How I Find You
When the wind rises,
crabapple blossoms
fall as fingerprints
on your back.
Grindelwald, Switzerland: In Photos
Popular posts from this blog
Strasbourg, France: In Photos
Sliding Doors: One Last Glance Toward Europe
We entered the Tube around 9:00 in the morning, a mass of noisy students and a few adults, taking up a section of platform. We had told the teens: "We'll start you on your journey, but you'll have to find your way back. Pay attention." The anxious ones stayed near us, the eager ones studied the green and red and blue and yellow lines on the wall map. "We'll need the Circle Line," one said, and after nodding, we passed the phrase among us like bread, or sweets, so when the train arrived, and the sliding doors opened, we all walked through them with enough nourishment and energy to know where we were going . Later, we stepped out of trams into the high Swiss landscape at Pfingstegg Station. After London, most of the kids didn't even look at the trail map. They just started up. One foot in front of the other, one sore-muscled groan after the other, a collection of revelations. We walked under rock ledges and over small streams. We talked abo...
Delightful, Emily! Enjoyed your poem and its accompanying images, especially the last!
ReplyDeleteThanks, ladies. Such a beautiful time of year. :)
ReplyDelete"When the wind rises,
ReplyDeletecrabapple blossoms
fall as fingerprints
on your back."
Outside of the photographs (which are wonderful) these words evoke a lasting image that I will not soon forget. Thank you!
The pleasure was all mine. I was telling a friend the other day that there are few things that make me happier--deep, deep, face-in-the-petals-happy-- than crab apple blossoms.
ReplyDeleteThis is really lovely. Thank you for a post that brings beauty into my day.
ReplyDeleteEmily:
ReplyDeleteYou can say so much with so few words. Your poetry is graceful. You and William Zinsser wrote the book on "concise".
"...the secret of good writing is to strip every sentence to its cleanest components." - Zinsser.
As a writer, you inspire.
Rich Havenga
That's my aim, OMW!
ReplyDeleteAnd thanks, Richard. I can't say I'm always the most concise writer in the world--in fact, much of my writing tends to be of the loooooong sentence variety, but I fully appreciate the compliment. Zinsser is great!
These are Fabulous!
ReplyDeleteBeautiful photographs, Emily!
ReplyDeleteThank you both. And thanks for taking the time to comment. :)
ReplyDeleteSo beautiful. My grandmother had a crab apple tree in her front yard, in front of which all family photos were taken -- eventually it was cut down due to disease, but I still feel it's fingerprints...as I feel my family's. Thanks for this post, and that image, Emily.
ReplyDeleteAnd thank you for helping me add the direct reply button, Erin! :)
DeleteAny time! And it made me feel much more tech savvy that I really am. ;-)
DeleteCoupled with the subtle light of spring in the images, your few evocative words have lifted my skies this afternoon. Thank you...
ReplyDeleteBeautiful in simplicity. Words and photos.
ReplyDeleteErin: When I think about it, each important home in my life has a tree that I associate it with. They're important figures in our lives, aren't they? And those blossoming trees...at least for me, they leave an unforgettable, brilliant mark. Thanks for sharing your own connection.
ReplyDeleteJulian: You're welcome. Glad that we have this one big sky in common.
And thanks for commenting, Audrey. This poem was actually a remainder from my Roadside Poetry drafts. Might you have a few leftovers, too?
This is lovely! I also like that it's short - long poems can be overwhelming for a person who doesn't read them often. And the photographs with it are so great. Thanks for stopping by my blog today!
ReplyDeleteI've found that short poems can cross that sometimes suspicious divide for people that don't read poetry often, and I'm glad this one did something like that for you. Thanks for being here, Gretchen!
ReplyDeleteI love your photographs Emily, they match your writing so well.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Valerie! Happy to have you here enjoying them.
ReplyDeleteVery nice. It takes a blustery day to leave that fingerprint... the calm days are not always as memorable.... EMB's pa
ReplyDeleteSo true. This is an insight that will stay with me as I watch the petals fall this season. Thank you.
ReplyDeleteI miss my Iowa crabapples - and the cherries, too. Your photos and words, taken together, evoke them beautifully. Taken separately, each element is wonderful. Together, they're like a great song, lyrics and melody together.
ReplyDeleteThank you, Linda. What a beautiful compliment.
ReplyDeleteEmily -- Beautiful photos and verse as usual! It's been a good spring here for crabapple, lilac and other flowers, don't you think?
ReplyDeleteBeautiful pics that leap from the page and remind us of Spring.
ReplyDeleteAbsolutely, Jeff. Gorgeousness all around.
ReplyDeleteAnd thanks, J.D. Glad you found your way here!
It´s a beautiful time in the year.
ReplyDeleteIsn't it? Spring love goes deep.
ReplyDeleteThiѕ is а really іnspiring posting.
ReplyDeleteI really am sincегely impressed when reаding your
pοsts. You prοducе hеlpful info.
Keеp it up. Kеep blogging. looking forward
to going through уour next offering.
Here is my weblog - shoe lift
Hello there I am so thrilled I found your site, I really found you by
ReplyDeletemistake, while I was browsing on Digg for something else, Anyhow
I am here now and would just like to say cheers for a remarkable post and a
all round entertaining blog (I also love the theme/design), I don’t
have time to go through it all at the moment but I have bookmarked it and also included your RSS feeds, so when I have
time I will be back to read a lot more, Please do keep up the awesome jo.
My page - mac baren mixture