Tag Archives: poetry

Writing Prompt #49

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Prompts

Back to poetry today. I came across this one recently and really really liked it. So read it. Contemplate it. Write about it. Or about one line in it. (Personally I love Not a breath of wild air.) Or maybe write your own “Dirge’. But have fun and be prolific.

Dirge in Woods
by George Meredith

A wind sways the pines,
And below
Not a breath of wild air;
Still as the mosses that glow
On the flooring and over the lines
Of the roots here and there.
The pine-tree drops its dead;
They are quiet, as under the sea.
Overhead, overhead
Rushes life in a race,
As the clouds the clouds chase;
And we go,
And we drop like the fruits of the tree,
Even we,
Even so.

The Radar Base

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There’s an abandoned radar base in The Northeast Kingdom. I’m not going to go into its history here, but if you want to read a bit more click this link to an article from the Bangor Daily News written about it in 2000.

Today, my contribution about the radar base is a poem I wrote from a prompt. . . write about a landmark. Below the poem I’ve included photos from our last visit to this landmark. You never know where you’ll find something interesting.

The Radar Base

What did the cold war have to do with
a little mountain in the north of Vermont?
Where we feared the weather more than the Russians.
Yet, following the media frenzy and government paranoia
we built this tin town,
and housed more residents at the peak
than lived in the valleys.
Shivering in the cold, they waited.

View from East Haven

View from East Haven


It seems to go on forever

It seems to go on forever


Huffin' and a puffin'

Huffin’ and a puffin’


What a view!

What a view!








The Voice of Silence

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Have you ever had that experience when you are trying to have a conversation with someone and they remain silent?

And you become impatient and begin to read into the silence. And what you read into their silence is probably not what they are thinking at all, but you keep doing it because you’re frustrated by it and really, what else can you do but continue reading into it.

So, that happened to me one day. Well, I’m sure it’s happened more than once, but on this particular day I wrote a little poem about it which I am going to share with you today. Here goes.

Your silence is so disagreeable
Speak argue say something
anything
your silence says
that’s stupid.
I don’t agree
shut up.

I make no claims of being a poet, but there is something I like about this. I’ve been trying to figure it out – to understand why I like it (besides the fact that I wrote it and sometimes you just can’t help but be tickled with yourself over something you’ve created.)

I think I like that the simpleness of the first few words is realistic. It’s what goes through my head when you are trying to have a conversation, but the other person doesn’t respond.
I also like that somewhere in these very few lines it’s inferred that the speaker didn’t really want to hear what the other person had to say anyway. Maybe.
Because sometimes maybe silence is better than words, especially if we know the words might be hurtful.

And sometimes we just don’t allow enough time for people to formulate their words and become impatient and assume the silence means something it doesn’t and get mad and stop the conversation with our anger before it even got started.

Sometimes we write little poems about how we’re feeling and that helps us forget that we were angry or frustrated in the first place and we move on.

Robert Frost Interpretive Trail

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In recent travels to southern parts we came across The Robert Frost Interpretive Trail in Ripton, Vermont. Part of the Green Mountain National Forest, the trail was built in 1976.

The trail is not what I would consider a hiking trail, but more of a walk in the woods. What makes it unique is the posts installed along the way with Frost poems attached for your reading pleasure. Thus the name ‘Robert Frost Interpretive Trail.’ It was easy to appreciate the connection between Frost’s words and the environment we were in.

Some parts of the trail look over pastures, some over wetlands, and some in the shade of the Green Mountain forest. I noticed, as we went from poem to poem, that I had to force myself to take the time to read the poetry. I wondered why this was. Shouldn’t you want to take the time? I mean why did we stop in the first place? Maybe it was the lack of benches? Possibly a nice bench to sit on next to the poetry post would be more amenable.

I took pictures so I could read them at my leisure.

In addition to the poems posted like the one above, there were Frost quotes carved into wooden panels from time to time. I didn’t really get this one:

In case you can’t read it from the picture it says, “It takes all sorts of in and outdoor schooling to get adapted to my kind of fooling.”

Maybe some reader can help me out with that one.

Several of the poems were new to me. I don’t claim to be a Frost expert (not even a Frost novice). This one I really liked:

There’s so much truth in this poem – the last stanza sums it up so well.

Probably Frost’s most popular work – Stopping by the Woods on a Snowy Evening was included as was The Road Less Traveled. I was glad because it left me feeling like I’d come home. Woods like the ones Frost loved so much are familiar to me as a lifetime resident of Vermont, but I still felt a deeper connection when I was reading words I knew nearly as well as the woods.

I’m glad we stopped by these woods on this day. It encouraged me to come home and read more of Frost’s work. I found this one online and I liked it’s message so I’m sharing it today.

A Time to Talk

When a friend calls to me from the road
And slows his horse to a meaning walk,
I don’t stand still and look around
On all the hills I haven’t hoed,
And shout from where I am, What is it?
No, not as there is a time to talk.
I thrust my hoe in the mellow ground,
Blade-end up and five feet tall,
And plod: I go up to the stone wall
For a friendly visit.

Robert Frost

Writing Prompt #12

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This week’s theme is traditions, so I’m presenting you with a challenge.
Poetry.
Don’t run screaming from the room, this could be FUN!
I mean that.
In this prompt you will combine ideas from your past, your traditions, your life and poetry.

It’s called an I Am From poem and I do have some resources to help you.

To see a wonderful example by George Ella Lyon click HERE.

If you read George’s post carefully you’ll note that she suggests starting with a list. It’s a fun exercise that I have done before and did again for my blog.

I will share that with you tomorrow in Writing.

If you’re the kind of person that needs more structure to get started check out this I Am From template from Scholastic.

Have fun!