Sunday, August 18, 2013

Cross the Bridge


I contemplate waves,
skip stones in your eyes,
wade past the shallow parts.

There is no need for old north boats,
since we have uncovered
our own safe passage.  

Baggage drowns in the current;
a selkie dons my wedding veil,
wonders at so many shoes.

Spoon the rest of the journey;
give in to the tug of gravity,
the low ache that drops like stone.

A stormy berth is best, even though
you are too civilized for thunder.


tk/August 2013 

Thanks to R.A.D. Stainforth, taking time from his holiday in Shetland to read this poem.  


photo by Elena Kalis 


33 comments:

  1. Love reading everyone's imagination on the photos. Wonderful and creative.

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  2. To me, Tess, your words take me way beyond the photo. Each word is simply perfect. It does transport me to that last scene in Shakespeare In Love.

    What a storyteller you are.

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  3. love these lines:
    a selkie dons my wedding veil,
    wonders at so many shoes.
    Wonderfully imaginative

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  4. this is lovely, Tess!

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  5. very nice...love the first stanza, esp 'skip stones in your eyes"

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  6. Loved the way you worked in the centuries-old search for the Northwest Passage - and it fit beautifully.

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  7. Lovely ... selkie folklore is fascinating .. love how you wove it into your poem.

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  8. Well this one just topples me over.

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  9. There is something about "the shallow parts" that keeps on circling around my thoughts... I wonder...

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  10. "...Wade through the shallow parts..." It's what I did here, to find--reading another comment, having found the NW Passage was a part of it all. Hmmm!
    You da poet-girl!

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  11. There is no need for old north boats,
    since we have uncovered
    our own safe passage.

    Often the case as with alternatives. One chooses the path that is already made easy with facilities provided! Nicely Tess!

    Hank

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  12. Goodnes this is powerful/lovely...and a selkie too....wonderful...each line mgave that 'ooh' reaction, the words jousting like they did.
    Was a pleasure to read.

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  13. Wonderful Tess - I wish I was gifted with your thought process.
    Anna :o]

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  14. Nice images. Especially like the stormy berth.

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  15. A selkie donning that veil.....imagery perfection!

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  16. I could feel the waves and the sounds from a distant shore urging them on! Beautiful!

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  17. I enjoyed all the images but, I really liked the first stanza..so much to like in this one.

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  18. wow, very vivid! awesome writing

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  19. Love the closing lines! Very vivid loved it =)

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  20. Alas, I wish I was so civilized.

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  21. Like sheltering behind the force shield of battlefield earth .....

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  22. Do I detect interior meanings? Hmmph!

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  23. Oh course you do, Mrs.T. Tess is cunning with her metaphors.

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  24. The last line was the most powerful to me. Amazingly written.

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  25. My heart is sailing these days and this is just perfect addition to the thrill. Marvelous.

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  26. I, too, love the selkie line! The reading is magnificent. Beautiful, again, Tess.

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  27. "Spoon the rest of the journey"....oh how your words paint amazing colors never seen! :-)

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  28. This is a very layered poem. The more I read it, the more images come into my mind.

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  29. Thank you so much for your kind comments, dear friends...

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  30. What would a selkie do with shoes? Very nice...

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Inject a few raisins of conversation into the tasteless dough of existence.
― O. Henry (and me)