Today I begin my annual tradition of writing a poem a day based on the prompts from Write Better Poetry (Robert Lee Brwer's blog on the Writer's Digest website) and Maureen Thorson's NaPoWriMo. Today's prompts from those two sources are, respectively: (1) Write a "seed" poem, and (2) write a tanka. (A tanka, of course, is a sort of expanded haiku, with a traditional syllable structure of 5-7-5, and an additional stanza of 7-7.)
I recently visited the New York Botanical Gardens for a spectacular orchid exhibit, and I learned from one of the conservatory staff that orchids are extremely hard to grow from seeds. They are tiny and do not contain their own nutrients, unlike most other seeds, so they must "find" the ideal conditions to germinate. This usually involves a symbiotic relationship with certain fungi in the soil. They are also extremely hard to germinate at home on in a greenhouse, often requiring laboratory conditions to succeed. (It's actually easier to "clone" an orchid than to germinate one, and most orchids sold to retail markets are cloned plants.) Anyway, I boiled down these fascinating facts into a tanka:
the odds against survival
astronomical
a perfect, fragile flower
2 comments:
Bruce, this is gorgeous. So informative and the tanka, previous. Oh yes, and that photo. The color is mesmerizing. Thanks for sharing.
it is just so... so lovely
Post a Comment