#NewThisDay Writing From My Photo Stream

Milkweed

It was the long swim in Farm Pond, more than the walk in the meadow and woods today, that did my body, mind and spirit the great good that it needed. 

Yellow Goatsbeard

I couldn't shake my mood despite the glorious blue sky and the sweetness of the July meadow, blooms bright and fresh, and some gone to seed. I needed water, immersion, my body under the sun in the bath water lake, and exertion and submersion, dipping and lifting and turning my head, the sight of the deep green pines surrounding the edge of the bluest water. Seasons and seasons of swimming memories, crossing lakes with my brother and friends, and today, with my daughter, a special treat. How I love finding the rhythm so the strokes become steady and effortless. 

Emotionally, nothing about the day was effortless, except for those moments on the surface of Farm Pond. Still, I got so much more accomplished than I'd hoped. And now, surprising me tonight, I wrote the poem I wanted to find to complete the chapbook. It came. It came because I sat down and saw how impossible it was to begin, and I did it anyway. I began. Finally, tonight, after emotions all day, emotions at the heart of it that are difficult to feel, I found the words to go with the picture that inspired it: Girl In Tree Bark. At least, a completed first draft. It has given me a way to express pain. And hope.

All photos and text ©Kelly DuMar 2018