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
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 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……
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.
In August 2013, we came back from a whale watching trip to find a sailing regatta between us and the harbour:
Let’s have some summer fun. A weekly art fest, some old paintings , some new….
Sunlit morning, wide beckoning bay,
Our kayaks slip off the small beach into the sea
I reach and stab at the water to keep pace with my sons
Braced in the kayak, steering into the waves,
Paddling one push at a time, we head for the ocean
Waves lift us and shake us, spray intoxicates as it spatters a face
Bright sun dazzles from wave tops and the open water beckons
To port, excited shouts as surfer meets water meets rock
Here, concentration as kayak cleaves water
The rhythm of the paddle calms my fears of capsizing
And I breast a wave exhilarated and happy
Woman, kayak and ocean
Copyright © 2016 Kim Whysall-Hammond
There are never enough photos of Pico
Says he, as he takes yet one more
The light has changed again
And the mountain looks about to roar
We’ve flown over and around her
Driven along her lower slopes
But the best view is away from her
From little Horta’s shore
The mountain slumbers on
Fuji slopes gracefully curving down
She glows rose in the dawns light
By midday she can glower and frown
Clouds drape her and embrace her
Shadowing scree and walled-in grapevine
However far we travel away from her
Somehow that volcano is always mine
Copyright © 2015 Kim Whysall-Hammond
And so we end our Virtual Holiday in the Azores with a poem about my favourite volcano. The first line is a quote from my Cheeseseller, as the mountain changed once more and he took yet another photo!
I hope you enjoyed your trip. The photo below was taken just after dawn, from our hotel balcony on the isaland of Faial, as we prepared to return to England.
In a simple field, no different from any other
Is a clump of small trees with a dark secret
Amongst their roots, we tiptoe down a rocky slope
Into blackness.
Torchlight reveals a dry tunnel, strange shelf on the walls
Chattering, we walk until daylight is extinguished by distance
We stop, simmer to quietude, and turn off the torches
Into silence
Liquid rock once ran where we now stand in black silence
The rock around us the scum that floated on that river
The apocalypse that created our tunnel has disappeared
Into history
Copyright © 2016 Kim Whysall-Hammond
More on our virtual Azores Holiday……This poem is set on Terceira, all the islands are volcanic and there is plenty to explore.
Terceira is also known as the party island. The locals certainly know how to have a good time.
We will be in the Azores all week — a poem a day to fly you away……
Where fishermen once hauled nets
Shared gossip, landed fish
Dug long tunnels in the russet cliffs
To shelter their bright boats
We now stand
Pondering the blue Atlantic rollers
As they part around the sentinel stone in the bay
We delight in the spray
Run laughing from rogue waves
Our pleasure replaces their hard toil
Copyright © 2016 Kim Whysall-Hammond
Day 5 of our virtual Azores Holiday, we are now on Graciosa, a small gentle island.
We will be there all week — a poem a day to fly you away……
The Cheesesellers Wife 