Night Tones

    Nocturne in Grey and Silver by Jame McNeill Whistler

Dark walls of water

and sea-foam lace

reach up for a moon

pinned impossibly high,

while the woods settle in

to the bed of the earth

with a shrug and a yawn and a sigh.

Then you lean into me

as I reach out for you

and we bid all the specters good bye,

 at the edge of a world

where the nightmares are curled

and the stars fall away from the sky.

Over in the Imaginary Garden Hedgewitch asked us to write a piece in keeping with the Tonalist painting movement, "with 'no under drawing,' by tkaing an idea, a place, a persn, an event or a mood and quickly fleshing out a portrait of it in a blur of words.  Use language to mass light and dark verbal'tones' and build up our poem in dashes of description and image. The end result should be something immediate but 'misty.'  Or we could use a painting from this school to inspire our writing.  I'm not sure I achieved that first bit, so the painting is one from the Tonalist School. 

Dylanw

    Photo by Tess Kincaid: Merchant Seafarers' War Memorial, Cardiff

Where

are we?

blinded and

betrayed by time,

endless skies press down

with the weight of water.

Sanded and salted, preserved,

we thought, like a pearl of great price

lamented but unfound and scattered

so my ribs no longer know each other.

Over at the Imaginary Garden Margaret asked us to "play it again" with a previous prompt. I chose a form called an Etheree, an unrhymed syllable counting form, beginning with a first line of one syllable, and continue for ten lines increasing the syllable count by one each line, as follows: 1/2/3/4/5/6/7/8/9/10.  The image is from Tess Kincaid at Magpie Tales and is also posted there.  Please follow the links to both of these outstanding writing sites.

Amphitrite

     Painting by Daria Petrilli

When I went

to the doctor about

the growing lump in my abdomen

no one suspected I had an ocean in my womb. 

But

that did explain  

the leaking and the smell.

My uterus has become a coy (kio) pond; 

I am retaining water.

Of

course

the doctors

recommended

an immediate hysterectomy. 

But they were not sure if it should be done

by an OB-GYN,  or marine biologist, or ichthyologist, 

or some other –ologist altogether

I

decided

to wait and see.

Meanwhile, I’ve stopped

eating sea food and developed a fondness for kelp. 

Also, I’m considering a tattoo – maybe compass points 

on my right thigh.

After all,

I am

Mother of the Oceans,

caring for my realm.

I am

Goddess of the Waters

deserving your devotions

I am

Queen of the Seas

favored of all daughters

and all your marine dreams

reside in

me.

*Amphitrite: In ancient Greek mytholog Amphitrite was a sea-goddess and wife of Poseidon.  Under the influence of the Olympian pantheon, she became merely the consort of Poseidon, and was further diminished by poets to a symbolic representation of the sea.  -Wikipedia

Deep

   Sculptures at the Bottom of the Ocean by Jason deCaires Taylor 

     image from johnboildstep.wordpress.com

Poets are not afraid to drown. -Janet Frame

From little on we are

rocked in cradles

on waves,

pulled back and forth

by sun and moon.

As we go deeper

we do not fear.

though we are ruined

we do not fear.

through countless days and nights

poets are not afraid to drown.

I must be a mermaid, Rango. I have no fear of depths and a great fear of shallow living.”  -Anais Nin

Over in the  Imaginary Garden we were asked to to combine words and art. using a work of art and a quote to inspire our writing.

Here There Be Dragons

   Photo by Mary Bach

I hunger for

the salt of oceans,

warm winds

and the call of sea birds;

to stand at the shore,

caress the waves,

to reach across

the water

where there be dragons.

     Image from patheos.com

Mama Zen at the Real Garden with Imaginary Toads asked us to tell what we hungered for in 60 words or less. 

Voyage

 
     Yell Sound, Shetland by R. A. D. Stainforth

Climb aboard!

We sail away today,

over oceans deep and wild and wide,

out, and out, league after league toward the horizon

under endless slate grey skies, rain-kissed,                                  

cloud-tumbled, sun-pierced or

star-riddled.

And all we know recedes,

all the firm, green predictable things

recede as we traverse over oceans toward

the strange terrain of dream and fable.

Unknown wonders await;

climb aboard!

The picture is complements of Magpie Tales.  The form is from Imaginary Garden w/ Real Toads. In its simplest form, the Triquain consists of seven lines, with syllables counted in multiples of 3.

3 - 6 - 9 - 12 - 9 - 6 - 3

The trick thereafter is in deciding how many of these stanzas you want to use.  There are several described, and I chose one called   Triquain Swirl.  This is created by joining the stanzas together on the seventh line, eliminating the second 3 syllable line and the space between stanzas. The finished stanza will stand at 13 lines and may be repeated thereafter.

3 - 6 - 9 - 12 - 9 - 6 - 3 - 6 - 9 - 12 - 9 - 6 - 3 

Also, one can include an element of repetition in the Swirl by taking a 3 syllable word or phrase from one of the longer lines and using it as the final 3 syllable line of the stanza or at the bridge of the swirl. 

Oceanography

     Image: Meal Beach, Burra Isles, Shetland by Robin Gosnall

No matter the sparkles,

or what reflects off the surface,

you are deep

and deep

and deep.

Written for The Mag weekly writing prompt.  Check it out.

Distant

   Worlds away you stay

   oceans separate - deep, wide

   desires divide

This is for Real Toads.  Have a look.

Image by riomcthorne.com