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February 23, 2017

Poetry Friday--"We Sing"

I've been participating in Laura Shovan's annual February poem-a-day challenge. This is year five and we're writing from recent news articles selected by participants. Ten words are selected from each article. Ideally, they all should be used in the poem.

Being as 2017 has been a difficult year, news-wise, I try to move my poems away from the current political scene. (It's a survival thing.)

The ten words from this past Sunday were:

oath
soulful
ceremony
allegiance
photogenic
symbolically
hopes
climactic
anthem
victory

The words came from a photo-essay published by CNN; see it here.

I managed to work nine into my poem. I was pleased with the results and the fact that it had illustration possibilities.


Click on the image to enlarge. © Diane Mayr, all rights reserved.

The Poetry Friday Round-Up is being hosted by Karen Edmisten*.

Text:

We Sing

Songs of a spring robin,
the songs of a whale,
or a wolf or a mouse.
Nature sings in warning.
ceremony, allegiance,
seduction, or pure joy.

We, too, sing our way
through life. Our songs
reflecting our history.
The victory ditties of the 40s.
The soulful tunes of the 60s.
The 90's teen anthems.

Symbolic of the climactic
finish to intense drama or
uncertainty; the hopes of each
generation. A noble oath to
the future. We sing! We sing!
We resoundingly sing!


26 comments:

  1. I'm reading Myra Cohn Livingston's anthology, Call Down the Moon: Poems of Music, and your poem feels like it belongs there.

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    1. Thanks, Brenda, for suggesting I could be part of such esteemed company!

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  2. Lovely and rousing! Terrific graphic too. :)

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    1. Music can either rouse or put one into a deep funk. I prefer to be roused!

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  3. Hi Diane! Love your poem and really appreciate all the poems being posted in Laura's challenge. I really wanted to participate but I can't seem to put anything down that's not perfect to my mind and so many of the poems that I've started have gone by the wayside. Oh well

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  4. I enjoyed your poem the first time around on Laura's Facebook page and this time even more. I, too, find that I want to move my poems away from the current political scene--it's tough to do though!

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  5. Hi Diane, I love the uplifting feeling your poem gives me. The illustrations work perfectly. You are very talented in pairing pictures with your words!

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    1. Thanks, Linda. I thoroughly enjoy combining words and pictures.

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  6. I missed this on the Facebook page. Love seeing it illustrated. Yes, we sing! Music is a common language for us all.

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    1. I've long thought that music is a superior art!

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  7. If this is survival, you're raising the bar. Love the pairing of words and graphics.

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    1. Survival is not without it's perils--there's always the risk of moving toward complacency.

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  8. I love seeing the diverse poems that come from these same 10 words each day. This one is inspiring! I shared my poem from these 10 words today, too.

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    1. Yes, like you, it amazes me how many differing poems can come from a common beginning.

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  9. I love the hopeful ring of this, Diane.

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    1. Like Dickinson's feathered Hope, "And sweetest - in the Gale - is heard -" so we, too, have to continue to sing.

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  10. That's the most positive thing that's come out of the news all year!

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    1. We have to keep our eyes and ears open for the positive things. They are there.

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  11. I liked it before, and still. That you put the variety of song into your poem shows such hope, Diane.

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  12. Wow!Bravo. Song is a deep part of existence. My dear and oldest friend is a music therapist. She will love this poem. And, the illustration is gorgeous. Well, done.
    Have a great week.

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    1. Thanks, Linda. I hope your friend will get to read it!

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  13. Diane, I am backtracking to catch up. I really like the collage of images and poems to illustrate the dynamics of hope on lives growing up during the ages.

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  14. Great use of all the words - what a challenge! Love your illustration as well.

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