Welcome to the last Poetry Friday of 2021, this week hosted by Carol Here. Thank you, Carol, for hosting! Happy Holidays to all. I for one am ready to welcome in a new year.
A couple of week ago the Poetry Princesses presented a prompt to write a poem that has to do with bells. You can find out more about this group of poets on Laura Purdie Salas’ blog Here.
The first thing that came to mind, since I live near Syracuse, are what used to be known as “salt bells.” They were used to warn of bad weather.
In the 1800’s, when the solar salt industry boomed in the Fingerlakes of NY, the salty brine that bubbled up from under the lakes held valuable salt.
One hundred and fifty years ago, thousands of 14 foot long shallow wooden vats covered acres of land around Syracuse. In these vats, salt water was evaporated leaving piles of salt. It was plentiful and the main source of salt for the Union Army in the 1860’s. Salt profits had built the Erie Canal. Men would rake it up the salt and place it in willow baskets to be dried and shipped away by Canal boat or railcar.
But rain would ruin salt. So, if rain clouds threatened, the salt boss in the salt yard would ring the salt bell and everyone, even the dogs, so they said, would run to roll the covers over the vats and save the precious salt.
I once wrote a story about a salt dog, and I tried to write a poem about the salt bell, but didn’t find it poetic enough. Instead, I wrote another poem about bells.
I thought of the ways bells are useful, from gathering people together, locating animals, entertaining, warning of danger, etc. And I was surprised at all the vocabulary for bell sounds.
BELLS
Jingles
knells
tinkles
tolls
touching the soul,
warning of fire,
some sounds are joyful,
others are dire.
Cow bells are noisy
thingamabobs!
School bells, church bells,
each has a job,
to chime
clang
ding dong
or peel
And oh how different
each bell makes me feel.
©Janice Scully 2021
Have a happy and healthy New Year! Thank you, Carol, for hosting.