Last week I was inspired by Denise at Dare to Care to write an IN ONE WORD poem. You can find out more about it here in a post from April Halprin Wayland.
The backstory:
This week the full harvest moon lit up the sky! Also visible were Jupiter and Saturn, and in my area, a plethora of stars – more stars than I had seen in a while. I don’t use the word “plethora” much either in spoken or written form, but it’s what came to me when I looked at that sky. In addition to the stars, there was a plethora of beauty, wonder, and awe. So I decided to use “plethora” for my poem.
The process:
I used Wordmaker to find 282 words from “plethora.” From there, I chose thirty that I liked, then narrowed that list to fifteen, and ended up using ten of those. Since this was my first time trying out the form, I decided to keep the words at the end of the line as in the original rules, although April suggests acceptable variations. I did make one variation, adding an “s” to “pearl.”
Cosmic Jewels
High above the earth
the harvest moon is an opal—
glistening on a dewy late summer rose petal,
lighting the path of a scurrying animal hero.
Jupiter and Saturn, those planet pearls,
play their part
in the cosmic opera,
inspiring this poet
to find words of hope
in her heart.
Laura has the Poetry Friday round up today, so I hope you head on over for more poetry inspiration and fun.
Imagine the Possibilities 
Your words of hope are touching my heart, Rose. I loved the moon so bright and clear. It is so much easier to see the moon here in Virginia. In my Long Island neighborhood, we had many old, tall trees blocking our view. Great title!
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Thanks, Carol! Last week’s night sky was certainly a treat.
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I am sad to say that clouds moved in, preventing this sight, Rose. Thank you for bringing it to us in your poem. A “cosmic opera” is a lovely way to share it. I hear the music!
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Thanks for reading, Linda.
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Oh, that opal moon! I can tell you had fun with this. Yay!
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Thanks, Irene!
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Wow! I love all the metaphors–and the hero reference to constellations. This is lovely. We had the full moon plus Jupiter and Saturn, too. Not so much on the plethora of stars, but I’m glad to have your poem lighting the sky :>)
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This is beautiful Rose! I love thinking of the planets as opals and pearls. Thanks for sharing this today!
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I love your interpretation of the “cosmic opera!”
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Oh, Rose, splendid! I love the way it sounds. Each of the words are beautiful–opal, pearl, opera, hope, heart. Plethora has a plethora of beautiful words to populate your poem. This is gorgeous!
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Thanks, Denise! And thanks for the inspiration.
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Who would have thought plethora would contain so many words – a plethora, in fact! (I’m sure by Saturday afternoon I’m not the first person to say that…) I love your results – I think I should try this prompt myself! Ruth, thereisnosuchthingasagodforsakentown.blogspot.com
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The sky has been super amazing this week. I think I need to check out this poetry challenge. Opal and pearl are among my favorites.
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Hi Rose, I circled back to Laura’s blog to find your link. It looks like our Thursday Writing Sprint paid off? Your poem is beautiful; it allowed me to enjoy the plethora of stars with you!
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Thanks so much! I appreciate you reading and commenting. Hope to see you again on Thursdays.
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When we used to spend time at a camp on the Fingerlakes in NY, there were always so many stars and your poem reminded me of that. It felt like a “cosmic opera.” A sky full of stars is inspirational, putting you in touch with the whole universe.
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