Posts
I live several hours drive from where I grew up -- a very beautiful place in western New York State. I don't get there as often as I like. So, I follow some outstanding photographers on twitter from that area. It's a joy to see beautiful photos of familiar spaces.
One photographer is Jerome Davis (@jdavis2731). His photos make my fingers itch to write alongside his artistry...which occurred one early day in January -- the title for this poem.
Davis, Jerome. “Thursday Morning Glow! It Was Crazy to See It Snowing and the Sun Shinning so Bright. @john_kucko @WHEC_SPensgen @StormHour @News_8 @news10nbc @13WHAM Pic.twitter.com/2gMADR29DH.” Twitter, Twitter, 10 Jan. 2020, twitter.com/jdavis2731/status/1215765291042574337?s=20.
Early
There’s
no
word
for sun meeting snow--
no multi-color rainbow
over pointing fingers
or squeals of delight
no insta-click
from below.
Just glow upon
glow
falling upon this resting field
quilt on my bed
slow
shhhhh
(c) Linda Mitchell
Thanks to Kat Apel for hosting our Poetry Friday Round-Up
this week. She's got an update on Aussie Kidlit fundraising for
fire relief and recovery and a new animal poem to share!
The wordplay in your poem is wonderful and so much fun to read! The photo inspired me too!
ReplyDeleteLinda, thanks for leading me to Jerome's Twitter site. What beautiful nature photos he creates with his camera lens. Your thoughts about early morning melt into the background as soft as the bed of snow. Love the ending, "quilt on my bed/slow/shhhhh". It is so calming and adds to the beauty of the image. Thanks for sharing. I hope Jerome answers my tweet. I would love to use one of his photos.
ReplyDeleteI will look for Jerome's twitter site, too, Linda. And, too like Carol, I love that ending, the reminder of the very nicest things about winter, "quilt on my bed/slow/shhhh". Nice to return home now & then, I think.
ReplyDeleteJust beautiful, Linda. LindaB loves your end - but I love your start... and subsequent build; the conversational quality. Incidentally, I had thought they must be bugs hovering over the crop of...? #something How could I have missed that it was snow, magical snow!
ReplyDeleteYou are right - there is no word. Thank goodness for poetry for capturing the things no one word can capture! This is so lovely - "sun meeting snow." As a fellow upstate New Yorker, I thank you for capturing this! xxx
ReplyDeleteGlow upon glow describes this image beautifully. Writing to photographs is something I am often inspired to do. This one is a keeper.
ReplyDeleteOh the things there are no words for are the BEST subjects for poems... thank you! xo
ReplyDeleteGorgeous! Thank you for this illuminating post!
ReplyDeleteWow! That is a stunning photo--and a stunning poem to match.
ReplyDeleteThis is so beautiful, Linda. I especially love the last few lines, and they put me in mind of Christina Rossetti's In the Bleak Midwinter, with its snow on snow on snow. So calming and lovely.
ReplyDeleteSo lovely - especially the invitation of those first two lines.
ReplyDeleteI love the ending, the quilt, the slow, the shhh. And you've inspired me to try to write some poems to a friend's gorgeous photos.
ReplyDeleteThere may be no one word - but instead there is a perfect poem made up of well curated words :) Thanks for this beautiful pairing of poem and photo.
ReplyDeleteDido to Sally's comment above–and what an awe inspiring image–sometimes few words say it all, "glow upon
ReplyDeleteglow
falling upon this resting field" and "slow"
Beautiful marriage, thanks Linda!
Linda, this is beautiful! What a perfect poetic response to a glorious photo! Your poem leaves me feeling soothed and somehow blessed. What a gift. Thank you.
ReplyDeletemmmmmmmmmmmmmmm
ReplyDeletedelicious grammatically unbound layers of glow upon snow
you nailed it with the transparent hammer of light
I do miss how the sun would fall on the snow in those early hours. I don't miss the cold though! Your poem is lovely, Linda.
ReplyDeleteSo beautiful! Thank you!
ReplyDeleteThat glow upon glow taking us into the final delicious lines of this poem. Stunning, Linda.
ReplyDelete