Travel Muse

In a Photographer’s Terms

lillian13 Comments

Everyday wide apertures:
newsprint, television, radio.
Second or third-hand glimpse of another’s plight.
Photographers know
wide apertures provide shallow depth.

Until that day, that’s what I had.

That day, strolling the cruise ship’s deck,
my privileged promenade
was suddenly interrupted.
What I’d read about, heard on the news,
appeared off port side.

A small boat bobbing, barely moving.

Two oars slapped white caps.
In and out and in and out. Out of sync.
Six? Eight people? Dark shapes,
even in bright sun, crowded together.
Struggling, no doubt praying, not to capsize.

Our Captain’s voice suddenly blared.

“There is a small boat in distress.
Our assistance has been refused.
We will remain here until the Coast Guard arrives.
This will not impede our schedule.
You will arrive in Miami on time tomorrow.”

Narrow apertures give a deeper depth of field.

My eyes saw, stared, teared.
Refugees risking everything
for what they deemed would be a better life.
My heart ached at the scene
as did many looking on.

That night we did, as all aboard our ship did.

Enjoyed dinner served on linen tablecloths,
toasted our last night at sea.
Danced late into the night.
Slept on a king-sized bed
and flew home the next morning.

But I’ll never forget what I saw.


Written for Tuesday Poetics at dVerse, the virtual pub for poets around the globe. Today, Dora asks us to “write a poem that conjures a veiw (whether from our travels or everyday life, whether from desire or expeirence) that is colored by the emotion of the moment.” Photo was taken from on one of our cruises that sailed roundtrip from Miami, Florida. It was a good number of years ago but I’ve never forgotten this heartbreaking experience.

As dawn approaches . . .

lillian12 Comments

I sit gazing.
The world around me asleep
except for occasional gulls flying overhead.
Stillness surrounds me
waiting for the sun to rise.
This ocean, the morning before,
roiled in protest to darkness disappearing.
Today it lies calm, smooth as glass.
Two sailboats sit atop the water
their hulls mirrored reflections,
motionless, tranquil,
silent in the absence of wind.

Skies stained
with thin veneer of pastel pink
await the dawn.
As sun’s sliver stealthily appears,
skies rouge in excited anticipation.
Sliver grows to arc, to half-circle, to orb,
and I sigh.
Thankful for another day.

Photos taken yesterday morning from our deck in Provincetown on Massachusetts’ Cape Cod.

Written for dVerse, the virtual pub for poets around the globe. Today is Open Link Night and writers are invited to post any poem of their choosing. Bjorn, our pub tender today, also provides an optional prompt you may choose to use.

ALL are invited to dVerse LIVE on Saturday, September September 14th from 10 to 11 AM New York Time. The link to join with audio and video is embedded here. Come and read one of your poems aloud OR come to just sit in and enjoy! The more the merrier!

From our Provincetown deck . . .

lillian41 Comments

Star sparkled night sky,
overhead silent scrim.
Ocean’s dark calm
lies before me,
laps shore
to sleep.

Daylight
dawns bright.
Gulls call to light,
scene transposed.
Water sparkle glistens,
sun’s fairy dust upon the waves.

Photo: glistening water from our deck in Provincetown this morning. We are in the beginning of our annual two weeks in this beautiful place. Thankful for every day.

Written for dVerse, the virtual pub for writers across the globe. I’m hosting Tuesday Poetics today, asking people to write a poem somehow related to the sea or the ocean. Any form; any length. Simply on the topic of the ocean/sea.

In the Magical World of Catrin Welz-Stein

lillian10 Comments

Come soar with me in my moon-balloon flying machine
over magical forests, gently crooning mountains
and islands planted within golden seas.

We shall stop at Wisest Woods
for I know you have questions,
as many children do.

Walk softly on Fiddlehead Fern Path
to the Tree of Life and Sanity.
Climb through its rustling verdant leaves.

Stand upon the highest left-fork branch.
Hum softly and she shall come,
the Elderness, Sagacious Owl.

Her talons sure footed on the tree,
her size, unimaginable to many,
her existence, known to but a few.

Open your journal
to yesterday’s dog-eared page.
Read to her your salient fears.

She shall listen, ponder,
provide wise counsel,
and then fly you back to us.

Under blue etched night skies
we shall rock you gently
until you awaken from your dreams.


Sharing this at dVerse Open Link Night……using two of Catrin Welz-Stein’s magical images from my Tuesday Poetics Prompt. Have been so busy reading posts to the prompt….and wanted to write to two more of her images.

Nature’s Balm

lillian1 Comment

Rainy season’s nourishment for the earth cleanses my soul.
Wet moisture brings life to spring flowers, relieves summer heat.
Cherry blossoms succumb to spring breeze. Rain gently on me.

 Day 28, NaPoWriMo. We’re asked to to try our hand “at writing a sijo. This is a traditional Korean verse form. A sijo has three lines of 14-16 syllables. The first line introduces the poem’s theme, the second discusses it, and the third line, which is divided into two sentences or clauses, ends the poem – usually with some kind of twist or surprise.”

Photo taken some years ago on a cruise to Japan. Cherry blossom season was beautiful….

The Rising Sun

lillian5 Comments

Rising sun
creates shimmering shine
on the ocean’s surface.
A lone gull floats
illuminated in sun’s path,
as waves softly lap the shore.

I sit alone during dawn’s arrival,
in awe of what is unfolding.  
Above me, the sky’s bluing
gains brightness.
I smile and sigh in contentment,
thankful for another day.

Written for NaPoWriMo day 26. The the prompt is to “write a poem that involves alliteration, consonance, and assonance. Alliteration is the repetition of a particular consonant sound at the beginning of multiple words. Consonance is the repetition of consonant sounds elsewhere in multiple words, and assonance is the repetition of vowel sounds.”

Photo from some years back at our beloved Provincetown, on the very tip of Cape Cod. View as seen from our deck on the unit we rent every year for two glorious weeks in September.

Oh Magnificent One!

lillian13 Comments

Ah, I understand now.
You never cared for the name Mount McKinley.
In your earliest years, and many years after,
native peoples addressed you as Denali.
Translation: the tall one, the great one.
They recognized your power and majesty.

How difficult for you to share a name
with an American President who never
set foot in the shadow of your magnificence.
After all,
you rule over six million acres of wild land
intersected by one road, ninety-two miles long.

You watch over taiga forest,
high alpine tundra, amazing wild life,
beautiful fauna.
You are the highest peak
in North America,
towering over magnificent landscape.

In 2016,
on the eve of its 100th anniversary,
the  National Park Service righted a wrong.
Your name was officially changed
to what it should have been all the years before.
Denali. For you are the mighty one.

William Shakespeare,
you had it all wrong in Romeo and Juliet!


Written for both Tuesday Poetics at dVerse, the virtual pub for poets around the globe and for Day 16 of NaPoWriMo.

The Prompts: At dVerse, Sanaa asks us to write a poem in a conversational mode of address. In my post, I’m having a conversation with Denali. The NaPoWriMo prompt is to “write a poem in which we clearly describe an object or place and then end with a more abstract line that doesn’t seemingly have anything to do with that object or place, but which, of course, really does.“

The great mountain Denali would disagree with William Shakespeare’s line in Romeo and Juliet “What’s in a name? That which we call a rose by any other name would smell just as sweet.”

Photo is from our trip to Alaska some years ago when we did indeed travel through Denali National Park and see this magnificent mountain!

Wish you were here . . .

lillian2 Comments

. . . these Norwegian trolls
are kind of creepy souls.
But with you by my side
as my trusty guide,
I’d concentrate on the fjords
and never be bored!

It’s day 7 in NaPoWriMo, National Poetry Month where the challenge is to write a poem every day in the month of April.

Today’s prompt is to “write a poem titled “Wish You Were Here” that takes its inspiration from the idea of a postcard. Consistent with the abbreviated format of a postcard, your poem should be short, and should play with the idea of travel, distance, sightseeing.“

Photo taken two years ago on a wonderful excursion on our Celebrity cruise to the Norwegian fjords.

It’s a Craggy Life We Live

lillian14 Comments

From this vantage point,
looking up, like looking back.
Contours evident.
Cracks, crevices, smooth edges,
veins streak across surface.
Planar sedimentary laminations
mark periods of sustained times.
Strength, resilience,
past layered upon past,
weathered but still tall.
Pulpit Rock in Norway
metaphor for life.


Written for dVerse, the virtual pub for poets around the globe. Today we’re asked to write a Quadrille (poem of exactly 44 words, sans title) that includes the word “contour.” Will also use this poem for the first day of NaPoWriMo, National Poetry Writing Month, where the challenge is to post a poem every day in April!

Photo taken two years ago, on a Celebrity cruise where we visited Norway and took a boat trip down the Lysefjord and saw Pulpit Rock.