Friday, March 23, 2018

Beneath the Sky

Welcome to my Poetry Friday post!  Laura Purdie Salas is hosting today, so make sure you click the link and visit more poetry today!  And go to Ed DeCaria's Madness Poetry to vote on the newest round (4), where Laura has her new poem up!
I am up in Northern Maine where the snow is deeper and the air is colder and winter hangs on the longest.  But I love it up here.  There is a lot of sky. 

First looking at the image I saw an alligator that I hadn't seen before...
then a duck right there in front of him...so first this:

Driving through
Just passing by
Alligator eats
A ducky sky.

by Donna JT Smith

Took this picture from the car window last night as we drove through the countryside.

And then this:

Beneath the Sky

Fields stretch on
beneath the sky
waiting for 
another try
another spring
to come reveal
The rich brown soil
the farmers feel
between their fingers
testing it
to see if all is
firm and set
for planting on
beneath the sky
No signs of steel 
to rove new furrows
naught disturbing 
sleeping burrows
But spring will come
and with it rising
sun again
on the horizon
when rumble roar
will be the cry
as tractors groan
their summer sigh
for Sun's return
that brightens eye
and farmers' hopes
beneath the sky. 

by Donna JT Smith, 3/23/2018


I had to wait to find a space to get a shot.  Much of the drive looked like this:




Please consider writing a poem for Solar Bear...  His padlet is still up!  And there are jelly beans at stake.

19 comments:

  1. I missed your post about Solar Bear from earlier this month, so I'm glad you mentioned it again today. What a lovely painting of him. :)

    Enjoyed your cloud watching poems too -- saw the alligator right away. It certainly looks frigid up your way . . .

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    1. This was taken in northern Maine, where my mother-in-law lives. We were passing through Castle Hill, so we are about 6 hours north of where I live. It is a more brutal winter up there than we have mostly. I taught up there when I was first married. No snow days. No inside recess. You'd better bundle up.

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  2. Oh, Donna! Cute first poem--I love eating the ducky sky! And then that second one...

    But spring will come
    and with it rising
    sun again
    on the horizon

    Just gorgeous!

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    Replies
    1. I knew when I saw the alligator, that poem had to be done - especially when I saw the duck by his open mouth!

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  3. That gorgeous first picture, Donna. wow! And I love the little poem with the alligator and the duck, see them both! Then, the second poem, a lilting celebration of the land- wonderful! Love the snow piles, wow again.

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    1. Little by little spring is creeping in...more birds, more sun, and more mud in the bare spots! Actually, we have "Mud Season" just before or instead of Spring.

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  4. Love your second poem, especially the hopeful confidence, "But spring will come / and with it rising / sun again . . ." Thanks, Donna, for the pictures to go along with the post... especially the beautiful first picture.

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    Replies
    1. These fields are the "hope" of the farmers up here. And "hopefully" the snow will melt in time for planting. It is a narrow window of summer.

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  5. Love the colors of the sun over the pile of snow. What a great promise of spring! The poetry is pretty great also.

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    Replies
    1. The fields up in The County give lots of sky views that are gorgeous. I got the top picture when there was a break in the banks - sometimes the wind sheers the banks down or a driveway gives you a view!

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  6. What a beautiful picture of big sky! I enjoyed the whimsy of your first poem and the hope and promise of the second. We just had a 10 minute jumbo-flake snow shower that was absolutely stunning but simultaneously awful. That's how I'm feeling about lingering snow piles these days, too.

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    Replies
    1. I was just out in one, too, and on our drive there was a squall that took a couple vehicles off the road. Our snow piles at the malls and grocery stores stay till almost June some winters. This looks like it may be one of those!

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  7. Beautiful poems and photos. Thanks for sharing.

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  8. Now that's some snow banks! Wow! I partial to the alligator and the ducky sky. But, I do love that you are so confident that spring is coming. But, spring will come!

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    Replies
    1. And these are sun compacted lower! It is nice to see the sun more now!

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  9. I love the cloud poems. And wow -- that is a lot of snow!

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  10. Maybe the duck ate the alligator. :-) Nature in reverse. Wow, that is a lot of snow. It looks taller than a house. Great sunset photo.

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  11. Wonderful poem Donna–I think spring is there somewhere underneath the sky and all that snow. Great pics of the alligator and duck, thanks!

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