The Nightjar

In the U.S. we call them nighthawks but in much of the world they’re known as nightjars.  African poet, Kim Ottavi, who now lives in France, writes about the nightjars of home. Here is the poem of the week from Third Wednesday Magazine.

TheNightjar

I Have No Thoughts of Cosmological Matters – Our Poem of the Week

This week’s poem is a Triolet from M. B. Powell, a Washington poet who has three tiolets in the winter issue of Third Wednesday.  The poet’s chapbook, Lovers, Mothers, Killers, Others is published by Finishing Line Press2013.
tri·o·let
/ˈtrēələt/
noun
A poem of eight lines, rhyming abaaabab and so structured that the first line recurs as the fourth and seventh and the second as the eighth.

Photo credit:  NASA Hubble Telescope
CosmologicalMatters

The Birds of Morris Graves

Our poem of the week is an ekphrastic based on the body of work of the Northwest artist, Morris Graves (1910-2001).  The background image is “Spirit Bird”.  This poem appeared first in the Spring 2017 issue of Third Wednesday and was later reprinted in The Ekphrastic Review.  (Disclaimer – the poem’s author is one of our editors).

BirdsOfMorrisGraves

Superior

We like poems that paint a vivid picture and this one from Raymond Byrnes does exactly that.  His poem is a photograph of a stormy Lake Superior.  It’s an apt description of how quickly conditions can change on the big lake using images that are familiar to those who know the hard working inland sea.

superior

Chopin Ballade in G Minor

Our Poem of the Week by Linda Blaskey comes from the newest issue of Third Wednesday. It was an entry in our One Sentence Poetry Contest and earned an honorable mention.  A new edition of the popular contest will open for entries on February 15th.

chopinballade

Little Miracles

In our poem of the week, Gina Valdés offers this vivid description of her experiences on the roads of California with some good Samaritans who stop in their “smooth-running carcacha” to get her “not-so-smooth-running carcacha” going again.  This poem is from the just released Winter Issue of Third Wednesday.  That’s not Gina’s car in the photo but it looks like the car I see in her poem.

littlemiracles

Miles To Go

Image result for robert frostBut I have promises to keep,
And miles to go before I sleep…

Coming soon to coffee mugs and t-shirts everywhere – the copyright on Stopping By Woods On A Snowy Evening expired at midnight on January 1st, 2019. The poem was written over twenty inspired minutes in the summer of 1922 after Frost had been up all night working on a different poem that wasn’t going well.