N is for Nestle

Good Words Alphabetically: N is for Nestle

I cannot spend lots of time on these. So some are as good as they get in 30 min and under.
BTW, the word is “nestle”, not the candy company name.  This is more of a children's poem than some.

Safe and Sound

A puppy snuggles in your lap.
A kitten in your arms.
A horse will nuzzle to show love
and say it’s safe from harm.

Like baby robins nestle in
their warm and feathered nest,
we cuddle as we read a book
before it’s time for rest.

Snuggle, nuzzle, nestle —
it’s time to go to sleep.
Close your eyes and say a prayer,
then count the cuddly sheep.

By Donna JT Smith ©️2024

A part of the AtoZ Challenge for April. Click the logo to visit other bloggers doing the AtoZ.

M is for Meditate

 Good Words Alphabetically: M is for Meditate

This post is a part of the AtoZ Challenge. The link to posts from this challenge is below.  Click on that image.

I know I did at least three poems for this word.  I am posting the first one I came up with.  I don't know why it took so much thought...maybe the word "meditate" started me overthinking!

Meditate

You have a thought you think is good
you wonder if you really should
give it just a bit of time
marinate it in a rhyme
let it mellow
let it merge
check it
is it on the verge
of being right
and not gone wrong
don’t meditate on it too long
before you think another thought;
gazillions more are still uncaught.

By Donna JT Smith ©2024

L is for Lithe

 Good Words Alphabetically: L is for Lithe

We are on our way through the alphabet with some nice words.

Lithe

Limber, lithe,

slim and supple,

agile, sleek,

not prone to stumble

is a deer 

though shy and meek

they run through brambles 

like a streak

a silky ribbon 

silently

over stumps 

‘round bush and tree

leaping, dodging

sharp zigzagging 

white tail up

warning, flagging

letting other 

artful deer

know that danger 

could be near 

then pausing in 

another glen

quick to stop

and browse again. 

By Donna JT Smith ©️2024

 

Click here to go to a list of bloggers participating.

 

K is for Kind

Good Words Alphabetically: K is for Kind

Okay, let's double up on K today, the 11th letter of the alphabet. Today's poem type begins with K.
A Kyrielle is a French form of rhyming poetry written in quatrains (a stanza consisting of 4 lines), and each quatrain contains a repeating line or phrase as a refrain (usually appearing as the last line of each stanza). Each line within the poem consists of only eight syllables. There is no limit to the number of stanzas a Kyrielle may have, but three is considered the minimum.

Some popular rhyming schemes for a Kyrielle are: aabB, ccbB, ddbB, with B being the repeated line, or abaB, cbcB, dbdB. This one is aabB, ccbB, ddbB, eebB.

Lavishly Kind

If everyone had empathy
and lived lives with some sympathy,
there would be fewer we would find
who fall short of lavishly kind.
you do not have to love all jokes,
nor like all manner of rude folks;
but with this power of the mind
attempt to be lavishly kind.
For every being started living
with baby's smile and laughter giving,
and then their journey came to wind
on rough roads not lavishly kind.
It's your commission to attend
to beings lost and needing friend;
no matter if you're not inclined,
be the one who's lavishly kind.

By Donna JT Smith ©2024

I really wanted the word "bounteously" in there, but it just was overloaded with syllables. You have half a line's worth in that one word!

J is for Jaunt

A Good Word Alphabetically: J is for Jaunt

An AtoZ Challenge Post

Jaunt just sounds good to say, too...

 

Dauntless Jaunt

It is seems a fine and lovely day

to praise God's goodness on display!

I'll take a jaunt and find my way

on unknown path, a new foray.

Don't have to go too far away

to praise God's goodness on display!

By Donna JT Smith ©2024

I is for Imagine

 

Good Words Alphabetically: I is for Imagine

I looked long and hard, tirelessly...I was indefatigable in my quest for a decent i word.  If you look at a list, you will see many of them can be taken in negative ways.  I almost picked interesting or innocent, but they weren't interesting enough, and often innocent is used in ways that give the feeling of helplessness or being a victim.  So "move on" I said.  And I did.  At this point I have not written a poem or done a picture.  Picture should be interesting...Let's see how it goes later today after I finish a few important chores I have to accomplish.  Hmm, important is a good word. Nope.  Not that either.  It ended up being:

Imagine

I would like

to imagine more

just like the days

gone on before

when I was young

and knew

no bounds

imagining that

I had found

artifacts and

ancient tools

dinosaur bones,

real gold, not fools,

I was a cowboy

and bike my horse

and lights in sky

were a spaceship force

about to land

and in my mind I

sought to see

just what the future

held for me

I never ever

imagined my lot

would be a mother

with a tot

who would imagine

greater things than I

    “imagine that!”

     I hear me sigh.

By Donna JT Smith ©️2024

H is for Harmony

 

Good Words Alphabetically: H is for Harmony

Oh, I love to listen to good harmony.  And I love harmonizing when it happens, or I'm brave enough to do it!

It's a wonderful thing when harmony of spirit and song are entwined.  Love a good a cappella group!

Now this is going to look inharmonious to you when you read the description, but it's still a fun poetic form to try.  Here it is, a Triolet:

A Triolet has 8 lines.
Lines are 1, 4 and 7 repeat. Then lines 3 and 6 rhyme with the 1,4,7 lines.
Lines 2 and 8 also repeat.
The rhyme scheme:  ABaAabAB  Capital letters in this case represent the repeated lines. And the lowercase the rhyming word.

Often a Triolet has 8 syllables in each line/verse, written in iambic tetrameter.  Don't feel overwhelmed by this.  I have to keep my cheat sheet in front of my or make notes beside the lines to keep me on track!

H is for Harmony

The sun breaks out, escapes the clouds
entrapping it each day last week.
The birds all flock in social crowds;
The sun breaks out, escapes the clouds,
and beams all shed their shady shrouds.
In harmony birds sing to speak,
The sun breaks out, escapes the clouds
entrapping it each day last week.

By Donna JT Smith ©2024

Here it is with its line numbers and corresponding letters for a key...just in case you want to try your own!

H is for Harmonize

1 The sun breaks out, escapes the clouds    A
2 entrapping it each day last week.               B
3 The birds all flock in social crowds;            a
4  The sun breaks out, escapes the clouds,  A
5  and beams all shed their shady shrouds.  a
6  In harmony birds sing to speak,                b
7  The sun breaks out, escapes the clouds   A
8  entrapping it each day last week.              B

By Donna JT Smith ©2024

The sun and birds got in this poem as I thought about the eclipse.  We finally had sun here for seeing the eclipse.  It's been stormy and cloudy for many, many days, so the sun coming out was a treat.  And I watched and listened to the gulls as they got more and more agitated as the sky changed.  

I had attempted "hopeful" today.  Actually I did a whole poem.  But it felt too trite or something.  So I set out on a different poetic journey.  It was fun to construct.  So I'm "Happy" and "Hopeful" that you are, too!

G is for Glittery

 

Good Words Alphabetically - G is for Glittery

Did you know those glittery fireflies of our childhood are disappearing?  We can help keep them from dying off with some simple changes to our environment.  Here's a link to some information about our endangered, but not on the list, fireflies:

https://www.farmersalmanac.com/are-fireflies-disappearing

A Haiku for a Firefly

small and glittery

stars gather in the meadow

fireflies sos

by Donna JT Smith ©2024

Some summer evenings I've seen fireflies in the small field across the road.  There are not many lights on outside here.  It's a good place to see stars, too.  This penchant for lighting up the night is hurting us.  Until you get somewhere that has no lights for miles, you don't even know what you are missing in the night sky. 

There are way more stars up there than most of us can see.  

Turn off the lights;

Enjoy the show.  

Turn off the music; 

Enjoy the rhythm.

F is for Friend

Good Words Alphabetically: F is for Friend

Firry Friend

 

whenever I went out I met

a creature to befriend

a grasshopper, a butterfly

who might not comprehend

my need to talk incessantly

but seemed to listen well

because they never said a word

just sat with me a spell

My gray friend, Ray the Squirrel,

Jackson Rabbit and Jake Snake

would wriggle at my every word

yet not a word they spake

I even loved the marching ants

that carried grains of soil

out the door then back again

in never-ending toil

       (they didn't seem to listen much

         I think that ants are out of touch)

one blue-skied day I spied a tree

a tiny evergreen 

inspecting it, I knew it was

a friend I'd never seen

this new friend sported limbs and crown

and roots that held it fast

it seemed this was a friendship

that could last and last and last

I cleared the brush and branches

made clear a place to think

I thought I saw my little friend

give me a subtle wink

but spruces have no eye to blink

and surely don't have two

but just between that spruce and I

somehow the wink was true

and in due time that tiny tree

grew up, so green and tall

I talked a lot, it listened well

each year, from fall to fall

the stories that the spruce tree heard

were things I could not say

I hope to be like Stalwart Spruce

for someone else someday.

********alternate ending*******

One must remember, to listen well

you quietly should sit; 

there isn't need to always talk,

so put a sock in it.

 

By Donna JT Smith ©2024

Lol!

I just had the last line pop into my brain before I got done writing what was going to be the last line...so I guess I was supposed to tuck it in there at the end.  I don't think about these, I'm just taking dictation.

E is for Emerald

Good Words Alphabetically: E is for Emerald

I don't know how this came about, except I was ready to not rhyme.  And so I decided the easiest way for me to break from it, is an acrostic. Acrostics have lines that start with each letter of the word and have something to do with that word.  I also tried to give it a pleasing shape. 

I was going to do this for G is for Green, but then something happened and it became Emerald.  I truly don't remember how it morphed.  I do know I'd started the acrostic for green and then I had emerald going down the page under it and before I knew it i had stopped green and began this new poem using the en of green and the rest of emerald.  Boy, was I ticked off at myself when I came to and saw it.  I had to rearrange lines and delete.  But it came out fine.  

However it was still prepped to be published on my G day!  So I cut and pasted it here for E.  Now to go back and get rid of G is for Green, because it won't be.  

Was that interesting?  You don't have to read it.  You can skip to the poem and disregard my process...unless you have already read this.  Sorry. Lol! Too late.

Emerald Childhood

Eating wild strawberries and blueberries tangled in edens of green

Munching on chokecherries and sorrel (we called sourgrass)

Edibles both so tart they turned your mouth inside out

Ruminating on raspberries, thorns picking your skin

Apples sour, hard, and wormy noshed or thrown,

Lilac and clover nectar sipped at leisure

Days of emerald green knees.

by Donna JT Smith ©2024