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| © BOREAS * J.W. Waterhouse * 1903 * Oil on Canvas |
Unusual, like glass, she's born of air.
No virgin feeling pretty dressed in white.
No echo quiet as a whispered prayer.
Her skirts flare wide, she's fit and full of fight.
She skims the plains, this fierce thelytokous,
a wild lost banshee screaming curses dark.
Inventing names within amorphous clouds
Creating sounds of drums and whistling larks.
Her pressures rise from earth's uneven heat.
The Coriolis force whorls left and right.
The moon excites her dance on tiptoed feet;
the sun augments her speed with heated light.
She skis both mountain peaks and ocean tides.
The future bends between her moving strides.
© Gay Reiser Cannon * 4.12.2012 * All Rights Reserved
she sounds like quite the lady...nicely done to form as well...love your ending couplet...and the moon..and sun refs....
ReplyDeleteyour use of language is delicious as well gay...example...
DeleteInventing names within amorphous clouds
Mimicked by tympani and whistling lark
Thank you Brian. Sonnets aren't easy for me. I've been working on this for a while too. I finished it today and hoped it fit the prompt. I think the second half does anyway.
DeleteOh Gay! This is just perfect! I wonder if she's the gal that walks the beaches of my Eastern Shore? I'm headed to Sheet Harbour tomorrow for appointments, and really won't be able to help but think of you when I make the trip...especially now! They're calling for high winds
ReplyDeleteLovely Tash, thank you. High winds in sheet harbor. I see Nova Scotia when I see your name. There is such beauty there, but it seems ephemeral like the winds.
ReplyDeleteThe wind and the sonnet dance well together here,Gay the contrast of the formal rhyme and meter making her seem all the wilder. One of my favorite Waterhouse paintings, too.
ReplyDeleteYour words had me spelled bound as I read them, it felt like a folklore fable. Loved it
ReplyDeleteWonderful personification of the wind, and I liked how you ambitiously framed it in within a sonnet, which is much harder than you make it look.
ReplyDeleteNo echo quiet as a whispered prayer
ReplyDeleteHer skirts flare wide, she's fit and full of fight
Was when I knew I'd enjoy the ride; this is smooth and appears effortless from your sharp skill.
Your way of bringing us into the world through myth makes us aware of that power in ourselves and our relationship to earth. Science tries to understand these powers but they often miss the essential qualities that bind our affections and emotions to earth and its processes. Nature brings awe and wonder into our lives, something we simply cannot find by studying it objectively.
ReplyDeleteit's the wind, but it's also mother nature. basically, you have created a mythical goddess for a polytheistic society. it's so cool that you can create a myth. ancient myth and religions were created to explain natural phenomena before science was around to do that for humankind.
ReplyDeleteYou never fail to blow my socks off, Gay. There are places where you can hear her curses, and she is not a happy lady. Hell hath no fury, as they say.
ReplyDeleteThank you for your visit and kind comments. Enterprise + freedom indeed. Scary.
When I was very small I had a teacher like her. But being serious, that last line is one I would have dearly loved to have written.I think I shall ponder it all day. A spectacular conclusion to an impressive verse.
ReplyDeleteethereal and elemental- when you talk about she- for me- you're talking about Mother Nature- something that science can try to control, but will never ever master. This beautifully written piece had such traditional poetic flare it felt timeless...
ReplyDeleteAn elegant use of the sonnet form. The wind sweeps through the lines with pace and rhythm. Well done!
ReplyDeletenice..i love that you include the coriolis force...we work with this force in the company i work for for flow measurement - and because i know how it works, it painted a very vivid picture..
ReplyDeleteThanks Claudia - yes, that stanza was where I included the scientific (a bit) explanation for the wind which can be a gentle breeze or horrific hurricane.
ReplyDeleteYou always seem to find such lovely pictures and give them beautiful phrases to match.
DeleteThank you Aprille - Usually it's the other way 'round though. I almost always write the poem and then find the illustration. HOWEVER, the other day I found a photo that knocked my socks off and I'm trying to make sense of a poem to go with. Doesn't come fast that way though!
DeleteI love the form Gay and your ending couplet was perfect for me. Thanks for sharing this ~
ReplyDeleteScience affords the big picture of our world of wonder, but poetry truly sings it ... The earth's system of wind-currents is a balancing one, highs rushing to lows to restore equilibrium (creating wind), strumming up the waves, eroding mountains, whispering and roaring, spreading seeds to every compass-point. Of course (or wonderful, here) that its goddess and persona is feminine, self-generating, in constant flux (what woman's moods aren't), propagating out of her own nature this wonder world of winds. Lovely, absolutely lovely. - Brendan
ReplyDeleteA beautifully rendered and aesthetically well-judged English Shakespearean. Love that use of 'whorls' -- great word. Gay you might enjoy the vibe on our discussion/crit board honest, constructive feedback (if you're wanting that). Oh actually I do remember you being a member.. did you join the new site when we shifted over? I hope things are easing up for you, my friend? you have precious little time, I know it (and know what it's like). Gonna make sure to embrace the summer this year. Things still difficult but middling somewhat! Sorry I haven't committed to a date for the sonnet class, it's in my mind but I'm not managing to get to it at this present moment. If Samuel offers, let me know :)
ReplyDeleteA brilliant sonnet to the subtlety and power of one of nature's elemental and most dangerous forces. How skillfully you've tamed it here in these well penned lines.
ReplyDelete