Distance

My response to dVerse Poetics – Sentiments of the Southwest

 

Living on this small,

waterlogged

island,

thousands of miles

from America’s Southwest,

North Norfolk skies

are expansive and wide,

dramatic skyscapes

painted in colours of storms

and summertime.

I try to picture abundant rolling hills

while standing on flatland –

no prairies but fields of wheat,

corn and sugarbeet –

where the horizon is ever present,

broken only by a  windmill or stone church.

Ancient forests we have,

of English oak, beech and birch.

Our rugged shores are rapidly disappearing,

crumbling

into the stormy North Sea.

We too have lakes and rivers,

lifeblood of the Norfolk Broads.

But I can only imagine

lonesome rocky deserts,

cactuses and cowboys

on a dusty trail,

and on my tongue those names,

Arizona, Colorado,

Texas, Utah and New Mexico,

are charms and spells

learnt in geography lessons,

names I know so well,

somewhere in the distance,

on the other side of the world.

 

© Kim M. Russell, 2016

Photograph of desert by Mish / Photograph of North Norfolk fields my own

26 thoughts on “Distance”

  2. I really like the point you have made here so eloquently. Norfolk seems to compare more to the environment that I actually live in. I could especially relate to flatland and “dramatic skyscapes
    painted in colours of storms and summertime.”

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  3. You really should visit the SW in winter, when the heat is tolerable, the Grand Canyon, Monument Valley, Mesa Verde, all there waiting for you. Your description of your home is incredibly good, & the poem is sterling.

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  5. I really like your take on the prompt. We tend to forget that the view from afar is blurred by distance. What is so familiar to us, it’s sights and smells and air on our skin, must be experienced in your imagination, as yours in our imaginations.

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  9. I like how you have painted the contrast and similarities between the home you know and that which remains unknown except in photo and words. My favorite lines

    painted in colours of storms

    and summertime

    Like you, in reverse, I wish I could experience your part of the world.

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  10. I think we all have an appreciation for the uniqueness of our cities and landscapes ~ Love the description of your skies, shores and ancient forests ~ We should try and write about your city and places one time, smiles ~

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    1. I have written and posted quite a number of poems about Norfolk, several about Norwich and some about London, where I grew up. I am very fond of Norfolk. 🙂

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  13. Very well done! Isn’t that the way? Those names of places we hear about — maybe see pictures of — and we wonder what it would be like to be there? They’re far off — but we think, maybe…. some day….
    I enjoyed this very much!

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