Welcome to This Photo Wants to be a Poem, a weekly poetry prompt modeled after Laura Purdie Salas’s 15 Words or Less. We invite you to write a small poem in the comments and write encouraging comments to other writers. No judgements here. Just playing with words.
Today’s photo comes from poet Donna Smith. She lives in Maine and recently biked near the Kennebec River. Maine is a place I’ve never been, but I imagine summer is for outdoors. Not like in Louisiana where you can only tolerate short bursts outside. Donna has returned to Maine after spending some time in Pennsylvania. She is happy to be back. On Facebook she draws a squiggle and writes a poem each day. Here’s a recent one:
The Stairs
The stairs go up
The stairs go down
They also turn and
Turn around
They go from here
And end up there
Just when you think
You know just where
The stairs will lead
You to a place
You’ve never set
your foot or face
But don’t despair
Don’t cry or mope
The stairs mean that
There’s always hope
Hope for a place
Of peace and love
Of open doors
And blue above
I know it’s there
And you can, too
Step up, step down
Keep stepping true.
Then all at once
You will arrive
The steps lead you
To full alive.
By Donna JT Smith, 8/18/2020
By the river
Margaret Simon, draft
a blue bike
waits
for a friend.
Reflections on the Teche 
With apologies to William Carlos Williams. I adore my time in Maine but alas not this year. Soon, though and I hope a blue bike awaits me:
For Alice
So much depends
upon a blueberry patch,
a blue bike
and a good friend
waiting for me
on any day in Maine.
PS Alice was a dear friend and my host at the cottage we rent every summer in Maine. She passed away in December from by-pass complications. Besides the pandemic, losing Alice has been just an awful loss. I can’t wait to get back and to visit her family, the mid-coast Maine Botanical Gardens and remember Alice’s kindness.
“Any day in Maine” can I come along?
oh, this is lovely!
Definitely!
Thank you, Laura. If you ever want any Maine tips from my pov let me know. It is a big state and sea coast so I can only share my spots, but I love it. Ha ha, you made me laugh about the wheelbarrow!!
Thank you, Linda, glad you stopped by.
Lovely poem, Janet–I’ll take a Maine day (I want to go someday) and a bike and blueberry patch and friend over a wheelbarrow any day! I’m sorry for your loss.
Janet, your poem is a beautiful way to honor your friend. I’m sorry for your loss and that you weren’t able to go to Maine, but I’m sure Alice is with you.
There are lots of memories of blue in Maine for me, too! It was my mom’s favorite color for a kitchen.
Donna knows how much I love her squiggle drawings and poems. I have read so many of them. Your poem sent me off in the direction I needed, Margaret. Yes, it is nice to have our cooler times and the seasons up here in the north. The brutal heat days with high humidity are tough but to have them all summer has to be hard seeing as that is a teacher’s vacation time. I do love that blue bike and have connections to it in my past. Eager to see more poems later on.
Those handlebars just look like they are smiling!
At the End of the Day
handlebars smile
in a setting sun
ready to rest
from all day fun
Love that handlebar smile!
perfect! I love the personification.
Rose,
Your smiling handlebars make me want to go and hop on my old bike. Alas I don’t have it any longer, but it was so perfect for me as a child and in college, Easy. Just pedals, pedal brakes, big fat tires and I had to do all the work. No gears to shift. Get on and go. Brings a smile to me right now!
Rose, love the personification “handlebars smile!” Love your imagery, alliteration, and rhyme, too. Your poem makes me happy, thank you.
Thanks Donna and Margaret for the pic and your poems offering a bit of solace. The image brought back memories from visits to Maine many years ago…
triggered memories
hawk’s nest at Portland’s
weathered bridge, still live
I see the bridge in the background, a nice memory.
Michelle,
Your poem got me thinking! Portland is a city I really want to spend time in. We go right past on our jaunts to Maine. Some day a month in Maine in the summer would create such wonderful memories. An abundance of nature and happiness, ocean and scenic views. Oh and lobster! I hope that many of the towns will survive the pandemic drop in tourists. Scary. I am trying to think positive!
Michelle, I like how you wrote “triggered memories” instead of just writing the memory like I did. I love your ending, “still live” and what it implies.
There’s an osprey nest on the old bridge in this picture, just on the other side of the sleek new bridge. The nest goes up and down as they raise and lower the bridge for boat traffic!
Maybe we saw osprey’s, it was definitely on an old bridge.
I love that, Margaret. It does look like that bike is ready for adventure, so your poem goes with the photo so beautifully!
Thank you, Margaret. I’m sorry it’s so humid where you live. It’s been very humid here this summer, which makes it difficult for me to breathe with asthma, but at least it’s been less humid and hot lately. Margaret, I love your poem! It says so much with so few words. It’s beautiful in north Maine near the Acadia National Park where there are mountains to climb and crashing waves to sit near while writing poetry. I like the repetition, rhyme, and hopefulness in Donna’s poem. Thank you, Donna, your photo brought back memories of when I was a child and when my husband and I lived near a bike path along a river. I wrote a poem to honor each memory. Here’s my child memory:
rode my purple
banana seat bike home
lightning lit the road
Gail Aldous
Yes, I’m old enough to have rode a banana seat bike. I wonder if anyone else rode one?
No banana seat, they were a bit after my time. I had a blue Schwinn “Daisy” that took me all over the countryside in Maine as a child. Now I have a blue Huffy…my dog is Daisy. I don’t know what my bike’s name is yet…
Here we go:
I sit
life flows;
I will soon catch up
when I resume pedaling.
By Donna JT Smith
So glad everyone had so many bike memories! Maine is a great place to bike…though we have some tricky hills everywhere that don’t look so “uphill” until you try them!