Journeys

I traveled far today
on rain-splashed Dorset roads
traveled again to wharf and sea
to board in freedom or in chains,
a ghostly galleon, a whaler, or
ocean liner—to follow
the North Star, till
the Southern Cross glittered
above my head.

I was garbed in corset
and crinolines, wore threadbare
tatters in a drafty garret. I strolled
through fields of daffodils, and
rustled through the autumn leaves
on a solitary hike in well-worn jeans–

there I gloried at the clouded blues
and wondered who—or what—
might join the story,

but I turned the page,
closed the book,
and left (for now) my cozy library, my dreams, my diverting nook.

This is the final day, and my final poem, for Paul Brooke’s Poetry Month Ekphrastic Challenge. Thank you very much to Paul for hosting this challenge again, and thank you to the artists, Aaron, Beth, Oormila, and Sara, for your beautiful, inspiring work.

You can see today’s art (there were only three images) and read the other poems here.

Explanations

How to explain
the perfect prism of a day,
replication sustained in mirrored patterns,
a chimera of shapes and hues

wind-surfed from another realm,
the gift of dreams, that mind-sea space,
or collisions of electric light,
like glittering jewels

on the diadem circling our world,
a tilted laurel wreath,
self-contained but fragile
as an egg of robin blue—

flawless moments treasured
but rare, impossible to catch or hold–
tossed rings from a moving carousel.

For Paul Brookes’ Poetry Month Ekphrastic Challenge. You can see the artworks and read the poems here.

(Inspired by all four images)

All Things

All things have their time,
reborn in water, dust, and light,

shells, beaks, and colored blooms,
tenacious and insistent,
even cocooned between grey rocks,
they rise to salute the sun-bright sky.

Fledglings peek from sheltered nest
to test the wind with opened eyes,
their flight-feathers overlay the down–
still, they cry for sheltering wings

on dappled boughs, the shadows sigh
remembering winter’s gloaming
the bright azure turned to violet,
and bare branches trembling in the snow,

charcoal etchings erased and re-traced–
a call-and-response
we don’t understand—
just whisper –or shout–to the stars again.

For Paul Brookes’ Poetry Month Ekphrastic Challenge. I’ve rewritten the final stanza from the version on his page. You can see today’s artwork and read the poems here.

Blinks and Turns

Single cells to shiny scales,
swimming and slithering
in primordial muck
to crawl upon a shell-strewn beach,
to lap from tidal pools.

Each change, a yearning;
each season, a turning,
creating new from what is there—
stardust leafing light to air

we breathe,
time blinks–
an ice age comes, time winks,
the frozen is undone,
lost currents become storm-churned sea,
swirling turbulence shatters dreams–

soon, a thousand Atlantises
sink beneath the ocean’s blue,
fins glide through girders
of sunken skyscrapers still pointing
like steel fingers
from beneath waves to fickle sky.

For Paul Brookes’ Poetry Month Ekphrastic Challenge. You can see the art and read the other poems here.

Inspired by images AB26 and OVP 26

Above, Below, and In-between

Beneath cold, cerulean sea
we dart and dash, circling
and chasing light-dapples
and sun-streams
of yellow, orange, pink, and red
that dance like tightrope acrobats
on the line between–
as we breech
and breathe. Submerge again.

For Day 26 of Paul Brookes’ Poetry Month Ekphrastic Challenge. You can see the art and read the poems here.

(Inspired by AB25 and BB25)

All Around Us

Blue-feathered sky
above the treetop green
reflects the earth below

where jays flitter
and robins sing,
and each puddled rock

holds worlds within,
swimming in light,
hidden in umbra,
minuscule creatures
dream boundless dreams.

For Day 25 of Paul Brookes’ Poetry Month Ekphrastic Challenge. You can see the art and read the other poems here.

Transitions

Another day, another view–
the same trees with slight slant cast
different shadows
in this glance–
now cock-eyed robin
with sunset breast on a bough
where pink blooms dance—
only yesterday it was white
and my hair brown, overnight
shadows scant-seen slowly
slope, a slight slant light,
a transitory smile.

For Paul Brooke’s Poetry Month Ekphrastic Challenge. You can see the artwork read the other poems here.

(Inspired by images AB21, BB21, OVP21)

That Anniversary

There were no white cliffs,
no mountains, no peaks,
but we watched small boats bob
and sail
with our ponderings adrift
like eagles with wide-spread wings
gliding over river miles.

Small stars floated in my glass
the universe contained and at our fingertips,
I watched the clouds breathe, and

we walked along the canals
under azure expanse, hand-in-hand, no words needed—
the robins flitting from bough to bough
sang our thoughts–
and later violet night enfolded us,
as we slept in her arms

I’ve revised mine slightly from the version posted on Paul’s page, but there is such a wonderful poetic range here inspired by the images for this day. You can see the art and read the poems here.