Music of the Moorings

A sunny afternoon spent by the
moorings watching boats; a smell
drifts off the water of
sun cream, lazy days and freedom,
when days are long and warm,
and barbecues singe gentle winds.
Holidaymakers escape the limits of
sweltering city life in summer;
I watch them navigate the dyke as I linger
near a patch of water lilies in
the shade of trees. I feel my
hair raised by the wind, like sails
buffeted and fluttering. A
kingfisher flashes, a little
bolt of electric blue. The longer
I watch dragonflies among the tangling
of waterweeds, lilies and ragged
reeds, compounded by drifting leaves,
the more I’m enchanted by the music in
masts, sails and ropes.

Kim M. Russell, 6th February 2024

At the dVerse Poets Pub, today is Poetics Tuesday, with Merril tending the bar. She says she always imagines “our virtual bar has a huge fireplace with tables and comfortable chairs, but it also has large windows overlooking a body of water. It could be a lake, river, or ocean. And in that scenic view, if the water isn’t frozen, perhaps there are boats . . .”

Merril writes about different types of boats for pleasure, sport and travel, from rowing boats to ocean liners. She has shared not only paintings by Thomas Eakins and Odilon Redon as inspiration, but also poems by Li Bai and Lucille Clifton.

So today we are writing poems about boats. We may use one of the given paintings for inspiration, and there is no set form: we can write free verse,  a haibun, Golden Shovel it, compose a sonnet, a cinquain, or a ballad.

I decided to take the opening  lines from an old poem of mine from 2017 and rework it into a golden shovel.

Spirit of the Broads

The smell of freedom,
warm winds of summer linger
in my sails a little longer,
tangling ragged leaves
in ropes. I feel the chilly
current from the deep below,
persistent waves ripple and
break against my prow,
tug my mooring,
in a constant urging
to break free
before I am encased
in winter.

48 thoughts on “Music of the Moorings”

  2. I’m about to post mine, and we have some similar words and images. I felt my hair raise, too, as I read your poem–and I love the kingfisher bolt of blue! Thank you, Kim. It sounds like such an idyllic scene.💙

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  5. I like these parts especially:
    “I watch them navigate the dyke as I linger
    near a patch of water lilies in
    the shade of trees.”

    “A
    kingfisher flashes, a little
    bolt of electric blue.”

    Is sun cream the same thing as suntan lotion/sunscreen? I have never heard it called that, and at first my mind went to the smell of the sun, which is equally, if not more interesting. Then I realized it’s probably sunscreen, right? Still nice.😁

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  11. These days, with aluminium masts, to be near boats is to have the tinkling music of ropes on masts and your poem took me right there and I hear that music now…

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    1. Thank you, Alexandra. I imagine Lake Michigan is bigger than the Norfolk Broads , the 3rd largest inland navigation area in the UK with a total area of 117 sq miles consisting of fen, marsh and water.

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  17. I like this, Kim. Reminds me of when I was small and with my aunt we sat by water someplace in Missouri. Ever since I enjoy that when I can get a chance. My sister and I always said, but we knew it wouldn’t happen, that we would buy a tugboat and work the Gulf of Mexico Canal. ‘
    ..

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