away from it and left
Her memory, and it, behind;
She cried.
She found
A broken egg,
And held it to her heart;
She softly put it back in place;
She cried.
© Copyright Erin Kay Hope – 2013
With thanks to Hannah Gosselin for introducing me to this form. 🙂
Soft and tender, sad and loving.
… and I need to explore this beautiful form.
Marie Elena
Thank you, Marie!! I love Conquains so this form is perfect! 😉
LOVE BY HALF
Half a loaf is better than none,
or so most folks would say,
but one exception proves the rule:
love doesn’t work that way.
Half a love is moonlit sky
imitating the sun;
casting some light upon the earth
but leaving all growth undone.
Half a love is January
never approaching July;
it might appeal to mind and sense
but fails at heart and eye.
Half a love is spring and fall,
cautious, timid, wary;
afraid that winter and summertime
are too extreme to marry.
And so of love, most folks would say.
You must not fear its call:
half a love’s no better than none;
you’ve got to give your all.
copyright 2013, William Preston
William! Welcome!! WONDERFUL to see you here!
This is an amazing piece. The thoughts and presentation.
Fabulous work.
Marie Elena
Thanks very much. Your site is interesting; I’ve been hopping around, trying to get acquainted with it.
William Preston