Signs of Spring?

Jonquil Advent

In soil free after weeks buried
under feet of frozen snow,

yellow shoots thrust up
hard by dwindling ice--

arise, jonquils, in gentle rain.
Arise! For your season has come!

Christopher T. George

A UK poet at FreeWrights Peer Review poetry forum (see link through title) questioned my use of the term "hard by" and some other elements of the above poem--

Hi C.T.G,

I had a job understanding line four, if the earth is clear of snow, where did the ice come from, I thought you said it was gently raining; it seems to be a contradiction in terms. Maybe you could explain what you mean by “hard by dwindling ice” did you perhaps mean that the narcissus were hard, or is it just some strange North American term. Last time I heard “hard by” used was at the Sheep Dog Trials at Keswick.
I rather like Poeticus they are rather appealing don’t you think...

Mor
The jack of doggerel.

I replied:

Hi Mor

Well I am from Liverpool as you may know but do admit some confusion any longer on what are Yankee or Limey terms. I would have thought "hard by" in the UK means "close to" just as it does here. And per the photograph and what I mean in the poem, the some 30-inches of snow we received here in the Baltimore-D.C. area within a week a month ago has now, through warmer temps and rain, mostly disappeared: what had been vast piles of snow turning into ice and melting away as described. I hope this helps. Thanks for reading and commenting.

Chris














Petals
look so pastel
pink by the red brick wall
-- the Korean rhododendron.
Beauty!

Christopher T. George




Photography and Poetry -- For Sale!

Gerry Temple, a talented photographer and poet in Derry, Northern Ireland, has made me aware that he is marketing some of his images combined with poems at a site called RedBubble.

Gerry reports:

"I've been putting a lot of my work onto another site that allows people who like my work to buy anything from a card right up to a poster.

"It's worth having a look there just to see some of the beauty some good photographers have captured."

Check out Gerry's beautiful poem and photograph "Calm":



Enjoy! I thought this might give a few of us some ideas on how to market our work.

Cheers

Chris