Wednesday, September 24, 2014

Clouds

I have a few poems about clouds that I've written...one that I wrote AGES ago, I'm not even sure I can find.  It is somewhere in my house, I'm pretty sure.  After we had fire damage and were out of the house for 11 months, I lost track of a few important items.  Some of my writing was included in that.  I think it is still there, just misplaced for the time being.  I really need to go through some stuff and find it again!

So anyway, having just gone on a plane down to Arkansas for my niece's wedding, and going through the clouds, it reminded me then of a question I'd asked my mom when I was a little girl.

Today's prompt to write about clouds at Poetry Jam was perfect timing for me.  And then this image of Brooke Shaden's worked perfectly...the prompt at dVerse (my first link here) - to use one of her photos in her gallery.  I chose her beautiful image of "floating on clouds".

"floating on clouds" by Brooke Shaden


Logic

Such things that,
  are logical
    and obvious now
Involving things
  like puppies
    or high jumping cow,
My young brain
  required answers
    of “why” and of “how”...

Are you sure your belly
   has a baby,
    not a puppy?
Why does a cat
  have a kitten,
    not a guppy?
Can the person
  in the TV
    see me as I spy?
What is on
  the other side
    of the azure sky?
Do fish in the sea
  swim under
    islands, too?
Can a horse,
  like the cow,
    leap over the moon?
Could I understand grasshoppers
  if they talked
    very loud?
Could I, very carefully,
  take a walk
   on a cloud?

Learned lessons
  of puppies
    or a high flying cow,
Such things
  seem logical
    and obvious now -
Except perhaps
  walking high
    on a cloud
I think
  treading softly
    should be allowed.

©Donna JT Smith

I was astounded to find that an island was a hill or mountaintop surrounded by water.  I was disappointed when my mother told me we could not walk on clouds.  I was a bit doubtful when she told me that people had human babies and dogs had puppies, and cats had kittens, and no they never got mixed up.  She was about to have my baby sister when that issue came up.  I probably wanted a cat.

31 comments:

  1. All the important questions of childhood.
    walking high
    on a cloud
    I think
    treading softly
    should be allowed... Oh, me, too!

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    Replies
    1. It is not hard to imagine seeing yourself up there jumping on the clouds, though it may be safer to just tread softly and carefully!

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  2. ha. i think we should be allowed to walk on clouds as well...
    i love the logic of kids...they think it is all possible and then we lose
    a bit of that along the way....

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  3. This reminds me of the wild and vivid imagination of the child ~ I think we should not lose that perspective and still believe in a bit of magic somehow ~ Thanks for participating and happy to meet you ~

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    1. It is still fun to imagine. Harder as an adult, but still doable!

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  4. Just wonderful ! ! ! One of my fav's of yours, Donna.

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  5. I still see those images in the clouds, and this poem reminds me what a fine thing it is.

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  6. I love the questions children ask, Donna! They really help adults see from a different perspective, I think, and we need that sometimes!! I enjoyed this poem.

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    Replies
    1. I am surprised that I can remember asking these questions - most of them, anyway! Mom didn't laugh, she just answered them as seriously as they were asked.

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  7. Your poem really reflects those questions children ask others or themselves in a very faithful way. I agree that it is a pity we cannot walk on clouds, or water.

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    Replies
    1. Those were two disappointments...water and cloud walking were not possible!

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  8. Wonderful evocation of the joys and mysteries of childhood. So many questions, such a big world o explore and try to understand! Lovely write, Donna!

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    1. I think this is why I loved teaching the lower grades! Such wonderful imaginations and questions...and I could relive bits of my own childhood thoughts and dreams every day!

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  9. Oh Donna I love your rhythm, they flow with such joy and simplicity..impossible is possible for the children isn't it?....

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    Replies
    1. Thanks, Sumana! At first I had a stanza using impossible, possible, improbable and probable, that I took out Maybe someday I will rewrite with those in again..

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  10. it is funny and fascinating how kids see the world - i remember when i was a kid i told my cousin that the dryness in the desert could easily be solved if they just built a high tower so the clouds would get caught and eventually start to rain down.... i would love to be able to walk on clouds as well... they always look so fluffy from down here - eh? smiles

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    Replies
    1. That is a good one! And in a way you were right. The mountains, like towers, can keep the rain on one side, leaving a desert on the other. If we can't do the towers, maybe the solution could be to take the mountains down!

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  11. My granddaughters, especially the older one, ask questions like this all the time? I love your poem, Donna, it is so wistful, as if you liked being that little girl. Lots of love in it too.

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    Replies
    1. Sometimes I wish we could tell them the answer they would like to hear, not the logical, correct one!

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  12. To understand these things gradually.. and walking on clouds -- I just hoped that it would be allowed. Some things are good that we learn, but maybe we should continue to ask.. maybe that's what's really important.

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    Replies
    1. It is, so important to be able to ask those questions. Unfortunately, as one gets older, or if a child is laughed at, they can come to realize it might be better to just wait to learn the answers another way to avoid being laughed at...and that is sad.

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  13. Right now, I do not want a cat. I'm tired of being woken up at 3am every night just because he feels like I should be awake.

    I think super-dense water vapor is your answer.

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  14. ooh...I like this...I imagine many have ask very similar questions...and though obvious now, I like to enjoy a bit of illogical every now and again.

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  15. I love this Donna....kids always have the most wonderful questions and look at things in such a hopeful and wonderful way.

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  16. So sweet... I can see this as a children's book.

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  17. Yes those clouds always do look like you could get out and walk on them when one is flying over them. I still wonder how something that looks so solid could be so not there if you stepped on it. Enjoyed your reflections on the other childhood questions as well.

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