Monday, March 9, 2020

The Red Oak #SOL20


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.

6 comments:

  1. 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.

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  2. Very nice! I am honored. You did a lovely job of finding the sentiment among the words. Thank you.

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  3. Oh, what a beautiful piece! I especially love this stanza:
    whispering the words
    perseverance,
    persistence
    and the goodness of
    what life has to give

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  4. 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.

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  5. Simply 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!!!

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  6. Beautiful! I wonder what the trees would tell us. I have a 250 year old oak in my yard. She has seen a lot!

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