Earlier in the month, I read a slice by a fellow slicer, Dee A. Robb, whose writing was filled with beautiful words. As I was reading them, I began to picture and form a poem in my mind. With permission, I have written a found poem using her words to tell the story of a 200-year-old red oak. These words are not mine; I have only repurposed them. You can find the original post here at Can I Get Back To You?
The red oak
still
standing proudly
in the corner of the pasture
weathering decades
of drought, storms
and prairie fires
weeping tears of sorrow
from the civil war
enduring the turn of two centuries
surviving the despair
of the great depression
and the wars of the world
whispering the words
perseverance,
persistence
and the goodness of
what life has to give
still
it remains
a solid sentinel
Please join Two Writing Teachers and the annual Slice of Life March Challenge.
This is awesome! I also think it would be a great activity to do with kids--create a companion piece from informational writing. Pulling out the important stuff to create a poem that would also, in a way, summarize information.
ReplyDeleteVery nice! I am honored. You did a lovely job of finding the sentiment among the words. Thank you.
ReplyDeleteOh, what a beautiful piece! I especially love this stanza:
ReplyDeletewhispering the words
perseverance,
persistence
and the goodness of
what life has to give
This is gorgeous, Leigh Anne. I can't wait to read the piece that inspired this. Love the red oak "whispering the words." So many stories to tell, I'm sure.
ReplyDeleteSimply gorgeous. "Repurposing" words is what we do every day as writers. Sometimes more directly like this amazing found poem, but unless we are creating our own lexicon we are repurposing every word ever written everyday! This is so inspiring!!!
ReplyDeleteBeautiful! I wonder what the trees would tell us. I have a 250 year old oak in my yard. She has seen a lot!
ReplyDelete