January 4, 2015

     I recently had the pleasure of reading a beautiful picture book written by poet Pat Mora.  Water Rolls, Water Rises, is written in both English and Spanish.  Illustrations by Meilo So. Published by Children's Book Press, Lee and Low.  Each double spread has a three line verse (haiku-like?) presented first in English and then the translation into Spanish.  Adriana Dominguez helped with the translation.
   Reading the book made me think the format would work well for many subjects, so I tried it with wind.
Here is my very rough draft of the first seven verses.

WIND BLOWS, WIND BREEZES

(after Pat Mora, Water Rolls, Water Rises)

Wind blows
round the earth
on the water, in the sky.

Wind breezes 
in gentle wafts
over the prairie, ruffles a donkey.

Wind blows water
high in the air
cresting waves, making clouds dance.

The wind rushes
into whistles and whirls
silently rising kites and birds.

Over green pastures,
wind spins and frolics
dipping buttercups and each blade of grass.

Rushing in gorges,
wind etches canyon walls
carving out niches for us to explore.

Whispering through forests,
wind helps shed the leaves
whirling and swirling and twisting through trees.



     The challenge with writing these verses is in coming up with words for all the different ways wind can move.  Maybe it is because I live in the desert, but rarely does a day go by that I don't see some evidence of the wind.  So here is your challenge for today.  Take a basic element like earth, wind, fire, sand, water, rain, ocean, mountain, trees --and write your own short poem about how that element moves.  Have fun writing.