Poetry>New Poem
📝This post is in response to the Poetics prompt at dVerse Poets Pub
✒️This post contains a new poem that is the property of Maria L. Berg
Prompt
Today’s prompt from Truedessa for Poetics at dVerse Poets Pub is to write a poem inspired by the poem “The Song by Paddle Sings” by Emily Pauline Johnson (1861-1913).
Poem
Paddling Against the Current
It was a perfect day for a paddle.
Morning sun warmed our cheeks
as we donned our life jackets
and coaxed our canoe from the shore.
In perfect sync, our oars sliced
through light, glinting off peeks
of breezy waves and each swirl
we formed echoed from bank to bank.
But without warning, a cloud
covered the sun and the breeze
in the shadow made us shiver.
The current grew against us
and even paddling on both sides
of the canoe, we spun in circles.
The current grew too strong.
Our muscles exhausted
from paddling against it.
We heard a voice yell,
“Paddling should be illegal,”
then the unmistakable
dual rotors of a Chinook
pulsed overhead and we froze.
The current took us.
I remember a time we canoed
in the Louisiana swamp.
We threw fries in the water, taunting
begging the gator to act.
When he snapped, we screamed
and then laughed. Like the thrill
of a jump scare we screamed
but then laughed when we knew
we were safe in our canoe.
He couldn’t harm us.
I want to stop screaming.
I want to laugh.
Writober Starts Tomorrow!
This year’s theme is Our Deepest Fears. Poets, there will be daily prompts for October Poetry Writing Month (OctPoWriMo). Storytellers, there will be images for flash fiction prompts. And Photographers, there will be daily one word prompts for the Halloween Photography Challenge. The prompts will be posted at 12:01 am Pacific Time every day in October. You are invited to join in to any or all of the challenges in any combination you wish. Looking for more information? Check out Come Join the Writober Fun.
Experience Writing 
I too have struggled against a river tide, what a battle. You capture the vagaries of canoeing, here crocodiles would not be a safe bet 🙂 the ending caught me by surprise, haunting yet hopeful.
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Maria, you have captured the fickle nature of water bodies so well. I especially liked how you ended the poem.
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Thank you.
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My pleasure, Maria.
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Paddling against the stream (or even the wind) takes a lot of effort… but taunting the gators does not feel safe from a canoe, it is more like the wrapping of a candy bar for the gator I believe https://www.cbr.com/hilarious-far-side-comics-1982/
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I like the way you built momentum, Maria, from morning sun warming cheeks to shivering and then being taken by the current. I especially loved the description in these lines:
‘In perfect sync, our oars slicedthrough light, glinting off peeksof breezy waves…’
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Thank you.
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My pleasure, Maria.
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You have portrayed the contrary feelings really well and I love the ending.
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Thank you.
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That’s the thing about life’s currents, being tossed between screams and laughter, making your concluding lines all the more urgent and powerful, Maria.
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I once got caught in a strong current and had no strength in my arms. My friend had to paddle hard and we just managed to get across the slipstream. So I really resonated with your poem. Very scary tossing fries to an alligator though. Yikes.
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I’m glad my poem resonated.
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You built an effective tension within your paddle song. The reader can feel the paddlers battling the current. I think it’s not an easy task with a helicopter hovering above.
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Thank you.
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