Tag Archives: National Poetry Writing Month

End of 2K14 National Poetry Month

This poem was written in January for the Month of Poetry 2014 and shared on Kathryn Apel’s blog at katswhiskers.wordpress.com. I dedicate it now to poets everywhere.

Flaming Candles

So Long, farewell,
goodbye, my friends.
Remember!
Keep the
candles of poetry
flaming.
If by chance, they
smolder
do not be discouraged.
Bring them back
to brilliance
with words
only you can create.

© Freeda Baker Nichols

Free To Those Who Qualify

Oh, how I wanted a streamlined rocket ship
like Luke and Patty bought in ‘fifty-three!
Or one like Sam and Kay took on their trip
in Space where the Stars and Stripes wave free.
They traded in their shiny hover cars
for spacecraft well equipped with window view.
They rocketed to Moon and then to Mars,
did not invite me, left me here to stew.
Today, I smile and preen with pride of heart.
I got a raise, but friends are very few–
those few and I began to break apart.
We had a spat on Solar Avenue.
They needed dough to fix their rocket’s deck.
Their nerve! They asked me for my Welfare check!

 

© 2014 Freeda Baker Nichols

Embed from Getty Images

What Shall I Write?

Poetry Month is winding down
and there is ink left in my pen.
What shall I write on this fair day–
a day that will not come again.

A story tall, only half-way true,
an essay, a novel, or a travelogue?
Should I document my recent trip
or write about my little lost dog?

I never know what will emerge
from the pen I hold within my hand.
My hope is that my work will please
all the kind folk in reader-land.

© 2014 Freeda Baker Nichols

Remembering a Great Poet

This is one of the poems by the late poet, Mary Harper Sowell. She was a dear friend as well as a cousin to me. We attended many poetry workshops as members of Poets’ Roundtable of Arkansas. From her, I learned how to write sonnets as well as many other poetry patterns. She was the queen of iambic pentameter. This one is the Miltonic Sonnet.

OZARK ROOTS

by Mary Harper Sowell

Old Tree, with thickened limb and gnarled root,
We are so much alike. There’s no mistake
Our stubborn Ozark roots grow deep and make
Our faith that God protects us resolute.
From watching you I have become astute.
You’ve taught me how to bend and not to break
When ill winds cause my feeble limbs to ache
Through storm succeeding storm in quick pursuit.
I feel affinity with you today.
I see our sapling children gathered near
Where you are standing, tall and proud and strong.
When I am gone I know that you will stay,
Enriching lives of my descendants here
With sheltering arms and sermons in your song.

oak

 

 

 

For Etheree

Words
spoken
with kindness,
memorial
to beauty and faith
of one who yearned to leave
this world a better place than
when she arrived summers ago.
Her laughter sounded so clearly that
her poetry cushioned the calloused hearts.

© 2014 Freeda Baker Nichols

An Etheree pattern, posted here in memory of poet, Etheree Armstrong.

bird