Writing prompt for issue 14.2
For the tinywords issue 14.2 writing prompt we?ve chosen a bench along Asilomar Beach, Pacific Grove, California. (Image courtesy of Craig.) We hope you?ll have a seat and spend a little time here inspired by the power and beauty of the surf. Let your thoughts soar with that seagull flying along the coast. Write a tiny poem or two. We invite you to add your best efforts to the comment box below.
We?ll include the stand-out poems in our forthcoming issue, tinywords 14.2, due out in early September.
Regular submissions will also continue to be accepted for the fall issue at our submission page through Friday, August 22nd.
Thanks for stopping by.
August 5th, 2014 at 10:03 am
.
.
the hunched heron
all these blue shadows
out of slow sunshine
.
.
August 7th, 2014 at 12:26 pm
"Hunched heron" is so evocative, Alan! I also like the idea of "slow sunshine".
August 7th, 2014 at 1:35 pm
Thanks Bill! I love that concentrated 'hunch' that herons have, and the lazy part of the day when the sunshine hasn't speed up quite yet during a hot Summer day. :-)
August 17th, 2014 at 5:48 am
the hunched heron
all these blue shadows
out of slow sunshine
I love the expression slow sunshine, speaks to me on a very deep level Alan. Like always you bring something new to the table.
August 17th, 2014 at 6:16 am
Thank you Paresh, that means a lot coming from you.
warm regards,
Alan
September 10th, 2014 at 8:07 am
Dear Alan, A beautiful haiku. Blessings, Ellen
September 10th, 2014 at 8:28 am
Dear Ellen,
Thank you so much for your kind and thoughtful words.
warmest regards,
Alan
August 5th, 2014 at 10:11 am
early morning light
the rusty bench
welcomes the sea spray
August 21st, 2014 at 9:17 pm
Margaret,
I always take pleasure in reading your haiku. This one, for me, subtly invokes a sense of yearning, and I can feel that sea spray and the morning light. I admire the contrasts between the light, rust, and sea spray. Beautifully rendered!
Cyndi
September 14th, 2014 at 8:30 am
Dear Margaret, How beautiful – your poem speaks of acceptance, from my view. Blessings, Ellen
August 5th, 2014 at 10:24 am
no one listens
still
the gull cries
August 5th, 2014 at 10:30 am
without a word
of goodbye
you leave us
crash of wave
on wave
August 5th, 2014 at 10:38 am
rusty bench
where my old thoughts
take flight
August 5th, 2014 at 10:40 am
his folded note
broken shells vanish
with the tide
somewhere between
loneliness and solitude
a seagull's cry
morning mist
a mood passing
through me
August 7th, 2014 at 12:25 pm
All 3 are very nice, Maureen! I particularly like the story in poem 1 and the feeling you captured in poem 2.
August 8th, 2014 at 5:35 am
Thank you so much for your kind words, Bill. And thank you for sharing your particular thoughts on those haiku. I enjoy your haiku, as well. 'Roars' is a fantastic verb choice, and your ocean reminds me of that tree falling in the forest when no one is around. :-)
August 20th, 2014 at 10:39 pm
Maureen, the three of these are powerfully poignant. Perhaps a haiku sequence forming here. Well done!
August 21st, 2014 at 6:01 am
Thank you very much for your kind words, Cyndi. And thank you for sharing your insight regarding a sequence. What a wonderful idea! :-)
With gratitude,
Maureen
September 10th, 2014 at 8:04 am
Dear Maureen, What beautiful haiku. Blessings, Ellen
September 10th, 2014 at 4:19 pm
Thank you so much for your kind words, Ellen. I enjoy your haiku, as well. And what a gorgeous bouquet of flowers on your website! :-) Take care. ~Maureen
August 5th, 2014 at 10:57 am
a lone bench watches
the distant lone cypress tree
kissed by the same mist
August 5th, 2014 at 11:37 am
I waited—
surf crashing against the shore
a lone seagull
August 5th, 2014 at 11:38 am
south wind
my sunglasses
full of ocean
August 5th, 2014 at 12:24 pm
Polona, yours is unusual image that works nicely…
here is my take on your haiku
ocean breeze
bits of sand
in her hair
August 5th, 2014 at 3:13 pm
my song
is snatched
by the sea wind
August 6th, 2014 at 9:10 am
thank you, Roberta. i like the sensuality of your haiku :)
August 7th, 2014 at 12:32 pm
In my opinion, this pairs nicely with Asni Amin's poem:
the answer
to my question …
north wind
August 8th, 2014 at 8:43 am
thanks, Bill. you may have a point there :)
August 17th, 2014 at 5:50 am
Love the gentle rhythm of this haiku. This one is like a summer vacation, timeless and universal!
August 17th, 2014 at 1:03 pm
thank you, Paresh. appreciate your opinion :-)
August 20th, 2014 at 10:41 pm
polona, I love the sense-switching going on here. Just beautiful!
August 21st, 2014 at 8:43 am
thank you, Cyndi, i'm glad it works for you.
August 5th, 2014 at 11:51 am
a still place
where the waves
boil and boom
August 5th, 2014 at 11:52 am
calm thoughts
float
on the surf
August 5th, 2014 at 12:34 pm
new waves
kissed by the same sun
Sasebo
August 5th, 2014 at 1:07 pm
surf pounding in time
with aching heart
where are you now?
August 5th, 2014 at 1:11 pm
water-washed rocks
hard as your heart
August 5th, 2014 at 1:44 pm
blue sea
becomes blue sky
a gull dives
erasing the line
to infinity
August 5th, 2014 at 2:21 pm
sea side verses keep churning
August 20th, 2014 at 10:44 pm
Yes, I can feel it. Simple and beautiful!
August 21st, 2014 at 3:21 am
Thanks Cyndi, glad you could share it.
Strider
August 5th, 2014 at 2:26 pm
empty beach thunder throws up another memory
August 5th, 2014 at 2:58 pm
your goodbye
crashing our memories
against the rocks
August 5th, 2014 at 3:05 pm
between the sand and the shriek
of the gulls you are beside me still
August 5th, 2014 at 3:13 pm
I'll sit now
ready to tell my story
to the ocean
August 5th, 2014 at 3:15 pm
salt's sting
and its alchemy
the seagull's cry
August 5th, 2014 at 3:36 pm
ocean songs
the ancient music
in our hearts
August 5th, 2014 at 6:49 pm
the answer
to my question …
north wind
August 7th, 2014 at 12:29 pm
In my opinion, this pairs nicely with Polona's poem:
south wind
my sunglasses
full of ocean
August 18th, 2014 at 6:17 am
Thank you for your kind comments, Bill!
August 17th, 2014 at 5:55 am
the answer
to my question …
north wind
There is a roar of so much unsaid in this verse, very interesting take on the photo prompt. Somehow I can picture emptiness and presence both at once here!! Nicely done Asni..
August 18th, 2014 at 6:21 am
Thank you, Paresh, for taking the time to comment on my take to the photo prompt. I like your interpretation, giving it a fresh and interesting definition.
August 5th, 2014 at 10:12 pm
cooling off I bite my lip
August 5th, 2014 at 11:28 pm
carried away . . .
her rendition
of 'Ebb Tide'
after the next wave
not even tracks . . .
chasing Sandpipers
August 6th, 2014 at 3:23 am
Calling you today…
So hard to believe that
You are not here anymore
August 6th, 2014 at 4:09 am
Mourning grief visits.
Stay awhile with me old friend.
Sea spray kisses me.
August 6th, 2014 at 9:03 am
what remains
red crabs scurry into their holes long before my footsteps reach them
we had once walked this beach separated by the width of a sea breeze watching a gull soar towards the parting clouds
sunlit surf…
a rusted bench
by the rocks
August 20th, 2014 at 10:47 pm
Great emotion captured in this haibun. Love the phrase "separated by the width of a sea breeze!"
August 20th, 2014 at 11:28 pm
Thank you Cyndi, I am glad the words reach you and strike a chord.
August 6th, 2014 at 9:05 am
warm and squishy: pink toes at home in the sand
August 6th, 2014 at 9:07 am
rock sculpture
lulled to sleep by ocean spray
humanity in repose
August 6th, 2014 at 1:23 pm
still life oil seascape
G'ma Roxie's hiding place
August 6th, 2014 at 1:46 pm
Landscape alone is the un-coder of all the days
you and I can't remember, the music,
the places we walked in the sand.
August 6th, 2014 at 2:52 pm
waves crashing on rocks
time is indifferent to
what moves, what doesn't
August 7th, 2014 at 1:21 am
Crashing waves
Infinity rediscovered
August 7th, 2014 at 1:32 am
crashing waves rockcradled into silence
August 20th, 2014 at 10:36 pm
kalaramesh, love the verb "rockcradled!" Wonderful creation of sound into silence.
August 21st, 2014 at 12:36 am
Thanks a ton, Cindy. Yes, I created that word "rockcradled" because I could see the waves being rocked by the rocks. It is a memory ku :)
i'm really happy you like it
_kala
August 7th, 2014 at 9:47 am
ocean spray
on the empty two-legged bench –
a gull flies off
August 7th, 2014 at 10:33 am
beyond the whitecaps
a deep blue place
…this wait
August 7th, 2014 at 10:52 am
daydreams interspersed
in spray, enclose me
in a bubble.
– Max Babi
August 7th, 2014 at 10:55 am
infinite sky above
eternity streching in front
– brain struggles, mind expands.
August 7th, 2014 at 10:56 am
Timeless roar of the ocean
rumbles deep in my belly
– I shut the world out.
August 7th, 2014 at 12:20 pm
deserted beach . . .
ocean roars
anyway
August 8th, 2014 at 10:18 am
water pounds rock
rock breaks wave
still the distant deep
August 8th, 2014 at 11:33 am
ocean waves
who can stop this feeling
rushing toward me
August 8th, 2014 at 3:41 pm
unseen but present
hopes broken in the waves
turned into stone
August 8th, 2014 at 5:35 pm
thoughts of you
written in the foam
I break with the waves
August 9th, 2014 at 12:19 am
Nice click :)
North Wind :)
August 9th, 2014 at 3:15 am
long shadow
bent children cupping
surf
August 9th, 2014 at 4:56 am
looking toward
my homeland
a rock in the waves
August 10th, 2014 at 11:52 am
Simple and powerful. Perfection.
August 9th, 2014 at 9:07 pm
sea spray
the rusted bench
of a thousand absences
August 10th, 2014 at 7:03 am
perhaps this version is better:
sea spray
the rusted bench seats
a thousand absences
August 20th, 2014 at 10:34 pm
Chad, oh the miracles a verb can work! This version is much better. That verb brings it alive, and I feel those absences.
August 10th, 2014 at 6:49 am
where we met
beach grasses bend
to their shadows
August 10th, 2014 at 11:54 am
Landlocked memories
of ocean spray
sustain my winter days.
August 10th, 2014 at 12:43 pm
sand and surf
the morning
notable
August 10th, 2014 at 12:46 pm
sand and surf
devotion
to the curve
August 10th, 2014 at 12:49 pm
sand and surf
their endless
commingling
August 11th, 2014 at 6:02 am
white crest…crew tip over!
salt spray…kermit plays the harmonica!
boulders behind…sun penetrates angelo's angel
seagull – cloud mimics a blackbird
at the front…turtle kimuras a monkey!
August 11th, 2014 at 6:56 am
empty bench, seaside
the sight of my proposal
rusting by the tide
August 11th, 2014 at 11:32 am
beach rock…
your memories in each
receding wave
August 12th, 2014 at 10:27 am
receding wave
shape held
by boulder
August 13th, 2014 at 9:43 am
Another take:
a boulder keeps
the shape
receding wave
August 12th, 2014 at 12:18 pm
from dawn to dusk
the dice game of waves
on the rock
sometimes a rainbow
sometimes nothing
August 13th, 2014 at 9:21 am
landscape…blue with the blues
o! seagull
the whitecaps and boulders
your feathers
mr. seagull
the wave nearest
relative
August 14th, 2014 at 7:03 am
alone
becoming
an
earth
tone
September 11th, 2014 at 6:36 am
Dear Peter, This is beautiful and a different interpretation of the photo. Blessings, Ellen
August 14th, 2014 at 8:00 am
coastal highway
stopped for a curve of beach
and the cries of gulls
September 11th, 2014 at 6:30 am
Dear Kathe, A lovely haiku. Reminds me of drives along Lake Michigan too. Blessings, Ellen
August 14th, 2014 at 8:14 am
the glitter
of waves crashing to rocky shore
I sit on the weathered bench
in mist, eyes closed
to listen to what
I once refused to hear
August 14th, 2014 at 8:35 am
rusted bench
tethered so tenuously
next to
the eternal maw
of the sea
August 15th, 2014 at 5:30 am
the last one took
her glasses–sand dissolves
beneath our toes
August 15th, 2014 at 5:56 am
whitecaps
soften the wading
of boogie boarders
August 15th, 2014 at 6:41 am
bench rust—
seagull escapes
with the salty air!
spotting a bench
exposed to salty air
a seagull nears shore
bench exposed guides a seagull close to shore
August 15th, 2014 at 7:15 am
exposure reveals bright beach & bench…seagull!
August 16th, 2014 at 10:34 am
seagulls…
he shakes the conch to
get the ocean out
August 16th, 2014 at 10:36 am
seagulls…
he shakes the conch to get
the ocean out
August 16th, 2014 at 11:15 am
love this. i might try breaking it after conch.
August 18th, 2014 at 9:25 am
Thank you Jeanie. Yes, breaking after conch might be better. I just worried about 6 syllables in l3.
:)
August 16th, 2014 at 10:10 pm
away! you in the distance gulled into believing
August 16th, 2014 at 10:27 pm
Waves come shattering,
Ears drown in weathered madness,
Seagull squawks silent
August 16th, 2014 at 10:35 pm
kiss me through the foam,
leave behind your sullen breath,
you look good in blue
August 17th, 2014 at 11:16 am
for a homeless man
this rusty bench is a bed
kept clean by the sea
August 17th, 2014 at 11:31 am
for a homeless man
a rusty bench a bed
kept clean by the sea
August 17th, 2014 at 2:12 pm
Asilomar
the sun a wink of jade
at sunset
August 17th, 2014 at 2:34 pm
crashing waves
my thoughts
colliding
August 17th, 2014 at 5:58 pm
Beside the remade sea
I shiver.
We had come to find the sun.
August 17th, 2014 at 6:22 pm
gulls:
crows in sheep's clothing
sheared by the sea
August 17th, 2014 at 6:25 pm
handful of agates
nootka roses on the wind
this far without you
August 18th, 2014 at 12:20 am
rusted bench
witness to infinite
seagulls soaring blue sky
August 18th, 2014 at 10:37 am
wind shift my thoughts skim over rough waters
August 18th, 2014 at 3:51 pm
her sigh-
half sea
and half memory
August 18th, 2014 at 11:29 pm
summer's end
a vacant bench in place
of a selfie
August 20th, 2014 at 10:51 pm
Margaret, I appreciate the truth captured here. Line 3 was unexpected and a nice surprise.
August 19th, 2014 at 7:43 am
benched –
waiting for
my love to return
August 19th, 2014 at 9:27 pm
a summers ocean
an empty bench stands witness
waves of loneliness
August 20th, 2014 at 8:52 am
weathered wooden bench
varnished with layers of
frivolous and intense contemplations
August 20th, 2014 at 8:54 am
empty bench
dusted with salt
embedded with salty stories
August 20th, 2014 at 6:17 pm
the sanding still to be done
sings to me from the rocks
August 20th, 2014 at 10:23 pm
rock shadows fall
into the waves
lost memories
last night’s party
this morning’s sea spray
against the rocks
seagull’s cry
floats on the wind
nostalgia
were you surprised
at the empty bench
for no reason
the seagull circled
and cried
August 21st, 2014 at 12:47 am
seagull spreads wings on a crown and septre
wings of a seagull
cover a septre
and crown
tail for a septre and on a king a crown
August 21st, 2014 at 5:29 am
tasting
the salt seasoned air …
my briny tears
August 21st, 2014 at 8:30 am
rocky shore
the surfer's panache
erodes
August 21st, 2014 at 1:15 pm
breaking waves . . .
leave me nothing else
to grieve about
August 21st, 2014 at 1:17 pm
breaking waves . . .
leave me nothing else
to grieve about
*sorry had to repost because I didn't type the right website
August 21st, 2014 at 10:09 pm
Above swallowing waves
and rusting benches
Jonathan Livingstone.
August 21st, 2014 at 10:23 pm
lichen-roughened angles
of a Moore-like stone
an allied work in rust
August 21st, 2014 at 10:28 pm
her monumental hip
and shoulder in repose
another bench
August 21st, 2014 at 10:37 pm
her monumental hip
and shoulder in repose
scorn an ugly bench
August 22nd, 2014 at 8:39 am
Dense condensed milk foam
on the pebbly beach.
How the lines lean
on themselves
until they are rock.
The gurgling sound
of tickled ocean palate
in your ear.
How it moans
while the tide breaks
and then
rests in the arms
of sand.
The wind
scatters
the eye
And I dissolve
into you
August 22nd, 2014 at 10:47 am
summer's end
sea spray slips between
absent hands
August 26th, 2014 at 6:46 am
Wonderful work, Theresa.
August 24th, 2014 at 10:06 pm
The ghost on the bench
Wants you to see what he sees
But the void's in the way
August 26th, 2014 at 4:20 am
his voice before the breakup thundering waves
August 28th, 2014 at 1:40 pm
benchmark
approaching
the edge
September 1st, 2014 at 2:16 pm
sea to waves to rocks
to spray to flight of seagull
September 1st, 2014 at 2:22 pm
stress
I think of the bench
across the bay
September 6th, 2014 at 12:23 am
blue sea
becomes blue sky
a gull dives
erasing the line
to infinity
September 8th, 2014 at 8:46 am
family storm–
dangerous rip tides
begin to form
getting ready
for what's not here–
hurricane season
drinking in
beautiful sunsets–
the horizon and I
September 10th, 2014 at 8:18 am
all that lives
in memory
as I read at home
September 26th, 2014 at 4:16 pm
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