Poetry Friday: Mourning Dove

The March Slice of Life Story Challenge has ended so I’m trying to get back into my own blogging routine which means Poetry on Friday and Silent Sunday, photo only posts on the day thought of as either beginning or ending our week. This schedule, along with a Keto Monday post on occasion and a few extra poetry postings, has worked for me for several years – helping both my myself and my blog to grow, as I continue my journey of daily writing into my fifth year.

On Poetry Friday, the poetry I offer is original 99% of the time. I’ve always felt strange sharing a piece from a book or even from a person I know, such as my son or one of my students. I like to have permission to share creative works, and in most cases cannot said permission regarding the poetry I might want to share. I have, on a limited basis, shared poems with a credit or reference added. In these cases, it seems permissible to do so. But, still, I do it rarely.

So, what you get from me are original poems. They might not be polished or even finished. Most of them need editing for word choice, rhyme, or flow. But, I’ve been trying to avoid perfection and overthinking, so what I post, is most likely a work in progress. I’ve been going back over some of my poetry, editing, and it is slow but satisfying work.

With students, I wrote haiku, cinquain, diamante, bio-poems, and my favorite – free verse color poems. Form and word choice were stressed in the first four types of poetry, as some of them require the use of specific parts of speech. In the last case, color poems, flow was more important than rhyme and my students were always surprised when I encouraged them to write without worrying about the rhyme. It was freeing and they definitely produced some creative work without the constraint of rhyming.

Over the last year, I felt myself becoming more poetic – some weeks, more so than others, of course – but overall, I have grown as a writer and a poet. Reading poetry helps as well, and I’ve done a fair amount of that, too!

One thing is happening, however, that I really do not care for and that is waking during the night from Thursday to Friday with lines and stanza’s of poems floating in my head. I cannot seem to get back to sleep until I get up to write them down.

My starts last night were:

Friendship is a living, breathing thing that

Ebbs and flows

with waves of highs and lows.

© Carol Labuzzetta, draft, 2021.

And,

The walk is long and I feel the distance,

not on the hard calloused soles of my feet,

but in the soft beating of my heart.

© Carol Labuzzetta, draft, 2021.

And, then, this morning, I saw a mourning dove sunning themselves on the concrete border of one of our perennial flower beds.

Mourning Dove

It is a windy day, if it

were not for the sun,

oh, so warm, the

ruffling of my feathers

would send me seeking

shelter in the pines.

I sit here in the open,

hoping not to be noticed,

welcoming the sun like a lost friend.

Although, I do not see her,

the lady of this house,

I sense someone looking at me.

Staring down through the window pane

she looks to capture my image,

staring at how well I’m camouphaglaed

on the warm stone shelf.

She is waiting, I sense that, still.

I don’t move, hoping this presence I feel but

don’t see will move away.

Too afraid to coo,

too afraid to move.

But, the wind ruffles my feathers and gives me away

on this sunny April day.

© Carol Labuzzetta, draft, 2021.

Mourning Dove. © Carol Labuzzetta, 2021

This week, the poetry round up is hosted by Mary Lee at A Year of Reading. Thank you!

18 thoughts

  1. It’s nice to try to get back into a routine, isn’t it? I’m trying to keep my writing going with poetry each day this month, but, well, we’ll see. Mourning doves are a favorite of mine, but it doesn’t seem as if I hear them as much as I used to even a few years ago. Hmmm. Thanks for sharing yours this morning!

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  4. What a beautiful collection of lines. I feel like I do that too from time to time – I have a line that sticks with me, but I’m not sure quite where to place it until its requisite poem taps me on the shoulder. As for the poem you ended up with, what I like about it is the rhythm – it’s succinct, almost staccato – which strikes me as the general mood/movement of a bird. Not sure if that was your intent, but that’s what I gathered. =))

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    1. Thanks for the feedback! I did not intend the staccato but do agree with you about the movement in the bird that fits with that rhythm. Thank you for pointing it out! I need to work on the other two sets of lines….some stuff on my mind – obviously! Always love hearing your view! Thanks!

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      1. That’s the weird thing about putting our writing out there – folks find stuff we never intended in the first place!

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  6. When you start composing lines of poems and feel the need to write them down, you know you are on your way. I love how you brought the mourning dove to life. How it watched you and hoped it could just blend in.I love to hear them coo and I think their dove grey coloring is truly lovely. Good luck with your poetry. I think you are brave to share your starts and lines, but the blog is for you, you explain your plan to your readers and I say, “yay, you”!! Do what you need to hone your craft and get your poems on the paper.
    Janet Clare F.

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