Thursday, July 10, 2008

First Light

Inspired by this painting.

In the heat of the sun the sand melted and fused.
In the heat of the sun the sand turned to glass.
In the heat of the sun a giant formed, half-sand, half-glass,
and her body was scaled with beach debris.
She rose from the sand and walked
mismatched eyes staring in different directions
and said “New
rough/smooth/soft sand
glass water moving
where
who
I?”


Collection available! Knocking from Inside

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

I love Rick's prompts... so evocative and they seem to bring out all sorts of unusual ideas in the writers who respond.

This idea of the giant arising from the sand is beautifully executed, particularly her puzzled first thoughts.

The only line that didn't work well for me was the fourth line - it seemed to break the rhythm somehow.

Anonymous said...

I love the shape of it, following that "melted" in the first line.

Gemma Wiseman said...

I love how smooth, siren like sounds move to staccato bursts!

Delightful!

Anonymous said...

glass water moving.... the best..

Anonymous said...

i echo the comment about the shape of the poem. it condenses and compresses like the sand must do as it melts. and it's terrific that the purest line, the last one, is "I"

Anonymous said...

Great progression of line length leading up to that final question -- ominous and beautiful.