HAPPY POETRY FRIDAY & HAPPY LAST FRIDAY OF 2023!
Welcome all, I’m happy to host this last Poetry Friday for the last Friday of 2024.
Leave your links with the gracious Mister Linky below.
The Poetry Sisters poem challenge this month was to write Elfchen poems, and many of us have been practicing throughout the month. Thanks to all the Poetry Sisters for this challenge, be sure to stop by their blogs and all the additional poetry blogs that are posting here: Tanita, Laura, Mary Lee, Liz, Sara, Tricia, Kelly, and Andi. Find more poems from this prompt tagged with #PoetryPals.
An Elfchen is a little poem that is written in 5 lines with a total of eleven words. Each line of the poem also answers a question:
1st line– 1 word––A thought, object, color, smell, or similar
2nd line– 2 words––What does your word from the first line do?
3rd line– 3 words––Where or how is the word from line one?
4th line– 4 words–– “What do you mean?”
5th line– 1 word––“Conclusion: What results from all this? What is the outcome?”
I have quite a smorgasbord of elfchen poems that I’ve been working on…
I’ve been reading Ursula K. Le Guin’s No Time to Spare, Thinking About What Matters, and truly enjoying it. She and I shared something in common, this ability to fill up all your time and not have much left over… Well, she covers quite a gamut of ground, even the ordinary become extraordinary when this wonderful wordsmith would write. One chapter is called Papa H, and I wrote an elfchen taken from this…
SENSE OF JUSTICE
Homer
mentioned by
ursula k. le guin—
war and human tragedy
eternal…
Here’s a poem for my son.
For Erik
lovingly
son’s arm
moves crane-like
capturing our warm bonds
forevermore
SPIRIT LIFTING
window
captures blooms
of winter geranium’s
over-wintering, joyful, unabashed
wonders…
poems
small yet
mighty, like people,
pack them with layered
perception.
And just for fun… cause these poems are also called Elevenie in English.
elevenie
sevenie plus
four–sounds heaveny
let your creative juices
soar…
All poems ©2023 Michelle Kogan, drafts
View a few more of my Solstice Elfchen poems from last week here.
And a little light music to ring 🎉 in the New Year… Enjoy!
Leave Your Links Here:
Michelle Kogan Illustration, Painting, & Writing 
Loved the corn song! So fun! Your elfchen poems were full of wisdom, about war, family and so much else. I’m so glad you shared your family with us. Happy New Year to you!
Glad you enjoyed all Janice! That’s 3/4 of my family, I also have a daughter and she wasn’t with us that day.
Michelle, your Elfchens were lovely, delightful, thoughtful, and thought-filled. 🙂 Thank you for sharing them! And thank you for hosting too. ❤️
Thanks Karen, I’ve enjoyed this new form!
Michelle, you not only lifted my spirits, shared your creativity with us as both a poet and artist, and hosted today’s PF Roundup. Thank you for the beauty that you presented today. you let your creative juices fly into our hearts.
Thanks Carol, Happy to have all that good energy floating around!
Michelle, a big smile on this special holiday weekend & TY for posting. I melted at your poem on your son & luv the family foto. TY for explaining this form with the charming elf name & for creating your lovely drawing & poem of the tiny feathered jeweled. XO Jan
I like the elf name too–I think it’s an invitation in many directions… And thank you too! 😌
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Michelle, thank you for sharing more elfchens. They are so fun and can be deep too. “war and human tragedy / eternal” Wow! And your son’s “crane-like” arm capturing your bond is precious. Thank you for hosting today.
Michelle, you have an Erik, and I have an Eric. 🙂 Yay for elfchens! Thanks for sharing these and the winter geranium, which I love. Happy new year! xo
Thanks for hosting us, Michelle, and for catching the elfchen bug with the poetry sisters! I have a BUNCH more written that I didn’t…they’re slightly addictive. 🙂 You said your last one was just for fun, but I think it’s your best! Gave me a giggle!
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Michelle, you are hereby crowned the Elfchen Queen. I love how you took this form and ran with it! I love that “crane-like” arm of your son. The Elfchen is such a descriptive form and that’s your jam.
Michelle, what a great post! I love all of your elfchens, and am especially partial to that hummingbird and the glory of your over-wintering geranium. Thanks so much for hosting today.
I don’t know what happened to my comment last night, Michelle, but glad I checked! I love that you wrote about your son, his ‘crane-like arms’ so loving, & the connection between poems and people! Your elfchens show that they can highlight so many topics! Thanks for hosting!
I just adore how broadly you played with this form, Michelle — and those first two poems landed especially tenderly with me. Happy new year to you — may it be poetic.
These elfchens are very more-ish, aren’t they?! They keep popping out like kernels of hot corn! (I had not heard one whisper about SHUCKED and I was briefly soooo confused about why Tiny Desk had a corn song. Thanks for the rabbit hole.) I really like the one about your lovely son, but my favorite is this one:
poems
small yet
mighty, like people,
pack them with layered
perception.
Fantastic! Thanks for hosting, and happy New Year!
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Oh, I love these elfchen poems. I especially like those “unabashed / wonders”–beautiful! Thank you for your beautiful art–a lovely surprise in the mail this week. 🙂
Thanks for hosting. I am writing from the mountains of North Georgia using words of the day in the elfchen form. How fun to play with this form. Yours are so inviting. I love the play with the word elevenie. And the warm love of a son at home. I have all of mine with me and the only word for it is JOY.
You had fun with the form, Michelle. We share something in common: sons who hug with crane like arms 😊
What a fun post, Michelle. These are great–I especially love the crane-like movement of your son! And the final elevenie one. Thank you for hosting, and Happy New Year’s!
I’ll have to try this form after reading yours here, Michelle. Thank you for the New Year’s inspiration!
Michelle, you did a great job with this form. I’ve never heard of an elfchen, but you’ve inspired me to try it. Thank you for sharing the directions for writing one. MAYBE I’ll post it next week. Happy New Year!
Thanks for hosting us, Michelle, and for the elfchens and song! You can’t help but smile when listening to Shucked 🙂
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Happy New Year, Michelle. I’m wishing you some rest and recharge for a new year of great art. I always love your combination of poetry challenges with drawings, illustration and paintings.