In frosted light
of a moon-horned night,
this place is beautiful.
With each new sunrise,
in field and woodland,
marsh, moor and farmland,
it’s beautiful.
But wherever humans tread
they leave a wasted
trail of destruction –
and this blue planet
is still beautiful.
Kim M. Russell, 13th May 2024
It’s Quadrille Monday at the dVerse Poets Pub, that “magical twice-monthly time when we pen pieces of precisely 44 words, using one word we here at dVerse provide, and our host, D, would like us to play with the word ‘place’.
She says you can write “about your birthplace, your workplace, a fireplace, or something even more commonplace. Get mathematical on us and write about place value. Get scientific and write about displacement. Your place or mine? Write about being in the wrong place at the wrong time. Take us someplace new, or no place at all. Hey, you could even write about the place-ebo effect. Just don’t get complacent and misplace your muse.”
De also gave us two examples: a poem by e.e. cummings, and one by Shel Silverstein to inspire us.
I took a poem from 2018 and conjured a quadrille from it.
writing in north norfolk 
Wonderful, Kim. She does endure in beauty, doesn’t she? Reminds me of our trip to Glass Beach in California last year. There was once a dump nearby, and the surf has battered its remains into gorgeous seaglass, smooth and beautiful. And in so many ways, the land has reclaimed her beauty, forming stone and coral around what mankind has left behind.
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Thanks De! It’s been warm and sunny here for the past few days, but we expect rain tomorrow, so we went to the seaside for a couple of hours today. The sea was calm, but there was a lovely breeze, and we had lunch at our favourite cafe. No sea glass, though we do sometimes find amber on our beaches – and mammoth skeletons!
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Omg what a pretty picture. The purple flowers look like a halo or a crown. It is love that will save “our blue planet” and love is emanating from your poem.
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Thank you , Lisa!
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You’re very welcome.
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Beautiful indeed, Kim. You captured the beauty despite all that we do to our blue planet.
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Thank you, Punam. The beauty will always be there.
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Hopefully, yes. You are welcome.
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I like the repetition of “it’s beautiful”. I think so, despite humans negligence.
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Thank Melissa!
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Beautiful, Kim. We have so many gorgeous places on our beautiful planet, but I fear not for long.
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Thank you, Merril. We live on the most beautiful planet and have almost ruined it.
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You’re welcome, Kim.
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such beauty in that ‘moon horned night’ phrase Kim – we look for beauty the more we cover the planet
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Thank you, Laura.
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There’s hope for us then. Lets strive for the beautiful
much♡love
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Yes! And much love to you, Gillena.
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I think humanity can bring a lot of beauty to the world too but glad the earth is resilient when we do damage… need to clean up our messes!
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Definitely, Lynn.
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“Moon-horned” really stood out. Still trying to picture that.
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Thank you, Maria.
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Our blue planet is still beautiful though we have neglected it. Love that moon-horned night.
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Thank you, Grace.
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The magical blue planet. It has taken so much abuse from us. I only wish we could love it as it does us.
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I have the same wish Katie.
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Yes, the planet is still beautiful, hopefully, we will take measures to preserve it instead of trashing it.
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Some of us are trying.
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The earth is still beautiful despite us and hope it can heal one day. Such a lovely quadrille.
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Thank you, Dianne.
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Lovely, Kim – keep reminding us!
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Sadly you are right about us humans. We do seem to be bulls in a china closet when it comes to taking care of our earth. Well done.
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Thanks Dwight.
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I like the way you wrapped the destruction with beauty, resiliency and hope.
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Love how the imagery and alliteration work towards their beautiful conclusion, Kim.
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Thanks so much, Dora.
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Kim, My pleasure!
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Yes! Still beautiful.
I love this line:
In frosted light
of a moon-horned night
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Thank you!
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Utterly lovely!
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Thank you so much, Carol!
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Love the gorgeous imageries you’ve created describing planet earth 🙂
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Thank you!
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“moon-horned”….now that’s a word that jumps from the page…love this, Kim.
JIM
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Thanks Jim!
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You have to wonder that beauty stubbornly exists.
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Beauty will always shine through.
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