March 2024 SOLC–Day 4
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Yesterday was dreary in a dazzling sort of way. We ventured outside to enjoy the day and were amply rewarded for doing so. In fact, during our wanderings we spotted at least 21!!! bald eagles! It was tough to keep count.
Ten Ways of Looking at a Grey Winter Day
after “Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Blackbird” by Wallace Stevens
- You,
me,
alone together
on rain drenched paths. - Puddles
offer up reflections
to the sky. - Wings lift and shift.
A convocation
of eagles gathers
at the water’s edge. - Suffused with mist and
the keening of geese,
the air hums. - An old orchard,
overgrown.
Winter stark and
free of apples,
ripe with echoes
of laughter. - Between the thorns,
globes of water balance
along blackberry canes.
Within each sphere
a world
encapsulated. - The yellow glow
of winter grass
warm beneath
the bare trees. - Blueberry barrens–
a gentle red glow,
sweetens the grey. - Negative space.
Silence where frogs sing.
Ice in the marshes. - When the wind blew,
it shook raindrops free
and filled the wings
of a hawk.
©Molly Hogan
Nix the comfort zone 
So stunningly beautiful. You have a very trained eye and a way with words. Thanks for sharing all this dazzling sound and imagery.
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Thanks! It was an unexpectedly beautiful day.
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I am instantly transported: “the air hums” and “globes of water balance” and”the yellow glow of winter grass” this is so beautiful and exactly like your photos!
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Thanks, Cindy!
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What a day, and what images, both in your words and photos. I loved so many of these “ways” but these two struck the most:
An old orchard,
overgrown.
Winter stark and
free of apples,
ripe with echoes
of laughter.
and
Between the thorns,
globes of water balance
along blackberry canes.
Within each sphere
a world
encapsulated.
I really like how you can hear echoes in what appears stark and dormant. That’s what this whole poem seems to be about. I also love how you moved from globes of water to a world encapsulated. Again, expressing a whole theme inside one little image.
I envy your powers of observation…and the eagle sightings.
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Thanks so much, Peter, for your thoughtful comments. I hadn’t really noticed that theme within the poem and am so glad you pointed it out. It’s funny how there can be layers to your writing that you, as the author, might not even notice.
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Beautifully played. I loved II and IX. The idea of a grey day being negative space. I want to sit with that.
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I’m not 100% sure that I used that correctly, lol!
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Beautiful poem! Love your word choice. My favorite line was “globes of water balance/ along blackberry canes”
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I’m always fascinated by how water clings to branches and inverts the world in each drop!
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Gorgeous.
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This is a lovely version of Wallace Stevens’ poem (one of my faves, btw). I really like the formatting and the details, especially the color imagery of blueberries and blackberries. Thank you for including the gorgeous photos, too. Have you read Craig Santos-Smith’s “Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Glacier”? I think you’d enjoy it.
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Thanks, Glenda. I’ll definitely check out that poem.
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This poem is crafted so beautifully. What stood out to me was “the keening of geese.” I just love how that sounds. And you ending stanza is perfect –
When the wind blew,
it shook raindrops free
and filled the wings
of a hawk.
It takes the read away on that hawk into a beautiful space.
Just lovely!
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I’m always deeply moved by the sound of geese. This morning I watched some fly by, in a sort of haphazard V, with the rising sun lighting up their bellies. It was stunning!
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“The yellow glow
of winter grass”
That’s what really got me. I was driving home the other day, trying to put words to the particular color of the field of gold I drove by. There’s something about the colors of late winter, begging us to pay attention pre-bloom.
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The yellow feels especially bold and glowing this year. It’s almost surreal in places.
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Gorgeously written. This was my favorite stanza:
globes of water balance
along blackberry canes.
Within each sphere
a world
encapsulated.
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Thanks! I am fascinated by water droplets and how they invert the world.
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This is so lovely. Just encapsulates all you saw and how you felt. Stanza V was my favourite, I love orchards!
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That orchard is coolly creepy. I didn’t mention it, but this time around we found a deer’s rib cage and a bunch of fur there! Yikes!
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I love “alone together” and finding the stark beauty in the gray day. And the photos are stunning! (21 bald eagles?!? I can’t even imagine that!)
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We couldn’t believe how many eagles we saw! We do see them frequently, often even 2-3 in an outing. We’ve never seen close to this many in one day before.
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