Just up ahead of me
To my right
Around the narrow point
To my right
Around the narrow point
In the bulrushes
A burst of squawks and
Beating of heavy wings
Filled the thick air
The head and then the long endless body
Rose right over
The length, the spine of my canoe
The great blue heron
Blocking my view
No more than ten feet above
My transfixed eyes.
It flew toward me
Thwump, thwump;
I heard the wings breaking
The early morning stillness around me
The majestic bird
Cupped its wings
And hovered for a moment,
Or a lifetime
Each feather was visible -
Rust, cream, slate,
And light-blue-eye-shadow.
I watched, in silence,
The bird fly off, audibly
Across the lake
A burst of squawks and
Beating of heavy wings
Filled the thick air
The head and then the long endless body
Rose right over
The length, the spine of my canoe
The great blue heron
Blocking my view
No more than ten feet above
My transfixed eyes.
It flew toward me
Thwump, thwump;
I heard the wings breaking
The early morning stillness around me
The majestic bird
Cupped its wings
And hovered for a moment,
Or a lifetime
Each feather was visible -
Rust, cream, slate,
And light-blue-eye-shadow.
I watched, in silence,
The bird fly off, audibly
Across the lake
=============
=============
edited
August 21, 2015
Ten
Feet Overhead – v9
(editing
version 6)
edited
December 9, 2014
Ten
Feet Overhead – v8
(editing
version 6)
edited April 3, 2014
Ten Feet (not Twenty) Overhead – v7
(editing
version posted 5/3/2004)
Edited
September 20, 2012
“Ten
Feet Overhead – v6”
editing
the 4th version (the one with Marie Harris input)
&
Edited
September 20, 2012
“Ten
Feet Overhead – v5”
(editing
the 3rd version)
inspired by
reading it at Poets’ Corner
monthly poetry
reading,
at the Suncook
Senior Center
September 10,
2012
&
Saved as separate file and reposted
September 20, 2012
published version – 2/7/2004
“Ten Feet
Overhead – v4”
Written June 18, 2001, edits June 21 and June 22, 2001, based
on input from NH Poet Laureate, Marie Harris.
&
The evolution
of the poem - Ten Feet Overhead”
The three drafts below represent the evolution of a poem,
"Ten Feet Overhead", based on a morning on Swains Lake in Barrington,
NH in 2001, reading down from 1st draft to a second version, finally to the
published version, posted here on 2/7/04.
&
“Ten Feet
Overhead – v3”
June 21, 2001
“Ten Feet
Overhead – v2”
June 22, 2001
“Ten Feet
Overhead – v1”
June 18, 2001
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