free form poetry – Colleen Keller Breuning

Water Lilies

Water Lilies

Late
summer
pale blue skies

Wings
flitting
dragonflies

Dew
gathers
lily blooms

Air
filling
sweet perfume

Pale
yellow
floating free

Frogs
gloating
summer spree

Sun
blazing
crystal sparks

Light
fading
into dark

Moon
beckons
rising high

Stars
twinkling
velvet night

Buds
closing
until morn

Day
ending
hope reborn

Colleen Keller Breuning © 2022
August 13, 2022

This is just a little ditty that I was playing around with that resulted in a simplistic imagery poem. It started with the title “Water Lilies” and morphed from there. The structure was the 3 line stanza composition with syllable of 1-2-3 and a rhyme scheme with the last line of two stanzas matching throughout. I couldn’t find any name for this, maybe I invented it….but I doubt it! If any of you poets out there know a term for this format, please let me know. I love experimenting with the rhyme and structure of the different poetry forms.

As always, I am truly inspired by all things in nature (as well as music)! So much beauty to behold in summer, and it’s hard to believe it is already mid-August. I guess this is my way of trying to hold onto these long, lazy summer days a little longer, or to at least have some memories to revisit during cold winter days. Enjoy the rest of your summer!

xoxo Colleen

“Time Forgotten” by Brian Crain & Rita Chepurchenko

Broken Clouds

Broken Clouds

Ashen gray clouds
hang low to the ground
a thick layer of fog
rising like dense smoke
infusing the atmosphere
with its petulant moods.

All I see is alabaster sky.
The moon has gone missing,
the sun hidden in a sempiternal stretch
of colorless stratus, dull like
a bolt of sparkly silver tulle
that has lost its shine.

And I am walking on broken clouds,
knee deep in ambivalence,
rain falling beneath my sodden feet
to the barren earth far below me.

And I thought I heard
the ocean siren call to me,
with her song of hollow promises
echoing against the crash of waves.

The seas have eluded me.
The skies have betrayed me.
The sun has ignored me.
The moon has shunned me.
The clouds have denounced me.

Where do I go now in this netherworld,
in this endless purgatory?
As twilight beckons, shades of indigo
dissipate the broken clouds.

The crescent moon glides by
with a shy smile and thin hopes,
as a vagabond wind transports me home,
an escalator to waiting distant stars.

Colleen Keller Breuning © 2022
January 13, 2022

This idea for this poem was sparked in the Atlanta airport on a recent trip to Florida. As we were walking through the terminal to make our connection, the current weather board sign caught my eye. It simply stated, “Broken Clouds,” and I immediately knew I would write about it. It stuck with me as I scribble scrabbled some words, listening to mood music on our final flight to Florida. It was very cloudy, foggy with a bit of rain and yes…. broken clouds everywhere.

Then this stayed dormant in my notebook due to work commitments, until I finalized it last night. It morphed into this mood piece, after two rainy, gloomy winter days of editing.

Funny how the writing process can be. It’s been a while since I wrote consistently due to travel, holidays and work. I feel out of practice and intend to get back into my weekly writing routine. It is a form of therapy, and I sure do miss it when I can’t find the time to write! Stay warm, everyone.

xoxo
Colleen

Mood: Cloudy
Inspiration: “River of Rain” by Jami Sieber