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| Photo Credit: Wallpaper Abyss |
A raven,
the shade of shadow,
robs the roofline of its clean edges,
each caustic call a spike in morning's throat.
---Sara Lewis Holmes (all rights reserved)
I usually introduce the challenge before the poem, but this month, it was so short, I thought I'd switch it up. The challenge (from Laura) was to compose a short poem (six lines or less) describing an animal of your choice using all three of these words: spike, roof, shadow. What would YOU describe with these words?
My Poetry Sisters' poems are here:
Liz
Tanita
Laura
Kelly
Andi
Tricia
Poetry Friday is hosted today by Tabatha Yeatts at The Opposite of Indifference.
The shade of shadow...how perfect. Spikes in the throat. This is such a good October poem. I have no idea how I would have responded to that challenge. But, I can say your response is good enough to give me chills! I do love Laura's challenges. She makes "short" very challenging.
ReplyDeleteLaura definitely does! But she also makes it exciting, and I loved the rich words she picked for this one.
DeleteThough we have crows (no ravens) in the city, more recently one has entered my closer neighborhood. Instead of a robin's spring call, I do have that "caustic call a spike in morning's throat." each day. Is it serendipity that you crafted such a beautiful October image? Thanks, Sara.
ReplyDeleteRavens scare me! But...poetry makes use of all of it, right?
DeleteAaaah! A spike in morning's throat! I'm so jealous of that perfect line.
ReplyDeleteYOU are perfect. As soon as my day calms, I can't wait to see what you wrote.
DeleteShade of shadow! Caustic call! So much fun to read this out loud. This is wonderful.
ReplyDeleteSo glad you're writing with us this month, Andi! I treasure connecting via poetry always.
DeleteLove the spike in morning throat's line!
ReplyDeleteThanks. It's a bit...sharp, but that's how the raven's calls make me feel.
DeleteThis is one of the most gorgeous of the group this week. SO well done!! As always, you wrestle the words into the mood you want, which is frankly AMAZING. Go, Poet you.
ReplyDeleteI'm not sure I wrestle the words into the mood I want so much as they wrestle a mood OUT of me. But....thanks. And GOOOO, Poet right back at you.
DeleteThis poem is absolutely delicious! Thank you for sharing. I love "the shade of shadow” line.
ReplyDeleteThat "shade of shadow" was a line that came to me early. As usual, I'm not sure from where....
DeleteWow! I love that shade of shadow and spike in morning's throat. You pack so much vivid imagery into just a few lines.
ReplyDeleteThanks. I think shorter forces you to pack the imagery tighter. Maybe I should write short more often!
DeleteI'm curious about your process. Obviously, the three words came first. Then what? The entire image of raven on a roof? Only the raven?
ReplyDelete(I love all the bits everyone else has already mentioned, plus the moody whole.)
I'm curious about my process, too, Mary Lee because I can't always explain it. :) I did start with those three words, at the top of the page of a small notebook. Then I thought about which animal might be a good fit for those words....but frankly, that didn't help much.
DeleteInstead, I found myself thinking about how much the ravens in my backyard annoy me by disturbing the peace. They get up on the roof and yell at me. Or they strut about the grass as if they own it. So perhaps that annoyance came out as sharp language? Anyway, I usually need some kind of emotion to make the poem start to appear on the page.
For this one, the line "ravens, the shade of shadow" came to me first (later changed to a single raven) and I built on that image with a strong verb (rob) and more alliteration (rob the roofline.) After that, I struggled with how to use "spike" as part of this visual image of a roof ruined by jutting birds. They could be spikes in the roof, right? But that seemed...dull, somehow. Then I finally moved away from the sight of the birds to their sound! Of course. Part of their threat is that they ruin morning's quiet for me. So I moved from robbery to murder. (Heh)
I realize this explanation makes it sound like I did all of this consciously, but as I said, it's more that I'm trying to put an emotion into words....say it slant.
Sara, my link to you isn't working, so I just realized you did actually post! I love shade of shadow--what could be darker?--and the double meaning of shade. And the caustic calls--I'm now picturing them as rusty wrought iron spikes/Spears. Love it!
ReplyDeleteThanks, Laura....I crawled under the wire this month. Your challenge was an inspiring one!
DeleteI love that you fit this powerful imagery into 4 lines. The last two lines are amazing.
ReplyDeleteCompacting the poem definitely forced me to make concrete word choices. Maybe I should "write short" all the time.
DeleteThanks for explaining your process--I always enjoy learning about that! I also love the alliteration ("rob the roofline," "caustic call,") and the perfect description of "a spike in morning's throat."
ReplyDeleteYou're welcome. Sometimes I do write more about the challenge or the process in my main post, but this time, my explanation would be far, far longer than simply posting the poem and letting it squawk for itself. :)
DeleteSuch a strong picture you painted with your poem, I love this starting line,
ReplyDelete"the shade of shadow,"
It all fits together seamlessly, thanks!
Thanks, Michelle!
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