Words fascinate me. But sometimes they just puzzle me. I was scrolling through Instagram and came across my sister-in-law Julie’s beautiful post. She lives in Seattle and is a potter. Her Instagram is newleafseattle. She observes (and photographs) nature in her own unique way. This photo was captioned “On an Island in the Salish Sea – ‘choose a path and follow it.”
I asked “Where is the Salish Sea?” Then I googled and started to feel dumb (this is not a new feeling for me). The Salish (say-lish) Sea includes Georgia Strait, Puget Sound, and Strait of Juan de Fuca. Surely I have heard of this before with as many times we have visited Seattle. My google search revealed that the term was created in 1988, so it’s fairly recent, and was created to honor the Coast Salish, indigenous people of the area. Wikipedia offered this statement, “In a 2019 survey of residents in the general vicinity of the Salish Sea, only 9 percent of Washingtonians and 15 percent of British Columbians were able to correctly identify and name the Salish Sea.” This justifies my confusion but does not excuse it.
Let’s take a look at the photograph of rocks. Are you drawn in by the different colors of rocks or by the rings around the large stone? Let the muse take you where it will.
Like rings around a stone
encircle time,I hold close
embrace
Margaret Simon, draft
my path.
Reflections on the Teche 
So grateful to learn about the Salish Sea…I was also drawn to the lines/layers in the central rock, but as I watched, saw something else that compelled me.
THE ROCK SPEAKS
You are not useless
you tiny ones—
don’t you see
that you reflect my colors
rosy browns and greys
white, black, and biscuit-brown?
Look how
we make art
from earth’s haphazard
wash of rock!
Draft, Carol Coven Grannick
Carol, such an important thing to remember–even the smallest of us is important. I love “biscuit-brown.”
Carol: I love the variety of shapes and colors in rocks. It feels like a treasure hunt, just going through them, looking closely, so I love your draft!
“You are not useless”- a strong message… Art from the haphazard is another idea I like in your poem
Yes, they make art!
That first line grabs me so hard today. And “look how we make art” squeezes my heart even more. Thanks for writing such wisdom.
Thank you Margaret—your photos are so ‘provocative’ (in the positive, early childhood sense of using ‘provocations’ to trigger creative play), and I look forward to them each week! And thank you, Jane, Karen, Diane, haitiruth—your encouragement tells me I’ll be fine-tuning this one.
Beautiful message. This poem is a keeper.
Wander next to the sea
Pick up a small stone
Keep it in your pocket
A little piece of Earth
To keep you connected
Lovely!
I have done this and eventually keep them on my windowsill. Lovely poem.
Love!
Thanks for coming by today and playing with poetry. I love how a small stone in your pocket and keep us connected.
Thanks, Margaret. Your poem holds tightly… and Diane… yours connects. I have stones from visits to the shore. I hold them from time to time, feel their smooth surface, admire their shapes, consider their colors.
I hear your crunch
Stone on stone
I hear you, hard stones
I hear you with each step
Grinding — smoothing —
I hear you now
wow, what a sensory poem, Karen!
I love that you chose to write about hearing — when we think of rocks as silent!
The repetition of sound creates a nice rhythm.
Focusing on the sound is completely wonderful, Karen!
oooooh. Stone on stone is a wonderful, sensual image.
Margaret, the rock photo is powerful, as is your poem, embracing your path.
unwrapping
layers of time
reveals
what’s behind
the wrinkles.
Reveals what’s behind the wrinkles. What is behind my wrinkles? wisdom?
I hope so!
This sounds so personal to me…beauty within. Amen.
Love the ‘hearing’ imagery!
Stones of Salish Sea
Small sentinels underfoot
Sturdy earth shavings
Ruth, thereisnosuchthingasagodforsakentown.blogspot.com
All those s sounds swish like the waves of the sea.
Ooh the alliteration and I love “earth shavings”
earth shavings…wonderful phrase.
Beautiful! I keep re-reading it, and it’s a magnificent read-aloud, too!
Margaret, I’m late to this party–love how you worked the word “embrace” into your poem. It makes a photo of hard stones, lovely.
You are a rock
of substance
how can you ignore
tears of little stones
surrounding you
washing away and back
into the mud
back to the surface
seeking purchase–
footing like yours
to stand up
to sun, wind, rain
and infinitely more
waves of the sea
Instructions to the big rock: Pay attention to the little guys. The imagery of washing away and back is strong here. Instead of making the little rocks wish to be a big one, you admonished the big one for not giving notice or caring for the little ones. Great message.
Oh! “Tears of little stones…”! How lovely, Linda…
[…] Margaret Simon shared an intriguing image from the Salish Sea this week for her THIS PHOTO WANTS TO BE A POEM post. I was so taken by the name Salish Sea, I had to look it up and see what this place looked like, it’s gorgeous. This is one of the images I found but I didn’t know if I could share it, it’s published by the magazine and site, Salish Magazine. Unfortunately I didn’t have time to participate in Margaret’s post, but was inspired to write a poem, thanks–and thanks also for hosting this weeks Poetry Friday Roundup at your blog Reflections of the Teche! […]
[…] A few weeks ago Margaret highlighted this photo of a striped rock from the Salish Sea. The picture was taken by her sister-in-law, Julia, and shared on Instagram. (You can read responses to the photo here.) […]