Monday, September 1, 2008

PRISM


For a while in the 80s I lived in a tiny studio apartment overlooking Calgary’s picturesque Elbow River. There was a small stretch of bank along the river that was part of the building’s grounds, and the manager would run a sprinkler there in summer. One day I was watching a Belted kingfisher flying back and forth over the water, when he suddenly veered up over the grass and flew straight through the curve of the water just as the sun made a rainbow in the spray. I ended up writing a poem about it.

Here in Ontario, kingfishers fly along the breakwall constantly. I also have rainbows from the sun-catcher crystals I hung in the kitchen window. At certain times of the day and year, the light goes right through the kitchen, across the hall and into the library. The other morning I took this picture of the sun-catcher rainbow on the bookshelf. Later on, when the kingfisher flew by, I thought of posting the poem and the photo together. You can click to enlarge the text.


11 comments:

Sylvia K said...

What a lovely picture! and a beautiful poem! Thank you, it's a lovely way to end my day!

magiceye said...

A pretty picture enhanced by a beautiful poem!

bobbie said...

Really love the picture and the poem.

Tumblewords: said...

Nice work! I love the rainbows created by suncatchers and find a few drifting around my house when the sun is too low to be warm! :)

Anonymous said...

Just lovel, Deborah.

robin ann mcintosh said...

what a methodical, beautiful way to describe an every day occurrence... you have a real concrete rhythm to this one : ) I love it!

Bob Dylan said...

a slow metronome of the rain's music... what a great poem. I love those crystal things in windows.

SandyCarlson said...

Thanks for sharing that moment with us. That is a wonderful poem. Pure magic.

Indrani said...

Great lines, I could almost visualize the Kingfisher! :)

Quiet Paths said...

Thanks Deb for the spark of synchronicity which helped me finish my own piece on kingfishers. There are lines here which just stopped me in my tracks.

Kathie Brown said...

All right, you made me get out my dictionary to look up "contrapuntal". What a great word. Love the poem and the image it invokes.