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Tuesday, July 24, 2012

"Tandem Toads," with Hannah and Ella

Hello fellow Toads...Ella and Hannah here with our special collaborative poem; we’ve been joyfully fusing our muses for you all!!

Hannah n’ I have a few things in common, we both love the color green, we both love to frequent our favorite watering holes and we both were born and raised in Maine. Where were you born? 



(Ella)  I was born in Belfast, Maine, but also have lived in Bangor, Winter Harbor and Brunswick.  I grew up in Searsport, where the heaven kisses the sea and hugs the shore.

(Hannah) I was born in Portland and have lived in Bath, Brunswick, Yarmouth and Georgetown, (the latter is where my heart poetically leaps from, mostly, anywhere green that's sprinkled with the salted sea)!

Little fact about distance between our birth cities?
Distance between Portland, Maine (ME) and  Belfast, Maine (ME)
How many miles? 102 Miles / 174 Km
How many hours? This take 2 hours 3 mins




This is Georgetown, the pond that awakened my 
heart poetically in my early worded years and the 
ocean and trees have inspired my poetry and prose since. 
Perhaps Ella and I will meet here for a ride in a kayak someday!!     


Hannah, this my pond, the Penobscot Bay. 
Maybe someday we will visit it, when
I come back home! It is in Searsport, Maine, 
where my poetic soul sprouted roots.


Oh, this is beautiful, Ella!! There're two chairs 
ready with our names on them!! ;)

So here it is poetic friends!!! The big "Tandem Toad," effort...
and we're offering it to you in a form!!

The villanelle is 19-line poem consisting of 5 tercets and a final quatrain. It requires no set meter, nor number of syllables per line. It carries a pattern of only two rhyme sounds (ABA in 5 tercets, and then ABAA in final quatrain). The first and third lines of the first tercet repeat alternately as a refrain closing the succeeding stanzas, and rejoin as the final couplet of the quatrain.

Mainely Green Origins

 We've roiling roots in the same corner of this verdant earth,
 as we beautifully unfurl like briny wharf roses in the rain     
 our salty ponds glistened, as the loon wailed announcing our births.

   A tidal pool with seaweed lace exposes our labyrinth’s girth,
      the blue lined horizon outlines our gracious pinegreen domain;
    we've roiling roots in the same corner of this verdant earth.

    Stepping over invisible boundaries,we arrive from this emerald turf,
   the eastern most tip of the nation, born each of a salted bay in Maine;
    our salty ponds glistened, as the loon wailed announcing our births.

  Enamored by our rocky coast, threads of floating light and surf,
we embrace our (fertile) lives in transcending patina terrain;
  we've roiling roots in the same corner of this verdant earth.

These feet have heated a spiral of joy in a jade-sea of worded worth,
miles and time had separated us and then brought us together again;
our salty ponds glistened, as the loon wailed announcing our births.

These hearts began beating, green-loving and full of verbacious mirth,
the mermaid’s song spreads its blue blanket in our garden of Zen.
We've roiling roots in the same corner of this verdant earth,
 our salty ponds glistened, as the loon wailed announcing our births.


  Collaboration © Copyright  protected for Ella Wilson and Hannah Gosselin



It has been such a joy working on this together!!! 
We've made plans to meet...


When Ella comes home, she and I will be meeting 
at my favorite watering hole,“Café Creme!” 

We can’t wait!


This is inside my favorite watering hole. 
They use coffee bags for curtains. It is called Muddy Waters.  
Hannah if you are ever in my neck of the woods, we will meet here. :D  

I'd love that, Ella!!!

We're so grateful for this pond we've been blessed to share!! Thank you, fellow toads for joining us in this tribute toward our salted-birth-ponds today!! All the Best and Smiles from us both!!
   



19 comments:

  1. Hello you beautiful "briny wharf roses,"
    framed in the green of land and sea and blue of the sky-line. The villanelle is the right display for the heartful-ness of your look back, as the repetitions bring you back to cradle/sea. I love the sound of the loon (she is in my "prayer")and the sounds of this poem.

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  2. Such a beautiful collaboration. Love this line "We've roiling roots in the same corner of this verdant earth" So excited for both of you that you plan to meet!

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  3. What a spectacular job you two did. Your voices blend so well together, I cant tell who wrote which lines. You chose a great topic AND a totally complicated form, and executed it to perfection. Wow. SO well done! Loved every line, and I especially love the way the repeating lines weave through the poem. Very effective.

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  4. Many things about this post delight me: firstly, I have had an imaginative love affair with Maine (and New England as a whole), ever since I began reading John Irving's novels in my twenties. I so envy those who were born and raised there.
    Secondly, a villanelle!! What a marvellous idea for a collaborative poem! You have blended your voices seamlessly and the two recurring lines are so strong, and gain in emotive weight throughout the poem.

    I thoroughly enjoyed this post, and I hope you can hear my heart-felt applause across the airwaves.

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  5. holy hell, a villanelle!
    sight unseen in lovely green,
    gorgeous gals, now true pals.
    winsome and awesome!

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  6. Wonderful! And a villanelle no less! (I find forms very challenging LOL) I enjoyed the photos as well!

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  7. 102 miles may separate your birth cities ... couldn't be closer to each other in terms of collaboration! This is awesome, ladies! Cheers!

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  8. I love these:

    "A tidal pool with seaweed lace"

    "These feet have heated a spiral of joy in a jade-sea of worded worth"

    "the mermaid’s song spreads its blue blanket in our garden of Zen"

    What a fun coffee date you two will have. :)

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  9. Love this! What a great tandem...we all will be there virtually when you two finally get to meet in person!

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  10. I have always been suspicious of structure.

    But is that whence beauty comes?

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  11. What a lovely collaboration...and a villanelle form at that ~ I so like the roiling roots in the same corner of this verdant earth ~

    Cheers to both of you ~

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  12. You ladies went above and beyond, but why am I surprised? Neither of you ever disappoint. Thanks so much for not only this beautiful poem, but sharing the similarities between the two of you.

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  13. All of these comments bring such a smile to my heart!!! So blessed to be a part of such an amazing group of poetical peeps!!

    Thank you everyone...your words have made my day brighter!!

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  14. Thank you for sharing your thoughts!
    It was a blessing in disguise, the way it all came together! Hannah and I discovered what a gift this journey was! Thank you for the gift of RT and for the chance to be in such an unique n' talented gathering! Poets really do paint the world in emotion!
    Thank you Toads and thank you Hannah! :D Hannah said it best, you too made my heart smile~

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  15. The idea of you two sitting behind those ingeniously designed curtains, chatting, well, that made my evening. Thanks for this HannElla blend of soothing tea! Amy

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  16. This is an amazing collaboration, you two. I have no idea who wrote which tercet, your voices blend so well together.
    I'd love to be a fly on the wall when you meet, but meanwhile, congratulations to both of you on a seamless Tandem Toads submission. I love it.
    K

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  17. I'm thinking when...not if but when we are so blessed to meet...there will be pictures and and/or video coverage!! Then we can share on RT facebook group!!! Wishing it was soon.... :)

    Ella!!! You're SO right..."a blessing in disguise, the way it all came together! Hannah and I discovered what a gift this journey was..." I couldn't agree more!!!

    Love this, Amy, "HannElla!!" It sounds like something yummy...and I love the way it looks...a certain sort of symmetry!!

    Thanks ever so much, ALL!!

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  18. Chiming in late here to say that I really enjoyed this colllaboration. You made the villanelle form sing. I also love Maine. How wonderful that the two of you will someday meet. I have faith it will happen. Everything is possible in the Garden!

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