Today is Day 15 of Author Amok's 2015 poem-a-day project. We are spending February writing in response to sounds. I'm remembering my recent trip to New Mexico for the next two days, with sounds related to that region.
For a full description of the project and how to participate, please read this post. I hope you'll join us. I'll continue posting poems from Day 15 as they come in. Thanks to everyone who has sent in poems so far. We've written over 70 new poems already this month!
Our Day 15 prompt is church bells from Santa Fe's Cathedral Basilica of St. Francis of Assisi.
This sound led Linda Baie of Teacher Dance to do some interesting research. She writes,, "In my messing about with these church bells, I did discover that there is a call for bell ringers in Ecclesfield UK, hoping that others will want a new hobby to pass on to the next generation. This bell ringing began in the 17th century and according to this little snippet of news, over 5,000 towers still ring in England."
My Mother Told Me
Town church bells rang from dawn to dark
for World War Two, an end was marked.
This joyful time, this declaration
of ending with a celebration
of reverberating bells
reminded with resounding noise
boys would be coming home as men,
but others would not be home again.
Linda Baie © All Rights Reserved
Diane Mayr is working on a series, "Kids of the Homefront Army." The bells made a connection with that project.
Question for the Bells
by Diane Mayr
The war is over and
all the church bells
peal their approval.
Will we learn this
time that nothing
is won in war?
Is transmigration
of foot soldiers'
souls our only hope?
all the church bells
peal their approval.
Will we learn this
time that nothing
is won in war?
Is transmigration
of foot soldiers'
souls our only hope?
More historical connections from poet Patricia VanAmburg. Thanks for sharing the link with your poem, Patricia.
For Arcosanti
Cast your bronze bells
against the desert sky
Paolo Soleri’s light
filtering through
unfinished semi domes
of arcology and
responsible interaction
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arcosanti
Charles Waters' poem today reminds me of the beautiful sunrises and sunsets in New Mexico.
Charles Waters' poem today reminds me of the beautiful sunrises and sunsets in New Mexico.
SWINGING AND RINGING
The weighted pendulum of bells
Announce their presence
As sunrise stretches
Into its morning shift.
My poem is dedicated to my New Mexico hostess and dear friend, Jennifer Lewis. As you can tell from the poem, Jen and I both have some sensory issues -- especially with loud sounds.
Santa Fe Church Bells
By Laura Shovan
For Jennifer Lewis
Sunday afternoon in Santa Fe,
the light penetrates.
It’s loud, this light,
without gold hues or shadows.
A truck ambles by
as my friend and I
wander past galleries and shops.
The throaty rumble
runs through us both,
pricks the skin,
stutters the heart,
pulses through our teeth.
My friend and I
look at each other,
laugh. We are no
samurai, like the one
whose armor sits
behind that plate glass
window. Everything
runs straight through us,
light, truck, even
the bells of Saint Francis,
calling us in
to pray.
Here are all of the sound prompts for the third week of February. As promised, I included a couple of sounds from New Mexico:
Sunday, February 15
Video of Santa Fe's Cathedral Basilica of St. Francis of Assisi by my Albuquerque friend, Jennifer Lewis.
Monday, February 16
Read more about this sound here.
Monday, February 16
Read more about this sound here.
Wednesday, February 18
Recommended by Michelle Heidenrich Barnes of Today's Little Ditty
Recommended by Michelle Heidenrich Barnes of Today's Little Ditty
Friday, February 20
Follow the link to choose your reptile.
You'll need to turn the volume high to hear this one.
If you'd like some poem-starters to wake up your muse, you'll find them at the bottom of this post. Drop in any time with a poem. I’ll continue to post your work throughout the month, no matter which sound you are writing in response to.
Would you like to read what we’ve written so far? Here are links to the week 2 poems. You can find links to the week 1 poems on all of these posts:
Sound of Waves Poems by Patricia VanAmburg, Diane Mayr, Linda Baie, Laura Shovan, Margaret Simon, and Charles Waters.
Bubbling Cauldron Poems by Diane Mayr, Charles Waters, Laura Shovan, and Buffy Silverman.
Fireworks Poems by Charles Waters, Diane Mayr, and Laura Shovan.
Classic Typewriter Sound Poems by Patricia VanAmburg, Diane Mayr, Charles Waters, Mike Ratcliffe, and Laura Shovan.
Mockingbird Poems by Linda Baie, Mike Ratcliffe, Laura Shovan, Charles Waters, and Margaret Simon.
Cape Eagle Owl Call Poems by Linda Baie, Patricia VanAmburg, Charles Waters, and Diane Mayr.
Male Woodcock Mating Call Poems by Diane Mayr, Patricia VanAmburg, Mike Ratcliffe, Laura Shovan, and Linda Baie.
2 comments:
Like Linda did, I was taken back to WW II and the end of that war. I have a love/hate relationship with church bells. They can be rejoicing, but they seem more at home in the mourning sounds range.
When I read about those bells in the UK, they shared that they had different kinds of rings for different things, call for prayer, weddings, memorials, etc. I love that you wrote about sound reaction, Laura, running straight through. Clearly bells 'reverberate' quite personally with all of us. Love the thoughts coming in.
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