Thursday, December 11, 2014

Moorings...



















Arrived early yesterday in Freetown,
moored the skiff alongside the quay,
where the harbor runs into the long spit -
within sight of the stone bridge
spanning the mouth of the river
There was a high tide as the current surged,
debris had washed ashore
As the tide recedes, it leaves
 a lacework of brown foam
As children we spent long summer days
on the banks making little blue paper boats
with white paper sails,
setting them off to float downstream
...I dozed off as I was daydreaming

Then, it rained for 4 days and 4 nights
As it continued to pour, clearly, 
it became an emergency
I worried the already restless animals 
would be spooked, there would be chaos,
my duties impossible to complete
Inches of rain turned to feet faster than I could measure
Engulfed land became islands, tops of hills, actually
The sea swept up more structures,
fisherman were caught in the wake
By evening all people had evacuated
I tried to not panic, to focus on my mission




As yet I had still to collect the rams, 
chipmunks, gorillas, and reindeer;
nowhere to be found were the kangaroos!
"Two of each", I had heard in my dream,
"you must save as many as you can!"
Had it really come to this... already?!
Suddenly, I'm not worried about the octupi
 and other sea life.  "I will do all I can!", I replied. 
Global changes - everything's happening too fast
Torrents of rain blocked my view as
the downpour continued into the dark night

Upon my last look, rain 
steadily seeped through the plank floors
to the cavernous storage below the cabin
I heard animals bleat, cry, moan and screech 
while being shoved into corners
As the heaving waves rocked the Ark,
mauve and coal black clouds gathered to thunder
My drained body collapsed and when night came, 
I buried my face in my arms;
my soul then fell into slumber
Steady rain rapped on the boat's roof
 I dreamed of my paper boats
floating on and on under a starlit indigo sky

Hours go by, it seems
I awaken to smell the sweet night air
to which I am accustomed
I see tinted light captured in fine silver threads, 
spritzed by water sprites, 
filtered by a rainbow or two
Misty drops become the purple of an arc, 
follow sophic pulses through newly- bathed
half circles of blues 
Somewhere mid spectrum,
between lotus green and soft yellows
they disseminate into the soft clarity
of translucence        
                                        
Had I dreamed of a storm,
heavy rain, collected and met with gravity?
Almost weightless, raindrops now touch the
ground in search of new meaning
Randomly made aqueducts
take the water on detours, newly defined,
as it streams into fields and streets, 
eventually flowing into the quay
where I saw glimpses of the sun as the
rain departed
Still a dream, I wondered?

We set out anew, the Ark and I,
on new adventures
I lift the anchor into the small craft
My boots set foot inside and find balance
in the floor of the skiff as it rocks
 in the wake of small waves
I think of how much I love the rain...
how similar we behave
I coax the boat away from the bridge,
steer it toward the channel,
 leaving the shore
 Everything has changed,
yet so  much seems the same
The elements and I constantly change;
 we may even think in the same vein
Thunderstorm or not,
nightmare or dream
I realize life after life goes on
and I know - I could live without
many things, but never without the rain


                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                         
     Everyone is having fun writing from Claudia's prompt today -                                                                                                                                                                                                                 
  • something or someone that/who is not real suddenly comes alive
  • a character from a book shows up in your poem
  • someone suddenly disappears and finds themselves in a whole new place….
  • someone who appears out of a book or you put into a book... 
  • dversepoets.com
      dVerse                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                   

12 comments:

  1. I love the modern day ark tale, Kathy. Enjoyed the progression & the ending. Ha, I guess I would rather have rain than snow.

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  2. Great contemporary twist on Noah's story and nice take on the prompt. I liked the emphasis on human responsibility for the rescue of all these species.

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  3. "Changes globally, everything happening too fast"....catastrophic, yet an amazing cruise with all the critters on board!

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  4. Great piece Kathy, rain how we cannot do with out it, though we have had enough of it lately.

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  5. The modern Noah would have a tougher time.. Maybe we have already passed the point when he can save us... Draught and rain is all the same disaster,

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  6. maybe with all the climate changes going on we need another noah soon...
    it has been raining quite a lot over here those last weeks and i'm starting to get a bit sick of it though i do love a good warm summer rain and i don't mind if i get soaking wet...smiles

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  7. fun... loved all the sea side lingo... special treat when the ark appeared... you put a lot into this... hope you had fun

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  8. So many things to like in this one, K.; the immediacy, the personal touch, the sense that you know your way around a boat or on the water; a very imaginative take on the prompt. Cool that your voice is both genderless, masculine & feminine; covering all POV. 65 mph winds last night, flooding, erosion, rivers rising; oh yeah, better rain that snow, but... Like your lines /I see tinted light captured in fine silver threads/spritzed by water sprites/filtered by a rainbow or two/.

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    Replies
    1. Thank you, I rather like that line myself 😉. Several trees down and in power lines..w/o power from 11:00 last night to just now...neighbors helping neighbors!

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  9. An imagistic delight: full of wonder, terror, and color.

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  10. It feels a bit like that here this week... Good take on old Noah.

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  11. Enjoyed your epic poem and felt the rain and the roll of the boat as it floated in the flood.

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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..