Writing prompt for tinywords 17.1
A mainstay of haiku and much of short form poetry is seeing the extraordinary in the ordinary. This issue?s writing prompt features the interaction of charged particles with atoms in the upper atmosphere (that’s the textbook definition). But we know them as the aurora borealis, or the northern lights. For those who have seen the aurora borealis in person there certainly is an element of the other-worldly going on. Some form of natural magic. Or maybe you see something else. Let us know in a poem. We invite you to put your best inspired efforts in the comment box below. We?ll select the best of the best to start the next issue of tinywords, due out in mid-March.
Keep in mind, we will continue to accept regular submissions for the next issue (issue 17.1) through the end of February at our Submit page.
Thanks for dropping by and for sharing your poems.
All best,
February 20th, 2017 at 5:48 pm
too long for haiku
aurora borealis
poems in motion
February 20th, 2017 at 5:49 pm
the last star
straight into morning
kingfisher dreams
February 20th, 2017 at 5:50 pm
clouds of breath
a stranger in the night
feeding swans
February 20th, 2017 at 5:50 pm
taking the blues
out of this goodbye
winter river
February 27th, 2017 at 1:02 am
how beautiful
February 27th, 2017 at 1:40 am
Thank you! That's extremely kind. Britain certainly has a long winter.
warmest regards,
Alan
February 20th, 2017 at 5:52 pm
shifting, surreal forms
light dancing across the sky
hints of higher planes
February 20th, 2017 at 5:55 pm
popsicle picnic
grandmothers whisper
over our heads
February 20th, 2017 at 5:56 pm
particle leap in collision damp on pine
February 20th, 2017 at 5:57 pm
above the forest
northern lights ripple
greenlighting space
February 21st, 2017 at 2:12 am
Nice! See mine?
February 20th, 2017 at 6:01 pm
fingerpainting
in the sky
February 20th, 2017 at 6:02 pm
dancing with
charged particles
aurora
February 20th, 2017 at 6:04 pm
Beyond reach
My grandchilds
Paint box
February 21st, 2017 at 5:51 am
distant memory –
in the northern lights
the Big Dipper
February 21st, 2017 at 3:38 pm
great image!
February 20th, 2017 at 6:05 pm
northern lights
a boy makes a ladder
out of his telescope
Alan Summers
Publication Credit: Blithe Spirit 24.3 (August 2014); Scope (Fellowship of Writers, Queensland) April 2015 volume 61 no 3
February 20th, 2017 at 6:52 pm
YES Alan, wonderful! And a response…
arriving –
the constellation
in slow motion
February 21st, 2017 at 2:16 am
Thank you!
Ah, yes, the constellations a constant wonder for many of us. :-)
ursa major
a plane's navigation lights
leave the system
Alan Summers
Publication credit: Asahi Shimbun, Japan (September 2016)
February 21st, 2017 at 5:21 am
starlight –
she receives her eyes
in her womb
February 21st, 2017 at 5:50 am
It's amazing what the human goes through in the womb. And how we are made up of so many things including stardust. :-)
February 20th, 2017 at 6:06 pm
another blind date aurora borealis
February 20th, 2017 at 6:12 pm
Late winter trip north
Sky like a bruised eye all day
Too early for lights
February 20th, 2017 at 6:15 pm
Above the treetops
Red Yellow Green draperies
Frame heaven's proscenium
February 20th, 2017 at 6:15 pm
Batting the window
Shut out like gnats in summer
Strange shadows within
February 20th, 2017 at 6:17 pm
Distress
bad water
death
February 20th, 2017 at 6:21 pm
his finger traces
the pattern of my bruise
…northern lights
February 20th, 2017 at 6:24 pm
in the end we go
our separate ways…
northern lights
February 20th, 2017 at 6:30 pm
after our first kiss
aurora borealis
against a black sky
February 20th, 2017 at 6:31 pm
sky colours…
a kingfisher's call
moves in the forest
February 20th, 2017 at 6:41 pm
skyward
within pine needles
cricket song
February 20th, 2017 at 6:42 pm
graffiti splatters spirit
spray paint space
aura marks matter
February 20th, 2017 at 6:48 pm
northern lights
the forgiveness of sleep
dreams pale jade
February 20th, 2017 at 6:48 pm
lush brushed sky
tears in my eye
a long slow sigh
February 20th, 2017 at 6:53 pm
looking up
from our screens
we feel small
February 20th, 2017 at 6:53 pm
mischievous midnight
raids the cosmic crayons…
green and red missing
February 20th, 2017 at 6:53 pm
needles and branches
zing alive
reaching for color
February 20th, 2017 at 6:54 pm
shimmering sky
what a promise
might look like
February 20th, 2017 at 6:54 pm
stars are falling out of your pocket
February 20th, 2017 at 7:06 pm
Green and red
heave almighty
across a lint
speckled sky
February 20th, 2017 at 7:10 pm
a candy sky
we taste a hint
of something unseen
February 20th, 2017 at 7:12 pm
Sealing up my eyes
against the city's sharp gaze
I thought of the woods
February 20th, 2017 at 7:20 pm
aurora borealis
once again
only a photograph
February 20th, 2017 at 7:21 pm
Just when you thought
Everything was black and white-
Aurora borealis
February 20th, 2017 at 7:33 pm
ah yes…beautiful
February 20th, 2017 at 9:37 pm
Yes! Attended a lecture tonight on brain science… your synthesis is applicable in so many ways.
February 21st, 2017 at 9:04 am
my favourite
February 21st, 2017 at 1:13 pm
Love this!
February 23rd, 2017 at 9:27 am
a new hope :-)
February 20th, 2017 at 7:23 pm
Extraterrestrial visitors
dally at the edge
of our senses
February 20th, 2017 at 7:24 pm
Aurora borealis –
We are but guests at
The great cosmic soiree
February 20th, 2017 at 7:25 pm
On this cold winter
night warmed to the core by the
fires in the sky
February 20th, 2017 at 7:26 pm
out of darkness
bright fringes of heaven
astonish
February 20th, 2017 at 7:29 pm
Aurora Borealis-
the only gift I bring to
this party is my awe
February 20th, 2017 at 7:30 pm
a sonata in
soundless waves of light–
aurora borealis
February 20th, 2017 at 7:31 pm
we and the trees
stretch up toward the lights
fall quiet
February 20th, 2017 at 7:34 pm
Trees reaching
to the sun's bright shadow . . .
winter night
Imagining
the cold wind on my face
frost flowers
February 20th, 2017 at 7:40 pm
fragile
yet clear
the ultimate dream
February 20th, 2017 at 7:40 pm
wondering…
did Van Gogh ever see
the Northern Lights?
February 20th, 2017 at 9:08 pm
I love that question.
February 20th, 2017 at 7:42 pm
This wild world
Whispers
Over the damned
February 20th, 2017 at 7:44 pm
mystic skies amid
tree-filled horizons-
imbue ghostly grace
February 20th, 2017 at 7:46 pm
when I was a boy…
did I see the Northern Lights
or was it a dream?
February 21st, 2017 at 4:12 am
dreams are still alive
:-)
February 20th, 2017 at 7:52 pm
The sky loves the forest
it reflects its beauty back
and everything is twice a good
February 20th, 2017 at 8:00 pm
the Aurora forms
a benediction for
all live below
February 20th, 2017 at 8:38 pm
__ While watching the Northern Lights, seers may imagine the light's rhythm is the guide of their pulse. _m
lights throb
above this north forest strand
the seers pulse
February 20th, 2017 at 8:43 pm
aurora borealis . . .
beyond any
words
February 20th, 2017 at 8:48 pm
peace be with you
spirit of the north
blesses our world
February 20th, 2017 at 8:53 pm
jade buddha
the aurora plays
in the upper atmosphere
February 20th, 2017 at 8:58 pm
cat's eye
slipping into the swirls
of a marble
-Marianne Paul
February 20th, 2017 at 9:00 pm
Ethereal hijab
hovers over night forest
tresses
February 20th, 2017 at 9:00 pm
the lives of trees
daylight
nightlight
February 20th, 2017 at 9:08 pm
spectrums of light
explode in the air
above our heads
February 20th, 2017 at 9:10 pm
that's not okay
call
someone
February 20th, 2017 at 9:11 pm
Chlorophyll absorbs
aurora skyglow. These trees
know more than you think.
February 20th, 2017 at 9:53 pm
Lights of heaven
contain
all colors.
February 20th, 2017 at 10:18 pm
skyfire
somebody else's war
not mine
February 20th, 2017 at 10:30 pm
heaven's path …
an old spirit
lights the torch
February 20th, 2017 at 10:30 pm
Only if
I could see you
aurora borealis
February 20th, 2017 at 10:31 pm
spirit dance …
the light in a dead
deer's eye
February 27th, 2017 at 1:03 am
stunning
February 27th, 2017 at 8:29 pm
Thank you!
February 20th, 2017 at 11:04 pm
eventide muse bows
silent rogue audience sways
starlit rainbows throb
February 20th, 2017 at 11:15 pm
another
butterfly
in heaven
February 20th, 2017 at 11:27 pm
ancestor spirits
the child throws chalk dust
into the night
February 21st, 2017 at 3:40 pm
love this one, too
February 20th, 2017 at 11:30 pm
aurora owl
feathered night wings
silent
February 21st, 2017 at 3:40 pm
image I can see…
February 20th, 2017 at 11:47 pm
nirvana . . .
one strand of color
at a time
February 20th, 2017 at 11:53 pm
kaleidoscope . . .
if only the evergreens
would sway
February 21st, 2017 at 12:01 am
northern sky
the road diverges
without a sound
February 21st, 2017 at 5:41 am
ancient thought –
a fiddlehead fern
unfolds
February 21st, 2017 at 12:21 am
the giraffes neck
so long peeks
stripping the leaves
camouflaged in the northern light
as trees take climb
the heights of the sky
escape
escape
the illusion
February 21st, 2017 at 12:23 am
incandescent sky
beyond the trees that shed the snow
near Rovaniemi
February 21st, 2017 at 12:30 am
Silent light show
Absolutely free
cosmic weather
as predictable
as grace
February 21st, 2017 at 12:35 am
Alcohol
And blotter acid
Fuels the liquid sky
February 21st, 2017 at 12:47 am
God IS real , far now
Rubber band magnet pings, free
Radicals alive
February 21st, 2017 at 12:49 am
aurora in the sky –
may be message from
the future …
February 21st, 2017 at 12:55 am
enigma
from the heaven
aurora
February 21st, 2017 at 1:01 am
colors of life
our sky reminds them –
aurora
February 21st, 2017 at 2:11 am
even heralded by greens, reds and yellows
have they arrived?
empty forest
February 21st, 2017 at 3:31 am
children's coloring book
the colored spots exceed
all the bounds
February 21st, 2017 at 3:39 am
star-gazing
within Salome's
seven veils
February 21st, 2017 at 4:01 am
sublime sonata
Beethoven would have
penned the notes
February 21st, 2017 at 4:29 am
northern dawn
the artist's paintbox
overflowing
February 21st, 2017 at 4:39 am
northern lights
God's
fireworks
February 21st, 2017 at 4:47 am
aurora
in light of all
that's happened
February 21st, 2017 at 5:03 am
north wind
the sparks of the bonfire
rise to the sky
February 21st, 2017 at 5:05 am
my late night
mystery caller
Northern Lights
March 12th, 2017 at 3:35 pm
a wonderful sense of an untold story here
as if the speaker awoke to the phone ringing.
Was it a wrong number? dead air? static?
and looking up perhaps a bigger mystery revealed . . .
February 21st, 2017 at 5:40 am
the curtain
comes down on the final act…
night of stars
February 21st, 2017 at 5:41 am
graveyard shift
a trucker’s ham radio
crackles to life
February 21st, 2017 at 5:50 am
her musical ecstasy
highlights strings of
a springing beauty _
February 21st, 2017 at 6:31 am
the mirror transformed
I find myself
lost in luminescence
February 21st, 2017 at 6:34 am
glowing emerald
night time river in the sky
enchantment above
February 21st, 2017 at 6:41 am
northern lights
the sound of pines
on the ridge
February 21st, 2017 at 6:46 am
silence of stars
an ethereal dream
of iced green tea
February 21st, 2017 at 6:56 am
mystical air
at the edge of sky
winter pines
February 21st, 2017 at 7:08 am
Silent pines
limbs reach upward
Worship Aurora
February 21st, 2017 at 7:11 am
spiral dance
the swirling skirt
of a lenten rose
February 21st, 2017 at 7:20 am
northern lights
a child runs screaming
from the ghost train
February 21st, 2017 at 7:39 am
red, yellow, green sky
over towering pines.
a firefly blinks
February 22nd, 2017 at 3:25 pm
your last line, so exquisite
February 21st, 2017 at 8:17 am
northern lights
the many colors
of my bucket list
February 21st, 2017 at 8:43 am
open windows
what dreams may waft in
on the breeze
February 21st, 2017 at 8:45 am
my dowsing wand
dips downward
aurora borealis
February 21st, 2017 at 9:02 am
tree phantoms
warning of blight
February 21st, 2017 at 9:10 am
smeary mirror
reflecting
evening breeze
February 21st, 2017 at 9:13 am
page of dreams
a child and I
color the night sky
February 21st, 2017 at 9:13 am
heaven
made manifest
northern lights
February 21st, 2017 at 9:14 am
northern lights…
the lingering wisps
of last night's dream
February 21st, 2017 at 9:29 am
Message from the gods
ephemeral, transformative
majestic Northern Lights
February 21st, 2017 at 9:44 am
into the mystic
I dream beyond
the veil
February 21st, 2017 at 9:46 am
my dowsing wand
dips earthward
aurora borealis
February 21st, 2017 at 9:52 am
Other worldly
Our nightlight symphony
Aurora Borealis
February 21st, 2017 at 10:03 am
A dream and hope so far away, a promise of peace for us all one day.
February 21st, 2017 at 10:28 am
Northern Lights…
in the beginning
was no word
i open my mouth
and leave it at that
February 21st, 2017 at 10:37 am
very nice interpretation
February 22nd, 2017 at 2:35 am
Thanks
February 21st, 2017 at 10:31 am
soothing night breezes
worlds energy flies by
lay back absorb time
February 21st, 2017 at 10:32 am
beyond black and white . . . Aurora
February 21st, 2017 at 10:38 am
white pine woods
basking in starlight
rainbow aurora
February 21st, 2017 at 10:39 am
The Patience of a Terraformer
Waiting on stern glaciers
to fashion fjords from granite;
genera to flower, fruit;
the aurora-abiding longmind
composes luminous veils of sky.
Mountains rise. The garden grows.
February 21st, 2017 at 11:00 am
translucent colors
highlighting skywards
in lucid textures.
February 21st, 2017 at 11:14 am
OR
Other worldly
Our starlit symphony
Aurora Borealis
February 21st, 2017 at 11:24 am
standing trees
they keep their innocence
amidst the commotion
February 21st, 2017 at 11:33 am
arboreal
the dreams of trees
above our heads
February 21st, 2017 at 12:05 pm
the forest trees
backlit by coldest fires
northern lights
February 21st, 2017 at 12:08 pm
midwinter
ribbons of aurora
u n f u r l i n g
we tie up the loose ends
of our divergent lives
cattails, January 2015
February 21st, 2017 at 12:14 pm
solstice
the northern lights
shape-shift
over frozen prairie
I curl my hand into yours
More Grows in a Crooked Row, Tanka Conversations, Inkling Press 2016
February 21st, 2017 at 12:15 pm
(found poem from Kate Lyon’s 2/202017 message from Manitoba)
green dancing
with bits of pink
a blizzard coming
February 21st, 2017 at 12:16 pm
the brilliance
of New Year's fireworks
at forty below
the colder it gets
the warmer we are
Neon Graffiti, Tanka Poetry of Urban Life, 2016
February 21st, 2017 at 12:24 pm
winter sky
memories among the stars
rocket ice cream pop
February 21st, 2017 at 12:41 pm
winter stillness . . .
time again
to rotate my tires
February 21st, 2017 at 12:46 pm
Aurora's last dance frost garden
February 21st, 2017 at 1:01 pm
Please change the spelling in my final line to ether rather than eather…typo….Thanks
February 21st, 2017 at 1:01 pm
space invaders
?coloring outside the lines?
northern lights?
February 21st, 2017 at 1:14 pm
looking up
at the light
in the dark
February 21st, 2017 at 1:33 pm
In this sacred time
Earth and sky beckon each other
Aureal delight
February 21st, 2017 at 1:54 pm
Somewhere over
the rainbow bridge
February 21st, 2017 at 2:01 pm
aurora …
once again the Earth rejoices
without us
February 21st, 2017 at 3:25 pm
the height
of my grandmother's shawl
Northern Lights
February 21st, 2017 at 3:37 pm
warm shifting colors
sensuous shifting shapes
we love again again
February 21st, 2017 at 3:56 pm
angel wings
I worship
the sky
February 21st, 2017 at 4:05 pm
not
in so many words
northern lights
February 21st, 2017 at 4:07 pm
if i didn't
know better
northern lights
February 21st, 2017 at 4:28 pm
luces del norte
cantan la alabanza
de su gloria
February 21st, 2017 at 4:48 pm
Bach's Magnificat
the forest rapt
in silence
February 21st, 2017 at 6:07 pm
dream remnants
in morning sky
the swans cry
February 21st, 2017 at 6:32 pm
clearing the air
between us
a sweep of pines
February 21st, 2017 at 6:37 pm
Edge of Alaska
I'm watching the TV show dedicated to a bunch of people settled in the abandoned miners' town McCarthy, isolated from the whole world during the long winter. When asked about their motives, some of them mention the unspeakable beauty of a wild nature, or a chance to prove themselves in the struggle for survival. But above all they treasure the seclusion, when there's not a soul for miles around, no need to talk to anybody, and one can live upon his own rules.
I find it strange that someone needed to get to such a wilderness to achieve it. Alaska is all around us. The light years of loneliness, deep snow-white banks of silence, depleted resources, a signal lost in the vast ether.
smoky saloon –
a glimpse of northern lights
in the empty glass
February 21st, 2017 at 9:10 pm
aurora borealis greener treetops
February 21st, 2017 at 10:06 pm
star night
the eyes of a stray cat
isn't from here
February 21st, 2017 at 11:49 pm
the trees
the turning
the kaleidoscope sky
February 21st, 2017 at 11:50 pm
now saffron
and scarlet
the sky remembers itself
February 21st, 2017 at 11:51 pm
trees bow
to the beaming spindrift sky
February 21st, 2017 at 11:52 pm
cinnabar citrine new-green
evening
February 22nd, 2017 at 12:52 am
night lights
in a Star-Child's
nursery
February 22nd, 2017 at 4:15 am
of this
I am sure
time and space
February 22nd, 2017 at 5:19 am
forged in ice
and auroral light,
the Snow Queen's
crown of creation
February 22nd, 2017 at 5:22 am
Imagination turned into reality
Bright colours spread everywhere
Spread far and wide
Like painting on a canvas.
Everyone is taken by surprise
Everyone has got the same question in mind
Definitely what's this?
Nothing else, but it's aurora borealis.
February 22nd, 2017 at 5:46 am
brilliant brain
flying high in colors
reaches sky space..
February 22nd, 2017 at 6:21 am
aurora borealis
crème de menthe
on the rocks
February 22nd, 2017 at 6:47 am
light streams
in the darkness
coloring my life
February 22nd, 2017 at 6:52 am
gleams on the blade ~
the fallen vikings' names
sound like aurora
February 22nd, 2017 at 11:09 am
my daughter paints the sky
her magic show for all
belle surreal
February 22nd, 2017 at 11:27 am
shimmers of night sky neurons
these neon strands of thought
skip, skittering and fluttering
as if sun, a primal and collective love
were surging across the cold
through windswept drapes
February 22nd, 2017 at 12:06 pm
a child colors
our imagination—
aurora borealis
February 22nd, 2017 at 12:38 pm
they new it was coming
the trees gathered
by the hundreds
February 23rd, 2017 at 6:38 am
oops. spell check did it to me again. "new" should be "knew". I re-posted a corrected version.
February 22nd, 2017 at 3:10 pm
aurora borealis
the man with an iPhone
finally looks up
February 22nd, 2017 at 3:21 pm
sky models
nature's latest fashions —
trees watch the show
February 22nd, 2017 at 3:22 pm
stars playing dress-up…
look at ME!
February 22nd, 2017 at 7:58 pm
imaginary numbers i swerve like the rest
February 22nd, 2017 at 9:14 pm
eye sockets weep…
an ancient mammoth
out of melt-water
February 22nd, 2017 at 9:46 pm
shimmering above
those old ice-floe hunters
curtains of mystery
how many more millennia before we
truly know the ways of Earth and sky
February 23rd, 2017 at 3:36 am
the science
of gossamer
northern lights
February 23rd, 2017 at 3:47 am
The spaceship landing
A prism of stars and light
We run from praying
February 23rd, 2017 at 6:32 am
they knew it was coming
the trees gathered
by the hundreds
February 23rd, 2017 at 6:38 am
color blind the wind whistles
February 23rd, 2017 at 8:30 am
Aurora
dancing in the lights
this urge
to skip with you
my darling
February 23rd, 2017 at 9:25 am
gurgles
through the baby monitor
winter solstice
February 23rd, 2017 at 10:56 am
morning's palette
shatters my dream
sky ablaze
February 23rd, 2017 at 2:51 pm
breastfeeding
his eyes discover mine
aurora borealis
February 23rd, 2017 at 4:47 pm
Arctic Lights Carnival
Charged Particle Popcorn
Greenish Glow Sodas
Ride the Solar Wind
Frozen Fun House
Crazy Coronas
Geomagnetic Storm Alerts
Sled Dod Parking
February 23rd, 2017 at 5:48 pm
winter breeze bent with color
frozen sheets hum
beneath a pin-cushion sky
February 24th, 2017 at 2:08 am
northern lights
my laptop jumps
to screensaver
February 24th, 2017 at 3:03 am
dark night
of heated words evaporate
colors of forgiving
February 24th, 2017 at 8:14 am
northern lights
those moments
when we know
February 24th, 2017 at 11:02 am
cold borealis flames in his eyes —
I and the wolf look at each other
turn and go our own ways
February 24th, 2017 at 9:24 pm
gobsmacked
coloured flares cruise
the freezing night
February 24th, 2017 at 10:42 pm
angels
in flight
…alleluia!
February 24th, 2017 at 11:58 pm
this ain't no disco
yet the sky
is dancing through your hair
February 25th, 2017 at 7:07 am
swamped in tar
scientists seek words
for skylight
February 25th, 2017 at 8:32 am
northern lights
an autistic child shapes
meaning out of words
February 25th, 2017 at 9:27 am
windswept
his sermon to be
existential
February 25th, 2017 at 9:55 am
solar wind
her last breath
joins the fray
February 25th, 2017 at 8:53 pm
northern lights
she wants to hear the fairy tale
over again
*
northern lights
she weaves herself
into the fairy tale
February 25th, 2017 at 8:57 pm
northern lights
she reads the fairy tale
over again
February 25th, 2017 at 11:39 pm
You
Falling on me
February 26th, 2017 at 3:19 am
mixing the palette
with brighter hues…
heartbreak
February 26th, 2017 at 6:30 am
northern lights–
an early god
in the mountain's face
February 26th, 2017 at 1:39 pm
electric night
I am as restless
as the sky
February 26th, 2017 at 4:35 pm
northern lights take me
beyond words, beyond myself
beyond my being
February 26th, 2017 at 5:04 pm
the curtains flutter …
northern lights touch
one another
February 27th, 2017 at 12:11 am
empyreal bridge
a solar winds' coarse caress
mercy from malice
February 27th, 2017 at 1:01 am
Tracing the shafts of light
making their way in through the
blinds of my mistakes
February 27th, 2017 at 12:57 pm
as if the sky
will soon sing a song-
aurora borealis
February 27th, 2017 at 12:58 pm
one more reason
to look at the sky-
aurora borealis
February 28th, 2017 at 3:25 am
viewing northern lights
is also
a pain in the neck
(after Soin)
February 28th, 2017 at 4:18 am
early morning
the neighbour's lights
still flickering
the colours of disco or
some kind of devotion
February 28th, 2017 at 8:48 am
forcing
my way into your dreams
northern lights
February 28th, 2017 at 12:24 pm
sighing
an orgiastic sky
fans out all the cards
February 28th, 2017 at 7:58 pm
childhood in Iceland
the aurora borealis
pulsing in my veins
March 2nd, 2017 at 12:10 pm
black out
filling the empty room
northern lights
March 18th, 2017 at 8:28 am
ether rains
whets the appetite–
shadowlands
March 19th, 2017 at 9:44 am
The aurora borealis –
Greetings from space
Of the unspoken
March 19th, 2017 at 10:29 pm
all the tea
in China, spills
from this cup