Thursday, July 24, 2014

Lady in the blue dress...










dVerse



Today we are writing poems emphasizing bold metaphors without using words "like" and "as" that would weaken the form  @ dversepoets.com   Thank you, Claudia, for your intro.


                                                                         

From the pitch black night sea,
one can see her shrouded head
She keeps the lamp burning
ever since the last storm,
Sheltered by a spit,
driftwood and waving grass,
she was born in 1883,
then moved to her present location
in 1903, before the war
A wall of layered stones
leads to her high waisted
petticoat form
She waits another day in vain,
dedicated to the search
for brave men
Her white Fresnel eye blinks
remembering the disaster
that happened;
she had withstood the hurricane
Gigantic white waves sprayed against her,
took over her favorite sunny place
Wind howled and blew,
so menacingly
she clung tightly
to her foundation's spiral staircase

She has spent years keeping watch -
focused on the beaches still
and the soft lapping waves,
Often glimpsed moving
between night shadows,
in the tower an apparition
appears - when
old mirrors refract the light
of the moon and stars
and if you listen carefully -
you can hear her cries
in whispers at night

By day,
The Lady in the Blue Dress
looks down on the grassy hill -
where children climb the big Sequoia
tree overlooking
the sparkling aquamarine sea
A stray cat her only company,
the Lady in the Blue Dress -
mistress of Admiralty

Over the years many women have been keepers of lighthouses....some are haunted they say..in this poem there is a symbiotic relationship between the woman and the lighthouse itself a woman.

16 comments:

  1. the sparkling aquamarine sea - that line really captured me, sort of summed up the loneliness, the longing, the waiting, great emotion

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  2. This is really a haunting tale. You made the Lady in the Blue Dress come alive. I picture her as being very lonely though.

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  3. I had no idea lighthouses could be haunted too. Yet this woman seems to be a tragic rather than frightening figure.

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  4. Oh what brave folk are keepers of the lighthouse. And she still keeps watch...
    Anna :o]

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  5. This poem brought a happy smile to my face.

    I love it...and it makes me want to drink coffee...nicely written. :)

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  6. Once I fantasized that 4 months in a remote lighthouse could produce a new novel; but now that Lady would have to hook up her satellite dish & do her daily socializing, research, & purchasing; the Net takes the sting out of the isolation. I really did enjoy the poem; but at first thought the "she" was the lighthouse; maybe a symbiotic relationship? I take photos of lighthouses; love them.

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    1. It is supposed to be a woman, and so introducing an actual woman foiled my attempt at the complete metaphor...suggestions? I see a re-do in the offing...thanks,
      Glenn. I am actually volunteering at the lighthouse I mentioned several days /month and one can sense the rugged life it was.

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  7. I could feel her loneliness and her joy in saving her babies...

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  8. I've tried to comment 3 times but it keeps disappearing! I give up. Good story poem.

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  9. Oooh, nice use of extended metaphor. I'm fascinated by lighthouses - have often thought I'd like to run away to one for years of solitude... but they're all automatic now and no longer have keepers.

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  10. Lighthouses have always been fascinatingly mysterious and lonely places. Worthy of a poem.

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  11. first - i love the sketch - and second - i always wanted to live in a lighthouse... maybe cause the sea is so close - maybe because of the magic - the fire that shines all night...smiles... really great piece

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  12. I admit as I read this I was torn about whether it were about a woman or the lighthouse. You really painted a story with your words. Very nicely done.

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  13. Lovely. The metaphor of lighthouse as lady was very powerful indeed!

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  14. Very few lighthouses that I have seen have always caught my fascination - I just love the idea, smiles - and your words are a beautiful personification. A great piece Kathy!

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  15. cool picture...i love lighthouses and they have always been a strong metaphor for me in lighting the way...
    and i like the connection you made between the lighthouse and the lady...i have had a few that have been light houses in my life....smiles.

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All comments, constructive and otherwise, are welcome and appreciated here. Thank you to those who show an interest in my quirky style of writing, photography, painting, and presenting a feeling or thought and for stopping by A Dwelling by the Sea..