Yesterday was Day 27 of Author Amok's 2015 poem-a-day project. We are spending February writing in response to sounds.
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 27 as they come in. Thanks to everyone who has sent in poems so far.
Our Day 27 prompt is the sound of crackling lava. This sound was suggested by J. C. Elkin.
What attracted Jen (and me) to this sound is the little crackles and pops, almost the sound of a campfire. Can you imagine cooking s'mores on a lava flow?
Linda Baie at Teacher Dance shares her students surprise and enthusiasm as they learn about lava.
Upon First Learning About Lava
volcanic action
hear exclamation
repeated
watch the reaction
feel satisfaction
completed
kid fascination
with demonstration
heated
Linda Baie © All Rights Reserved
Yesterday, we were talking about the pop-up community we've formed over this month of writing together in response to common prompts. Thanks to Mike Ratcliffe for this note. Mike made a connection to my train poem from Day 26.
He writes, "My oldest son, Zach, went through all usual phases of young boys' interests: construction equipment, dinosaurs, volcanos. Whatever the subject, he immersed himself in it, and more often than not, to the exclusion of other subjects. For a few years, he was our resident vulcanologist, and most of what I know about volcanos was learned from him or with him."
A Mind Like Pahoehoe
by Mike Ratcliffe
When his grandfather gave him a video
about the eruption of Mt. St. Helen’s,
he memorized it right down
to the inflection and flow
of the narrator’s voice.
He threw himself into volcanos,
their names becoming household words:
Etna, Vesuvius, Kilauea,
Coatepeque and Arenal,
Pinatubo, Sakurajima,
and the nearly unpronounceable
Icelandic volcanos, whose names
he could rattle off with ease.
We learned the different shapes,
which he would model
in the infield during T-ball games,
till I moved him to right field
(for safety’s sake),
and the different types of lava:
comfortable-sounding pillow,
rough a‘a (useful in Scrabble),
smooth, fun-to-say pahoehoe.
We delved into tectonics
and subduction zones until
the Ring of Fire was more
than just a song, and in my mind,
Johnny Cash forever walks a line
around the Pacific Rim.
It’s been like this with everything
on which he’s fixed his gaze.
His mind is like pahoehoe,
relentlessly flowing,
consuming all in his path.
Since we're already visiting Hawaii, here is my poem -- an acrostic.
Honeymoon
and Haleakala
by Laura Shovan
Love,
we couldn’t fly all the way to Hawaii
And miss
the sun rising over this dormant
Volcano’s
rim. They call it House of the Sun.
And
so it would be, if Fog hadn’t left its bed too.
 |
| Here's what we missed on that trip to Maui. Photo source |
I love the last line of Patricia VanAmburg's poem. Perfect word choice.
Lava
by Patricia VanAmburg
Molten wind blowing
In boiling undulation
Blistering the path
And let's end with Charles Waters' poem, which pairs so wonderfully with Patricia's.
LAVA
Waves of charcoaled apricot magma
Trudges along with tortoise-like determination,
Its crispy cackle warning you … beware.
(c) Charles Waters 2015 all rights reserved
Charles' use of the word "apricot" (how wonderful was that), got me thinking about food. Let's have a taste of this haiku from Diane Mayr.
Singapore noodles
curry sticks to my lips
I smolder
We are down to one prompt to go, poets! Remember to visit Heidi Mordhorst at My Juicy Little Universe for a March prompt-a-day project.
Here are all of the sound prompts for the last week of February. Remember, there will be a prize for our most prolific poet.
Footsteps in snow
Smoke on the Water
Sea Turtle
Ugandan Music
Train
Lava
Sunday, March 1: Project Wrap-up
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 3 poems. Each of these posts links to the week 1 and 2 poems.
Santa Fe Church Bells Poems by Linda Baie, Patricia VanAmburg, Diane Mayr, Laura Shovan, and Charles Waters.
Quaking Aspen Poems by Diane Mayr, Charles Waters, Laura Shovan, Patricia VanAmburg, Mike Ratcliffe, and Karin Fisher-Golton.
Tuesday, February 17 -- new poem!
Laughing Child Poems by Charles Waters, Diane Mayr, Laura Shovan, Michael Ratcliffe, Linda Baie, Margaret Simon, and Heidi Mordhorst.
Mysterious Space Sound Poems by Patricia VanAmburg, Charles Waters, Mike Ratcliffe, Laura Shovan, Linda Baie, Michelle Heidenrich Barnes, and Margaret Simon.
Museum Stairwell Poems by Linda Baie, Mike Ratcliffe, Laura Shovan, Charles Waters, Margaret Simon, Diane Mayr, Patricia VanAmburg, and Karin Fisher-Golton.
Friday, February 20 -- new poems!
Reptile Poems by Linda Baie, Patricia VanAmburg, Margaret Simon, Laura Shovan, Mike Ratcliffe, Donna Smith, Robyn Hood Black, Buffy Silverman, and Charles Waters.
Traditional Chinese Music Poems by Diane Mayr, Mike Ratcliffe, Laura Shovan, Robyn Hood Black, Linda Baie, Patricia VanAmburg, Carol Varsalona, Charles Waters, and Margaret Simon.
3 comments:
The lava sound left me empty, but you all are on fire with this sound! The closest I could come is this:
Singapore noodles
curry sticks to my lips
I smolder
But it's great, Diane. I just kept thinking of all the kids I know who are so excited to make a volcano & have it erupt! I would love to see the real thing-safely!
All good again, everyone. I love the story of your son, Mike. He sounds like kids I know! Laura, I like the hint of hot/cold relationships in your poem, & Patricia, that "blistering the path" is wonderful. Charles, I didn't hear it, but "crispy crackle" is just scary, considering that lava pouring down to those houses.
I'm adding Diane's take on lava now. I love having a different, sensory, take on the lava.
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