<BODY bgcolor="#ffffcc"><script type="text/javascript"> function setAttributeOnload(object, attribute, val) { if(window.addEventListener) { window.addEventListener('load', function(){ object[attribute] = val; }, false); } else { window.attachEvent('onload', function(){ object[attribute] = val; }); } } </script> <div id="navbar-iframe-container"></div> <script type="text/javascript" src="https://apis.google.com/js/platform.js"></script> <script type="text/javascript"> gapi.load("gapi.iframes:gapi.iframes.style.bubble", function() { if (gapi.iframes && gapi.iframes.getContext) { gapi.iframes.getContext().openChild({ url: 'https://www.blogger.com/navbar/3681033325356956556?origin\x3dhttps://thejoyofpoetry.blogspot.com', where: document.getElementById("navbar-iframe-container"), id: "navbar-iframe" }); } }); </script>
I Go to the Woods in Search of Poetry

by Kathy Keil

I go to the woods in search of poetry
Planting myself firmly,
Soft buttocks undulating to the roll of the earth,
Closing my eyes,
Sitting as still as the heron stalking its prey--
Taking it all in
Like a baby bird
--head uplifted
--beak stretched wide
...waiting...
The Aria begins,
Chirping birds trill their tales.

Violets yearning to be heard stretch sunward
Like young girls sculpted on a sandy shore.
Their fuchsia centers
Erupting across powdery petals,
Miniscule-stripes,
Tiny dots of golden yellow
Like treasure waiting to be found.

Apollo caresses my face and arms.
A whispering breeze nudges my pen
And my paper flaps as if grabbing at words.
Trees shoot up into a never-ending purple-blue sky.
A crescendo explodes
Like 4th of July fireworks,
And the poem ushers forth
Falling down and out and over the earth
Like a shower of life-giving rain.

I go to the woods in search of poetry--
I take my students with me
That they might also search
...and find.

(dedicated to English I students, Spring 2005)

Labels: , ,