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Tuesday's Diary
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Tuesday's Diary |
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Midnitesun
since 2001-05-18
Posts 28647Gaia 
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Tuesday‘s Diary...April 6, 04 Midnight’s full moon hid from sight under multiple layers of clouds last night. It made me moody, for it trailed a cloaked sunset, and I felt I’d been cheated of the chance to see brilliant pink reflections off Cathedral peaks. But Mother Nature does not put on her show just to indulge the likes of me. Rather, its up to me to position myself wherever I must be to witness her beauty as she gifts it freely and graciously. The canal was stunningly beautiful today, as was Mud Bay. Scavenging on the shore of the Chilkat River’s tidal flats more than made up for my mere fleeting moments of disappointment. This afternoon was a precious gift, with many offerings of gracefully curved driftwood pieces which caught my eyes and became kinetic sculptures in my mind. As I turned them over and over within my grateful hands, I found the centerpoint, the balance of each weathered branch. The likelihood of an analogy was not lost on me. It should be so easy to discover my own centerpoint, turning life’s moments over and over judiciously in my mind until they all balance in equanimity. But of course, the balance of life’s extremes often seem to be as independent of my control as the daily ebb and flow of the tides. It would be an error on my part, a false assumption to believe that I should always be in control, could always be balanced at a centered point. Tonight I find myself sitting here reflecting, knowing that today I received a bountiful blessing; another full day from sunrise to sunset in the arms of Mother Nature in all her glory. And I am centered. |
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| © Copyright 2004 Kathleen Kacy Stafford - All Rights Reserved | |||
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Sunshine
Administrator
Member Empyrean
since 1999-06-25
Posts 63354Listening to every heart |
Rather, its up to me to position myself wherever I must be to witness her beauty as she gifts it freely and graciously. ~*~ Darlin' girl...I'm positioning myself for some more of this kind of writing coming from you... please! |
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Susan Caldwell Member Rara Avis
since 2002-12-27
Posts 8348Florida |
Kacy~ This was superb, thank you for sharing it. Susan "cast me gently into the morning, for the night has been unkind" |
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Martie
Moderator
Member Empyrean
since 1999-09-21
Posts 28049California |
Kacy "Tonight I find myself sitting here reflecting, knowing that today I received a bountiful blessing; another full day from sunrise to sunset in the arms of Mother Nature in all her glory. And I am centered." Nature does that for me too....this was a lovely sharing. Thank you! |
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Midnitesun
since 2001-05-18
Posts 28647Gaia |
Karilea, Susan, Martie  hello and thanks to you ladies for visiting with me in this sanctuary. The sound of waves, waterfalls, eagles...even screeching ravens, all the sounds of nature somehow soothe this beast. LOL, And yet, it won't be long and I'll have to head back closer to a ARGH! city area. But while I am here in the Valley of the Eagles, I hope to make every moment count. My daughter and I spend several hours each day chasing eagle photos, sunsets, mounbtains, waterfalls...LOL, just about anything and everything in the woods and on the shores. Some day soon, I hope we get our own web page together, and put some of Sara's photos online for all to see. *sigh* |
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Marge Tindal
since 1999-11-06
Posts 42384Florida's Foreverly Shores |
Kacy~ This is just such a LOVELY penning~ 'This afternoon was a precious gift, with many offerings of gracefully curved driftwood pieces which caught my eyes and became kinetic sculptures in my mind. As I turned them over and over within my grateful hands, I found the centerpoint, the balance of each weathered branch.' You captured me TOTALLY with these thoughts~ *Huglets*:huglets: ~*Marge*~ ~*When the heart grieves over what it has lost, |
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fractal007 Senior Member
since 2000-06-01
Posts 1958 |
This was a beautiful poem. It makes for a nice piece with its well-drawn analogies between the self and the phenomena of nature. That's a style of writing and description that I enjoy very much, both to read and to write. This is one piece I'll be placing in my library. A few grammatical mistakes, but nothing too shabby. 2+2=5 for sufficiently large values of 2 |
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Midnitesun
since 2001-05-18
Posts 28647Gaia |
Marge, thank you! I am glad the scene captured you. It's just the way it happened. I could spend the rest of my life raoming around looking for driftwood and water sculpted rocks. Kevin, glad that you enjoyed it, and please, feel free to point out any grammatical errors, as I almost never find them on my own. I do appreciate your feedback. Thanks for reading! |
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Local Parasite
since 2001-11-05
Posts 2527Transylconia, Winnipeg |
Kacy--- I think that this forum allows for a bit more of an intimate approach to replying, and so I'm going to offer a bit of personal criticism to this poem. Please don't take it as something negative, by any means... I mean only the best, because I genuinely respect you and your craft. In a poem such as this one is, where you are allowing yourself to simply sit back and reflect upon something ("gifts" as you aptly deemed them) in nature, it helps that you re-create the scene such that it is pleasing to all of our senses, rather than giving us your more direct interpretation without placing within us those things that so inspired you. In particular I would like more concretization, meaning... more colours, textures, simple actions... when you look at anything and bring it to us, it's helpful to present it with a verb if at all possible, to make the scenery more alive. One thing that poetry is capable of doing, that many other more visual art forms is not, is working with time and linear progression---you might benefit from using this a bit more primarily in your writing. You do this well enough, but it seems that you don't do it consciously enough---do you know what I mean? For example, I love the past tense that you use... it's extremely helpful in a reflective piece, and makes the narration seem more intimate and real. My favourite line is here: quote: An example of how action in scenery can be effective. I would have liked a bit more concrete description, earlier on, before your conclusions were presented. Otherwise, I enjoyed this as I always enjoy reading you. You're a brilliant woman, and your approach to poetry is very respectable, as you've learned to reflect upon your subject matter and present your conclusions in the form of poetry, instead of merely your reflections. That's a practice I absolutely adore, and mourn the loss of in contemporary poetics... but something you seem to want to keep alive and kicking. Would you mind if I asked what poets have influenced your style? I'm intrigued--- Take care Brian |
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Midnitesun
since 2001-05-18
Posts 28647Gaia |
OH my, I just came back to this one today. Brian, you take me to task so sweetly! It was just a diary entry at first, but one I personally liked better than the ones I'd put in Open recently. This is a much more intimate forum, and I welcome your input, and thank you for the time and care you take in your thoughtful replies. As for writers who've influenced me, I'd have to put Thoreau and Emerson on the list, alongside Wordsworth, Whitman, Rousseau, Voltaire and so many others I've forgotten about over the years. More recently, Bernd Heinrich, and Chet Raymo, two first rate scientists and naturalists. I will re-read this piece and think about what you've written. As always, I appreciate your comments. When I was in college I had a professor who used to return all my papers to me with A's and no comments. It drove me nuts! I begged him to critique me, and he obliged by returning a paper that was so heavily marked up I had trouble finding my original sentences! LOL, but at least I knew he had actually read it. |
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