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Open Poetry #37
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wranx
Member Elite
since 2002-06-07
Posts 3689
Moved from a shack to a barn

0 posted 2006-04-23 11:31 PM



The Shad make their run first
Then, the Perch

And later
When the water warms a bit more

Rockfish turn inland from the sea
To make their own spawning run

But I never knew her kind to venture into rivers at all

And wouldn’t have noticed her on the point of my island
If not for the Sun glinting from her hair

She sat semi-reclined, the way her kind will
Humming, and combing out her travel tangles  

An attractive creature, even pretty
Though not the beauty celebrated in legend

Nor could one confuse her with a Manatee
And while I tried to conjure an image of her

Scaling the falls downstream,
Leaping as a salmon, arcing through the torrents

I knew, a sensible Mermaid would avail herself
Of the canal above Georgetown

I suppose if she’d been more striking
Her appearance would have been a greater surprise

Aunt Crow, though
Didn’t seem as surprised as nonplussed  

Pretending to pick through mussel shells
Muttering her queries in the language of air

Warily hopping her way closer to the stranger
Who, for her part, listened politely

To the bird woman’s gossipy tales in local color
News that here, there was no immediate danger

And her admonition to head back to the mainstem
For up ahead, both water and time get thinner

And with a discreet nod to my shack, or to me
Some things get only this far, and no further


© Copyright 2006 E.F.Rose - All Rights Reserved
nakdthoughts
Member Laureate
since 2000-10-29
Posts 19200
Between the Lines
1 posted 2006-04-24 06:34 AM


I once (long ago) took a 3rd grade class on a trip to the C&O Canal...brings back memories of the good kind.

great write

M

Jason Lyle
Senior Member
since 2003-02-07
Posts 1438
With my darkling
2 posted 2006-04-24 05:54 PM


I love to read you Ed, I love how you have mastered this form, while claimimg always, not to be a master.

Jason

Tiersdin
Member Elite
since 2000-11-17
Posts 2364
east coast
3 posted 2006-04-25 12:56 PM


Enjoyed muchly, Ed.

For reasons, mermaid, and not...


~tier

suthern
Deputy Moderator 1 TourDeputy Moderator 1 Tour
Member Seraphic
since 1999-07-29
Posts 20723
Louisiana
4 posted 2006-04-25 05:29 PM


There are some poems I don't want to end. *S* This was one. *S*
Enchantress
Member Empyrean
since 2001-08-14
Posts 35113
Canada eh.
5 posted 2006-04-25 09:45 PM


Amazing talent you show here..
It's so good to read you again.
Hugs~Nancy

~ Trace my body with your words,
  in doing so, you touch my heart ~

passing shadows
Member Empyrean
since 1999-08-26
Posts 45577
displaced
6 posted 2006-04-26 06:28 AM


loved that ending!
serenity blaze
Member Empyrean
since 2000-02-02
Posts 27738

7 posted 2006-04-26 07:05 AM


"For up ahead, both water and time get thinner"

not to mention the air

I've never been much of a swimmer m'self.

They kill witches for that ability yanno.

miss y'much m'yeti

Susan Caldwell
Member Rara Avis
since 2002-12-27
Posts 8348
Florida
8 posted 2006-04-26 09:31 AM


I grew up on a chain of lakes and perch were my favorite...hmmmmmm.

Love the splash of color you so artfully colored me with this morning..

"too bad ignorance isn't painful"
~Unknown~

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