The story in this poem concerns an imaginary digital kingdom far away where a grizzled hedgewitch rides a verbose airy dragon, and occasionally writes a blog.
My New Dragon
flies above the forest
his spine a swift reticulated run
of cloud croquet hoops,
his breath the flinty white
of ashen cinders in the grate,
flaring back behind him like a banner
of all that overcomes.
My New Dragon
fought the old all summer long,
all winter in a haze of snow and fire,
till victory was made in blurry battles
high where eyes of mortal could not peer
and now he mounts his watch above
in case his rival someday
comes back home.
His head is turned to follow
the disappearing backside of his foe.
His three-horned crest stands tall
and watchful, full
of secret raptor pleasures
of secret raptor pleasures
bonebred in dragonkind.
Though rain patters grey
turning blue as it falls
like steel on the scales of
My New Dragon’s
skin, his heart is light
And on his broad back of clouds and vapor
I go riding.
November 2010
Cloud dragon photo by joy ann jones november, 2010
A masterfully tweaked version by my modest technical consultant appears in the blog header.
awesome shot! amazing imagery! Beautiful story!
ReplyDeleteyour creativity astounds me
thank you
Oh yeah! The idea of a "new dragon" is novel to begin with, and for him to be "my" new dragon, implies she has had a whole succession, or at least more than one. Interesting lady indeed! Accountants need not apply.
ReplyDeleteI liked "secret raptor pleasures
Bone bred in dragonkind." That had me smiling. It appeals to the feral in me.
So good, witchling. So good.
Nice ride! As a dragon myself (per the Chinese Zodiac) I really enjoyed this poem.
ReplyDeleteJoyann, this is absolutely brilliant. I have to know, did you already have that cloud photo?
ReplyDeletelovely combination of imagery and imagination
ReplyDeleteHow fun it would be to ride through the skies on a dragon's back!
ReplyDeleteThanks all,glad you enjoyed it.
ReplyDelete@Eric--I'm a Water Buffalo myself--takes a dragon to carry me.
@Victoria; yes, I was walking the dog and saw the cloud a few weeks back--lucky to have my camera in my pocket.
@FB You feral young things--always about that *other* ride. ;) The old dragon was black and ugly and pretty much could be called despair, or something...but following your line of thought does bring up some fine non-reptilian memories.
May you and yours have a Blessed Thanksgiving...bkm
ReplyDeleteAmazing photo, fantastic poem. Love it!
ReplyDeleteMakes me want to ask (very nicely) if I can come for a ride, too? Pretty please?
ReplyDeleteBeautiful, hedgewitch!
very entertaining write!
ReplyDeleteoh - riding on the dragon's back..how nice..!!
ReplyDeleteand the clouds really look like a flying dragon..great shot
The dragon seems an apt and artfully-played metaphor in this piece. I found it very expressive. Thanks for sharing it with us
ReplyDeleteLuke @ WordSalad
Glad you came by and took the time to comment, lpws. Thanks.
ReplyDeleteAwesome picture and even better poem, Joy. I'm not going to pretend to understand the meaning of it, but it saddened me in a bittersweet kind of way.
ReplyDeleteProbably not what you intended, but to imagine such freedom and beauty, but never being able to know and feel it is a little depressing :)
Anyways, great poem. Glad you're getting the recognition you deserve.
Finally getting around to jumping on this one for a yee-haw ride ... I sense a meeting of old vocation and new media here, bringing to a digital realm reams and reams of: wingings, scorchings, silent battles with the Other, vigils upside down in Odin's tree. I wonder if you too feel the pressure of all that accumulation inside squeezing out in these daily droplets of fire. Frustrating, eh? Like learning to ride a new dragon
ReplyDelete... full
of secret raptor pleasures
bonebred in dragonkind.
Yes yes! Into the fray you go!
Better into the fray than a frayed knot, eh? Yes, finding this outlet has made a tremendous difference to me--started me writing again after many years, etc. And it does, I find, word-drop by word-drop, pull down the infection, swelling and pressure to a manageable level.
ReplyDeleteGlad you enjoyed, Brendan. Thanks for taking the time to dive backwards.
I quite like this one. Thank you for sharing it.
ReplyDeleteDoes it by chance refer to a certain program that means you don't have to type?
This is my first visit. I will be back.
Kat