Challenges!

It's Poetry Friday and there are so many things going on!  I have my grandchildren and daughter visiting. Got up early to squeeze in this post!

Took a walk yesterday with my grandson and looked at the roots of a spruce uprooted in the windstorm in early March.  The ledge it was perched on was fully exposed, along with its shallow root system.  Sad but interesting!  What a challenge to live with shallow roots on a granite ledge!

I think Pickles may be sneaking in to make some jello later today!
What a challenge to be able to make sneaky Jello...

Tomorrow I will have my grandson pick a Bear poem's author out of an Easter Basket or Bonnet to see who gets the jelly beans!  So it you were planning on writing a poem for this fellow, please do so and get it posted on his Padlet by bedtime tomorrow!  I challenge you to write one if you haven't yet!

On Sunday, the A to Z Blogging Challenge begins. There will be over a thousand bloggers attempting to blog each day, excluding all but the first Sunday of April, starting with A on April 1, B on April 2, and so forth.
If you want to join the fun, the sign up is still open until tomorrow night...like Solar Bear's poem drawing...
Just go to http://www.a-to-zchallenge.com/2018/03/master-list-sign-ups.html for more information and the links to sign up.  It is lots of fun, and you can post as little or as much as you want about each letter.  I am doing a combination, of a vanity license plate for each letter, plus a poem in a form that starts with that letter (hopefully...if the letters and inspiration both work for me!).

Here are two sample poems from previous years' posts:

From 2012 on the 6th day (more of the post is here):

Font: FutureFont
Tagxedo Theme: Fresh
Poem style: Free Verse

F
ish

silently

weaving

between
green

ribbons 

tying two

worlds

together

they struggle

in the light

and breathe

in the dark

as a mirror to

our world of
breathing 

in the light 

and our

struggle

in the dark

unknowingly

gliding amid

the green

fingers

touching

both

worlds -

land

and 

sea,

    water

       and

               ai
                  r

© 2012 Donna J.T. Smith

And this was from 2015 (more of this post here):

Today I have a Rondeau (for R) for my R sign:
A Rondeau has 15 lines in all, arranged as three stanzas: first a quintet (5), then a quatrain (4), and a sestet (6).  Its rhyme scheme is: aabba aabR aabbaR. The R (refrain) is short and is a phrase from the first line.  All the other lines are longer and have the same metrical length.

Reserved Parking for Sweet Dreamers

Sweet dreamers may park here to sleep,
A vigil we will gladly keep;
Relax, repose, with closing eyes -
You’ll be surprised how fast time flies
While you enjoy your rest so deep.

As round the dial the clock hands sweep
And sun retreats for moon’s slow creep,
The stars call out with shiny cries,
“Sweet dreamers!”
 
Don’t be alarmed if you count sheep,
For as they leap, sweet dreams you’ll reap;
It will not take too many tries
Before succumbing to the prize;
When you awake the birds will cheep,
“Sweet dreamers!”

©Donna JT Smith, 2015 

So those are just some previews. I have been quiet for responding to Poetry Fridays lately, as I have been busy preparing for April...

I took pictures all year, from May 2017 through April 2018 for this next round of poems, and have been scouring parking lots for a few missing letters the past couple of weeks. I have cropped and resized the license plate images, researched poetry forms, written many of the poems, scheduled all the posts (even the blank pages!) so SOMETHING will be up there on the scheduled day, even if I forget to finish or post!

Hope you can join the fun in April! 

I haven't been getting around and commenting nearly enough!! I'm going to try to do much better today if I can squeeze in a few minutes between grandchildren and doing this amazing puzzle with my daughter today!  I love puzzle challenges!

Now off to try to visit a few poetic posts myself! (Right after I make coffee!) Heidi at my juice little universe has more poetry links to visit...stop by when you get your coffee!  Challenges are always easier with a cup of coffee!