Write a short poem about the voices you hear or the ones you used to; the voices which call or enthrall; the voices which yearn and those which burn. Your assigned poem is a seashell; hold it to your ear; tell us what you heard the sea sing … for imaginary garden with real toads
flotsam and jetsam
sea tang, tide treasures
beach glass, sand dollars
broad shells, within
call the voices
whispers destructive
howls seductive
speaking my dialect
knowing my name
sea tang, tide treasures
familiar voices
carry life’s
flotsam and jetsam
away with
wind’s tide
image: JW Waterhouse, Miranda (cropped)
(c) Lorraine
January 25, 2017 at 5:13 am
Thanks Lorraine — the tidal rhythm here offers a way to let voices come and go without hoarding or drowning in them. I’m a sea-lover too even though I rarely get to walk by it any more. That stride I think has become the metronome I write by. We are ear and eye; we hear, we see: but we don’t need to do more than observe and let go. Fine poem.
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January 25, 2017 at 5:22 am
Thank you, Brendan.
The thought of a beach walk being your writing metronome is an evocative one.
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January 23, 2017 at 1:43 pm
Ooh this is absolutely spot on!! Excellent write ❤️
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January 23, 2017 at 3:43 pm
Thanks, Sanaa!
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January 23, 2017 at 12:14 pm
I love the voice of the sea, and all its treasures, described so well in this poem.
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January 23, 2017 at 3:46 pm
Thank you — the sea is in my blood. I love wandering the shore in all sorts of weather, and discovering the treasures washed up by the tides or the storm.
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January 23, 2017 at 10:32 am
There is no better place than the shore for voices.
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January 23, 2017 at 10:59 am
So very true.
They are carried on the breakers; high-water marks; and on the nor’east wind.
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January 23, 2017 at 10:20 am
familiar voices
carry life’s
flotsam and jetsam
Familiar persons to us are likely to let fly voices of nonsense. One is guarded when with strangers!
Very true Lorraine!
Hank
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January 23, 2017 at 3:47 pm
Yes, you have put it so poetically.
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