Happy Poetry Friday! Thank you, Linda Mitchell for hosting at A Word Edgewise. Be sure to stop by and check out what she has in store for us.
I’ve been writing more but, like others, am sometimes frustrated that it takes some much time between the glimmer of an idea and a poem you would consider sharing. It’s never clear when it’s too early to ask others to read it. In the last two weeks I’ve tried to write a poem comparing water to the imagination. When poet Kwame Alexander offered photos to use as a prompt on NPR several months ago, one was a picture of the ocean. I began to think about how water extends to the edges of what contains it. It stayed with me. So here’s a poem that I wrote this week.
IMAGINATION
It flows like water.
Shimmers to the sand and sedges,
from the depths to the edges.
If you ride the ocean in a sail boat
you’ll see the yellow sun,
and blue skies.
but for more, dive in,
explore the abyss,
or you will miss
the bioluminescent lanternfish,
and the four-foot giant clam,
or the palace of a god called Yam.
© Janice Scully 2020
It’s wonderful to learn something through poetry. For instance, writing this I learned that there is a god in the Canaanite Pantheon named Yam. He presides over the chaos and power of the sea and has a palace in the abyss. Imagine that! Of course, you would have to.
I discovered that poet and writer Eve Merriam (1916-1992) who was the daughter of Russian immigrants, imagined the edge of the earth in her poem Landscape. Below is an excerpt. Catherine Flynn posted this poem on her blog, Reading to the Core, on March 15, 2019 and you can read the entire poem here.
LANDSCAPE
BY Eve Merriam (2nd of 2 stanzas)
What will there be at the rim of the earth?
A Mollusc,
a mammal,
a new creature’s birth?
Eternal sunrise,
immortal sleep,
or cars piled up in a rusty heap?
I hope everyone is staying well and that those around you are wearing their masks. I went on a short hike at a state park in New York this week, and though it was great being out, I’m not totally comfortable passing people on a trail even in a face mask. Have a great weekend.
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Good Morning Janice. I love to research. It’s part of the fun of writing. Oh, the paths I’ve gotten lost on when writing a poem. I do love your line, “but for more, dive in,” You take us further in the imagination journey. Nice!
I love that your ‘Imagination’ poem has a current of the unexpected, like a god called Yam. Who knew? Thanks for sharing an excerpt from Merriam’s poem and a link to the whole thing. I missed seeing it on Catherine’s blog in March. 🙂
Your poem leads me on an ocean adventure. I learned something, too.
Your “Imagination” poem is delightful, loved the underwater adventure you took us on! Thanks for Eve Merriam’s poem too, I hope we find more of nature’s wonders than the excess cars.
I love it when the title is part of the poem! Your first three lines (after the title-line) are my favorites. We need all the imagination we can muster right now — for problem-solving and for escape.
I love your invitation to dive deeper into the abyss of imagination. It’s not empty, but full of wonders! (I’m a fan of Merriam, too!) Thanks, Janice :>)
I thought a god called Yam was part of your call to imagination — I learning something new today. 🙂 I enjoyed the rhythm and rhyme of this.