Have you ever seen something that was so incredible that you wish you could have taken a picture to save that moment? I've had several. While attending BYU years, and years...and years ago (haha), I was walking up to campus, nose in one of my textbooks. I was desperately trying to get my reading done for a class, having been short on time with my full-time job and other homework. As I panted up the steep hill, I happened to glance up, and my heart nearly stopped. Up in the sky, there were several of the most gorgeous hot-air balloons I had ever seen! Okay, they were the first hot-air balloons I had EVER seen in real life. I was so amazed! There was something so enchanting about a sky full of rainbow balloons on an otherwise ordinary day, and for some reason, my eyes filled with tears at all the people who were missing it...simply because they didn't look up.
Another incredible sight was when I was working in Maybelle, Colorado.
I was walking down a dusty dirt road, miles and miles of sagebrush to my left, and a steep dirt hill with a wire fence to my right. As I walked along the fence, I glanced up, and beheld the most gorgeous image I had ever seen. Beneath a blueberry syrup-colored sky, filled with clouds that looked like huge dollops of whipped cream, was a field with golden rolls of hay scattered around. In a land of barren ugliness was this oasis of pure beauty...and I kicked myself that my camera was in the truck a mile up the road...with a full day of work still ahead of me. Another memory that I have was when I was wandering the Logan City cemetery for a project for my Creative Nonfiction writing class. As I strolled down the paths and weaved in and out of the gravestones, I saw a man, perhaps in his 30's, laying face down on a grave. I nearly cried. It was the saddest-and most beautiful-thing I had seen. And so, I wrote a poem about it.
The Mourner
across the busy street
inside the quiet gates
past the spinning pinwheels
behind a pair of pines
beside a vase of roses
a man is lying on a grave...
weeping
I love the beauty you are putting into words and sharing with us. I like your new poem, "The Mourner". What type of poem is this? Great job Kim.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Sandy! :) I'm not quite sure what type of poem this is. I've been looking, and haven't found it yet, but after reading several poems like this that seem to sort of "zoom in," I fell in love with it!
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