THE VOICE OF THE TURTLE….

Photo by B.J. Snipes

"The flowers appear in the earth, the time of the singing 
of birds is come. and the voice of the turtle is heard in
our land."  Song of Solomon 2.12

Writing poetry, or even attempting it, brings satisfaction,
solace, and rewards to the soul.

It matters not how good you are...or poor.. at writing 
poems...what matters is that you try. You will search 
for new words...new thoughts...deeper ways of saying 
things; you will find new thinking patterns...and finally---
new ways of SEEING things.

First thing you know, you may break into song---for
remember the saying: "Music is the soul's own speech."

Poetry and music might be first cousins.

I never thought much about writing poetry until a few 
years ago. Oh, I had done pretty well on a few long
birthday, retirement tributes, and such poems---ones
that rhyme shamelessly and thus often humorously.

I reckon they were pretty good.

But one day I got a copy of "THE APPLE TREES OF
OLEMA" by Robert Hass. The beautiful bird on the
cover of his book caused me to buy it!

From him, I Iearned that poetry does not have to rhyme!
A great discovery of my life! Rhyming poetry is very
difficult to write well... without sounding trite or
forced.  

You're usually bound by the needed rhyme to alter your
thought a bit, or a lot. It becomes easy to sound...well,
corny. Best leave rhyming to the Masters of history,
who seemed to be able to produce well,  pages of it, 
in some cases.

Brevity is often a good plan for unskilled poets (like me).
Remember the famous "doctor poet," William Carlos 
Williams? Maybe his most famous poem is "The Red 
Wheelbarrow."

"so much depends
upon

a red wheel
barrow

glazed with rain
water

beside the white
chickens."

This oft-quoted poem does grab the reader, and 
why---is what makes poetry poetry, I suppose.

A  favorite poet of mine is Mary Oliver, one
who also writes with brevity and simplicity. Nothing
in nature escapes her keen poetic eye and soul, 
she has her pencil stub and little old leather note-
book in her pocket at all times. Each morning she 
heads off into the woods to think, observe and 
write poems.

Mary, it is said---once while writing a poem...and
being fascinated by a tree...was up in its branches
counting the leaves.

But back to my original thoughts that started this 
whole conversation.

B.E. ("beloved editor"---my wife), said to me a day or
two ago: "That beautiful Biblical expression 'the voice 
of the turtle is heard in our land'  well---- turtles:don't
makes sounds do they? Does that refer to turtle 
doves?"

She was right. Biblical scholars say it refers to "turtle
doves."

We've had a few white wing and mourning doves 
arriving here at our house already since the latest
cold front.  The Asian doves cannot be far behind!

(I saw a robin yesterday! Blue Jays will soon be 
quarreling up in the very top of  the pines,
where they're wont to air their differences 
publicly.)

So wrapping up these musings about poetry, and
hearing "the voice of the turtle here in our land,"
one week week before official spring.

I'm starting a poem...today...

A brief one...
********************
BY MIL
3-08-15