Submissions for TINYWORDS 19.2 and a Writing Prompt
Olivier Schopfer’s poem “sunlight on a crow’s wings” closed out another issue of TINYWORDS. Now is your chance. The submission window for TINYWORDS 19.2 opened on August 1.
The entire month of August is the time to send us your small poems or brief haibun for the new issue of TINYWORDS 19.2. We have already received quite a few submissions. Thank you.
Sending work to TINYWORDS is a simple two-step process. Just check out our Guidelines?and click on the?Submissions Page from Aug. 1 through Aug. 31, 2019. One month window, as usual.
To keep things interesting while we work on the new issue, we present a photo in search of a poem. This image of an abandoned church in a field is the current challenge. Why not pen a tiny original poem or two in response to this glimpse of the past or is it present or maybe future? Leave your best efforts in the comment box below and the TINYWORDS editorial team will share the best of the best in TINYWORDS 19.2, due out in late September 2019.
Thanks again for dropping by. We look forward to reading what you have?to say.
August 11th, 2019 at 3:12 pm
abandoned church —
ghosts watch over
the harvest
August 11th, 2019 at 3:26 pm
abandoned church
withered prayers lost
in a dying field
Adelaide B. Shaw
August 11th, 2019 at 3:28 pm
childhood home
my tricycle tracks
still draw a circle
August 11th, 2019 at 3:33 pm
abandoned church
withered prayers lost
in a dying field
August 11th, 2019 at 3:35 pm
All returns to earth.
What seeds we plant,
Grow the spirit.
August 11th, 2019 at 3:37 pm
A secret church
enfolded in green
Grows the spirit.
August 11th, 2019 at 3:43 pm
fertile clouds
on cornfield contrails
the signatures
of neither gods nor aliens
August 11th, 2019 at 3:48 pm
in withered corn
the straight lines
of the cross
August 11th, 2019 at 3:54 pm
even here
in the middle of nowhere
salvation
August 11th, 2019 at 4:00 pm
dried corn stalks
lead to the door
with religion no more ??
August 11th, 2019 at 4:06 pm
circles in the grass
around and around the sound
of a silent bell
August 11th, 2019 at 4:06 pm
maize maze
a child rings
the harvest bell
August 11th, 2019 at 4:06 pm
stale church
graces the old cornfield
as the sun sets~~~?
August 11th, 2019 at 4:08 pm
the echo
of many prayers
a witch hunt
August 11th, 2019 at 4:13 pm
Whoever made these crop circles
left behind
an old church
August 11th, 2019 at 4:13 pm
even here
in the middle of nowhere
fake news
August 11th, 2019 at 4:18 pm
empty church
on an Iowa farm
ears of corn
August 11th, 2019 at 4:25 pm
maize festival
a familiar ring
in the campfire pot
August 11th, 2019 at 4:29 pm
a narrow path
finally an opening
from darkness
August 11th, 2019 at 4:36 pm
still standing
holiness within an
unbroken circle
August 11th, 2019 at 4:36 pm
beside an old church
the path
of least resistance
August 11th, 2019 at 4:40 pm
Autumn corn crowns the
fields. Golden light. No peasants
in this kingdom.
August 11th, 2019 at 4:44 pm
in the middle
of nowhere
once upon a time
August 11th, 2019 at 4:45 pm
Bell tower pokes sky
To spring a leak for brown grass
— working together
August 11th, 2019 at 4:51 pm
unsung melody
a few dried seeds
in the beggar’s pot
August 11th, 2019 at 4:57 pm
still circling
my childhood beliefs
autumn wind
August 12th, 2019 at 2:38 am
nailed it.
September 20th, 2019 at 10:09 am
You were right. :-)
August 11th, 2019 at 5:01 pm
forgotten church
a prayer book
gathers dust
August 11th, 2019 at 5:04 pm
ghost moon
the wind turns the pages
in the hymn book
August 11th, 2019 at 5:05 pm
food
over
abandoned faith
August 11th, 2019 at 5:09 pm
circling around and around
no answers or clues
so I departed
August 11th, 2019 at 5:22 pm
weddings
funerals
still praying for rain
August 11th, 2019 at 5:24 pm
forgotten church
a prayer book
gathering dust
August 11th, 2019 at 5:44 pm
circling the old church
a maize of questions
that have no answers
August 11th, 2019 at 5:52 pm
circling the old church
a maze of questions
that have no answers
August 11th, 2019 at 6:24 pm
abandoned church
only the shadow in grass tracks
August 11th, 2019 at 6:28 pm
prairie dusk
the tumbledown church
leans into it
August 11th, 2019 at 6:47 pm
the heartland
all around it
vacant church
August 11th, 2019 at 7:31 pm
withered country church
surrounded by godforsaken stalks
worshippers left tracts
August 11th, 2019 at 7:34 pm
God
so loved the world
tundra
homage to haiku poet Cor van den Heuvel
August 12th, 2019 at 3:36 am
sweet. strong. perfect.
August 11th, 2019 at 10:01 pm
step outside
your door
a harvest awaits
August 11th, 2019 at 11:13 pm
abandoned
faith
in a maize field
August 11th, 2019 at 11:17 pm
the field
without flowers
the church empty
August 11th, 2019 at 11:24 pm
on pilgrimage –
a soaring eagle above
the rustle of prayer
August 12th, 2019 at 1:23 am
wasteland…
in the church belfry
a whistling wind
August 12th, 2019 at 1:43 am
sundown’s flower
a child becomes mother
becomes griever
Alan Summers
August 12th, 2019 at 2:01 am
loneliness
the place
we build a home
August 12th, 2019 at 2:18 am
a crow's nest –
on holy ground –
I have no time to pray
August 12th, 2019 at 2:24 am
dumped by a lover
I tell the cloud instead
it wasn’t me
Alan Summers
August 12th, 2019 at 2:43 am
at the epicentre a church
August 12th, 2019 at 3:15 am
restless wind
at ease in the object of
my affections
August 12th, 2019 at 3:16 am
church ruin
the weeds whisper
in the pews
August 12th, 2019 at 3:20 am
taking refuge
within —
harvest mice
August 12th, 2019 at 3:25 am
cicada shell
interconnected with
the emptiness
August 12th, 2019 at 3:29 am
abandoned church
a wild weed blooms
on the altar
August 12th, 2019 at 3:29 am
last stand
wondering where
the pub was
August 12th, 2019 at 3:35 am
Thanksgiving
on the bedside table
a Gideon bible
August 12th, 2019 at 3:35 am
all heaven stirs within.
ineffable.
August 12th, 2019 at 4:11 am
circling again
the path
of history
Peggy Hale Bilbro
August 12th, 2019 at 5:25 am
faith
without a tractor
intractable
August 12th, 2019 at 8:13 am
stubble field
the prosperity gospel
no one's buying
August 12th, 2019 at 10:07 am
country church
cross breeding
faith
August 12th, 2019 at 10:40 am
pink sundown sky
late light on the field
the church's wall still warm
August 12th, 2019 at 10:59 am
abandoned church
still filled with prayers
waiting to be answered
August 12th, 2019 at 11:15 am
August wedding
a double ring
ceremony
August 12th, 2019 at 11:32 am
many years later
struggling to find the beliefs
I abandoned
August 12th, 2019 at 11:33 am
the emptiness
of prayers
unanswered
August 12th, 2019 at 12:23 pm
empty
the hymns remain
in the people
August 12th, 2019 at 1:03 pm
plainchant
the offerings
of burnt clay
August 12th, 2019 at 1:25 pm
long abandoned church
the face of a prophet
in peeling paint
August 12th, 2019 at 2:25 pm
searching for God…
down the path without
an end
August 12th, 2019 at 2:57 pm
with all the whys
and wherefores
cornfield church
August 12th, 2019 at 5:36 pm
a child’s toy chapel
decaying in gorse
the child now a man
August 12th, 2019 at 6:01 pm
a child’s toy chapel
decaying amid the gorse
the child now a man
August 12th, 2019 at 9:24 pm
failed marriage
the bells remain
silent
August 13th, 2019 at 12:18 am
the lengths we go to for redemption
August 13th, 2019 at 12:41 am
behind the clock a draft
August 13th, 2019 at 12:59 am
Out of left field
Barefoot
Damned LEGO
August 13th, 2019 at 2:08 am
ash wednesday
dirt devils skip across
old church road
August 13th, 2019 at 4:20 am
in grandpa's field
our family history
continues to grow
August 13th, 2019 at 4:28 am
Once filled with humansong
Now with birdsong…
The old church
August 13th, 2019 at 5:09 am
to
the belfry
and beyond
August 20th, 2019 at 5:55 am
Helen – hahahahaha!
marion
August 20th, 2019 at 7:09 am
Cheers, Marion!
August 13th, 2019 at 5:29 am
Once
You could find
The crucifix there;
Now – a bird's nest…
Abandoned church
August 13th, 2019 at 9:33 am
finding a path
out of loneliness
and memories of my past
August 13th, 2019 at 10:36 am
cornstalks
where the parishioners once sat
all ears
August 13th, 2019 at 10:54 am
abandoned church
in the middle
of a crop circle . .
will the worshippers
ever return?
August 13th, 2019 at 3:00 pm
abandoned church –
we still sing in praise
of the Lord
August 13th, 2019 at 5:49 pm
farmhouse church
the withering and greening
of our faith
August 13th, 2019 at 10:45 pm
how many prayers
still echo silently
from these forsaken walls?
August 14th, 2019 at 12:08 am
beyond the burning bush
August 14th, 2019 at 4:26 am
miracle—
encircled by my loneliness
you find me
August 14th, 2019 at 4:57 am
small talk
a congregation of birds
in the belfry
August 14th, 2019 at 5:11 am
rapture…
the sky
almost clear
August 14th, 2019 at 5:14 am
so many
different circles
in the field of life
keeping them all straight
the faith
August 14th, 2019 at 8:56 am
inside the circle
hallowed ground still green
frozen time
August 14th, 2019 at 9:14 am
his last job
covering the debt
for mankind
August 14th, 2019 at 6:37 pm
found church
the new settlers
plant around it
August 14th, 2019 at 6:40 pm
prodigal daughter
I circle Father's house
again and again
scattering these seeds
of poems
August 14th, 2019 at 10:46 pm
a mission
to save mankind
left in its tracks
August 15th, 2019 at 4:58 am
bells are ringing
even the old stairs
smell festive
August 15th, 2019 at 12:00 pm
Grass grooved from
grieving girls who left;
I circle back
but can?t enter quietly
August 16th, 2019 at 9:43 am
around and around
the abandoned church
path without end
August 16th, 2019 at 11:38 am
a cross
in the horizon
someone i used to know
August 16th, 2019 at 12:15 pm
halo sun
the young sing hallelujah
into the night
August 16th, 2019 at 12:56 pm
toy chapel waiting
for the boy who left it there
he is now a man
August 16th, 2019 at 6:05 pm
Ogallala corn
steeple without a prayer
hoping for rainbows
August 16th, 2019 at 6:07 pm
Scarecrow sanctuary
last relic of communion
Bots farm the prairie
August 17th, 2019 at 2:57 am
circling around
to futile issues …
empty soul
August 17th, 2019 at 2:59 am
ghost church …
a circle of fears
in my mind
August 17th, 2019 at 8:22 am
wind rumors?
an abandoned church?
empty vessel
August 17th, 2019 at 6:43 pm
abandoned church
an old rugged cross
atop the steeple
August 17th, 2019 at 6:45 pm
abandoned church
bird song
lifts the rafters
August 18th, 2019 at 8:36 am
a thread of telephone line
pulling the past
over the horizon
August 18th, 2019 at 2:07 pm
homophonic
church music
of the birds
August 18th, 2019 at 3:11 pm
where people
once worshipped
families of mice
August 18th, 2019 at 10:43 pm
helter skelter
left on the fence
a tattered mat
August 19th, 2019 at 6:05 am
at the bottom of the tank a monument to man
August 20th, 2019 at 6:00 am
organ base notes
the wind still cries
Mary
August 20th, 2019 at 6:02 am
strange stillness . . .
so many believe
in crop circles
August 20th, 2019 at 6:04 am
old scarecrow field stubble becomes a small mouse
August 20th, 2019 at 7:04 am
unharvested-
all those prayers
swirling around
August 20th, 2019 at 10:30 am
GMO's
monoculture–what price
for these sins?
August 20th, 2019 at 10:36 am
under His eye
the round-about ways
of errant priests
August 21st, 2019 at 6:44 pm
a timeless power
our ancestor's prayers
infuse sacred land
August 22nd, 2019 at 6:58 am
stained glass window
she asks what year
god was born
August 22nd, 2019 at 8:09 pm
415 ppm
the Anasazi, too
prayed for rain
August 22nd, 2019 at 10:57 pm
the crop still bowing to the Holy Ghost
August 25th, 2019 at 6:53 am
cornfield
its endless tasseling
with the sky
August 25th, 2019 at 12:55 pm
a sound
from heaven
church in the field
August 27th, 2019 at 9:11 am
Crop circle church
Aliens meet God
No one knows
August 27th, 2019 at 4:06 pm
only the sky
attends
this old church
only wild grass
to whisper
a prayer
who but birds
sing
in the choir?
August 28th, 2019 at 11:05 pm
layer by layer
a sermon
losing track
August 29th, 2019 at 1:53 am
desolate church
woodworms nibbling
olden confessions
August 29th, 2019 at 1:54 am
stuttering
I save my confession
for the casket
August 30th, 2019 at 10:30 am
something in the grass
tracks toward infinity—
church waits in silence
August 30th, 2019 at 5:26 pm
two crosses mark emphemeral architecture, entombed among corn
and cornflower blue sky and
crumbling to eternity.
August 30th, 2019 at 5:53 pm
left behind
in a crop circle
an empty church
August 30th, 2019 at 5:55 pm
in a whorl of earth sky a hollow church
August 30th, 2019 at 6:12 pm
dropping popcorn he mutters jesus
August 30th, 2019 at 6:14 pm
hallowed ground a sea of corn
August 30th, 2019 at 6:17 pm
almost overgrown temple food for thought
August 30th, 2019 at 6:21 pm
all prays for rain this little church my heart
August 30th, 2019 at 9:15 pm
eroded motte
bailey of weeds –
faith reaching for heaven
August 30th, 2019 at 9:26 pm
always the doubter
even a photo of the church
seems fabricated
August 30th, 2019 at 9:43 pm
in a whorl of earthsky a hollow church
August 30th, 2019 at 10:21 pm
eroded motte
bailey of weeds-
faith still reaching for heaven
September 13th, 2019 at 4:59 am
anonymity-
the entire sky balanced
atop a steeple
September 13th, 2019 at 7:33 am
season
after season
circling the field
cultivating
his faith
September 25th, 2019 at 5:28 am
reminding dreams?—
the one that is
life
August 27th, 2020 at 2:38 pm
lost in the labyrinth
of modern life
desperate souls
seek shelter
in abandoned churches
October 10th, 2020 at 11:30 am
shepherd’s dismay
the gathered flocks
seek only corn
August 9th, 2021 at 7:26 am
inside out
prayers to the saint of lost things
flying with crows
September 24th, 2022 at 9:26 am
climate change
yet another
un-answered prayer
December 18th, 2023 at 7:54 pm
amazing grace
how sweet the scent
of harvest