Welcome to Poetry Friday hosted this week by poet and teacher Heidi Mordhorst HERE. Thank you for hosing, Heidi! Be sure to stop by and check out what poetry goodness she has for us this week.
This will be a short post about the sun which I’ve seen a lot of lately. Maybe because I’m usually in Syracuse, New York, the cloud capital of the world, I was particularly struck by the desert.
There is no better place than Nevada to experience the power of the sun. The lack of shade trees is unnerving. There is no relief in the desert, until sunset.
At the entrance to Death Valley National Park at the site of an old mining town, I encountered burros,
and Joshua trees,
and constant sun. So here I’ll try to describe it:
The Desert Sun Yellow primal parching pulsing flaming molten blinding scorching Unrelenting wavelength-blending power-sending Nighttime-ending. © Janice Scully 2022 (draft)
I hope everyone is well. Next week I host Poetry Friday and I will share my interview with poet David Elliott about his new and wonderful book, AT THE POND.
I could use some sun right now! I’m OVER this cloudy midwestern cold!!
So I thought too, until my day in Nevada. . I’m not complaining, I had fun, but there was no shade.
Oh my, we have plenty of sun here in Colorado & unlike Mary Lee, we could use some rainclouds! You’ve described that area wonderfully, Janice. I love the rhythm, like you’re running & hope to hide. What a trip you’re on. Hope it continues to be interesting, & fun!
I didn’t get to Colorado at all and would like to go there again someday. The country, I discovered, is quite large and there is so much to see and little time. Everywhere I went, people were so incredibly friendly.
Oh, how wonderful! The thing about the unrelenting sun is that it’s also warm…which sounds good to me as I seem to have forgotten how hot the sun can be. I love the burros and the Joshua trees. It looks like you had a great trip. Have fun in April. I look forward to seeing you here next week for Poetry Friday. Hosting is so much fun.
Janice, I had to laugh when you called Syracuse the cloud capital of the world. There is much truth in that statement. Sun is such a coveted piece of nature these days that bounce from cloudy to lots of greyness that turns back to sunshine. I remember going to Las Vega years ago and being impressed with the dry heat and the beautiful sunshine. Your poem captures the desert sun in a way that I don’t remember but then again I did not stay more than a few days. I missed a good deal of blogs last week since my cataract surgery left my eye tired.
I hope you are healing well and resting your eyes if you need to. I missed some blogs lately to and hate to, but sometimes you must. Take care of yourself.
Wow–every word is so vivid, Janice!
Thanks, Laura. I got your new PB in the mail recently and will review it soon. Love the words and the art!
SOOO clever, Janice – way to work those rhymes! (As I grew up in Florida, I don’t think I could handle lots of gray days in a row… we do love our sun in the Southeast.) Happy Poetry Month!
I like the building of your rhythm too, faster as it starts and winding down in your last stanza. I do enjoy the sun–thanks for sharing some of your travels Janice!
I love this Janice, and got a real sense of the relentless heat. I love your pace.
I’m always up for a sun poem, Janice! I love the way you concentrated the shine in those last rhyming lines. See you next week–I’m a David Elliott fan!
Your poem is ‘lit’, Janice! I remember that “unrelenting” sun/heat from when we lived in Tucson – similar to Nevada, but with Saguaros. 🙂
I can feel the sun radiating from your lines, Janice. They are warming me on a blustery early spring morning. I shall hold them in my memory for the days to come. Cheers!
I love your word choice in this poem– the way you combine the -ing verbs, then put a word that isn’t -ing on one line. It works really well and feels really, really good to read! Sorry you missed Colorado this trip, we have a lot of beautiful scenery and sunny days. This year March was pretty snowy, though and you might have been smart to skip us! Another time!
I love the word choice in this poem. I’ve been wishing for some warm sunshine these days!
I can feel the heat in your poem! Our part of southeastern Wisconsin (close to Lake Michigan) is also cloudy much of the year, so the desert sounds appealing right now. Thanks for the glimpse!
Fabulous poem! I love the rhythm, rhyme and word choice. It sings.
Also, curious to know if a burro is a donkey? Another word for donkey?
Hi Kat! Thanks. Burro is the Spanish word for Donkey.
Janice! I think we may have been in Death Valley around the same timeframe! I visited March 24-26th. The heat wasn’t bad, but then, I’m from Arizona. Wish I’d seen some burros, though! “Primal/parching/pulsing…” yes!