thoughts

Thoughts Take Wing ~ tanka prose

/ Ken Gierke / rivrvlogr / 19 Comments

Thoughts Take Wing

From dragonflies to swallows; from great blue heron to bald eagle; this winding river offers sights that take my mind on flights of fancy. Although my passage is never as graceful as theirs, I glide across the water with a paddle as my wings and take in the beauty that surrounds me. Past limestone bluffs with distinctive faces that talk of the mystery of time, beside shoals that hold stone tools from the past, to the passage of time itself as I pass beneath lush, overhanging branches in midsummer that become graceful lines in winter. With nature as my companion, my thoughts take wing.

damselfly in flight
bass jumps out of the water
lands with a big splash
waves roll out in a circle
create ripples in my mind

This is my response to Colleen’s #TankaTuesday Weekly Poetry Challenge
No. 268, Specific Form: Tanka Prose.

In a roundabout way, this might be considered on prompt for Day 13 at napowrimo.net, where we are asked to write a poem that shows how good fortune is possible, even when it seems impossibly distant.

True Direction ~ soliloquy

/ Ken Gierke / rivrvlogr / 15 Comments

True Direction

Where is it that I’m headed
paddling these waters?
Is there any direction?
Do I merely wander?

Although no simple answer,
it is a simple choice.
When I’m upon these waters
I hear my inner voice.

The quiet I encounter,
in spite of gay songbirds,
allows my thoughts to wander,
I have, by this time, learned.

Each time I raise my paddle
upon this placid stream,
I find my true direction
is closer than it seems.

This poem is my response to Meeting the Bar: Soliloquy, the prompt from Victoria at dVerse ~ Poets Pub, which is to write a soliloquy, giving a glimpse of inner thoughts and feelings, such as emotions, plans, and desires. I’ve tried to include some examples of poetic device as requested, by using rhyme or near-rhyme and loose meter.

Image: Ellicott Creek, Amherst New York
(click image for larger view in new tab)

Resolve ~ quadrille ~ video poem

/ Ken Gierke / rivrvlogr / 28 Comments

Resolve

My course at a standstill,
unknown lines define the path
before, behind me.

Unforeseen alternatives
open, close
in all directions.

Pleasure, pain,
potential, all gained,
lost with each turn I take.

With peace of mind
as elusive as resolve,
forward is my only option.

This poem is my response to dVerse – Monday Quadrille – Stand, the prompt from Lisa at dVerse ~ Poets Pub, which is to use a form of the word stand in a 44-word poem, with no required meter or rhyme.

Stream of Consciousness ~ quadrille

/ Ken Gierke / rivrvlogr / 5 Comments

Stream of Consciousness

Thoughts pass
one to another,
flowing in a manner
that brings to mind
a vision of a stream,
its clarity a marvel
unsurpassed,
its course unquestioned,
revealed in the direction
a mind will take it,
a mind perceives it.

Thus is an idea born.

This poem is my response to Quadrille #132 Your Poem Theme: Stream, the prompt from De Jackson at dVerse ~ Poets Pub, which is to use a form of the word stream in a 44-word poem, with no required meter or rhyme.

Lepidopterous

/ Ken Gierke / rivrvlogr / 23 Comments

Lepidopterous

LepidopterousCorralling my thoughts is
a delicate balancing act.
Because some seem lighter
than others, does that give them
less weight? Random as they seem,
there is a pattern to them.
Willing to take flight
at any moment, no small scale
will contain them. This is no flight
of fancy. My sanity relies on
setting them free, and only I
hold the key.

The dVerse prompt provided by Lillian, Inspired by Art, is to write around one of four images by Catrin Welz-Stein. This one is titled, “Free Your Mind,” and is used with her permission. Her gallery can be found here.
Butterfly adults are characterized by their four scale-covered wings

Populus Fragmentus

/ Ken Gierke / rivrvlogr / 4 Comments

Populus Fragmentus

Fragmenty are we
In the thoughts that we see
No idea is done
With a fragment of one

Think of thoughts as a train
Coupled there in our brain
All tidy and neat
As if ordered, complete

We string them along
Till we finish the song
With the common refrain
“Let’s rethink that again”

The coupling is hard
Scattered in that rail yard
Fragments pell-mell
As any poet knows well

If a poet’s a sage
Once his words reach the page
He truly is hexed
As he’s on to the next

 

In a comment exchange on his blog Ideating About Ideating, Elusive Trope gave me the word “fragmenty,” so I blame him for this poem.  😉

Image: Classic train cars on a siding behind Union Station, Kansas City, Missouri