Ten Feet Overhead – v13 #GreatBlueHeron

Up ahead, to my right around the point;
Burst of squawks / beating of heavy wings
Erupted, filling the still air.
 
Head and then its long endless body
Rose right over the spine of my canoe
Heron blocking my vision, my view...
 
No more than ten feet above my transfixed eyes.
The Great Blue Heron flew toward me
Thwump, thwump …
 
In my spirit, my prayer, my attentiveness,
I heard the wings pushing, breaking
early-morning-stillness around me.
 
The bird cupped its sails
And hovered but for a moment,
Or a lifetime, it seemed.
 
Each feather of its wings were visible -
Shades of rust, cream, slate,
Light blue eye shadow.
 
I watched, motionless, silently;
The bird flew off, majestically, royalty,
Alone, across my lake.
 
=============  

edited February 20, 2022

Ten Feet Overhead – v13

https://raymondafoss.blogspot.com/2022/02/ten-feet-overhead-v13.html

edited February 20, 2022

Ten Feet Overhead – v12

https://raymondafoss.blogspot.com/2022/02/ten-feet-overhead-v12.html

edited September 28, 2017

ten feet overhead – v11

http://raymondafoss.blogspot.com/2017/09/ten-feet-overhead-v11.html

(editing version 2)

edited October 29, 2015

ten feet overhead – v10

http://raymondafoss.blogspot.com/2015/10/ten-feet-not-twenty-overhead-v10.html

(editing original)

edited August 21, 2015

Ten Feet Overhead – v9

http://raymondafoss.blogspot.com/2015/08/ten-feet-overhead-v9.html

(editing version 6)

edited December 9, 2014

Ten Feet Overhead – v8

http://raymondafoss.blogspot.com/2014/12/ten-feet-overhead-v8.html

(editing version 6)

edited April 3, 2014

Ten Feet (not Twenty) Overhead – v7

http://raymondafoss.blogspot.com/2014/04/ten-feet-not-twenty-overhead-v7.html

(editing version posted 5/3/2004)

Edited September 20, 2012

Ten Feet Overhead – v6

http://raymondafoss.blogspot.com/2012/09/ten-feet-overhead-v6.html

editing the 4^th version (the one with Marie Harris input)

&

Edited September 20, 2012

Ten Feet Overhead – v5

http://raymondafoss.blogspot.com/2012/09/ten-feet-not-twenty-overhead-v5.html

(editing the 3^rd 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

http://raymondafoss.blogspot.com/2004/02/one-morning-on-swains-lake.html

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

http://raymondafoss.blogspot.com/2004/05/evolution-of-poem-ten-feet-overhead.html

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

http://raymondafoss.blogspot.com/2004/05/ten-feet-overhead-final-version.html

Ten Feet Overhead – v2

June 22, 2001

http://raymondafoss.blogspot.com/2004/05/ten-feet-not-twenty-overhead-second.html

Ten Feet Overhead – v1

June 18, 2001

http://raymondafoss.blogspot.com/2004/05/ten-feet-not-twenty-overhead-first.html

summer of 2000

Swain’s Lake

Barrington, NH

 

All of my poems, photographs, and videos are copyrighted by Raymond A. Foss, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, and 2022. All rights are reserved. Contact me at Ray Foss (raymondafoss@gmail.com)  for usage. See all 53,000+ of my poems at www.raymondafoss.blogspot.com Poetry Where You Live.

 

poetry, blue, body, Canoe, creator, eyes, Faith, feather, feet, God, hope, life, light, Nature, heron, water, wings,

 

#poetry #body #canoe #creator #eyes #heron #feather #feet #God #hope #life #light #Nature #water #wings

Ten Feet Overhead – v12 #heron #GreatBlueHeron

Up ahead, to my right around the point;
Burst of squawks and beating of heavy wings
Erupted, filling the still air.
 
The head and then its long endless body
Rose right over the spine of my canoe
The heron blocking my vision, my view.
 
No more than ten feet above my transfixed eyes.
The Great Blue Heron flew toward me
Thwump, thwump …
 
In my spirit, my prayer,
I heard the wings pushing, breaking
early-morning-stillness around me.
 
The bird cupped its wings
And hovered for a moment,
Or a lifetime.
 
Each feather was visible -
Rust, cream, slate,
Light blue eye shadow.
 
I watched, transfixed, silently;
The bird flew off, majestic,
Alone, across my lake.
 
=============

edited February 20, 2022

Ten Feet Overhead – v12

https://raymondafoss.blogspot.com/2022/02/ten-feet-overhead-v12.html

edited September 28, 2017

ten feet overhead – v11

http://raymondafoss.blogspot.com/2017/09/ten-feet-overhead-v11.html

(editing version 2)

edited October 29, 2015

ten feet overhead – v10

http://raymondafoss.blogspot.com/2015/10/ten-feet-not-twenty-overhead-v10.html

(editing original)

edited August 21, 2015

Ten Feet Overhead – v9

http://raymondafoss.blogspot.com/2015/08/ten-feet-overhead-v9.html

(editing version 6)

edited December 9, 2014

Ten Feet Overhead – v8

http://raymondafoss.blogspot.com/2014/12/ten-feet-overhead-v8.html

(editing version 6)

edited April 3, 2014

Ten Feet (not Twenty) Overhead – v7

http://raymondafoss.blogspot.com/2014/04/ten-feet-not-twenty-overhead-v7.html

(editing version posted 5/3/2004)

Edited September 20, 2012

Ten Feet Overhead – v6

http://raymondafoss.blogspot.com/2012/09/ten-feet-overhead-v6.html

editing the 4^th version (the one with Marie Harris input)

&

Edited September 20, 2012

Ten Feet Overhead – v5

http://raymondafoss.blogspot.com/2012/09/ten-feet-not-twenty-overhead-v5.html

(editing the 3^rd 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

http://raymondafoss.blogspot.com/2004/02/one-morning-on-swains-lake.html

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

http://raymondafoss.blogspot.com/2004/05/evolution-of-poem-ten-feet-overhead.html

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

http://raymondafoss.blogspot.com/2004/05/ten-feet-overhead-final-version.html

Ten Feet Overhead – v2

June 22, 2001

http://raymondafoss.blogspot.com/2004/05/ten-feet-not-twenty-overhead-second.html

Ten Feet Overhead – v1

June 18, 2001

http://raymondafoss.blogspot.com/2004/05/ten-feet-not-twenty-overhead-first.html

summer of 2000

Swain’s Lake

Barrington, NH

 

All of my poems, photographs, and videos are copyrighted by Raymond A. Foss, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, and 2022. All rights are reserved. Contact me at Ray Foss (raymondafoss@gmail.com)  for usage. See all 53,000+ of my poems at www.raymondafoss.blogspot.com Poetry Where You Live.

 

poetry, blue, body, Canoe, creator, eyes, Faith, feather, feet, flowers, God, hope, king, life, light, Nature, heron, Poetry Where You Live, Swains Lake, water, wings,

 

#poetry #blue #body #Canoe #creator #eyes #heron #feather #feet #flowers #God #hope #life #light #Nature #water #wings # #poem

the dance of the captive

the dance of the captive

(a not so still life)

the down captured

frozen in the ice

just off the asphalt

the white against the gray

the color of early winter

caught on the way

the dance of the captive

the down yearning to break free

to warm the nest of a creature

a hedge against the cold

===============

December 25, 2018

the dance of the captive

https://twitter.com/raymondafoss/status/1077620530260426752

video – https://www.facebook.com/raymond.a.foss/videos/10156272243878003/

https://twitter.com/raymondafoss/status/1077622034031616000

pictures - https://www.facebook.com/raymond.a.foss/posts/10156272239573003

https://twitter.com/raymondafoss/status/1077622340782039042

a piece of down stuck in the ground by the parking area

&

12/23/18

Rising from a cocoon

https://raymondafoss.blogspot.com/2018/12/rising-from-cocoon-of-ice.html

see also https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mothra_vs._Godzilla

#Mothra vs. #Godzilla

&

Two sets of images:

https://www.facebook.com/raymond.a.foss/posts/10156267631373003

https://www.facebook.com/raymond.a.foss/posts/10156267623103003

&

someone put on my image, the following comment:

“Looks like feathers coming out of the ice.”

I responded:

“in the simplest, literal sense, it is a macro photograph of down of the feathers

of some unknown bird caught in a small bit of ice on our driveway maybe about

an inch and a half long; but to me, o my eye, it is reminiscent or evocative of

other imagery, such as a cicada pupa or a larval stage of some moth or other

insect about to burst out of a clear cocoon, partially exposed because of the

feathers being like the wings of a moth, or maybe some sort of fossilized

creature with a spine in the middle of the image right.”

All of my poems, photographs, and videos are copyrighted by Raymond A. Foss, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, and 2018. All rights are reserved. Contact me at Ray Foss (raymondafoss@gmail.com) for usage. See all 48,230 of my poems at www.raymondafoss.blogspot.com Poetry Where You Live.

image, insect, ice, feather, down, imagination, photograph, memory, Mothra, Godzilla, larva, pupae, metamorphosis, winter, freezing, melting, transformation,

#image #insect #ice #feather #down #imagination #photograph #memory #Mothra #Godzilla #larva #pupae #metamorphosis #winter #freezing #melting #transformation #poem #poetry #writingprompt

==============

dance, captive, video, image, ice, feather, down, imagination, photograph, memory, metamorphosis, winter, freezing, melting, transformation,

the #dance of the #captive #video #image #ice #feather #down #imagination #photograph #memory #metamorphosis #winter #freezing #melting #transformation #poem #poetry  #writingprompt

Rising from a cocoon of ice

Like a larval stage of Mothra

rising from a cocoon of ice, of glass,

pupae bursting open

a being about to take flight

Shape transcendent

seen on the big screen

replicated in winter

on our driveway

===============

12/23/18

Rising from a cocoon

https://raymondafoss.blogspot.com/2018/12/rising-from-cocoon-of-ice.html

see also https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mothra_vs._Godzilla

#Mothra vs. #Godzilla

&

Two sets of images:

https://www.facebook.com/raymond.a.foss/posts/10156267631373003

https://www.facebook.com/raymond.a.foss/posts/10156267623103003

&

someone put on my image, the following comment:

“Looks like feathers coming out of the ice.”

I responded:

“in the simplest, literal sense, it is a macro photograph of down of the feathers

of some unknown bird caught in a small bit of ice on our driveway maybe about

an inch and a half long; but to me, o my eye, it is reminiscent or evocative of

other imagery, such as a cicada pupa or a larval stage of some moth or other

insect about to burst out of a clear cocoon, partially exposed because of the

feathers being like the wings of a moth, or maybe some sort of fossilized

creature with a spine in the middle of the image right.”

All of my poems, photographs, and videos are copyrighted by Raymond A. Foss, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, and 2018. All rights are reserved. Contact me at Ray Foss (raymondafoss@gmail.com) for usage. See all 48,230 of my poems at www.raymondafoss.blogspot.com Poetry Where You Live.

image, insect, ice, feather, down, imagination, photograph, memory, Mothra, Godzilla, larva, pupae, metamorphosis, winter, freezing, melting, transformation,

#image #insect #ice #feather #down #imagination #photograph #memory #Mothra #Godzilla #larva #pupae #metamorphosis #winter #freezing #melting #transformation #poem #poetry #writingprompt