Wednesday, July 24, 2024

when you name the day

my prow is a prayer
this current is kismet
the surge, the surface
of an uneven stream

my thoughts are a fleet
treading the questions  
going in two directions
expecting new answers

I listen to many breaths
before shifting into song 
build up slips and glissades 
till they hold things whole

say you can hear me call out
even from this rough cradle
O, how the world amazes
for all its rocky embrace
________________

Pic: There were a pair of kayakers trying to get past the bumpy white water on the Red Cedar last week. One got through and the other had to rock back and forth for a long time to free themselves.

Update: The roofers are done; they're gone! Dinner at home with AK and EM, while Big A napped. I loved my friends trying to convince Nu (and all of us, really) that there are whole weeks of summer vacation left.

4 comments:

Gillian said...

Nice photo.

StephLove said...

Those look like challenging rapids.

Glad the roofers are gone. Is the job done, after all these years?

Nance said...

I like the metaphors in each verse, but I'm not sure how they all work together to make a single poem. Lines 13-14 are especially evocative, but the verb "amazes" sort of muddles the image for me in the final stanza: it seems disjointed among the words "cradle" and "embrace".

The alliteration and assonance in the first stanza are gorgeous. I can feel the motion of the boat in the last two lines.

maya said...

Gillian--Thanks!

Steph--Almost there--I think the gutters go on after the roof has "cured." We have two different shingle colors, but it looks intentional.

Nance--Thank you. I have work to do, don't I? I was working from the first two lines that popped into my head unbidden, but I'm really not sure where it's going overall.

just look up

I'm not alarmed  by the new  today                        forever is now                        remembering                          is ...