DARK

I found a hemlock lying down

because that’s the way the wind blew

a long time ago. It settled there

along the edge of a stone bluff.

Having grown that way for all

these years, it looks like a ship,

its tip curving up, and three limbs,

evenly spaced along the top of its

supine trunk, like masts with shaggy

green sails set to catch the wind.

To the left, where the bedrock broke 

to divide the bluffs and form this 

wide, little canyon in the hillside,

a wet-weather rill splashes down

fifteen feet to the floor, and runs along

the limestone wall before disappearing

underground beneath the little cliff.

If you bend down, and listen carefully,

the sound of water falling into a dark pool

maybe ten feet below echoes up

from a place hidden from the sun

for so long, the idea of tomorrow

has no meaning.

Reviews

[emmajoygreen]

Start to finish calm and visual, gentle working yet clear as clear. You're so very able to alter your style without losing your spirit, here there is slow, slow and contentment yet mystery.. .. perhaps the 'idea of tomorrow has no meaning' is a lure to take the reader back to the start. It will, sir,

' .. echoes up
from a place hidden from the sun
for so long, the idea of tomorrow
has no meaning.'

[Vol]

Joy, I think I've lived so long and romanticized my memories from beginning to end. I loved that place and went there often back in the seventies... I was young and hot-blooded; Barbara was as well. A time of great happiness and adventure.
Vol

[Lara]

I've been on a ride - the memory of which will stay with me awhile. As great writing does...
This one done fell plumb, in the pool of my heart, Vol.

[John Sullivan]

Not much to say about this one, Vol. Other than... poetry is meant to serve its function. This piece does, in all the good ways poetry can. One of your best I've read in my immediate memory. Just a wonderful image. And so on.

[Vol]

Thank you, John! It was a magical place... couldn't find a way to fit the ancient Holly tree growing in the heart of the canyon, biggest I've ever seen

[John Sullivan]

Tales of nature always kinda move me, Vol. As you know, I'm a city boy from the urban Northeast. It's that air conditioned room for me, pavement and alleys and pigeons. So many damned pigeons. But there's a river that flows through town, the might Blackstone River, and the old railroad bridge runs over the river, framed by the changing leaves of autumn... such things, Vol, they make an impression. Anyways, nicely done, and good to hear from ya!

[D. Mansfield]

I like this alot, great work

[Vol]

Why, thank you, Crapped!

[D. Mansfield]

My middle name running down the inside of my leg

[Vol]

Just one word..."Bidet"

[Lorry]

Well my first thought was "isnt weed great?" but your last lines about the dark pool hidden from the sun for so long that tomorrow has no meaning changed my mind.
So in summation, isnt weed fantastic! 😀

[Vol]

Lorry,
To go there was to find magic, it was a fae place... In the summer, when the temps were in the ninety's, Barbara and I would skinny dip in the still pool some boulders had made in Laurel Creek... It was my best life.
Vol

[Lorry]

Who knows Vol. Maybe if you visit it again it will have the restorative properties of the movie cocoon! 😆

[Vol]

Sadly, I had to sell that property forty years ago... someone else lives there now...

[Lorry]

But it might be an old biddy that can cocoon into a hot young thing with you! 😀

[Vol]

I could sneak in from up the road, I guess...