Tag: poetry

Yellow Slicker [1967] by Julie A. Dickson

Yellow Slicker [1967]

slicker
Cave of the Winds, Niagara Falls NY
Two separate touring parties, one approaching and the other leaving Hurricane Deck . In foreground is Wildcat Stream. In background at right, Bridal Veil Falls and at left, American Falls

From a postcard in the collection of the Niagara Falls Public Library

smelled slightly sour
perhaps oily –
definitely stained

The rubber boots
were too large
for my child-sized feet

We stood in line
my brother and me
between slicker-ed parents

Slowly we walked down
metal stairs into a cave –
rush of water loud in my ears

damp, moldy smelling walls,
water trickling down, looked
at the floor  to ensure firm footing

until we reached the look-out.
Cave of the Winds, they said,
strange to a child of seven

whistling and howling winds
blew through, spraying my face,
a fine sheen of water soaking me

Peered out from behind a sheet
of water, thundering past cave
opening to the rocks below

I squeezed mother’s hand
feeling the power it yielded,
yellow slicker enveloped me

Julie A. Dickson

Julie A. Dickson is originally from Buffalo, NY. Her father’s family was from Guelph and Vineland Station, Ontario, Canada in the late 1800’s, they founded the Culverhouse Canning Factory there. Dickson lived near Lake Erie and Niagara Falls until her early teens, when her family relocated to Massachusetts. Always the lakes-girls, her poems often reflect in memories of Lakes Ontario and Erie, and visiting the falls. Her poems appears in many journals including Ekphrastic Review, Misfit, Open Door and others; full length works on Amazon. Dickson has been a guest editor, past poetry board member, is an advocate for captive elephants and shares her home with two rescued cats.

Julie A. Dickson was the guest editor of the Ekphrastic Review challenge to write a poem inspired by Frederic Edwin Church’s painting Niagara, 1857. See a page about ekphrastic poetry of Niagara, including the poems from the Ekphrastic Review

Niagara River 1965 by Julie A. Dickson

julie
Unknown group having a picnic in Queen Victoria Park, Niagara Falls, July, 1927 From the Niagara Parks Commission Collection, Niagara Falls Public Library

Forceful rush of water, loud
flowing toward the precipice,
I stood alongside the grassy edge
of the Niagara River, shoes kicked off,
toes independently investigating
blades of grass and dandelions.

Standing away from a blanket
spread with our wicker picnic
basket, cloth napkins and cooler,
my mother’s eyes were shadowed
behind dark glasses, but I knew
they were on me and the wild
river behind, the smell of
a steel plant, an acrid invasion
to mingle odors with moisture filled air.

So close to the water, she shook her head
when I begged to wade, not knowing
the demon force would sweep
a child away like so many memories.

We picnicked with a game
of brightly colored rings, tossed
to my father and to my brother
who leapt up to catch the red one.
My mother sedentary  in contrast to
the activity of family games
beside the raging river.

Julie A. Dickson
Niagara River 1965 written 2018, previously unpublished.

Julie A. Dickson is originally from Buffalo, NY. Her father’s family was from Guelph and Vineland Station, Ontario, Canada in the late 1800’s, they founded the Culverhouse Canning Factory there. Dickson lived near Lake Erie and Niagara Falls until her early teens, when her family relocated to Massachusetts. Always the lakes-girls, her poems often reflect in memories of Lakes Ontario and Erie, and visiting the falls. Her poems appears in many journals including Ekphrastic Review, Misfit, Open Door and others; full length works on Amazon. Dickson has been a guest editor, past poetry board member, is an advocate for captive elephants and shares her home with two rescued cats.

Julie A. Dickson was the guest editor of the Ekphrastic Review challenge to write a poem inspired by Frederic Edwin Church’s painting Niagara, 1857. See a page about ekphrastic poetry, including the poems from the Ekphrastic Review

Niagara Ball Falls by Julie A. Dickson

dickson
American Falls dewatered, June-November 1969. Photo by Michael Dumele.
Image courtesy of Niagara Falls Public Library

Ball bounces to theriver       Niagara

swept downstream    in torrents   of

rushing current   thunderous      wild

over     falling into mist             gone

Kept back from theedge         mother

clings to my shirtback           I scream

loss of ball   the worst thing         ever

Father tells ofbarrels         going over

on purpose   on a dare          tightrope

stretched acrossraging        cold river

My child’s eye blindto       such feats

Guinness book but           some deaths

Broken bodies   barrels           swirling

detritus    among rocks     angry water

thrown up    tantrum of        white mist

When they dammed thefalls         dry

one year   we saw wood       fragments

dare-devil bones but            not my ball

Julie A. Dickson
Niagara Ball Falls written and published in Mini Mag 2023
 

Julie A. Dickson is originally from Buffalo, NY. Her father’s family was from Guelph and Vineland Station, Ontario, Canada in the late 1800’s, they founded the Culverhouse Canning Factory there. Dickson lived near Lake Erie and Niagara Falls until her early teens, when her family relocated to Massachusetts. Always the lakes-girls, her poems often reflect in memories of Lakes Ontario and Erie, and visiting the falls. Her poems appears in many journals including Ekphrastic Review, Misfit, Open Door and others; full length works on Amazon. Dickson has been a guest editor, past poetry board member, is an advocate for captive elephants and shares her home with two rescued cats.

Julie A. Dickson was the guest editor of the Ekphrastic Review challenge to write a poem inspired by Frederic Edwin Church’s painting Niagara, 1857. See a page about ekphrastic poetry of Niagara, including the poems from the Ekphrastic Review

Read about When Niagara Falls Ran Dry

Uncertainty by Sarah Das Gupta

Niagara, 1857 by Frederic Edwin Church
Image courtesy of the National Gallery of Art

Dichotomy of light and shade
rainbow blurred in cloud and rain
white suicidal water
tangible tears of spray
rocks of despair, eddies of grief
days of uncertainty and loss
 
Still the blue face of control
cascades of courage and resolution
accepting the crags of destruction
the far horizon of the past
tethered on the edge of memory

Sarah Das Gupta wrote this ekphrastic poem, inspired by Frederic Edwin Church’s 1857 painting Niagara, which was first published in The Ekphrastic Review, October 20, 2023 in their Ekphrastic Challenges series. Read about ekphrastic poetry in Niagara.
 
Sarah Das Gupta is a retired teacher living near Cambridge, UK who has taught in India and Tanzania. Her work has been published in over 12 countries including US, UK, Australia, Canada, Germany, India, Croatia and Romania

Falling Days by Kate Copeland

Niagara, 1857 by Frederic Edwin Church
Image courtesy of the National Gallery of Art

Now the gulls
have chased away
the long- and lacewings,
 
Now the silt has risen 
from the river floor 
to overturn her days and ways,
 
and now their boat trip 
has not shown the mist
she had hoped to see,
 
she sees that rainbows still fall on,
that tides rest at her feet
and barrels drift away anyway.
 
He might brighten up
once they drive down to the lakes,
once he stops mocking her love 
 
for the waterfalls that make her 
think straight, he wants to 
control her rise and fall
 
but her moods to sing like birds 
and butterflies, is a step further
towards the edge of
falling days, where her best choice
is, to choose her road carefully, is 
to be aware of plunging 
 
without sinking. To see he might just
be in her way. Dive in, dear girl, 
but rise, down the shiny waves.

This poem, inspired by Frederic Edwin Church’s 1857 painting Niagara, was first published in The Ekphrastic Review, October 20, 2023 in their Ekphrastic Challenges series. Read about ekphrastic poetry in Niagara.

Kate
Kate Copeland

Kate Copeland started absorbing words ever since a little lass. Her love for language led her to teaching; her love for art & water to poetry…please find her pieces at The Ekphrastic Review, First Lit.Review-East, Wildfire Words, The Weekly/Five South, AltPoetry and others. Over the years, she worked at festivals and Breathe-Read-Write-sessions; she is now curator-editor for The Ekphrastic Review and runs linguistic-poetry workshops for the IWWG this year. Kate was born @ harbour city and adores housesitting at the world.  https://www.instagram.com/kate.copeland.poems/  

Read Dad, you have left us, also by Kate Copeland