Monday, July 18, 2011

alcudia, or: almost

this post belongs to the language/place blog carnival #8: "The poetry of place". it's also a contribution to photo friday's theme "Seashore".



alcudia, or: almost  

a poetic place that keeps drawing me to it, that i feel drawn to, is the Bay of Alcudia on Mallorca Island. a place where elements meet: stone, water, sky. a place that looks and feels slightly different every day. a place that invites to sit and wonder. to contemplate time and space, and life at large.

the ocean, there: a huge reflection pond. it probably is no surprise that Miro spent some time here, to paint.

the bay itself: this zone of shifting realms, between land and sea, between safe ground and the vast ocean. it's not the orderly, swept and brushed sand tourist beach up there. it's natural bay, pebbles, shells, pieces of wood, washed up algae. there is a nature resort, too. lots of birds. seagulls, herons, finches, and the ones that keep walking along the beach. like me.

sometimes, i find a poem there.



almost

I gather tao pebbles
To take along, once more

When I hear the call
I try to focus, yet all I catch

Is the huge vast blue
Of the day before leaving

I stand and wait
For the next wave

*

the poem, i didn't submit it or anything. i just put it up in the blog i had back then. some days later, i noticed that someone left a comment. or rather: a poem. in response. without leaving a name.



the vast---

wondering
wandering
wondering

the vast of blue---
blue---

rock
stone
pebble.

precarious the balance---

the birds as guides.

listen---

*

back home, the mystery got solved in an e-mail conversation: the response had arrived from marica arrieta, whose poetry often picks up on real and metaphorical landscapes, like here, in add paint, which opens with these lines:

field guide. bliss. birds. pencils. circles.

indeterminate. transform. ecclectic. sage.

rain & sun. the coast. we travel.


*



during another stay at the bay, i tried to capture the evershifting mood of it in a flash installation. i just looked for it, it's still online: Elements

there also is a short video of the waves online, here: shore stones

one of the fascinations of this place probably is that you can't really capture it.

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

I particularly love the boardwalk image. It could be the 'still' version of the 'moving' boardwalk on my homepage: http://karyneisler.com/

Anonymous said...

i've stopped by to walk this walk several times.

i love this:

yet all i catch//is the huge vast blue


sherry o'keefe

Laurie Kolp said...

What wonderful images to store away in my mind when in search of some peace and quiet.

Vivian Faith Prescott said...

I love places like this that invite us to sit and wonder. Well spoken.

Rose Hunter said...

Yes! (Agreeing with Karyn.) That boardwalk image is super +. + your boardwalk, of course! :)

I mentioned on facebook already that we have a photograph of the same piece of driftwood. THE SAME! It travelled from Mallorca to Sayulita, Mexico, and that's the truth.

Thanks Dorothee. Your posts often put me in a serene frame of mind (or encourage me that way) - and this one is no exception. :)

They also give me wanderlust, but that's ok, I forgive you.

Dorothee said...

thanks for the feedback - glad you are enjoying this walk.

yes, the boardwalk. it almost calls to sit with a book to read, or with some paper and pencil. or just with oneself.

Martin said...

Thoroughly enjoyed this entry, and enjoy so much of your writing and images. I, too, liked the boardwalk image, but I liked all the images, very evocative for an islander like me.

Brigita said...

I love how there's so much blueness in these images and poems. Wonderful post that made this Monday a magical start to a new week for me.