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Posted 7/6/2016 4:59 PM (GMT -5)
Life’s waters flow
under the shaky bridge of certainty.
Gazing upstream the endless possibilities
rush down, threatening to burst the banks.
Downstream the water breaks over the rocks,
picking up the clarity of twig, leaf and mud.

The future lost around the bend.
The present foams and froths
as the past crashes into bridge,
strike the anchors of now,
as the river carves a new world.

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Just a poem from my blog today. It's slightly, sort of, kind of, almost related to dealing with PC.
Peace,
Andrew
Posted 7/6/2016 12:17 PM (GMT -5)
Andrew,
I love it!
The imagery, the allegory, the characterization of time, I get the feeling of being there, my mind is floating above and in and through that water.
"Clarity of mud" = that's a great expression!I get it and it's relation to PC! Great job Brother! Your poems-Keep em flowing!
Dan In dry So Cal yeah
Posted 7/6/2016 12:23 PM (GMT -5)
Youve cracked the code....beautiful...
Posted 7/6/2016 12:46 PM (GMT -5)
Andrew –

Well done!

I note something of particular interest in this poem. In the first stanza, the length of most the lines is around ten syllables or so. In the second, the lines are shorter, running maybe 6-7 syllables in length. Also, the verbs of the second stanza, indicating action, appear closer together than in stanza 1. The result is that the second stanza speaks of and suggests energetic action, as in "carving a new world."

This poem leaves me with a feeling of mystery. What is the river going to do next? Where is it going? What will it encounter?

Excellent questions for a poem to raise.
Posted 7/6/2016 1:42 PM (GMT -5)
The ending....a feeling of comfort and the smile that accompanies such.
Posted 7/6/2016 2:32 PM (GMT -5)
The river never ends Island; it just flows into another body of water and merges and merges. For me the best part of the river is the turbulence. A shock of anxiety courses through my veins before I run the falls. It is all good on a river.
Michael
Posted 7/6/2016 3:20 PM (GMT -5)
There are no wrong interpretations of poetry Michael...arguably.....

Naw. It ain't even arguable
Posted 7/6/2016 3:59 PM (GMT -5)
I think this is my favorite poem of yours that I've read so far (but I probably say that a lot).
Posted 7/6/2016 4:32 PM (GMT -5)

60Michael said...
The river never ends Island; it just flows into another body of water and merges and merges. For me the best part of the river is the turbulence. A shock of anxiety courses through my veins before I run the falls. It is all good on a river.
Michael

"The Ending..." is a reference to the literal and grammatical ending of the written verse itself. (Not intended as metaphor).

"The present foams and froths
as the past crashes into the bridge,
strike the anchors of now,
as the river carves a new world. "
(InTheShop, HW Forum, July, 2016)

The present is lively
The past ends in the present with a crash (Abruptly useless) as it...
Strikes the certainty of now
But with the hope, promise and adventures of future nows. (Which is literally quite irrelevant indeed...which makes it even more "grounding" (for me. The kind of thing a man can take with him and make practical use of).


One man's interpretation. I was wondering where in the heck the poem was headed...until the ending... of the literal verse.

And what a pleasant surprise indeed!! :-)

Post Edited (island time) : 7/6/2016 3:58:45 PM (GMT-6)

Posted 7/7/2016 2:39 AM (GMT 0)
Thanks for all your kind words.
Dan - That was one of those "it hit the keyboard like that" phases. After I saw it, I liked it too.

81GyGuy - thanks for the break down. I didn't think like that when writing, but I wanted the action to move faster at the end. I figure a poem should ask more questions than it answers.

IT - I like endings like that.

Micheal - I started the poem thinking about a bridge and then remembered my white water rafting days.

Allen - you've said that before, but it's okay to keep saying it. :) but it does rise a high bar for me, got to keep getting better.

Peace,
Andrew
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