Tag: Poem

How to Write Poems Within Poems

The Golden Shovel poetry

A child's yellow plastic spade and red pail on beach pebbles.

Image by Sebastian Mey from Pixabay

Terrance Hayes introduced this poetry style based on a poem by Gwendolyn Brooks. I read about it in Robert Lee Brewer’s Smash Poetry Journal. I like it when Lee challenges his readers to try new poetic styles and encourages them to create something different.

The rules of this style of poetry are simple:

· Take a line from a poem you wrote or read

· Use each word in the line as the end word in your new poem

· Keep the end words in order

I’d read a stirring poem by David Hollis on Medium that morning, so I chose this line from the poem as my new poem —

“Imagine if we swam against the tide of popular culture.”

Using each word as an end word, I wrote this new poem.

A woman praising God with uplifted arms.

Image by Barbara Jackson from Pixabay

Can You Imagine

Can you imagine

what life would be like if

all of us lived a fully devoted life and if we

did as Jesus did and swam

upstream against

these modern ideals and the

changes in moral tide

to fully embrace the life of

Christ, even if we’re not popular

with family, friends and the current culture?

~ Lynne

I hope you enjoyed reading this poetic form. I enjoyed writing it and intend to write more in this style. Have you heard of this style before? I hope you’ll try it out if it’s new to you.

’Til next time — remember you are loved by the One who created you in His image.

~ Lynne

This poem was originally published on Medium in the publication Koinonia

“Imagine” by David Hollis in “Messages From the Heart of God Volume 2”

“The Golden Shovel” by Terrance Hayes

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How to Write Fibs in Poetic Form

Image by PublicDomainPictures from Pixabay

The Fibonacci Poem

Gregory K. Pincus founded Fibonacci poetry (The Fib) in 2007. It’s a six-line poem that follows the Fibonacci sequence of plus one extra syllable for each line so that the number of syllables in each line equals the total number of syllables in the preceding two lines.

In a mathematical form, it looks like this: 1/1/2/3/5/8.

I’m working through Robert Lee Brewer’s “Smash Poetry Journal.” * 

Today’s challenge was to carry the Fib further and write a poem of 8 lines, which finishes with the last line being fifty-five syllables long. I’ve enjoyed writing several poems using his book but was tempted to skip this page!

The mathematical form for this is 1/1/2/3/5/8/13/21/34/55.

However, I persevered, and I think I got it right. Please feel free to count the syllables and let me know if I slipped up anywhere. (A sneaky way to gain extra read time there).

I further challenged myself to write it as a continuous sentence. My apologies to editors everywhere.

Here goes.

The Big Fib

The

prompt

today

was to write

a longer poem

using the Fibonacci style

which adds one more syllable to each line that’s written

so that by the time you’ve written the tenth line, you will have a line that has fifty-five

syllables in total in a sequence of an elaborate poetic style that has driven you slightly insane trying to figure

it out and leaves you wondering why you ever made a pact with yourself to do this crazy thing in the first place and what idiotic kind of poem you will end up with when all is said and done — tell me, how did I do?

’Til next time — remember you are loved by the One who created you in His image.

~ Lynne

This post was originally published in Writer’s Blokke on Medium.

Please leave a comment on any of my stories or poems and follow my blog to see when I post something new. 🤗

Research for this article included the original Fib by Gregory K. Pincus.

*I’m an Amazon affiliate, earning a small commission on book sales at no additional cost to the buyer.

What God Really Wants

Just one simple thing

View at Medium.com
“Rise” by Ray Majoran in Compassion Gallery — 100% of profits go to charities

What God Wants

What if all that God requires of me
is the simplest thing
as I wake in the morning
before I do any other thing
before I make any other decision
about what to eat
or what to wear
before I speak
or comb my hair
before I sit at my desk
what if I simply ask
“What do You have for me today?”
and listen to what He has to say?

Just one simple thing

What if it’s that simple? I mean, really that simple? Have we been overcomplicating this trust in God thing?

Have we wasted so much time reading the perfect study books and taking the ideal writing courses? Maybe attending the excellent workshops or listening to the ones we think have the perfect biblical answers?

I was busy doing all of those things and getting nowhere until I remembered that God had the answers to all my questions. He knew me better and more intimately than anyone else.

Better than anyone who I thought knew what was best for me. He knew my struggles and how I could overcome the fogginess in my mind and aching in my heart. And who knows social media marketing algorithms better?

“It’s acceptable. It’s been normalized. It’s expected. But that doesn’t make it right.”

 Kimberley Payne’s devotional on ‘Busyness.’

I wanted to serve Him, but I’d forgotten to ask what He wanted me to do!

His burden is light

Now I make sure I choose to ask God every morning before I do anything else. I thank Him for the new day and the opportunity to serve Him as His daughter.

I wait for Him to speak to me and ask what He wants me to learn that day. Then I choose one devotional book and follow the writer’s prompts to read further in Scripture.

“Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.” (Matthew 11:29–30, NIV)

I usually get a prompt to think about something throughout the day. Sometimes I get an idea for a short memoir or a few lines for a poem! Sometimes I’m led to talk with a friend or maybe pray for someone that suddenly comes to mind out of the blue.

All other things stand firm in their rightful position for the day if that one foundation is laid first. Even if I’m not prompted to do anything, I know I’m still in His will because I did the simplest thing first — I asked.

So, as I go about my day, I occasionally pause and listen, content to wait for His answer.

“But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.” (Matthew 6:33–34 NIV)

*This post was initially published by Lynne on Medium in the publication Koinonia on April 29, 2022

*As an Amazon associate, I may receive a commission on book sales.

Spent

I enjoy writing the occasional poem, although I continue to take classes to hone the art. Here’s one of my poems from a few weeks ago when we were in the middle of the pandemic and I was exhausted from trying to do too much. I’d been taking in too much information from social media and the news and fallen into the trap of “shoulds.” I’d become SPENT.

How are you fairing these days? Are you too overrun with information and drained from lack of fresh air and socialization? I hope you’re connecting with those who fill you up and not so much with those who leave your spirit spent.

woman in black cloak with fishing pole standing in beach
Photo by Engin Akyurt on Pexels.com

SPENT

Spent.

All of it spent.

Nothing left to give.

Words lay dead as brown leaves covered by icy cold white.

Barren.

Empty soul

Why do you torment me?

I desire

But there’s no life,

No expression,

Only an empty vessel.

A tornado of stories

Half-written,

Half-lost

To me.

I’m not this.

Let me be.

Be safe, be well, be blessed, and remember — you are loved by the One who created you in His image.

Til next time

Lynne