How Far Beyond?

This rather ragged poem is from the Poetic Bloomings
January 12, 2020 prompt idioms.

How far Beyond?

The text said winter storm warning
but the radio simply mentioned
a trace or inch of snow.

I told my friend
the meaning of that text
was beyond me.

How far beyond?
More than a trace
but less than infinity.

Not a foot or even a yard
perhaps a mile or two.
It is beyond me.

Sheryl Kay Oder

Three People Live Here

This poem is based upon the PAD prompt for April 3, 2016. The prompt is to write a poem whose title begins with the word Three

Three People Live Here

Three people live here, not two.
Two would form an empty nest.
Three declares a live-in mother.

Three people live here,
each older than seventy,
the oldest being ninety-four.

Three people live here
each with his own pursuit—
a baseball game, a poem, and sleep.

Three people live here.
One a caretaker, one cared for,
The third helps at times.

Sheryl Kay Oder

Cranberry Cat

This is a quick couplet I put together for the Poetic Asides Wednesday Prompt. It was prompt 308 (Wednesday, June 3, 30215). I never bothered to place it in the comments, but because it is a fun little couplet, I decided to keep it. The prompt was to create a poem with its title based upon the color shirt (blouse for me) you are wearing and the most recent animal you have seen.

As I look at those lines they would make a fun start for a children’s book. Of course I have neither the time nor talent for doing that right now.

Cranberry Cat

Did you see that cranberry cat?
He was chasing a chartreuse rat.

Sheryl Kay Oder

There is no auto

This is a silly variation on the Creative Bloomings prompt Auto_Biography. I could not resist.

There is no auto
for my biography;
I take the bus instead.

Sheryl Kay Oder

Yap, Flap, or Trap?

I wrote this poem based upon a statement a friend made about her tendency to “flap her lips.” What a poem to break my poem fast. 😉

I reminded her we yap and yap
but she thinks her lips do flap.

Are they flapping in the breeze?
What would happen should she sneeze?

Would they fly across the room?
Should we sweep them with a broom?

Hopefully they’ll stay in place
as her thoughts and words do race.

Think when you are prone to yap,
“Should I invest in a new word trap? “

Sheryl Kay Oder

You Can’t Praise Just One

This poem is written for the Creative Bloomings prompt 141 “in Tribute.”

Oh, to turn some silly sounds loose
coining new words like Dr Seuss.
What a joy to see imagination soar
enough to make a mosquito roar.*

Billy Collins’ thoughts sail everywhere—
from the man in the moon to under his chair.**
The Lanyard’s a poem like no other.
Its lighthearted words are a gift to his mother.

Ogden Nash made wordy fun
pointing his pen at everyone.
His protégées include R J Clarken
whose whimsy stems from many a larken.

When Robert Frost described birches with ice
you heard them clicking once or twice.
He often flitted between fancy and fact
longing to dream but needing to act.

Alliteration is king as Hopkins’ sheer plod
shines through his praise of the grandeur of God.
He highlighted colors and a falcon in flight.
Joy in my Creator his words do excite.

* I don’t think Dr Seuss ever made a mosquito roar, but his imagination could have done so.
** I cannot remember a poem about something under his chair, but he will put something there if he has not already

Sheryl Kay Oder

Garden Delights

I used this old poem for The Poetic Bloomings prompt In the Garden for December 15, 2013.

Garden Delights

A cool breeze entices me
as I stray beside the wildflowers,
their blossoms like orange bells.

I hear a lingering melody,
and realize I am audience
to a bird chamber music concert.

Then I glimpse her
as she scampers like a squirrel,
darting in and out,
daring me to find her.

The muse winks.
Sheryl Kay Oder

O Lord, When Life Hurts…thank You

This was written for the thankfulness prompt at Poetic Bloomings on November 24, 2013.

O Lord, When Life Hurts…thank You

that I can cast my cares on You.
You are the Faithful One,
the One Who never needs to change
but Who has the power to change
both those who ask and
those who do not ask but should.

Thank You for your grace and mercy.

Sheryl Kay Oder

Reflections

This is an ekphrastic poem based upon a picture I took of the Cloud Gate, otherwise known as the Bean. It was a prompt for Poetic Bloomings for October 13, 2013. Because I could not elaborate upon an idea I had I simply turned my idea into a haiku form although it is not truly a haiku.

Reflections: echoes
for the eyes or for the mind.
Please reflect on this.

Word Vacuum

This was written years ago before I had ever heard of poetic prompts. 

I thought that poems 
were word vacuums—
not the other way around. 
Could I make a poem 
from the word “swish,” 
or would an idea 
suck in a needed word 
like a vacuum picking up 
	dust,
	thread,
	cat hairs, 
	or unidentified squiggly things? 
Perhaps it works both ways. 
		
Sheryl Kay Oder