April Morning

The morning’s dust-tongued
with short-lived frost
and seabirds moon-blown
from the coast
compete with bell-voiced wood pigeons.
These early muffle-toed strolls
are full of promise:
spring winds roar in a leaf-foamed coppice
and all the quiet moments in between,
while hare-heeled boots touch
damp earth with a kiss.
No dark-vowelled dreams
could have predicted this
lark-high fluting in the sanctuary of a tree.

Kim M. Russell, 16th April 2019

Unexpected Frost

My response to dVerse Poets Pub Poetics: Love the Words, also linked to Poets United Poetry Pantry

This week we have Laura as our guest host. She reminds us that International Dylan Thomas Day is next month and shares some of his words with us.

Laura also reminds us of Thomas’s literary methods, which all have to do with sounds, and which she has listed and explained for us. I have loved Dylan Thomas’s work since I was a teenager and remembered, especially, ‘A Holiday Memory’, which I gave as an example for creative writing when I was teaching. His use of compound words reminds me of Old English Kennings, which are fun to play with.

For this Tuesday’s Poetics, Laura asks us to write poems using at least four of the hyphenated compound words from the list she has provided. She also encourages us to employ as little or as much of Thomas’ other methodologies too, while loving the words!

64 thoughts on “April Morning”

  2. You evidently love Dylan Thomas too Kim – actually his prose loves the words even more than his poems (e.g. The Outing).

    Enjoyed this April morning jaunt Kim – you wove the compounds together so well – especially loved
    “spring winds roar in a leaf-foamed coppice
    and all the quiet moments in between,”
    the seabirds link beautifully with the foam here

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    1. Thank you, Laura! I’m so pleased you like it. I had the most fun the year I taught Under Milk Wood and my students recorded a wonderful version for me. I also got them writing in the style of Dylan Thomas and got some fabulous results. They were a special group of kids.

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      2. The only time I ever saw it on stage, the actors sat on stools and scenery was projected on a screen behind them. I seem to remember the Welsh actor from ‘Please Sir’ being in it. It was a long time ago!

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  3. You hooked me with /while hare-heeled boots damp earth with a kiss/. Wow–it’s like we all are attending a DT birthday party, reading aloud our DT-inspired verses. I read mine in stentorian drunken tones of Richard Burton.

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  17. I MUST comment here. My mother always used the term highfalutin for “city folks”. I never thought much about the term, until I saw high fluting in your poem. So, I searched the term and found this origin:
    “When the well-to-do travelled by steamboat, said passengers were referred to as highfalutin due to the high fluted funnels on the boats.” Thanks for the poem … and thanks for the education!!

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  25. Not only is the poem beautiful, but it returns some of the lovelier moments of the past few weeks to mind with the evocative descriptions.

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  27. A beautifully imaged piece.

    ‘No dark-vowelled dreams
    could have predicted this
    lark-high fluting in the sanctuary of a tree.’

    is an utterly brilliant line of poetry: compelling juxtaposition, layered and nuanced – perhaps made more powerful owing to the fact that it is simply so unique.

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