Well, I’m a day late and a dollar short on this one. And my excuse is…
the timeless summer loop I’m in that I reference in this poem I couldn’t find the time to write.
Hello, peaceful, meta, Gordian knot.
Anyway. Our challenge was to write a pantoum, using these particular prompts from Pádraig Ó Tuama.
This is a verrrrry rough draft, but I’m happy to have felt it and noticed it and written it, such as it is right now.
Cottage Pantoum
By Liz Garton Scanlon
The cottage – boney, beautiful and old
listens to the trees creak (and the crows),
secrets spill upon the sleeping porch like gold.
The moon at half-mast holds quite still and glows,
listens to the trees creak (and the crows)
while carp the size of platters flaunt the night.
The moon at half-mast holds quite still and glows –
real time dissolves to nothing in this light
while carp the size of platters flaunt the night.
My skin awakes to slips of sheets and sand,
real time dissolves to nothing in this light,
another day arriving whole, unplanned.
My skin awakes to slips of sheets and sand,
secrets spill upon the sleeping porch like gold.
Another day arriving whole, unplanned,
in this cottage – boney, beautiful and old.
To read the others, go here:
Tanita
Mary Lee
Laura
Tricia
And if you’d like to write alongside us next month, we’ll be writing haiku sonnets! Try one!
“real time dissolves to nothing in this light,/another day arriving whole, unplanned” — wow, so peaceful, Liz! Love your photo, too 🙂
Lovely imagery and sounds in your “Cottage Pantoum” Liz! I especially like these two lines, “real time dissolves to nothing in this light,/Another day arriving whole, unplanned,” would love to have a few of those days—and such an inviting porch, thanks Liz!
ahhhhhhh, those spilled golden secrets….they are my favorite. I’m so glad summer is distracting you from a deadline. Summer is more important.
The love of a cottage in summer is real. I feel this one in my bones.
Ohhh, I don’t often wish for a summer cabin, of the kind it seems 90% of Minnesotans have, but this makes me yearn for one. And in rhyme! This is truly lovely, Liz!
Oh, that is just lovely – the idea of a whole day arriving, unplanned, like a beautiful blank canvas handed to you. What will you do with that one wild preciousness? The crows have opinions, to be sure.
Enjoy, enjoy, enjoy.
Magical, Liz! This one cast a lovely spell on me.
Oh, wow. I was right there in the cabin! (And you even rhymed!!!)