Archive for August 2015
a strange place to grow
Who knows where life will flourish? Yesterday morning, I found a crowd of tiny toadstools beneath our truck. Although I looked around, I couldn’t find them anywhere else in the yard. But under the truck the microclimate was just right for this faerie land to grow.
Copyright 2015 Jane Tims
in the shelter of the covered bridge – the Canal Bridge twenty three years later
Last Friday we drove to see three covered bridges in Charlotte County, New Brunswick – Canal Covered Bridge, McCann Bridge (Digdeguash River #4) and McGuire Bridge (Digdeguash River #3). My husband, son and I visited two of these in 1992 as part of a project for Canada’s 125th anniversary (see
https://nichepoetryandprose.wordpress.com/2011/09/05/inside-the-covered-bridge/ ).
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Canal Bridge, Charlotte County, New Brunswick, August 2015
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The Canal Bridge was built in 1917. It crosses the deep natural canal connecting Lake Utopia with the Magaguadavic River.
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The Canal is wide and sinuous, unhurried in its flow …
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The water is very low this time of year. The shallow areas are inhabited by water lilies, water shield and pickerel weed …
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Many people have left their initials and messages inside this bridge …
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My husband couldn’t remember if we had visited the Canal Bridge in 1992. But almost immediately he found a small set of initials in black on a board heavily marked by red paint.
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To me, very familiar initials! Back in May of 1992, we had left evidence of our visit. A very emotional experience, seeing our initials more than 23 years later! It was hard to go, knowing I was leaving behind a little bit of my family history.
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Copyright 2015 Jane Tims
contemplation
contemplation
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still
as though cast
in bronze
mounted on rock
she watches
a strider
skate across
the surface
tension of water
ponders
his agility
the soundless stretch
of the meniscus
dimples on the water
thoughts
barely touch
the shallows
faded as the gentle
brush
of patina
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Copyright Jane Tims 2015
Wolf River apple
Wolf River Apple
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branch broken
tree lacking proper
care and pruning
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bee burdened
pink with blossoming
pollination
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apple swells
the skin smooth, palest
lime and rosy
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picked unripe
to escape worms, deer
and apple fall
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Copyright Jane Tims 2015
in the shelter of the covered bridge – a villanelle
I have been working at my series of poems on the plants and animals living around covered bridges in New Brunswick. I decided to try a new form (for me) – the villanelle.
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The villanelle is a structured poem with 19 lines and a prescribed rhyming scheme – A1 b A2 / a b A1 / a b A2/ a b A1/ a b A2 / a b A1 A2 . A famous villanelle is by Dylan Thomas – ‘Do not go gentle into that good night’.
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The poem below is based on my observations at the Marven Bridge (Belleisle Creek #2) in Kings County, New Brunswick. I have taken liberties with the form, most obviously in using words beginning with the same letter in place of rhyming. I would appreciate any comments, including for improvement of the poem.
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Marven Bridge, Belleisle Creek #2, in New Brunswick
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wobble
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Belleisle Creek #2 (Marven Covered Bridge)
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bridge shudders as we walk
spaces between boards cast light on the floor
photos out of focus, faint tremble
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cribwork and rafters, new wood
old nails work loose, grey walls frail
bridge shakes as we walk
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in the rafters, the paper nest of a wasp
in the mud, ephemeral, the tracks of a fox
photos out of focus, faint tremble
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a blue jay calls thief across brown water
at the shoreline, sensitive fern
bridge shivers as we walk
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on the ledge, bones, bleached white
skeleton of a bear, backbone and fingers
photos out of focus, faint tremble
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orange graffiti, letters round and wide
initials carved on the beams are faded
bridge quivers as we walk
photos out of focus, faint tremble
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Copyright Jane Tims 2015
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