Thursday, November 29, 2012

A Pre-Christmas Dialogue in Monosyllables






Royalty Free Stock Photo: Dry land. Image: 15445855
A poem in short words?

Why not give it a try?

Why should I?

What do you want to say?

In truth, I don't know.
The sky is blue. There is no snow.
There should be snow.

A drought, you think?

This land is like a thing used up,
Royalty Free Stock Image: Deadwood and desert. Image: 19680296
all  dust and dry curled leaf,
thin bare bones of trees
and not a cloud to be seen.

No clouds?

Not a one.

Well, take heart, the snow will come.

Will it?

It's bound to, don't you think?

I don't know. The earth has changed.

Change can be good.

Not this change, I think.
Stock Photo: Nativity Mary and Baby Jesus Woodcut. Image: 16916550
Don't yield to grief, just think...

Of what?

Of joy -- the joy that was,
The joy that is to come.
A star will blaze;
A child will be born.
 Hope will be born. Hope can't help being born.

Hope should be white and moist
A slow melt down to the roots of plants;
This blue sky mocks, I think.
But, yes, I will hope -- for snow, for peace,
For the flow of streams,
for new green growth and the end of fear and want.
Royalty Free Stock Photography: Pandora. Image: 12274277

You know the myth?
Hope is what stayed in the box
When the bad things got out.

Yet, hope with no cause is a sad, doomed thing.

Hope is what it is.
It will not stay lost.
It is the first, faint light in the dark,
The last of the lights to go out.
It is the gaze that looks up,
Hope is what binds us to this world.

Then let's drink to hope.



Royalty Free Stock Images: Girl enjoying the winter. Image: 22217489







23 comments:

  1. This is awesome. It reminds me how much I long for a white Christmas this year. Bring on the snow all ready! These few flakes drifting down occasionally isn't cutting it! Brilliant job on this!

    Kathy
    http://gigglingtruckerswife.blogspot.com

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    Replies
    1. Thanks, Kathy. I'd settle for a few flakes at this point. It's like summer out here, or early autumn. Come on and snow, damn it!

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  2. No snow needed here for a blessed and happy Christmas...but MY favorite part of this lovely poem is that HOPE is always there and always looks up.

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    1. Thank you, Jo. Without the snow pack, the forests will be so vulnerable to out-of-control fires come spring. I will hope and keep on hoping for the preservation of this beautiful land.

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  3. Truly wonderful AND great for the season- Hope is the best

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    Replies
    1. Thanks, Laura. Hope really is what keeps us going.

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  4. Lovely. We desperately need snow, but we need hope even more.

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    Replies
    1. Maybe Christmas will bring us luck to add to our hope.

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  5. I'll drink to that. Well done.

    http://joycelansky.blogspot.com

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  6. Just one question. Is there anything you don't do well?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. My math teachers all thought I was cognitively challenged. I also have no sense of direction and very little visual memory. In fact, there are lots of things I suck at.

      Thanks so much for the challenging prompt. I wasn't at all sure I could do it but it has made me think about choosing words carefully. I suspect every writer gets caught in multi-syllable sloppiness from time to time.

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  7. WOW! I was too intimidated by this challenge to even try, but you nailed it! LOVE this! :-)

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    Replies
    1. I was intimidated at first. I bet you could do it, too.

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  8. the dog ran down the road with rain on his feet
    and ice and teeth in his mind
    will it be duck or could it be a bone
    in a sock
    or a lump of coal to chew when the snow does come for real.

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  9. It's a sock with no bone,
    just a lone sock
    to carry home.

    ReplyDelete
  10. the man
    lost a sock
    while on a roof
    with deer.
    with a lone sock
    he had to go home
    and left coals
    while milk grew bad.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Lone coal in sock
      lacks warmth.
      Roof with no deer,
      nor man in red suit,
      What's left?
      Just stink
      Of milk gone bad

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  11. Very beautiful poem! It flows so well that you don't even notice the words are all one syllable, and your vocabulary is beautifully varied. I'm sorry I missed this challenge.

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  12. I also love the images you chose, especially Pandora.

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