Dabbling in Poetry

From Wikipedia Commons

So I just finished slicing for 31 days straight. And trying to keep up with writing every day, and commenting on other people's writing, well, I'm just a teeny bit tired. Nevertheless, April IS National Poetry Month.  And I really do love poetry. I'm definitely more of a reader of poetry than a writer. When I do write, it's almost always free verse, quickly written, with little crafting or shaping of language. 

But I have this crazy friend, Mary Lee. And she is a real poet. If you don't believe me, go to Gotta Book and read her "Green Door" which Greg Pincus chose as the opening poem for his 30 poems in 30 days. Or read "On the Eve of the Equinox" that she wrote for March Madness.  That gal can write her some poems. 

On her blog, Year of Reading, she is doing a month long project "Common Inspiration, Uncommon Creations." And this morning she selected a picture of a very strange bee-eating bird, and wrote an amazing poem. And so of course I had to give it a try. I wrote the first one this morning, then messed around some more and wrote the second one tonight.

 "European Bee Eaters"
Bees?
Complainers don't like 'em
But when you pull the stingers out
They are actually
quite tasty.

*****************
"European Bee-Eaters"

Not for us
dull sparrow brown
gloss raven black
or even blue of jay.

Not for us
a shallow scrape
a rocky ledge
a woven crescent cup. 

Not for us
chill rain or breeze
a narrow range
still solitude. 

Not for us
those wriggly worms
the crunch of seeds
sweet meat of fruit.

We prefer
an adventurous life-
mixed colors bright
migration wide
deep tunnels homes
companions close
and bees
to please our palates.

Carol Wilcox
(c) 2013

***************

And then I'm still messing around with this one, that I started a week or so ago, during the Slice of Life Challenge.
 
"Daffodils"
Hey you
yellow cups
of joy juice
I swallow
big gulps
of your promise
of spring