"Burgeoning"

George Robertson 1856 - Oil on Canvas

Burgeoning 

As a child, I'd dip my toes
in slow moving rocky waters
the Suak and Fox called Sinnisippi

believed if I closed my eyes
I'd feel history clear through my fingertips…

recall Black Hawk's towering profile
overlooking his beloved rugged hills,
the birdsong…

touched my hand to the old oaks;
wondered if he'd leaned against these very trees
that dip and sway at river's edge…

remember sitting amongst clover
and alfalfa, sun upon my shoulders,
immersed in various thoughts

forgetting about chores I'd been sent out to do.
Labeled "lazy".  Like to think it was the birthing of a poet.

by Margaret Bednar, February 7, 2015 

The challenge over at "Imaginary Garden with Real Toads- Your Poetic Eye: Kumulipo" (imagined by Ella) is to share the embryonic state of a poem we write AND add the richness of the state in which we were born.  My state is "Illinois".   I also twisted the challenge a bit and used the idea of how my poetic views might have originated way back when I was a child and had little confidence in myself - dreaming to become an author  (dreamed I would write the sequel to "Gone with the Wind) never believing I was good at anything (still struggle with this)

I do remember going to see Chief Black Hawk and was quite caught up reading about him.  I also grew up on a 10 acre "farmette" in which the Rock River flows directly below the banks of our field and tree line.  My parents still live there - and I haven't visited that spot in over 25 years.  I will have to walk over the field and down the rather steep bank, and cross a seldom used railroad track.   Of course, I'll bring my camera.   The Rock River is a tributary of the Mississippi River.

I am also linking with a very nice and kind poetry challenge site "Poetry Jam" - Journey is the topic for topic for today.

and linked with "Imaginary Garden with Real Toads - Tuesday Platform" .