Today we are asked to try writing a poem that describes a place, particularly in terms of the animals, plants or other natural phenomena there. We should sink into the sound of our location and use a conversational tone, incorporating slant rhymes (near or off-rhymes, like “angle” and “flamenco”) into our poem.
For an extra challenge, we should not reference birds or birdsong, which I think is a bit of a bugger!
I dug into my memory bank and recalled a visit to one of the most beautiful places I’ve ever seen, Glen Etive. If you have been I hope what you read connects with you.
Take your seat by the Skyfall Waterfall,
Where peat-coloured clouds chuckle and chortle,
Slithering and sliding over Dalradian mountains,
Like lukewarm chestnut bows softly kissing violin strings.
These stones are raconteurs and fabulists,
Sediment prelude forming lyricists,
Composed under ancient seas by pink crustacean quavers,
When time conducted ebony oboes to ooze the waves,
Engage the eye of the russet-red Stag,
Hear the timpani questions it glares back,
His kettledrum heartbeat bass booms then echoes o’er the deep,
While olive-green reed spikes pipe and whistle around his feet.
Mumbling mounds of mist roll from the heavens,
On purple ling and sheep choirs it descends.
In the bar-lined loch, otters play staccato flip-flop plop pop.
Symphony of the glen; magical tune, please never end.
Missives & Musings 