“Eclipsing Rainbows” and other poetic responses to last Wednesday’s prompt


LAST WEDNESDAY’S WRITING PROMPT May 3, 2017 asked “How does wild nature make you feel at the very core of your being? Tell us in prose, poem or even photography.” Below are the works share by other poets in response to this prompt. Thanks to Renee, Sonjia, Colin and Paul for good reading.

Enjoy!


Eclipsing Rainbows

There are moments of clarity drenched in a soul’s peace
where everything is an eclipse of brilliant rainbows
and becoming is like being mirrored images in lakes
where coral reefs are arms cradling infinite oceans
whereupon mountain rising islands are pristine views
touched only by Galapagos creatures of uniqueness

entering into a communion devoid of ritualistic cups
and eyesight becomes like those raptors’ rapturous quest
to make the flight over the highest of mountain ranges
like child’s play when there is a vision to fly along
and wings are the freedom of song birds a narrative song
in chorus with insects accompanied by frogs croaking

perceiving the world in a field of flowers engaging in
the mystery of becoming seeds under dark brown earth
and pushing up toward the brilliance of mother sun to
sprout into every conceivable bloom with stamen covered
with the sweetest of nectar drawing hummingbirds for
their respite and insects unknowing a pollination of life

© 2017,  Renee Espriu (Renee Just Turtle Flight)


::aside::

i cannot live through
stagnant water,
i need oxygene
to survive this life,

to swim in clear
utter glory,
natures sweetest potion,
float among lilied notions

and live readily.

rancid pools a bitter
marriage make,
yellow scum upriver,
comes down reminding
sleepless nights
and half remembering.

running water or amnesia?

© 2017, Sonja Benskin Mesher (Sonja Benskin Mesher, RCA)


just how is it

that you suddenly feel an urge
to reach for pen & notebook
to record some Great Thought?

some itch of the brain –
grumble of neurons:
the remembering of rolling a little ball of snow
around a winter lawn till it becomes
impossible to manage the times
when you looked up at the night sky
to locate Orion’s Belt

Niord’s horn sounding
over all the bent forest winds
to come to this place here & now
where the river flows in & out
all day & night

moment for picking up
the thread of things once more
making a knot in time

Colin Blundell (Colin Blundell.com)


As I Dive

I make the world.
Become young and lithe.

Turn from bird
to fish, from fish

to a water’s swerve
I am feathered water,

dots and dashes curve
in ash black and flame white

rippled negative sunlight
ribbons over

sleek and sheen,
I swallow pike, perch,

trout, and bass.
An underwater ember.

I clamber on shore
as lumpen land.

I put on years.
My paddles in the wrong

place. They waddle my weight,
a loon. I give birth

clumsily, mumble
a tremolo, yodel,

wail, and hoot
across the waters,

call-up-a-storm.

*******
Let Me Dive Quick White

turbulent eddies,
preen copious oil,

wild silver flows easily
over streamlined
strong legs and feet

pinion rocks under and above.

All black, but for a white bib:
a dinner suit with white

serviette draped from the collar,
dine fresh meat river.

Don’t give me stillness:
stagnant, silent, dead.

Give me bright, loud, lively lilt
so muscle winged and flaps over

closed nostrils, eyelids feather
submerge, strong short bill

tumbles pebbles, sorts meat course
morsels,

momentum immerses
into maelstrom,

barely make wake,

splash in flight,
Rock jump

float on belly,
wings spread like oars.

Revel.

*******

© Paul Brookes (The Wombwell Rainbow)


THE WORDPLAY SHOP: books, tools and supplies for poets, writers and readers


We continue with the current recommended read: On Tyranny: Twenty Lessons from the Twentieth Century by Timothy Snyder. Left, right or center – American or not – it’s a must read.

LESSON SEVENTEEN, Listen for Dangerous Words. Be alert to the use of words extremism and terrorism. Be alive to the fatal notions of emergency and exception. Be angry about treacherous use of patriotic vocabulary.” Prof. Snyder,  On Tyranny, Twenty Lessons from the Twentieth Century

Three Intrepid Poets in Response to Last Wednesday’s Writing Prompt

Last Wednesday’s Writing Prompt was Eve’s Apologetic.

Ocean Current of Life

Knowledge is like that of a strong ocean current
undulating through the movement of life
& can be accessed of books, of people
or held tight in a Pandora’s box

our need to know like the curiosity of a cat
hoping that understanding will follow
& fall into place like that of
a lost puzzle piece

completing the picture of endless possibilities
it is the chord binding us all together
& can be a solace in understanding
or pose queries in knowing

© March 2017 Renee Espriu

c796b9e96120fdf0ce6f8637fa73483cRENEE ESPRIU (Renee Just Turtle Flight) is a busy poet and artist. She’s the only other person I’ve ever met whose totem is Turtle (hence the title of her blog), an earthy symbol. Poetry is one of the more perfect vocations for a Turtle. Renee’s bio is HERE.


day 7 .

while all around is broken, shall we mend

and tidy this little bit.

shall we change the linen, white and clean.

lean toward a better place round us, start again?

shall i sleep , stay quiet and try to understand

some things, knowing i will never know it all.

shall i love thee not in any biblical sense,

for our minds have changed irrevocably.

click here and you will find some meaning

at least.

i have started a new pattern, using a plainer

stitch for strength and stability.

#bear.

© Sonjia Benskin Mesher

sonjabenskinmesher2011Sonja Benskin Mesher‘s (sonja-benskin-mesher.net) is a woman of many talents including Asemic Writing. You’ll find samples of her Asemic Writing by rummaging around HERE. Sonja’s bio is HERE.


Would It Were That Easy

to know what each breath brings
and what it takes away.

to guess what ground your feet
falls upon, and how safe it is.

to hear another’s hidden half
and hold it close to your own.

to taste a new fragrance, but still
have faith in your old senses.

to inhale new knowledge
and not be afraid to lose it
when you breathe it out.

to know easiness does not come
easy and needs to settle in.

© Paul Brookes

unnamedPAUL BROOKES (The Wombwell Rainbow).  A prodigious writer, Paul has held many day jobs, but still he poems on. Bravo, Paul! His bio is HERE.


The recommended read for this week is Elizabeth Bishop: A Miracle for Breakfast by Pulitzer Prize winning Megan Marshall who studied with Bishop at Harvard. This biography is richly spun,  energetic, engaging and even inspirational despite the breathtaking depth of Bishop’s losses, her sense of marginalization and her head-long push into alcoholism. Indeed, some of the inspiration comes because with all her loses, Bishop managed to hold poetry tight. Her poems were for her a charm “against the loneliness they often expressed.” The book covers Bishop’s relationships with other poets and her romantic interests, the last was for me the singular wearisome downside, much overrided though by the book’s pleasures and values. It is laced with Marshall’s own stories and together the lives of these two bare witness to the power of words to give shape, sense and meaning to life. We come away with a strong sense of Elizabeth Bishop, one of America’s most extraordinary poets. A page-turner. A must read or everyone who loves and writes poetry.

By shopping at Amazon through The Word Play Shop and using the book links embedded in posts, you help to support the maintenance of this site. Thank you! (Some book links will just lead to info about the book or poet/author and not to Amazon.)

The WordPlay Shop offers books and other tools especially selected for poets and writers.

THE WORDPLAY SHOP: books, tools and supplies for poets, writers and readers

LITERATURE AND FICTION oo Editor’s Picks oo Award Winners oo NY Times Best Sellers