Hauling in Winter

The ocean sings a melancholy tune
with its infinite whispers of tide and moon.
Whiskey coloured waves wash and tumble sand,
where fishermen haul in, hand over hand,
a net of jelly fish and tangled mermaid tails,
shark fins and teeth, up to the whale-
backed dunes, where the season gives russet hair
a haughty flick and throws dead leaves into the air.
Trees bare branches to a huge coastal sky;
behind the grey, the simmering sun’s eye
closes its heavy lid, a wink to cold weather
in the bottom of the net with the bones of winter.

Kim M. Russell, 2017

Untitled by Thomas Eakins (1910) – Fair Use

My response to Imaginary Garden with Real Toads Camera FLASH!

Kerry offers a single image prompt and the challenge is wide open.

Also linked to the dVerse Poets Pub Open Link Night on 10th October 2024.

62 thoughts on “Hauling in Winter”

  18. This is the sea as only one who has wintered with it can sense — brutal, heavy, cold, a maul of the sea’s ugly plenty (shark’s teeth, mermaid tails) where one would hope for tastier, brighter harvest. The present tiding toward winter beholds a sun that “closes its heavy lid, a wink to cold weather / in the bottom of the net with the bones of winter.” Killer last lines, Kim.

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  20. Splendid, I really love the ocean “with its infinite whispers of tide and moon.
    Whiskey coloured waves wash and tumble sand,” and “behind the grey, the simmering sun’s eye
    closes its heavy lid, a wink to cold weather
    in the bottom of the net with the bones of winter.”

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  25. In my mind, absolutely one of your best! “Whiskey waves” and “mermaid tails” and the absolute sassiness of weather in this season as you write
    “where the season gives russet hair
    a haughty flick and throws dead leaves into the air.”
    And then that heavy lidded wink! And the illustration you’ve used for the poem (or did you see the illustration and write the poem?). It is all fabulous! I do hope you’ll read it at dVerse LIVE on Saturday! Truly, one of my favorites of yours!

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