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Snow annealed by sun
on a tin roof, followed
by a cold night, holds
together the next day
as it slides off
the edge & begins to yaw,
curling under the eaves:
a white claw. I think
of a Siberian tiger
with corrugations for stripes,
hell-bent on breaking
out of its fort. The icicles’
dagger-tips drip with
their own fluid —
saliva of a sort.
A wavy sky always denotes
a clash of dry & wet:
unsettled weather.
An ambiguous threat.
__________
In response to the Read Write Poem prompt, weather. Read other responses here.
yes – and as the sun heats the roof, the sound of the thing like a freight train slowly gathering speed as it inches forward. And starts scraping off the coat of paint you had applied the previous fall.
corrugations for stripes and saliva of a sort are both inspired. Amazing photo, again.
wonderful photo and excellent description
damn — that’s one cool claw!
and a wonderful poem to go with it.
Fab photo, Dave, and equally great poem. I had the urge to look up on the roof and see the rest of that animal whose paw is hanging over the edge, but if he was on my own roof I think maybe I’d suppress the urge. (grin).
The icicles in the photo remind me of baleen whale teeth.
The poem describes the weather taking over the house, almost like a tiger were forming, ready to leap out, as you say, from its fort. Great imagination.
Ooooooh. I liked this.
beautiful
“Annealed” — what a word!
I like the slant- and off-rhymes here. With “yaw” and “claw” I was waiting for “thaw”…
Darn it, Rachel, you’re right – I shoulda worked “thaw” in there!
Usually when a poem of mine whows this much rhyme, assonance and alliteration, it’s a sign I wasn’t terribly inspired and was simply trying to wax poetical. But the results can be entertaining, so what the hell.
Thanks to everyone for the comments. My Internet connection has been really bad most of the day, and that combined with a bloghost server that’s slow to begin with made it tough for me to do much here besides posting today’s piece. But it was a pleasure to come here now and see all these kind responses.
Great photo. And amazing descriptions. Very vivid.
More than entertaining. It’s a beautifully focussed piece, Dave, as sharply black & white as its pic.
Cool. What makes it do that?!
I haven’t a clue, really.