Waiting for Spring
A story poem about what's NOT shown in a painting
The Alchemists Clubhouse is a weekly newsletter of art, poetry, and coaching tips. Full members have access to live and recorded workshops on Zoom.
This poem is another exercise in writing in response to a piece of art, similar to a previous post (and poem) called Ode to the Scottish Highlands.
However, rather than describe what is shown in the painting, this challenge is writing about what is NOT in the painting!
Being a strong conceptual thinker, I am not a natural storyteller, but this poem definitely wanted to be a story! It made me ask myself what was actually happening in the painting, and then invent an explanation for that imagined event-in-process. The abab rhyme scheme in iambic tetrameter has a narrative, song-like quality.
The result reads, to me, a bit like a mysterious, incomplete fairy tale, and I think you’ll see why if you scroll down to see the artwork I was working with. I don’t recall the artist, unfortunately, because I only saved the front flap of the greeting card it is printed on, but I do remember who sent it to me last year. Thanks, mom! :)
Waiting for Spring
The elders wait with gravity,
their trailing wings stained indigo.
Small ones vanish through the trees,
their leafy feathers gathering snow.
Long they tend the violet flame,
as mornings slide to afternoons.
Five souls depart with Winter’s storm;
five must return by light of moon.
Each year the youngest fly at night
to seek the key that unlocks Spring
with eyes like jewels so keen and bright
that none but fairy children bring.
