Personal Challenge ~ Susie

Hello to everyone in the garden, this is Susie. Helen passed the baton of a personal challenge to me and she didn't make it an easy one. She provided some beautiful photos from a hike she and her daughter made to the Blue Pool on the McKenzie River Trail in Oregon as inspiration, but she also challenged me to write it to Hannah's Boomerang Metaphors Poetry form.

Boomerang Metaphors: 

* Create three, “This poem is a ____,” statements.
* Support each statement in separate stanzas, (one can choose the length of the supporting stanzas and whether or not to rhyme or employ free verse).
* Restate the statement that’s being supported in the last line of these supporting stanzas, (as mini boomerang metaphor refrains).
* Then name the list of three, “This poem is a _____,” statements again as a boomerang metaphors refrain.
Note: One may choose to state the closing refrain slightly morphed but mostly the same. As it seems, words that go out into the world do tend to come back touched – slightly transformed.
* The title encapsulates the three listed elements, “This Poem is a ____, ____ and a _____”

Having just struggled with Hannah's form I wasn't sure I could do it justice on my second attempt. Since the whole point is to challenge myself to go beyond my normal, I took a deep breath and put on my thinking cap and began to write.

Photo: Helen Dehner

This Poem Is A Blue Pool

This poem is a pool

This poem is vulnerable.

This poem is trust.

This poem is clear water

painted with sky,

rocks, and pine. It is as

deep as yesterday and

as wide as first sight.

This poem is a pool.

This poem is toes on

the edge gripping stones,

flirting with gravity,

wishing for wings.

This poem is vulnerable.

This poem is wisdom

that knows shifting earth

can be a leap into disaster.

It is a voice that brings

the rebel to the security

of solid ground.

This poem is trust.

This poem is a deep blue pool.

This poem is tempting fate.

This poem is wisdom inducing trust.

©Susie Clevenger 2014

When researching the Blue Pool I came across the tragic story of University Of Oregon tennis star, Alex Rovello, who died from a fall into the pool. (You can read about it here.) This along with Helen's photo helped me find the direction I wanted to go with my poem. 

Thank you so much Helen for the challenge. I have been struggling of late with my poetry. I needed a nudge to get it going again.