Our world was not built for wanderers
Though by some illusions it may seem so
For in every hill are pavement traces
Marked by yellow lines
Where long roads have grown
And through every valley are gashed twin scars
That trains track slowly through thick morning mist
And clouds born of steam engines drift upward
Leaving the blue expanse
subtle smoke kissed
Above, man-made birds fly by unflapped wings
Cutting white gashes in the atmosphere
And carrying us over unseen seas
To lofty heights
We not long ago feared
Still our barefoot soles beg for soil
Our roots sinking in red dirt with each pace
Our ankles held tightly in gravity’s grasp
Til we can’t imagine
Leaving this place
Wherever our roots grow long we build our homes
pressing foundations deep into the earth
with the light footfalls of sons and daughters
wayward hearts
resting before a shared hearth
Each day bends our backs further to the ground
Til our roots grow through our knees and our palms
Til we lay down in this dirt we call home
Buried in roses
And covered in psalms
I wrote this poem based on the following prompt from pw.org!
Image or Detail – 3.2.21 – Rick Barot’s poem “The Wooden Overcoat,” published in the April 2012 issue of Poetry, begins: “It turns out there’s a difference between a detail / and an image.” Barot develops this train of thought and proceeds to engage in differentiating between the two, positing that a dandelion on the sidewalk is “mere detail,” but “the dandelion inked on a friend’s bicep / is an image because it moves when her body does.” Write a poem that sets up an argument in the first sentence and then proceed to test it through rhetorical devices and concrete imagery.
How can you use a poem to prove a thesis?
Seamus O'Shaughnessy, Jr. 
Your post is Awesome
LikeLike
Thank you, I appreciate the support!
I;m sorry, my website hid this comment from me and I just saw it 🙂
LikeLike
My Pleasure
I am your new follower you may also support me by following
LikeLike
Amazing poem, Evan! Thank you so much for following my blog.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thank you for your kind words! I quite enjoyed your poems and I look forward to reading more of them!
LikeLiked by 1 person
My pleasure, Evan!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Such a beautiful well written poem. I especially love
“our barefoot soles beg for soil
Our roots sinking in red dirt with each pace
Our ankles held tightly in gravity’s grasp
Til we can’t imagine
Leaving this place”
Do you still see steam trains? Lovely….
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thank you, I’m glad you liked it 🙂 I was trying to visualize the process of “settling down” as though the very place we choose to settle grows within us as we grow into that place!
I haven’t seen a steam train in a long time, but when I was younger I used to live by tracks and I never got any sleep because the train horns were always blaring 🤣
LikeLiked by 1 person
This house of mine was bought 22 years ago as a five year stop-gap……somehow we settled without knowing it.
LikeLiked by 1 person
“…our barefoot soles beg for soil…..” I love that! Your closing stanza is fabulous. Lovely to see you at earthweal. I am having trouble posting a comment. Hope this one gets through.
LikeLiked by 1 person
It got through! I don’t know whats been going on with my comment section recently 🤦♂️ Thanks for reading, I’m glad you enjoyed it!!
LikeLike
You address the prompt head on showing all the ways our wandering strikes down, not out — every gesture of departure sets roots in some way. It’s an interesting and novel conceit and your images turn the mind well toward the depth of its breadth. The metrics are concise and the rhymes devious enough to reveal clappers in their bells (esp. “palms” and “psalms”). Thanks for sharing at earthweal, it belongs.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thank you! I’m glad I found earthweal, I’m excited to participate in the weekly challenges!
LikeLike
“…our barefoot soles beg for soil….” I love that! And your closing stanza is fabulous. Lovely to see you at earthweal.
LikeLiked by 1 person
As much as we want to explore and settle beautiful places, our pandemic future could be no more wandering. We could be forced to settle where we are for the foreseeable future. I’m lucky that I am happy where I live. .I love descriptive detail in the lines:
‘And through every valley are gashed twin scars
That trains track slowly through thick morning mist
And clouds born of steam engines drift upward
Leaving the blue expanse
subtle smoke kissed’.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I have some level of hope we’ll be able to wander again soon 🙂 Though it is certainly lucky you are happy where you live!
I’m glad you liked the descriptive parts of these lines! I had a lot of fun writing them!!
LikeLiked by 1 person
‘Wherever our roots grow long we build our homes’ – I love this! Beautiful and thoughtful writing.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thank you! I’m glad you liked it 🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person