SKY STRUTS (photomorph) & HOW DOES (non-dream free verse poem) by Roswila

HOW DOES

how does one survive an environmental
threat, one that slowly eats away at one's
natural habitat and everything one depends
on, leaving only raw hunger and a faculty for
creative planning and playfulness that's fast
becoming more a sorrow than a joy; this faculty
that's always protected everything beneath it,
even as it now rattles in the winter wind facing
off the cold blue sky like a large white, paper
umbrella with fragile wooden struts; and, as ever,
displaying words, this time written in dark blue
calligraphy spanning its long translucent curves:
Thank You


[non-dream free verse poem written 1-10-18. This one was a challenge to format on the page. My initial shaping was very much like the side view of an umbrella (just for the fun of it!). But the longest line just before the "handle" words of "Thank You" did not fit this blog's column width and got broken. Argh! Although this shaping is fine, having seen the umbrella like one, it leaves me cold. I've often thought how anyone viewing this blog with their screen font size set larger, is frequently not seeing my intended formatting anyway. Sigh. An object lesson in how environment impacts us. (Yeah, I could adjust the column width in this blog's template. But that's more work than I'm willing to go to. Especially to fix a problem that [probably] rarely crops up.) BTW, this poem is the off-shoot of watching a World Wildlife Fund video on polar bears and their vanishing environment. My stepmother used to say I was like a polar bear -- cuddly but a little chilly. And one of the narrators in the video called the polar bear an umbrella species, and I was off and writing. However, though it may not be clear in the poem, it is meant by extension to address more than my own little life. Photomorph "Sky Struts" (9-05-09 6468e5) by Roswila]

PLEASE NOTE: in most browsers you can click on the above image for a larger version. Also, the photo accompanying a post is not necessarily meant to illustrate it, but to reflect some small, even slant aspect of the verse, similar to Japanese haiga (illustrated haiku).

There are many other sorts of posts on this blog. I indicate which are about or influenced by dreams. Some non dream focused posts are book reviews, "regular" poems (some by other writers), scifaiku, writing exercises, Tarot haiku, photos, haiga, and so on. However, most of those are in much older posts. There's a listing by month going back to early 2006, at the end of the sidebar.

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until next time, keep dreaming,

[a/k/a Patricia Kelly]
**** If you wish to copy or use any of my writing or poems, please email me for permission (under “View my complete profile”). Roswila's other blog (dedicated to her photos only, i.e. no poetry or other writing; daily post); TRYING TO HOLD A BOX OF LIGHT.