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….
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!
. . . 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.
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.
lillian the home poet 