A Poem a Day (645): NaPoWriMo Day 16 - The mile

 

Day 16

Prompt: we challenge you to write a poem in which you closely describe an object or place, and then end with a much more abstract line that doesn’t seemingly have anything to do with that object or place, but which, of course, really does. The surprise ending to this James Wright poem is a good illustration of the effect we’re hoping you’ll achieve. An abstract, philosophical kind of statement closing out a poem that is otherwise intensely focused on physical, sensory details.

The mile

I walk the latent mile, mud-spattered,
curves in the distancing, mirroring,
the sun blazing stripes over this chill clime,
and I am lazy in my own clamber up,
over, trailed by a tail of twisted lanes.
 
Jagged trees arch, create spiky picture frames
through which to spy on the frozen horses,
shaggy brown, grey and dappled, the last
in his blue coat. The hands of the hills span
out, palms rising to circling cirrus clouds.
 
I listen to the even echo of my footsteps,
the hum of a bumble’s bounce, trill lark
and a chuckle of sparrows hedge-haunting.
Beside a white birch, a baby rabbit curls silent.
I try to shake the ghost of my own self loose.
 
Copyright Vickie Johnstone, April 16, 2024