Foggy November, poem by Dale Sprowl

FOGGY NOVEMBER
Poem by Dale Sprowl                                                           

Mystic fog clung to air like film over eyes.
Unlike the usual silver tidal wave that strikes the coast,
it made the world invisible except for headlights and streetlamps
which created dusty pyramids reflecting nothingness.
 
The mist hung such that magical reality leapt to life—
a view of world one step back.
 
Sometimes veil of mist and shadow slows us,
and darkness, the uncertainty, reveals light.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Dale Sprowl teaches writing at Biola University in La Mirada, California. During summers, she administrates and teaches at the Young Writer’s Project at UCI. Her work with the UCI Writing Project began in 1981, and she has contributed to the UCIWP texts on the teaching of writing. Her first chapbook of poems, The Colors of Water, published by Finishing Line Press in 2007, and her second chapbook, Moon Over Continent’s Edge (2009) have been nominated for a California Book Award. Her poems have also appeared in PEARL, Fire, A New Song, Ancient Paths, and Knowing Stones: Poems of Exotic Places.

“Foggy November” by Dale Sprowl appears in the Silver Birch Press Silver Anthology — available in a Kindle version at Amazon.com. The book,  which features the work of 62 authors from the U.S. and U.K., is also available in paperback.

I have measured out my life in coffee mugs, poem by Dale Sprowl

I have measured out my life in coffee mugs
by Dale Sprowl

I have measured out my life in coffee mugs
Mornings I choose my mug based on my mood;
Today it is grandma MJ’s shiny, black mug
which sits just right in my hand
and holds the coffee (and me) perfectly.
 
Another day may bring the distant warm waters of Caneel Bay,
While tradewinds stroke my face and queen palms dance.
The family mug reminds me of Christmases long ago,
And Conky’s mug reminds me of the yellow rose of Texas
Who made the best breakfasts.
 
But some days, I choose the stainless steel Harley mug
as I ride up the coast between Laguna and Long Beach. 

##

Photo: Caneel Bay, St. John, Virgin Islands, mug available at zazzle.com.

I have measured out my life in coffee mugs, poem by Dale Sprowl

I have measured out my life in coffee mugs
by Dale Sprowl

I have measured out my life in coffee mugs
Mornings I choose my mug based on my mood;
Today it is grandma MJ’s shiny, black mug
which sits just right in my hand
and holds the coffee (and me) perfectly.
 
Another day may bring the distant warm waters of Caneel Bay,
While tradewinds stroke my face and queen palms dance.
The family mug reminds me of Christmases long ago,
And Conky’s mug reminds me of the yellow rose of Texas
Who made the best breakfasts.
 
But some days, I choose the stainless steel Harley mug
as I ride up the coast between Laguna and Long Beach. 

##

Photo: Caneel Bay, St. John, Virgin Islands, mug available at zazzle.com.

Aqua Vita, Poem by Dale Sprowl

AQUA VITA

by Dale Sprowl

A color of aqua lives,

fantastically far from real;

Once I saw it behind Pablo Neruda’s house

in a dream,

a stripe of Chilean ocean, cool and green.

Another time,

though this one real,

I saw it at the beach on Aruba,

Blown with racing winds,

sea over shallow white sand

pale as a pool.

Once I found it in nature

as I stared down at ice floes on Greenland,

white chunks cut into black lake,

each framed by numinous liquid refreshment.

 

And another time I saw it.

Would you call it real or not?

In Vincent’s sky in “The White Orchard.”

When I saw it,

I wept,

uncontained,

until I saw it again in “The Plow”

and knew I was at home there.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Dale Sprowl teaches writing at Biola University in La Mirada, California. During summers, she administrates and teaches at the Young Writer’s Project at UCI. Her work with the UCI Writing Project began in 1981, and she has contributed to the UCIWP texts on the teaching of writing. Her first chapbook of poems, The Colors of Water, published by Finishing Line Press in 2007, and her second chapbook, Moon Over Continent’s Edge (2009), have been nominated for a California Book Award. Her poems have also appeared in PEARL, Fire, A New Song, Ancient Paths, and Knowing Stones: Poems of Exotic Places. She earned her bachelor’s degree in humanities and in history as well as a master’s degree in history from Pepperdine University. An Educator Associate for the American Psychoanalytic Association, she lives in Newport Beach, California, with her husband.

“Aqua Vita” and other poetry by Dale Sprowl will appear in the Silver Birch Press Green Anthology, a collection of poetry & prose from authors around the world — available March 15, 2013.

Painting: “The White Orchard” by Vincent van Gogh (1888)

Foggy November, Poem by Dale Sprowl

FOGGY NOVEMBER

Poem by Dale Sprowl                                                           

Mystic fog clung to air like film over eyes.
Unlike the usual silver tidal wave that strikes the coast,
it made the world invisible except for headlights and streetlamps
which created dusty pyramids reflecting nothingness.
 
The mist hung such that magical reality leapt to life—
a view of world one step back.
 
Sometimes veil of mist and shadow slows us,
and darkness, the uncertainty, reveals light.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Dale Sprowl teaches writing at Biola University in La Mirada, California. During summers, she administrates and teaches at the Young Writer’s Project at UCI. Her work with the UCI Writing Project began in 1981, and she has contributed to the UCIWP texts on the teaching of writing. Her first chapbook of poems, The Colors of Water, published by Finishing Line Press in 2007, and her second chapbook, Moon Over Continent’s Edge (2009) have been nominated for a California Book Award. Her poems have also appeared in PEARL, Fire, A New Song, Ancient Paths, and Knowing Stones: Poems of Exotic Places.

“Foggy November” by Dale Sprowl appears in the new 51,000-word Silver Birch Press release, Silver: An Eclectic Anthology of Poetry & Prose — now available in a Kindle version for just $2.99 at Amazon.com. The book,  which features the work of 62 authors from the U.S. and U.K., is also available in a 6×9 240-page paperback.