It’s four o’clock and it’s still dark outside,
but blackbird chorus glimmers gently through
the curtains gap. The window’s open wide
and I can smell the chlorophyll, the dew,
the dreamlike whiff of rain-soaked earth, and you
asleep beside me, unaware of dawn:
late risers hold morn’s moody light in scorn.
Kim M. Russell, 9th April 2020
My response to dVerse Poets Pub Meeting the Bar: The Perfect Seven Lines
Frank is our host for this week’s Meeting the Bar, and the challenge is to write a poem with seven lines.
Frank says that for some people, the number 7 suggests perfection, something positive to think of in the middle of the current uncertainty. The motivation for this prompt came from reading revivedwriter’s recent poem ‘Artists’ , a Chaucerian stanza about using art as comfort to others.
Frank says that we can write a Chaucerian stanza, a seven-line poem in iambic pentameter with a rhyme scheme of ABABBCC, but any seven-line poem will do.
A blackbird chorus and rain soaked earth….lovely. We are having rain all day today in Boston and it just started to thunder! Have not heard that in quite a while.
Ah to sleep with the window open…..not yet that type of weather here.
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Thank you, Lill. Rain and thunder! We’ve had a sunny one today.
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Nice description of the morning as moody and the observation that those who sleep in must scorn that time of day. Nice sound.
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Thank you, Frank.
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Chaucerian perfection. I do prefer to stay up late and sleep in, but at my age I wake a lot and trot off to the bathroom. At those times during the hour of the wolf, I hear the night birds, and they cheer me up.
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Thank you, Glenn. I know what you mean about those bathroom visits. I get to hear the owls.
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We had storms last nigh and I know this because I went to sleep at 6 am. Not sleeping at all since Brad died. But I love the smell of spring and the leftover rain. Your poem is so lovely and gentle, I too listen to the birds singing away. I used to be an afternoon person but now, I have turned into a morning person.
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Thank you, Toni. Your morning’s around my lunchtime and my six o’clock is the wee hours for you.Kill mentioned rain and thunder in Boston, so they must be quite widespread. Our weather is fine at the moment.
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Kim, I see it, but from the other end. I’m just going to bed at that time. You welcome the nature in as you rise. I shut it out as I sleep.
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My husband is the same – he’s still fast asleep as I write this!
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🙂
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The first fresh smells of the morning are the most refreshing.
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They are!
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Oh, that we do…. A late riser am !. Very nicely done Kim! Smelling the chlorophyll is a nice touch!
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Thank you, Dwight!
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As delicate as the dawn (K)
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🙂
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Beautiful, Kim!
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Thanks Viv!
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Sounds like it’s a morning worth getting up for!
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Yes, there are definitely morning people! It took me a lifetime to become one. You miss so much beauty when you sleep late. This was lovely Kim 💕
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Thank you, Christine!
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Lovely flow, Kim – there are no jars in the rhythm at all. And I recognise those early mornings with a slumbering partner!
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Thank you, Sarah. He’s up now!
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lovely Chaucerian!
We had a huge storm this afternoon then an amazing rainbow 🙂
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😊
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Yes, I am an early riser too. Unlike many of my family and friends. Waking in darkness or in light there is so much to see!
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A blackbird chorus and rain soaked earth… I woke up to a white world here in southern WV. The snow is almost gone now and I hope the cold temps don’t bite the flowers.
Love this poem and the blessing of early rising.
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Thank you Jae.
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I am enchanted by the scents in this tribute to the predawn. Lovely.
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Thank you, Victoria.
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It rained most of the day yesterday and all I saw flying around were the blackbirds. I guess they don’t mind what the weather brings. My favorite line as there is a bit of a magical spell of rain and earth.
the dreamlike whiff of rain-soaked earth
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Thank you!
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“the dreamlike whiff of rain-soaked earth, and you”
So ethereal and lovely. I am enamored of this line.
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Thank you!
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Ah, but that mood soon softens, bringing rewards.
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I love that predawn time–especially with birdsong and rain-scent. Nicely expressed!
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Thanks Merril!
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Glenn stole my thunder. Beautifully crafted!
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Thank you, Frank!
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