NaPoWriMo 2019 – Day 28
Adrift
Two ships passing. Murmuring memories, whispers
of past lives adrift in waves of moving water.
Elizabeth Crawford 4/28/2019
Process Notes: Sherry wrote to an interesting prompt yesterday and it did two things. Made me think of this particular photo, I took at the huge bird sanctuary out near Bay Beach. And challenged the writer in me to attempt to do the same. The prompt was to use an image to create a two line painting very different from the presented picture, yet deepening the meaning of that original image. I took the photo because it emphasized the different proportions between the Pelican and the Canada Goose, not a small creature by any means. It always makes me think of a gleaming white yacht, pulling or passing a much smaller rowboat in its wake. That might have made a better painting, but the words sometimes have a whole different story they want or need to tell. And who am I to argue?
Soul's Music 
Elizabeth,
Lovely words to accompany the photo. We are almost done with the month. Thanks for joining us on the journey.
Love,
Pamela
You are more than welcome, Pamela. It’s been fun/work writing together. NaPo is never easy, but having a few good companions makes it far more doable. In my way of thinking it is a Heroic Journey, with all the stages of the Journey packed into a brief thirty day period. Whew! This particular piece of writing was a personal challenge and possibly the most difficult one, if the briefest of the bunch. And although I like the dance of the words, I don’t really think I met the challenge. And that is fine by me. Just good to know that this old woman is still up to the adventure of it all.
Elizabeth
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I had no idea a pelican would be so much larger than a Canadian goose! Interesting prompt. You did a great job responding to it with your poem!
Thank you, Marianne. I don’t think I met the more subtle elements of the prompt, but am still happy with the outcome. I think I fussed over and changed each word numerous times, and am still unsatisfied. That might be the goal of the exercise, forcing one to really concentrate and focus in on word choice and placement. Here’s a secret, one of the reasons I love the photo is because it shocks me every time I come across it, because of that discrepancy in size. When I was in college, I would park in the back parking lot and hike in. There were a couple of Canada Geese who would build a nest alongside that path each spring. And the male goose would often come flying out, hissing and screaming from his hiding place, wings whirling in a frenzy to scare away innocent passers-by. Although he never attacked me, I saw more than a few students running for their lives with book bags flung over their heads for protection. He was not a small creature. Although Pelicans seem to be far more sedate, I think even I might attempt to run from a similar display of Pelican protective fury.
Elizabeth
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Your words are wonderful, for the two line poem!! Thanks for your comments on my post.
No, thank you Mzzz Queen. You amaze me. Two more days, two more poems, and we can then return to normal, whatever the hell that looks like. It just better not be a two line poem! One is enough for this old woman.
Elizabeth
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I love “past lives adrift in waves of moving water.” Wonderful, my friend. I would love to visit a bird sanctuary.
It’s a huge place and located on a branch of the river that runs from the Bay. Used to go quite often, but don’t know how well I’d fair with my cane or walker. Lots of winding paths and always filled with people. But, I do have lots of photos taken there. Until I was about four years old, we lived in a house at the shoreline of the Bay, about a mile west of where the Sanctuary is located. We took baths in the bay on Saturday nights, and that is where I first learned how to skate on the frozen Bay waters. But, we moved into town, across the street from the Parochial School I attended for seven years and my life was totally altered, becoming something I barely recognized. And I became a stranger, even to myself. Ooops, I think I just realized where that last of those two lines came from. Thanks Sherry,
Elizabeth
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Your poem speaks for me as well….my first life born by the bay, and spent many a day there….learning, growing, and celebrating. I love this, “adrift in waves of moving water.”
Thank you, Annell. I think individuals who live near a body of moving water, often see life differently, Somehow inherit the spirit of the explorer, ask more questions, don’t accept easy answers, seek a deeper meaning about what passes before them. They may even accept that change is inevitable, but that only serves to dampen their curiosity. One might come to see that the constant movement of the waves, the embedded memory of it, becomes the music that moves the soul of one who has lived near it for any length of time. I’m glad to know we share that similar spirit, but then again, we have for several years now.
Elizabeth
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“Past lives adrift in moving water”
Such a beautiful line and thought. Love this photo!
Thank you Sara. I really like the photo as well. Good to see you here.
Elizabeth
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