It’s warm this afternoon,
and sunny—a spring day
of bluebonnets and tall grass
and songbirds in the trees.
It’s a beautiful day, but
heavy beyond my horizon.
The pictures are coming,
we all know they’re on the way,
we’ve seen them before:
birds dying in oil-choked seas,
blackened beaches, ruined
estuaries and suffocation.
They say it’s going to hail
tonight, here.
—
This is for Read Write Poem’s NaPoWriMo #29: Front Page News supplied by D.S. Apfelbaum. The poem is based on the dread I feel about the images we’re about to see when the oil slick hits the Louisiana coast. The pictures that will be on front pages in the coming days.
This is my last poem for National Poetry Writing Month. It’s also, sadly, my last response to a Read Write Poem prompt, since RWP is closing down tomorrow. It is Read Write Poem that inspired me to fulfill one of last year’s new years resolutions, which was to start sharing my poetry. It also led me to a vibrant community of online poets and writers of which I’m happy to be a part.
There are new sites gearing up, growing out of the community created by RWP, and that’s a great thing. Big Tent Poetry developed by Deb Scott, Carolee Sherwood, and Jill Crammond-Wickham will be doing weekly prompts starting next Monday, and I’ll be helping out as a “barker.” Starting on Thursday, We Write Poems, conceived and organized by Neil Reid will launch their weekly prompts. I’ll contributing a prompt or two there from time to time. Rounding out the online poetry prompt madness will be the Friday prompts at Rob Kirstner’s Writer’s Island.
Thanks to all of you mentioned above who are so dedicated to keeping these online poetry communities alive, and thanks especially to Dana Guthrie-Martin for Read Write Poem.
James Brush is a teacher and writer who lives in Austin, TX. He tries to get outside as much as possible.
Hi James, I like your environmental poem, great way to write about the news. We write poems is a Thursday prompt thing. See ya around the new sites.
Thanks, Irene. It’s one I wish I wasn’t compelled to write. Thanks for the correction on the We Write Poems schedule. I’ve updated this post accordingly.
My brother in Mississippi says they can smell the oil, 250 miles away.
It’s hard to fathom the scale of this thing from far away, but that really puts some perspective on it.
Rich with foreboding & a touch of irony (I think — that’s how I took “hail”, as a wry pun).
(Thanks for the BTP mention. I’m so glad you found the community and are sticking with all of us.)
I’m really excited about BTP (I need to get used to the acronym, I had to scratch my head for a moment there) too. Thanks for the comment. I hadn’t thought of the pun–I just heard that on the radio as I was writing and stuck it in. Inspiration via NPR.