Bay City, Poem I
San Francisco Bay. Seagulls plant themselves
near heavy metal, making tracks across a bridge.
It’s well know for its span and golden beauty.
Like a gothic cathedral, it spins toward heaven,
stops short, dips and trips to the other side.
Same story. Only the address has changed.
Bay City, Poem II
The seagulls spin and spiral and call.
They fly into the wind and over water.
Dawn catches them wings spread,
hang-gliding over ports and beaches.
© 2018, poems, Jamie Dedes; photograph courtesy of Petr Kratochvil, Public Domain Pictures.net.
WEDNESDAY WRITING PROMPT
There are many reasons why place is important to poets and writers. The reasons include not just inspiration – though that may often be primary – but also to evoke mood, to underline theme, and often even as a “character.” Write about a place you find particularly beautiful, meaningful, evocative or compelling in some way. Post your poem(s) or a link to it/them in the comments section below. If this is your first time responding to Wednesday Writing Prompt, please be sure to email a photo and brief bio to thepoetbyday@gmail.com so that you might be introduced to readers. This weekly theme-based prompt is all about exercising the writing muscle, showcasing your work and getting to know other poets. Please feel free – encouraged – to join in no matter the status of your career: novice, emerging or pro. All work shared in response to this week’s theme will be published next Tuesday.
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My first response Jamie :
#It Was The First Time #
It was the first time
I was there
It was the first time
I felt his touch on my shoulders
Bay of Bengal :gazed at me with its profound look
With its stories untold for years immemorial
With its beach bathing under April sun
With its wavy dance dashing over boulders carving relics
It was the first time a heavenly child on a horse threw a celestial smile at me while passing through rocks
It was the first time he rehashed me
a statue spellbound
And it was the first time that tamarisk wood in the skyline
swayed each corner of my heart
My courage unfolded to say you -“I’m yours -just yours .”
©Kakali Das Ghosh
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the phoenix and phoenix
phoenix arizona lies
asprawl across the valley of the sun,
and that sun in summer stuns one
who is wise to heads indoors,
but the winters, mild and tasty,
bid a million phoenicians rise
and form a wing-flexing phoenix
of basking and bonhomie
and renewal.
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the phoenix and phoenix
phoenix arizona lies
asprawl across the valley of the sun,
and that sun in summer stuns one
who is wise to heads indoors,
but the winters, mild and tasty,
give a million phoeni
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Hi Jamie,
Here’s my third response:
Flinch At Cold, Cold,
sticky touch
of scaffold pole steel,
in the sunblaze,
negotiate unlashed wooden
planks of a half built brick house
opposite my Mam and Dad’s,
miss my foothold, bang my knees,
graze my elbows, dazed, brickdust gob,
lightblinded
see behind closed eyes, few years earlier,
another bright, warm summer,
my fall
fifteen feet from a branch
in a tall forest, to sharp earth,
concussed, bruised, rip
my jeans, leaf litter gob,
so mate John,
who I’ve played with
for months takes
me, where I’ve never been,
over the massive quiet
of the cricket pitch of a cut lawn
his dad’s garden,
crunch pristine, white gravel
to his big sandstone Hall,
John says “Take them off.”,
as he takes his shoes off,
I take off my forested sneakers,
through white barndoor
of a front door, smell fried onions,
pad over red tiled hallway,
into a bright, high frontroom,
bigger than our village school
assembly hall,
to a vast leather settee
and first colour tv I’ve ever seen,
looks small in the centre
of this space,
asks me to sit while his mam
fetches a warm
cup of tea in a china cup,
and asks if I want her
to fetch my mam or dad.
I say “It’s kind of you to say,
but, no. I’m ok.”
And sunblinded, sore,
bloody again, on the scaffold,
reluctant,
as mam said, “And don’t let me
catch you clambering over
that building site!”
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Hi Jamie,
Here’s my second response:
My Black Spot
A treasure island mark on a palm
for which mam says she has blankets
in the airing cupboard.
For any metal crashes
we might hear from
the busy A one.
A grey metal bridge
over the spot
I trundle my Raleigh bike
to meet with crystal set Duncan,
bright as the guards
on his new bike.
An overgrown cottage
with walls like broken teeth
and shattered windscreen glass
meets me at the footbridge bottom.
There is no blood,
only what’s left after the event.
On return footbridge
is now flyover, black spot removed.
Folk fly by too fast.
My old home is a turn off.
into village quiet.
A place folk glance at
on the way to elsewhere.
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:: wonder land ::
it was a long winter
spring came, and i went to
wonderland
finished work, drove the hill,
there before me, misted,
pink polaroid,
pointy trees,
i could not breathe
for wondering.
plas newydd, the house
of lady friends
who flew from family
to nest in looking
glass.
a world away.
breathe came,
all there was in the
whole world was this place
yesterday.
pin pointed, pinhole,
and mindfulness.
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Hi Jamie,
Here’s my first response:
Our Wombwell
sunbreaking brought bling jewels from overnight
rain, droplet tiaras/earrings trees, lampposts ankle bracelets.
On bus glimpse un netted/unblinded windows massive TVs window on window on corporate images: ogle goggle boxed.
Fresh grass laundered, barbeque wafts, rounding white clouds sky ablaze: Natural delights
cat trots downhill to bike shop. Black stringtied purse roadside. Folded bus pass at bus stop: ways home
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.home.
to live in this place,
walk down to see fish,
waterboat men, dimpling
miniscus.
rest amongst bird
song, tapping the wood.
know you have
a piece of mind,
however fleeting.
to be in this place.
sbm.
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.this place.
enjoyed waiting with you, leaning on the fence.
quietly remember you who made this place. special.
sbm.
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amazing poems. I have never seen a seagull 🙂 I wonder if they live/visit indian shores!
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A lot of people think they are just loud and dirty but I rather enjoy them. Apparently there are seagulls in India. I hope you get a chance to see them for yourself, Sharmishtha. xo https://www.tripadvisor.in/LocationPhotoDirectLink-g304554-d311667-i237839080-Gateway_of_India-Mumbai_Maharashtra.html
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Very nice ! Congratulations !
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