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Tuesday, April 9, 2013

Words Count with Mama Zen, for Day 9

The title of this post might have rhymed nicely if it had waited until tomorrow, but time, tide and poem-a-day challenges wait for no one. So we won't have:
Now day ten
with Mama Zen
who tells us when
to stop.
60 words
she says today
60 words
is tops.

Too bad, I might have enjoyed that. But Day 9 it is.

Instead of waiting until tomorrow for our rhyming pleasure, Mama Zen got all googly and found the amazing color drawings of Maria Sibylla Merian, an artist and naturalist who, probably to the shock and horror of her contemporaries, traveled from Amsterdam to Suriname, South America in 1699, unchaperoned except by her young daughter.
MZ offers us four illustrations from Metamorphosis Insectorum Surinamensium, from which to choose for our poems of yes, 60 words or less.

Anyone familiar with the Imaginary Garden with Real Toads will realize Mama Zen is the queen bee of brevity. That lady can pack more real meaning into 50 or 60 words than I can into pages of rambling, meandering, frivolous nonsense. Hard to believe, I know, but very true.


hello, said the caterpillar
to the moth
I’ll look like you one day
I eat these leaves
and then cocoon
for weeks
of beauty treatment.
you might not see
when I emerge
or you might —
if you aren’t
eaten by a bird


 43 words by Kay Davies, April 9, 2013




wow, said the butterfly to the bee
how differently aerodynamic are we:
my wings are large,
my body small
while you look like you
should not fly at all.

29 words by Kay Davies, April 9, 2013

15 comments:

Marian said...

so great, i can imagine this conversation continuing all day!

Ellecee said...

These are sweet,,,a gentle take on today's interesting prompt,,

Kerry O'Connor said...

What I loved most about these particular pictures was her graphic representation of the metamorphosis, as the pictures include caterpillar, cocoon or pupae and moth or butterfly. Your poem has captured that process and warned that it is often times interrupted.

Susan said...

You earned your grin today, my friend, with this whimsy! Might we be so truthful in the human world?

Maude Lynn said...

Kay, these are just delightful!

Helen said...

Kay, I love these conversations you have made us privy to ... delightful.

LLM Calling said...

they're both great but the second one I.really love

Jenn Jilks said...

Time is short, isn't it? The more I am retired...
I have to work on this.
Choir practice calls.
cheerio

Hannah said...

Your dialogue between insects makes me smile and I love your sense of humor in the second one, I agree!! lol!

Fireblossom said...

These are a delight. Beauty treatment! I love it.

Unknown said...

I am sure we would hear these things if we but stopped and listened!

Jo said...

Dearest Kay, this conversation is so cute. I could sit and watch your caterpillar and moth all day! Hugs Jo

Margaret said...

Like fables, witty words with gorgeous imagery! I really enjoyed this post of yours.

Herotomost said...

Haaa!!! she is the queen of hard hitting brevity, I agree. And your take on her prompt (the pics are really amazing)is just perfect. Great writing Kay!!!!

Anonymous said...

Kay, you did beautiful things with not one, but two pix in the prompt. I have fallen in love with the illustrator, just as I fell in love with Audubon's depictions of birds. THanks so much, Amy