Roots And Branches
A poetry challenge using an adapted ghazal form
Roots and Branches Challenge:
The Prompt - Write a poem about roots and branches, what grounds you and what carries you forward.
For this challenge, we’re asking you to think about what grounds you and what pushes you forward. Roots and branches are one way to imagine it: where you come from, what keeps you steady, and how you keep growing.
Your poem might stay close to the earth, grounded in memory, family, or tradition. Or it might stretch outward, imagining growth, change, and possibility. Both directions matter, and the tension between them can give the poem its shape.
Love My Years Of Recovery
Love my years of recovery. It brought tears, the discovery.
Before there was relief was abuse. I was told belief in God to use.
Twenty-four years of suffering. There were some jeers, longsuffering.
It's important to be grounded. Wearing skirts for me, well-founded.
Grounding happens in many ways. Find your people opens your days.
Connection to Mother Earth is good. Sheets are grounded in adulthood.
John, a person in recovery. Ripples to son, a discovery
~~~~
Authors Note: This is a modified ghazal form for this poem. I found recovery at age 24, my culture talks of being grounded with Mother Earth. Our son in recovery sent us a gift of sheets that are grounded to the earth. He said it helps him after a day of physical work, and he thought it may help with our aged aches and pains.
About the Creator
Denise E Lindquist
I am married with 7 children, 28 grands, and 13 great-grandchildren. I am a culture consultant part-time. I write A Poem a Day in February for 8 years now. I wrote 4 - 50,000 word stories in NaNoWriMo. I write on Vocal/Medium daily.
Keep reading
More stories from Denise E Lindquist and writers in Poets and other communities.
A Letter To My First Love
The Prompt - Write a poem on endings, using flame or fire as your central image. This is the final challenge in our Vocal+ Fall Poetry Series, and it’s all about endings. Flames fade, fires burn out, and what remains is ash, memory, or the promise of something new. Your poem might take fire as destruction, as warmth, as memory, or as transformation. However you approach it, let the flame guide you to what it means to reach an ending, whether it arrives with silence or with a burst of light. Write like you are watching the last fire fade.
By Denise E Lindquistabout a month ago in Poets
Comments (2)
I wish everyone good health. The roots of trees and our own roots are very important for healing. :))
Oh wow, this was brilliant. Loved your take on this challenge!