The River
The river ran bright under the trees.
Under the longing trees ran a bright river.
Fish swam through the river overlooked by trees.
Trees watched stones skip through the bright river.
Shadows ran from the brightness in the river.
Sparkling brightness ran around the trees.
The trees ran with the water.
The bright water longed to be dark.
The river walked with brightness.
Trees dipped hands in brightness.
Fish jumped brightly from the water into trees.
Trees swam in the bright river.
Trees slowly drank from the water.
Decomposing trees ran through the bright water.
–Rayna Viles, Homeschool, Grade 8, Age 13, Lane County, Oregon
PARTNER POEM
Dream Cycle
In the dream I was asked to choose
between sky and earth, water and air.
The sky was wide and blue, warm each day,
the earth cool and dry, sweet-scented.
Between sky and earth, water and air
I could make no choice, loving them all.
The earth was cool and dry, sweet-scented.
Juniper and sage covered the hills.
I could make no choice, loving them all--
the creek ran clear like the beginning of the world,
juniper and sage covered the hills.
I wanted to breathe in every shimmering light.
The creek ran clear like the beginning of the world,
and a west wind bent the prairie grass.
I wanted to breathe in every shimmering light.
The whole world was fiercely alive--
and a west wind bent the prairie grass.
In high meadows, wild iris opened.
The whole world was fiercely alive!
Far above, an eagle was circling;
in high meadows, wild iris opened.
The sky was wide and blue, warm each day;
far above, an eagle was circling--
in the dream I was asked to choose.
--Janice Gould (from Deer Drink the Moon: Poems of Oregon, ed. Liz Nakazawa)
ASK THE POEMS: “The River” and “Dream Cycle”
1.What kinds of opposites live in you?
2.How do you define darkness?
3.How do the repetitions of words and phrases convey the movement of your images of water, plants, and animals?
4.How are you expressing the experience of time, and of timelessness? 5.How do your cycles of light and dark exist in my world?
YOUR TURN: what poem or story will you write?
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