Light
light everywhere
scattered from water
sky
and walls of clear glass
Crowded masts cut against
brightness repeated
white hulls slapped by wavelets
seabirds wheel and cry
All is light
all is calm
Copyright © 2023 Kim Whysall-Hammond
Category Archives: Azores
Broken Cable
In the middle of the bright Atlantic
Floating on the swell between island volcanoes
Beneath reflective surface tension
Silvered gas bubbles catch the light
And, across the issuing rift
A long snake of data cable
Broken sheared twisted
As the gas breaks the surface
We hear voices
Blogs bubbling to the top
Instructions to buy or sell
A thousand tiny voices
Sparkling in the sunshine
Several parrot fish swim by
Next day when snorkelling
I fancy I hear fish blogging
Copyright © 2016 Kim Whysall-Hammond
This poem was first published by the wonderful Helen Ivory on Ink, Sweat and Tears: http://www.inksweatandtears.co.uk/pages/?p=12491
The Azores
Nine glorious islands
girdled by ocean
perched on basalt flaws
holes in the world wall
where heat seeps up
and magma roils underneath
makes rock and homes shudder
Copyright © 2022 Kim Whysall-Hammond
Thinking of the Azores at present, where, although it is stormy and the central group of islands are experiencing many mini-quakes, it’s a balmy 20C!
Pico
Dawn breaks the sky
raw light floods island & ocean
All birdsong ceases for just the moment
when day is painted over night
colour returns to us
a breeze slowly lifts
the sun soars, reaching for this speck of land
in ocean immensity
Pico, veiled in high cloud
crenulated by sister cones
looms soft purple & charcoal across the strait
diva of the skies, demanding attention
holding the gaze
stately hot tempered grand dame
always beautiful, subtly threatening
Copyright © 2022 Kim Whysall-Hammond
Another poem about the Azores, I must return soon……
Boundless
The taut freedom of my swimming costume
in choppy ocean swell
water embraces me, breeze strokes
I float in a bath of sunlight
Boundless blue ocean surrounds
as I plunge into its secrets
the only sound the bubbles
of my breathing
in and out of the snorkel
A furious scrum of fishes
contesting over I know not what
eagle rays glide above
Atlantic swell buffets
dolphins sway and swerve
deep below
Copyright © 2016 Kim Whysall-Hammond
And somehow the ocean
Sun glints pierce my eyes
as we hit another wave
rise
slide into the trough
at the apogee
our horizon is limitless
oceanic expanse
seemingly bereft of life
the unharvestable blue
then the cackle of dolphins
arrests our attention
away from the discipline of waves
Snub noses pierce the surface
laughing beeps beckon
closeby then further into the swell
we hesitate and a challenge is issued
repeatedly
until we speed up and run alongside
then within
an enormous crowd
of joyous fellows
Copyright © 2020 Kim Whysall-Hammond
Azores Dawn
The Earth’s sweet turning
has roused newborn Dawn
from her Ocean cradle
light caresses waters
suffuses the island
haloes great Pico
that looms across the strait
enwrapped by rose clouds
reaching to a pale zenith
held in awe by all who gaze on her
she slumbers still
Copyright © 2022 Kim Whysall-Hammond
Snorkel
In the bay
A furious scrum of fishes
Contesting over I know not what
Eagle rays glide above
Between islands
Atlantic swell buffets
Dolphins sway and swerve
Deep below me
Copyright © 2016 Kim Whysall-Hammond
Fresh strengthening winds
Fresh strengthening winds from the north roughen the open ocean
Our small boat slams into waves that grow in size, our fear also grows
Dolphins come alongside, chatter and leap, make a game of it all
Copyright © 2021 Kim Whysall-Hammond
This poem is my attempt at sing the sijo form. Sijo is a traditional Korean poetry form. It has three lines, like haiku, and the lines are 14-16 syllables. The themes can be natural, spiritual or humorous.
Thank you Rebecca for your poetry Challenge that introduced me to this form.
The photo on this blog was taken by my then 12 year old son, on the trip the poem describes……
Eruption
Soft bright colour on your roof
pegged to dry in ocean breeze
flying high on the blue
The mountain bursts, vomits fire and ash
ash that drifts, soft as snow
There, on your washing
an eyelash width of coal
another and another
speckles and chars
You are running to the boats
not stopping to breathe
Later, panic over, you return to
bring in your cloths of bright colour
see little mouths burnt through
black lipped, gasping
The mountain glows with lava
makes a second dawn each night
You wrap your damaged goods around you
sleep by the door
heaped in fear
Copyright © 2021 Kim Whysall-Hammond
Sharing with earthweal’s Open Link Weekend.
The Cheesesellers Wife 