Pelican Icebergs

.

On a cool winter afternoon
  I chose the rust colored rocks as my perch,
Looking and listening for gifts from God.
  
The setting sun's warmth drew me to
  the water's edge.
Retreating as I was from my mind's 
  incessant swirling

Alone in the quiet my eyes saw
  the floating iceberg,
But my brain rejected the vision crying,
  "Not in Oklahoma!"

The iceberg continued floating and bobbing
  while my brain adjusted to the sight.
Indeed, the white iceberg remained floating
  filled with life squawking, gurgling, cooing.

Minutes upon minutes whispered by
  and I grew restless.
In God's time the Southern tip of the white bobby berg
  began lifting off from the sparkling surface.

Filled with grace and the echoing hum of a pipe organ
  the Pelicans white outstretched wings flapped in unison.
First, flying South then turning North creating 
  an ice skater's figure eight in the air. 

Down, then up again they soared in graceful
  harmony.
Remaining far from shore the pouch of pelicans 
  alighted on the water's surface like a blizzard of snowflakes. 

I thanked God for that moment of beauty
  and vowed to return at sunset.

As the sun reached lands end the cackling turned to cooing.
  "Good night snow white Pelicans," I whispered. 


Letty Watt, January 28, 2019 (Ft. Gibson lake, Sequoyah St. Lodge) 


Thank you Mary Oliver for being my poet muse, my nature guide to hidden beauties that we often miss.  Our poet Heron, Mary, has taken fight for heaven, but her words live on helping us observe nature's gifts.

Mary Oliver wrote: 

When it's over, I want to say: all my life
I was a bride married to amazement.

(When Death Comes. New and Selected Poems, Vol 1, Beacon Press) 

Mary Oliver

Mary Oliver, Pulitzer Prize Winning Poet

Awakened by Winnie-the-Pooh

"People say Nothing is Impossible

but I do nothing everyday."

Winnie-the-Pooh 

5 Mile Creek, NE Oklahoma, photo by Bobby Poole

Strange, how a photo can cause the mind to stir and swim in search of a lost memory, of a story, of a time, of a place where nothing often happened.  Motor boating flat rocks across a creek is like doing nothing, but having so much fun doing nothing that one forgets there is another world out there.  Was that yesterday that I played like that?

When I first saw Bobby Poole's photographs on a Facebook page called, "You Know You Are From Miami IF......" I knew they were of home and a time long ago. They represented the places and good times of my childhood, but now they meant more. How?  What was I missing?

 

To avert thinking about what was missing, or to avoid my Art Gecko room which holds so many playful ideas, I instead jump up like a cat and look for a chore to do. Something is wrong.

Ironically, that same week the photos captured my mind, I watched the movie "Christopher Robin," three times. A few tears trickled down my cheek, but I managed to smile through the story of Pooh finding his long lost friend. Finding myself identifying with the lost spirit of Christopher Robin, I began to look out the windows in search of something lost. 

Pooh filled my heart with glowing happiness, through his gentle love of life and playfulness. So I listened to the CD’s of Winnie-the-Pooh and disappeared into the Hundred Acre Wood with Pooh and Christopher Robin. Oh, how I giggled with the antics of that poor bear, with very little brain, always in search of honey, his shy fearful friend little Piglet, and the floppy glum old donkey named Eeyore who stayed at his side. No matter the trouble they found, Christopher Robin arrived in time to save them. 

Shoal Creek, photo by Bobby Poole

There it was, the picture of the land where I could still do nothing. Like the bridge that crosses the waters connecting our spaces my mind and heart connected.  Standing on the bridge in my mind I watch the surroundings; the hawks gliding, birds swooping, the couple kissing near the shore, the fisherman slowly floating downstream nearer and nearer the oblivious couple.  With my imagination I walk the shores and step into the cold flowing waters and do nothing, like a vacation where there's no laundry to wash, no deadlines, only time and scenic arrays, and all of this from my imagination.

"Rivers know this: there is no hurry.

We shall get there some day." 

Winnie-the-Pooh

*Winnie-the-Pooh by A.A Milne, CD Random House Listening Library, 2009 with Judy Dench's voice and other outstanding voices is a terrific way to listen to Pooh Bear's stories.