Celebrating National Poetry Month: Poem #5

Lake Chelan in Washington state

Photo Hunt: Glass

Geography 2
The land wrote itself before any
came to chart it: continents broke
and reassembled;two masses crashed
and threw a mountain range, a border
waiting for customs posts; glaciers cut
narrow valleys, close and separate,
each shuttered cautiously from its neighbour.
A coast curved itself into a haven
for shipping; a hill kept watch
on the landscape till the fort was built,
A river spread rich gentle living
over these fields; elsewhere, the want
of water made the contours stand out
like starving bones.

And when it was all ready
they came, at last, to be masters
of it all; to take up the lives
mapped out for them.

Sheenagh Pugh

to find other photo hunts using glass go here.

Comments

  1. Anonymous5.4.08

    What a marvelous landscape! the ideal place to create poetry!

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  2. What a beaufiful scene! Happy weekend

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  3. I enjoyed this post so much. Poetry about geography is something I don't come across too much, if at all. I like the first line about the land writing itself. The connection between mapping the land and people's lives mapped out (by whom?) is fascinating. The photo is a perfect complement.

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  4. I have enjoyed all your photos during your spring break get away. We traveled with a tent trailer for years. (No dogs, six kids.) It is the best way. With just the two of us now we have a tent and air mattress. We won't camp until June, though. But we might go on a hike tomorrow to finish off the spring brek.

    My photohunt glass is from our spring break getaway, too. A whole different part of the state. And one added bit from our Alaska cruise.

    Are you ready to go back to school on Monday?

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  5. Beautiful photograph and I like the way you incorporated the poem into this post.

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  6. Thanks Claudie,Rebecca, and jams.
    Welcome andree: I really loved this poem also. I new one for my collection.
    katney: we live our tent trailer. We tented for years before "we splurged". Maybe by tomorrow I'll be ready to return... but now today!!
    Thanks Carver. I was glad I found one that worked.

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  7. Had me with the first line: Land wrote itelf before....


    sigh. (hugging myelf)

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  8. you combined both of these meme's so well.

    I remember camping on lake chelan in late summer. It looked similar.. the lake mimic's amirro.

    Then a sudden squall rolled down the gorge and blew the fire and ashes right into our tent, and our daughters tent went flying. Nearly impossible to tie down our boat.

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