Every evening after dinner, my husband and I take the puppy out for a walk. Last night my gaze was up at the sky watching small birds circle and swoop above us. I opened my Merlin bird identification app and found they were chimney swifts.
The sun was setting and coloring the clouds a deep purple and pink. After a few attempts, I captured some of these “swift” birds against the canvas of the sky.
Write a small poem today inspired by this photo. Please share it with us in the comments and respond to other writers. Thanks for being here.
A Swift Fib
Small
swifts
circle
purple sky
speckling the evening
with dazzling twittering delight
@Margaret Simon, draft
A fib poem has a syllable count that follows the Fibonacci series (1,1,2,3,5,8…)
Reflections on the Teche 
Lovely photo and Fib poem, Margaret. I especially love “speckling the evening.”
At Dusk
chimney swifts swoop
bidding the day adieu
in a purple sky
I like your word choice, especially “adieu”.
Just the right alliteration to create the mood!
“Chimney swifts swoop”—a wonderful ‘swooping’ beginning that pulled me in!
Margaret: I love your speckled evening and amusing title! Here’s my draft…
Fibonacci Fantasy
blue
cloud
ocean
giant gold-
fish lazily arcs
free as the birds in the heavens
– Karen Eastlund, draft
Oh, Karen, I wondered about that golden arc, but I couldn’t do anything with it. Yours goldfish is perfect! “free as the birds in the heaven” I love it.
Oh I love how you saw a fish in the sky!
I like your creation of an ocean image. Such imagination.
love how “blue cloud ocean” goes together.
Oh this is a lovely haiku. I, too, like your gentle alliteration and line 2 especially.
OOO I see the giant goldfish now. Wonderful Fib and poem, Karen. And my favorite is free as the birds in the heavens. I have been listening to lots of birdsong hear at my son’s house where the windows are open and the fans whir. Thank you for your kind words for me.
I love the “giant gold/fish lazily arcs”!
Margaret, your fib poem is perfect, starting out slow and easy, and then the sounds in those last two lines sound like bird calls.
Rose, I like the words “swoop” and “bidding…adieu” in your sweet poem.
I tried a quick skinny today.
Without a care in the world
freely
darting
ascending
soaring
freely
at
sunset
circling
freely
in the world, without a care
Denise, I want to show my students the skinny form. I love what you’ve done with it.
Your poem offers such a light, breezy… free feeling.
Love the skinny!
Oh, YES! Denise. I love skinny poems and I agree with Margaret. this is so interesting on multiple levels. How lucky her students to see your version!! Do you know Frog by Hoberman? One of my favorites because kids love it so. And it is a teaching poem, a tongue twister, lively. Thank you for your kind words about our Tom.
Thank you, Janet. I don’t know her “Frog” poem. I just read a similar one about fish. She was a master, wasn’t she?
Love the “sunset/circling/freely….”
Denise: The emphasis on freedom is lovely and your choice of descriptive verbs also.
A poem came to me today as we grieve our best man, Tom, my husband’s bff for over 60 years.
For Tom, dear friend and pilot, who “slipped the surly bonds of earth” a week ago now:
Destination: Eternity
In the air, a small piece of sky
You wing across in plane on high
No more to land on earthly plains
No more to see your smile again
Free to flutter, you fly high above
In starry skies embraced by love.
May God hold you close, dear Tom.
Janet Clare F.
PS Last week’s poem, Remember? written in the morning was about the place where my husband and Tom first met as campers and then staff at a YMCA sleepaway camp. We had high hopes that wonderful Tom would win his latest health battle, this time West Nile Virus, but a sudden turn happened that afternoon and now he is gone. He was a major pilot flying jumbo jets and 777s clocking over 23,000 hours in his career. And a shining light of a human.
My sympathies. Your poem honors the pilot he was. I’m glad the photo stirred you to write about Tom.
If I had to sit and write a good-bye poem I would struggle, I am sure. Your beautiful photo inspired me and I did not immediately notice the wings of those swifts. When poetry comes and I can write it is such a blessing. Luckily the covid ( side effect of meds complication) has ended. I feel fine but am on duty in Penn so taking it easy is basically required. We had 2 days of intense heat warnings to boot. But I am loving our pup and caring for him for my son’s family. I wish I was still teaching. I want to come visit your classroom!!!!! (Truth!)
Janet, I’m so sorry for your husband’s and your loss. (And all the people who loved him too.) Your poem honoring Tom is beautiful. I love the inspiration you received from the photo, and I’m imagining Tom flying “high above / In starry skies embraced by love” Beautiful.
Sorry for the loss of such a good friend and giving human. Your poem is a tribute.
Thank you, Diane, for your kind words. Somehow photos seem to spark my brain into action some days. And of course deep feelings maybe.
My brother lives in a lake, and my sister-in-law takes a sunset photo nearly every day. The photos often inspire poetry. Sunsets are an endless source of beauty, every day different.
Sorry for your loss, Janet. Your poem is such a wonderful way to honor Tom. Thank you for sharing it.
Hi Rose,
Thank you for your kind words. I wrote a comment for you Haiku but it appears to have “flown the coop”. I especially love line 2, but your gentle alliteration in line one flows. I love how your title sets the stage and this haiku can live on its own. Lovely. I am glad to have some time to write of late. Hope it continues. I love this blog and group and writing to photos. Thanks all and especially Margaret.
A lovely poem and tribute to a dear friend. Thank you for sharing, Janet.
So sorry for your loss, Janet. Lovely poem…
Those puppy walks are good for the humans, too, with so many things to see. A purple sky speckled with twittering delight! Very delightful!
What a beautiful image, Margaret. the first lines set the stage, and the last two lines take us flying!