Roberta Writes – d’Verse Open Link Night #365 and Thursday Doors #poetry #photography

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Sanaa‘s d’Verse prompt is as follows:

Consider this line from Pablo Neruda’s poem from “The Wide Ocean.”

“Ocean, if you were to give, a measure, a ferment, a fruit
of your gifts and destructions.”

You can join in the challenge here: https://dversepoets.com/2024/07/18/open-link-night-365-with-live-edition/

Oh ocean

Oh ocean

How you sparkle and shine

Enticing

My toes embedded in wet sand

Welcome the soft tickle

Of your gentle waves

Despositing memories

The debris of my childhood

– Sea level rise is a natural consequence of the warming of our planet – 1

Oh ocean

Your surface tinted gold

By a ferocious sun

Your levels are rising

Insidiously creeping

Reclaiming land

Will you take from me

All I hold dear?

  1. Quote from Nasa
Picture caption: Lion in the golden ocean #naturechaos

This is a puente poem. The puente form has three stanzas with the first and third having an equal number of lines and the middle stanza having only one line which acts as a bridge (puente) between the first and third stanza.

The first and third stanzas convey a related but different element or feeling, as though they were two adjacent territories. The number of lines in the first and third stanzas is the writer’s choice as is the choice of whether to write it in free verse or rhyme.

The center line is delineated by a tilde (~) and has ‘double duty’. It functions as the ending for the last line of the first stanza AND as the beginning for the first line of the third stanza. It shares ownership with these two lines and consequently bridges the first and third stanzas.

Thursday Doors: Oslo Fjord Cruise

For Dan’s Thursday Doors this week, I’m sharing some pictures from my Oslo Fjord Cruise. You are getting a break from traditional Norwegian buildings because I thought these pictures better matched the theme of my poem above. You can join in Thursday Doors here: https://nofacilities.com/2024/07/18/reiman-gardens/

Picture caption: Door into the enclosed part of the cruise ship from the front deck. TC has his arms folded – it was cold.

Picture caption: photographs taken as we cruised around the Oslo harbour. The glass structure is in the harbour and is designed to catch and reflect the light.

Picture caption: Oslo Fort taken from the cruise ship

Here is my YT short of the harbour mouth. It was windy and lonely.

Picture caption: This is a picture of the sun at around 11.30am taken from the deck of the cruise ship (in late May)
Picture caption: TC and I seated on the deck. I was seated for about 30 seconds – haha!

Thank you to talented poet, Dawn Pisturino for this amazing review of Square Peg in a Round Hole. Michael and I are delighted.

Poetry Book Review: “Square Peg in a Round Hole” by Robbie Cheadle
Picture caption: Promotional banner for Square Peg in a Round Hole
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Published by robertawrites235681907

I am a writer of young adult fiction and poetry

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76 thoughts on “Roberta Writes – d’Verse Open Link Night #365 and Thursday Doors #poetry #photography”

  1. I love your beautiful poems and it was interesting that you baked in a quote from NASA about sea level rise. I just wrote a review for a book by Dr. Michael Mann (Our Fragile Moment) where he discusses many climate change related things including sea level rise. Right now most of the sea level rise come from thermal expansion, water expands as it gets warmer. The melting of the arctic and other floating ice does not cause any sea level rise but the melting of ice on land will. In the second half of the century sea level rise will come mostly from the melting of the greenland ice and some from the West Antarctic icesheet, and they have underestimated this melt. It could be 5-6 feet by 2100, which will flood many coastal cities and low lying countries, and Bangladesh. In the long run land ice melt will accelerate sea level rise and thermal expansion will become a minor contributor.

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    1. Hi Thomas, thank you for adding this information. The NASA page I took this quote from also mentioned these same things i.e. thermal expansion and the greenland ice melt. I’m glad you like the poem. I created the lion in the golden sea picture and I’m going to paint it as my next project.

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  4. Well done on the poem, Robbie. Maybe, if we send the message many times, in many forms, people will understand. I think I feel most bad for the animals that are being affected by climate change. They had no hand in the cause and have few, if any options.

    I love you photos and the video. The glass sculpture in the water is fascinating. The midday sun is a wonderful photo. I hope you have a great weekend.

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    1. HI Dan, the Oslo Fjord trip was fascinating. I couldn’t believe that sun, so moon-like, in the middle of the day. Very different from southern Africa. Many people in third world countries are being impacted by climate change despite never having received any benefits from the economic benefits that caused it.

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  10. “Will you take from me

    All I hold dear?”

    I love this last part of your poem! The lion looks like he’s thinking about something. You and your husband look so cold on that cruise ship in the Oslo harbor. 🙂

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  18. I love the lion in the water image, but your poem is brilliant. You lead us from childhood to climate change in a few short lines. I love how you personalize your poems and stories and yet give them additional emotional impact by tying them to an agenda.

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  19. Congratulations on your review Robbie!
    I like especially the sailing ship, and the two of you look very content.
    I also like how you used the quote as the pivot in your puente. (K)

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  21. I love how you joined the two stanzas together Robbie. That structure in the harbour is fascinating. What a great cruise that must have been. I always love your photos and videos.

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  22. Robbie, you put the puente form to good use. First the ocean seems so carefree but then it becomes menacing under the “ferocious sun” (good way of describing it!) Lovely photos. The video clip reminds me of what it’s like in the Upper Peninsula, on Lake Superior.

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  27. “The debris of my childhood” — what a great line, especially in this context. Human vs ocean: an ageless dialogue, yes? A lovely post, and I admire your discipline with that form of poetry.

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  30. Took me a while to get back to this – Nice to see you dropping the inconsequential glue! In fact, your version outshines the “pro”. I offer only one thing. When you find a line with of or any of the others in it, rewrite until it goes BAM and the picture is as clear as a glass bell in a big hall. I am thinking of the tickling waves. Really nice work. Accept no less from yourself than Monet, who said “To see we must forget the name of the thing we are looking at.” I won;t comment on the Oh opening. Whitman kind of wore that out for me🤣

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