Author: Ken Gierke / rivrvlogr

Heron Spirit

/ Ken Gierke / rivrvlogr / 14 Comments

Coming soon, from Spartan Press to bookshelves and your hands… Heron Spirit, a poetry collection that explores a lifelong relationship with nature.

Quench This Thirst

Give me a forest trail
beneath radiant amber leaves
that dance playfully in sunlight,
past stony outcrops that speak
of history embraced in layers of time
that seeps to form rivulets of life
that feed streams great and small.
Take me to the banks of those rivers
where the forest’s roots reach to the water.
Just as their thirst is quenched,
let mine be so, that I may know
the beauty of leaves, of water, and of sky.

“Ken Gierke’s new poetry collection, Heron Spirit, is a
conversation with the natural world. The poems take us
from playing in leaves to lines that paddle in unison with the
waves of metaphors, the lines that stretch into the endless
horizon of an endless river. Nature holds bold, tall titans,
sentinel eagles, and a graceful heron that transforms into the
Maid of the Mist. Gierke’s poems observe and reflect “in
true silence”. Maneuvering in the waters teaches us how to
solve problems and gain new perspectives. The poems fill the
silence not just between each paddle but between bird calls.
That is, the poems breathe with the flow of the river and bird
songs. Through stunning imagery and use of meter, Gierke
shows us that the forces of nature are the true constant for
our future generations and “beckon us all” to enter the sacred
realm of the heron spirit.”

-Barbara Harris Leonhard, Author, Three-Penny
Memories: A Poetic Memoir (EIF-Experiments
in Fiction, 2022)

Ken G.

Shared with OpenLinkNight at dVerse ~ Poets Pub

Presque Isle Pilgrimage

/ Ken Gierke / rivrvlogr / 11 Comments

Presque Isle Pilgrimage

Ever drawn by the rewards
offered by blue water,
to float upon its surface
or venture down below,

to walk along its banks in
sight of herons and cormorants,
to answer the call of lapping waves,
whether current-fed

by a mighty river or windswept
on pebbled shores with
the added gift of frosted glass,
would I not be compelled

to divert my course along the shore
of that Great Lake, Erie,
to take in a spit of land
that holds all of these, and more?

The trails of green that pass
sedate, hidden coves that,
in turn, lead out to Erie’s harbor.
The lighthouses, vital aids

to navigation, most notably the tower
that gazes out onto the lake from
a miles-long sandy shore. The same
tower that was witness to vows

that will live forever in my heart.
I might divert my course
every time I pass between
Cleveland and Buffalo, but

it is not a diversion. It is
a destination, one I seek
willingly, so strong is the hold
it has on this heart of mine.

 

This is my response to dVerse Poetics – Pilgrimage, Wandering, and Walkabout, the prompt from Lisa at dVerse ~ Poets Pub, which is to write a poem that is about either a pilgrimage, wandering, or a walkabout.

Image
Presque Isle Lighthouse, Erie, Pennsylvania

Post Na/GloPoWriMo 2024

/ Ken Gierke / rivrvlogr / 11 Comments

It’s a new month, and it’s not April. National/Global Poetry Writing Month 2024 ended yesterday, and May is upon us. I posted a poem each day for the month of April to share with napowrimo.net, but I only met twelve of the prompts provided by Maureen Thorsen (two more than last year), starting with the early bird prompt on March 31. Five more were responses to prompt from dVerse ~ Poets Pub, and the remaining fourteen were poems I wrote as the month proceeded.

The styles of my poem were as follows:
    15 free verse, one of which was a quadrille
     9 senryū
     2 sijo
     2 simple rhyme
     1 prose poem
     1 haiku
     1 haibun

I wrote at least one other poem that does not appear on my blog, so it’s safe to say I wrote more than 30 poems during the month of April. I was able to complete the challenge, even though six of the days were spent on the road. I started this blog in 2014, so that’s eleven consecutive years of meeting the challenge. Thank you to all who read my poetry this past month and especially to all who commented. Here’s to 2025.

 

Ken Gierke

 

Our Blue Nebula~ quadrille

/ Ken Gierke / rivrvlogr / 21 Comments

Our Blue Nebula

Not the stars with their tributes
that map the night sky,
nor the moon with its pale glow.
Not even the sun’s fiery blaze
can outshine my love for you.
With your brilliance by my side,
we are the brightest light in the heavens.

 

This is my response to Quadrille #200, the prompt from Mish at dVerse Poets Pub, which is to use a form of the word blaze in a Quadrille – a 44-word poem (excluding title), with no required meter or rhyme.

Off prompt for Day Thirty of National/Global Poetry Writing Month 2024 at napowrimo.net.

Image
NGC 7023 – The Iris Nebula
© Tony Hallas via Astronomy Picture of the Day

The Elegist ~ sijo

/ Ken Gierke / rivrvlogr / 2 Comments

The Elegist
     for Mark Pottorff

To hear him speak is to know
          love for family and tradition.

Reminiscence or elegy,
          his words convey respect.

One who understands this
          will know the true value of a man.

This sijo is my response to Day 29 of National/Global Poetry Writing Month 2024 at napowrimo.net, where a list of ten words (via Merriam-Webster) found in the lyrics of Taylor Swift’s current album, “The Tortured Poets Department,” are provided and we are asked to use one of those words in the title of a poem. I am not a Swiftie, so I have substituted elegist for elegy.

Sijo (a Korean verse form related to haiku and tanka)
~ three lines of 14-16 syllables each
~ a total of 44-46 syllables
~ a pause near the middle of each line
~ first half of the line contains six to nine syllables
~ the second half should contain no fewer than five
Originally intended as songs, sijo can treat romantic, metaphysical, or spiritual themes. Whatever the subject, the first line introduces an idea or story, the second supplies a “turn,” and the third provides closure.
Modern Sijo are sometimes printed in six lines.
Read more here: Wikipedia

 

Lessons Learned ~ sijo

/ Ken Gierke / rivrvlogr / Leave a comment

Lessons Learned

Each moment in your path
          offers an opportunity.

The wisest decisions come from
          recognizing the potential.

Lessons learned with each turn taken
          bring you closer to your goal.

 

This is my response to Day 28 of National/Global Poetry Writing Month 2024 at napowrimo.net, where we are asked to write a sijo.

Sijo (a Korean verse form related to haiku and tanka)
~ three lines of 14-16 syllables each
~ a total of 44-46 syllables
~ a pause near the middle of each line
~ first half of the line contains six to nine syllables
~ the second half should contain no fewer than five
Originally intended as songs, sijo can treat romantic, metaphysical, or spiritual themes. Whatever the subject, the first line introduces an idea or story, the second supplies a “turn,” and the third provides closure.
Modern Sijo are sometimes printed in six lines.
Read more here: Wikipedia

 

Dissonance

/ Ken Gierke / rivrvlogr / 2 Comments

Dissonance

Far from poetic,
his words were filled
with discord and discontent,
riffs of repetition railing on
malfeasance and malevolence,
the hypocrisy of do unto others,
do unto the environment,
do whatever the hell you want.
Forget what others fear and others feel,
because it’s a me-first world made
to be used until there’s nothing left
for anyone. All he really wants to do is rant.

This is my response to Day 26 of National/Global Poetry Writing Month 2024 at napowrimo.net, where we’re asked to write a poem that involves alliteration, consonance and assonance. I think I’ve covered all three aspects, even if the assonance in lines 3 & 9 is part of the alliteration.

Alliteration
     – the repetition of a particular consonant sound at the beginning of multiple words
Consonance
     – the repetition of consonant sounds elsewhere in multiple words
Assonance
     – the repetition of vowel sounds

Perspective

/ Ken Gierke / rivrvlogr / 1 Comment

Perspective

You have one life,
yet each moment stands alone,
regardless of the past,
regardless of the future.
In each moment,
there is one chance to get it right.
Be honest with yourself.
There is virtue in perspective.
Decide, or don’t.
Not making a choice is a decision.
Live without regret. Do not
let others make that decision for you.
TANSTAAFL*

This is my response to Day 25 of National/Global Poetry Writing Month 2024 at napowrimo.net, where we are asked to write a poem based on the “Proust Questionnaire,” using a provided variation of the questions.

*There ain’t no such thing as a free lunch