sevenling (the caregiver)
because i do, and have loved you
for all these beautiful years…decades
through the best and worst, in health, in sickness…til death
vows i didn’t take lightly then
or now, as the piper comes to collect his due
i am a better person for it, because of you
exhausted, not from service, but from watching you suffer
-kat 2023 day two
Another Sevenling on this second day of 2023.
sevenling (a new year)
on the first day the sun shone bright,
clouds streamed swiftly on the azure plane
the breeze was unseasonably warm
we closed another chapter, pages
singed with loss, happy milestones, grief…
what a daunting year it was
past midnight, heartache lingers, still, there is hope
~kat 2023 day one
Why a Sevenling? Because 2023, numerologically speaking, is a Universal Year 7. And what is a sevenling?
the sevenling…
A three line stanza containing three things
A three line stanza containing three (contrasting) things
A one-line stanza that resolves or heightens the contrast
the title includes the word “sevenling” with the given title in parenthesis.
Sevenling (remember)
I remember
life before Alexa,
mobile phones and GPS
and neighborhoods,
kids playing outside
grown ups gabbing on the porch
these days we’re attached to our phones, connected to nobody
~kat
The elements of the Sevenling are:
1. a heptastich, a poem in 7 lines made up of 2 tercets followed by a single line.
2. metered at the discretion of the poet.
3. unrhymed.
4. composed with 3 complimentary images in the first tercet and 3 parallel images in the second tercet. The end line is a juxtaposed summary of the 2 parallels, a sort of “punchline”.
5. the poem should be titled “Sevenling: (first few words of poem).
Photo Courtesy of Maria Estela Avalos
a good father
loves his children
nurtures them, protects them from harm
a good father
is willing to die for them
to scale mountains, and sometimes rivers
woe to the nation who shutters their gates to goodness
(Dedicated to the good father we failed this week…Oscar Alberto Martínez Ramírez and his nearly 2-year-old daughter, Valeria.)
~kat
The elements of the Sevenling are:
1. a heptastich, a poem in 7 lines made up of 2 tercets followed by a single line.
2. metered at the discretion of the poet.
3. unrhymed.
4. composed with 3 complimentary images in the first tercet and 3 parallel images in the second tercet. The end line is a juxtaposed summary of the 2 parallels, a sort of “punchline”.
5. the poem should be titled “Sevenling: (first few words of poem).
Sevenling (whirlwinds)
whirlwinds
catch us unaware
displacing things, turning us around
the hours tick tock
another day lost to
urgency, futile pursuits, unfinished to do lists
the sweet scent of roses goes unnoticed
~kat
The elements of the Sevenling are:
1. a heptastich, a poem in 7 lines made up of 2 tercets followed by a single line.
2. metered at the discretion of the poet.
3. unrhymed.
4. composed with 3 complimentary images in the first tercet and 3 parallel images in the second tercet. The end line is a juxtaposed summary of the 2 parallels, a sort of “punchline”.
5. the poem should be titled “Sevenling: (first few words of poem).
like mercury colliding... 