Category: Friday Fun Poetry Challenge

My Ideal Partner: How I Met, Married, and Cared for the Man I Loved Despite Debilitating Odds

Friday Fun Poetry Challenge: Discipline and Purpose (Synonyms Only)

This feature was created by Colleen Chesebro. This week, she encourages poets to choose their own words. Recently when I went out for Chinese food, I ended up with a fortune cookie that said, “You have good discipline and a sense of purpose.” I was thus inspired to use synonyms of “discipline” and “purpose.” In the following etheree poem, I used “persistence” and “field of study.” You can click on the title to hear me read it.

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WRITING WITH PERSISTENCE

my field

of study,

I’ve learned to craft

works that mean something

to those who will read them.

This has long ago given

My life a sense of clear meaning.

Inspired by love, sadness, hope, truth,

Beauty, wonder, miracles, I’ll soldier on.

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My Books

That’s Life: New and Selected Poems

How to Build a better Mousetrap: Recollections and Reflections of a Family Caregiver

We Shall Overcome

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My Other Links

Visit my website.

Friday Fun Poetry Challenge: Afraid and Grave (Synonyms Only)

This feature was created by Colleen Chesebro. This week’s words are “afraid” and “grave.” I’m giving you a two-for-one special on Tankas today. The following reflects my fear of death and my longing to be with my late husband. You’ll note that instead of “afraid,” I use “fearful,” and instead of “grave” I use “burial place.”

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Fearful of being

laid in a burial place

and never wanting

my dead body to be burned,

I am just staying alive.

Yet the one I love

Lies alone under the ground.

If I lay with him,

Oh, would we be together

in death as we were in life?

***

Author Abbie Johnson Taylor

How to Build a Better Mousetrap: Recollections and Reflections of a Family Caregiver

My Ideal Partner: How I Met, Married, and Cared for the Man I Loved Despite Debilitating Odds

Friday Fun Poetry Challenge: Haunt and Spell (synonyms only)

This feature was created by Colleen Chesebro. This week’s words are “haunt” and spell.” This was tricky because I couldn’t find any one-word synonyms for “haunt.” With Halloween approaching, for this Tanka, I settled on “visit as if a spirit,” and instead of “spell,” I’m using “aura.” It’s not exactly haunting, but it’s a portrayal of how I feel as a widow. Enjoy!

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Gone for six years now,

As if he were a spirit,

my love visits me.

I still welcome his aura

and will never let him go.

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Author Abbie Johnson Taylor

How to Build a Better Mousetrap: Recollections and Reflections of a Family Caregiver

My Ideal Partner: How I Met, Married, and Cared for the Man I Loved Despite Debilitating Odds

Friday Fun Poetry Challenge: Ghost and Hollow

This feature was created by Colleen Chesebro. Click here for guidelines. This week’s words are “ghost” and “hollow.” In celebration of my late husband’s birthday, which was yesterday, the following Tanka depicts my life without him. Because the trick of this challenge is to only use synonyms of the words, you’ll note my use of the words “spirit” and “empty.” Enjoy, and have a great day.

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His spirit with me,

Though my heart is still empty

six years after death,

I go on with life, knowing

that he’s in a better place.

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Author Abbie Johnson Taylor

How to Build a Better Mousetrap: Recollections and Reflections of a Family Caregiver

My Ideal Partner: How I Met, Married, and Cared for the Man I Loved Despite Debilitating Odds

Friday Fun Poetry Challenge: Color and Creepy

This feature was created by blogger Colleen Chesebro. Click here for guidelines. The following haiku was inspired by the dreary weather we’ve been having all week. I hope that wherever you are, unless of course you’re in the path of Hurricane Michael, your weather is brighter.

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October morning

Clouds shade sky in scary gray

Winter coming soon

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Author Abbie Johnson Taylor

How to Build a Better Mousetrap: Recollections and Reflections of a Family Caregiver

My Ideal Partner: How I Met, Married, and Cared for the Man I Loved Despite Debilitating Odds

Friday Fun Poetry Challenge: Rain and Moisture

This feature was created by blogger Coleen Chesebro. For guidelines, click here.

Since this is the first week of the month, Colleen likes to encourage poets to choose their own words. The words I chose are “autumn” and “moisture.” The poem below contains synonyms and not the words themselves.

This time, I’m using a new form of poetry called an etheree. This consists of ten lines, each containing an ascending number of syllables. You can learn more about the etheree poem here. Click this link to hear me read the poem.

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AFTER FALL RAIN

Bright

Sunlight

Streams through my

Kitchen window.

After days of rain,

I rejoice in the sun.

The few songbirds that are left

Sing their joyous welcome to fall.

When I take a walk, I see blue sky.

Fallen leaves crunch beneath my feet and cane.

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Author Abbie Johnson Taylor

How to Build a Better Mousetrap: Recollections and Reflections of a Family Caregiver

My Ideal Partner: How I Met, Married, and Cared for the Man I Loved Despite Debilitating Odds