Bits of twig and uprooted willows
tangle in hollow bank-side shadows
haunted by a mist of winter gnats.
Hoar frost sparkles on the slats
of rowing boats and canoes,
abandoned like a giant’s shoes,
the kind you find at the side of a road,
dumped without its pair. Bubbles implode
in the eddy of a turning fish,
icy tears that splash and splish
with the patter of last leaves from the trees,
plucked by the fingers of a biting breeze.
Kim M. Russell, 2017
Victoria is our host this Thursday. She says that while she was browsing some of her old poems, she ran across one in which she used an earthquake to stand for fear of change. As writers, we often turn to this tool, to express the depth of our thoughts and beliefs.
She goes on to say that, when we write symbolically, we choose something tangible to convey a more abstract concept or a mood/emotion. Rather than just saying something blatantly, the poet or writer uses, for example, autumn to convey later mid-life or a spider to express fear. Victoria has kindly pointed us towards an extensive list of literary symbols to guide us in the poem she would like us to write for this prompt: express an idea, emotion or mood symbolically without saying anything directly.