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Friday, April 19, 2013

Common Inspiration--Uncommon Creations.19



Ocean Waves, by Luftrum via Wikimedia Commons

SWIMMING POOL MEMORY

I remember the day I learned to float on my back --
      lying in the middle of the pool's chlorine ocean
      listening to the sound of the water in my ears
      looking up at the blue blue Colorado sky
      feeling the cradle of the water rock me back and forth

I didn't hear them yelling at me to come out of the pool --
      lessons long over
      the other children wrapped in towels
      my own reverie broken
      feeling a loss when I climbed from water to land

©Mary Lee Hahn, 2013


From Kevin (Kevin's Meandering Mind):

She was always happiest
sitting by the window of the house
overlooking the Atlantic Ocean,
knotty hands knitting
as she listened to the rhythm of the tides
coming and going, like the years,
just like the years, coming and going,
and sometimes, I'd see her eyes close,
as if she were floating away for a few minutes
towards something better.

©Kevin Hodgson, 2013

The podcast is here.


From Carol (Carol's Corner):

“Underwater”

I am five.
Marge Westbay tells me to sit
on the steps at the pool
until it is my turn
to swim with her.

I mean to sit there
But then somehow
I am underwater
moving weightlessly
through a strange and magical
aqua green world

enchanted
by the dappled sunlight
dancing
on the bottom
of the pool

The lifeguard
drags me to the top
sits my bottom hard
on the edge of the pool
and scolds me
for moving toward that magic.

© Carol Wilcox, 2013


Irene has the Poetry Friday roundup at Live Your Poem...  Hopefully this week I'll be able to visit the roundup and catch up on some of the amazing projects others are doing this month!



The theme of my 2013 National Poetry Month Project is 


"Common Inspiration--Uncommon Creations." 


Each day in April, I will feature media from the Wikimedia Commons ("a database of 16,565,065 freely usable media files to which anyone can contribute") along with bits and pieces of my brainstorming and both unfinished and finished poems.

I will be using the media to inspire my poetry, but I am going to invite my students to use my daily media picks to inspire any original creation: poems, stories, comics, music, videos, sculptures, drawings...anything!

You are invited to join the fun, too! Leave a link to your creation in the comments and I'll add it to that day's post. I'll add pictures of my students' work throughout the month as well.

18 comments:

  1. She was always happiest
    sitting by the window of the house
    overlooking the Atlantic Ocean,
    knotty hands knitting
    as she listened to the rhythm of the tides
    coming and going, like the years,
    just like the years, coming and going,
    and sometimes, I'd see her eyes close,
    as if she were floating away for a few minutes
    towards something better.

    - Kevin
    The podcast: http://vocaroo.com/i/s09crPGyTyU4

    (Note: The sounds of the water reminded me of my mother-in-law on summer vacations, before she passed away, when she just wanted to be near enough to the water to hear the tides. She'd often sit there, with eyes closed, just listening.)


    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Kevin,
      This is beautiful. Absolutely gorgeous. I love the feel of the "rhythm of the tides
      coming and going, like the years,
      just like the years, coming and going…" and then the contrast of "floating away toward something better." Wow!

      Delete
    2. A dear memory, Kevin, "coming and going like the years". I love that you wrote and captured this.

      Delete
    3. Kevin, your poem swept me away... just beautiful...

      Delete
  2. I loved listening to the ocean, Mary Lee, but I love your swimming pool memory more. As I read your poem, I feel myself, as a little girl, floating on my back in our neighborhood pool.

    Your poem actually inspired the poem I wrote today. One of my most vivid memories from childhood come from when I was about five years old and almost drowned.

    “Underwater”

    I am five.
    Marge Westbay tells me to sit
    on the steps at the pool
    until it is my turn
    to swim with her.

    I mean to sit there
    But then somehow
    I am underwater
    moving weightlessly
    through a strange and magical
    aqua green world

    enchanted
    by the dappled sunlight
    dancing
    on the bottom
    of the pool

    The lifeguard
    drags me to the top
    sits my bottom hard
    on the edge of the pool
    and scolds me
    for moving toward that magic.

    © Carol Wilcox, 2013

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Lovely, Carol! I really like "I mean to sit there" - a child's good intentions gone wrong. (Though as a mom, also my nightmare!) I am so enjoying all these water poems!

      Delete
    2. You managed just that innocence that is rather frightening for us adults, isn't it? 'enchanted by the dappled sunlight'. Brings up some times for me too, Carol.

      Delete
    3. Carol, you really captured the innocence, fearlessness, and entrancing wonder that comes from being five. And reading this as an adult, as a mother... just takes my breath away.

      Delete
  3. Beautiful, Mary Lee. Water is such a wonderful subject, so fraught with memory. For me, it was bobbing - up and down, top and bottom, over and over. I remember that feeling of loss at the end of the lesson. Thank you!

    ReplyDelete
  4. I can feel it rocking around me, Mary Lee. It was such a wonderful thing to be able to say I could swim. Thanks for the memory!

    ReplyDelete
  5. Enjoyed your Swimming Pool Memory very much, Mary Lee! Are you finding that being able to tap into different sorts of media makes you feel more creative?

    ReplyDelete
  6. past the breakers
    rocked by the great blue
    under blue
    -Andromeda Jazmon

    I remember learning to swim in a pool just like yours. Your lovely poem brings it all back! Here's mine - When I can't sleep, or have to sit in the dentist chair, I go back to the times I have floated on the ocean waves just beyond the breakers. It's my happy place.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Mary Lee, at home in water. It's a great image. Thank you for sharing this memory-poem!

    ReplyDelete
  8. Mary Lee, your poem reminds me of my days at the pool. Been a wacky crazy week. An author visit yesterday.

    ReplyDelete
  9. I've really enjoyed your poems this month, Mary Lee. Thanks for them!

    Your poem helped remind me of being lost in the moment, that feeling of being so absorbed in something that I lose track of time. Reverie. How much of what we learn, of who we become, gets created in these moments?

    Thanks!

    ReplyDelete
  10. You captured feelings and memories that so many of us can relate to...and did it beautifully! Even if we never swam (I loved it) - we can all connect with the idea of our reverie being broken by reality.

    ReplyDelete
  11. Mary Lee, your swimming pool memory speaks to me in such a visceral and personal way-- thanks so much for sharing. All three of these poems are incredible, and made all the more so with the sound of ocean waves lapping in the background. What an amazing celebration of National Poetry Month!

    ReplyDelete

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