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CN
Craig Norris
Jun 10, 2009 ⭐ View statistics (Premium feature)

winters powders

This portion of old Gondwana land
floating free
beyond compression ridges,
retains nubbed mountains
smooth worn through millennia,
weathered down and rounded
modest.

Northern states catch heated
cyclo storms
water wheeling maelstroms
dance the ocean inland
beyond the shores.

This southern slice
takes its battering from bawling blasts
that antarctic arms fling untrammelled,
ice crested winds
whipped from the Greater Oceans ride.

Winters powders tossed across these hills
flow deep into the eucalyptes.
Lightly hop the kangaroos
on early snows,
wondering how much more
before they go,
from summers sanctuaried slopes. 
— Craig Norris, Jun 10, 2009

About the Author

Country/Region: AUS

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Critiques

Seren

Seren

17 years ago

This is part of my back yard

This is part of my back yard ... beautifully described made me feel like home ...well done craig ... I am sure there is some fault somewhere but I will leave that to the experts :) Love and light Jayne
Fleur MacDonald

Fleur MacDonald

17 years ago

I love

poems about the sunburnt country, there is so much you can say! Lovely read by the way. Good one :)fleur
CN

Craig Norris

17 years ago

this country

so huge, we feel antarctic winds while in the north they pick bananas. Always something else, I would love to see the northern lights and a sun that flirts with the horizon over summertime. Thank you for your kind words. Love. Craig
CN

Craig Norris

17 years ago

century after century

Dear Blanka, Yesterday on our multi-ethnic broadcast tv channel, there was a travel doco on Sweden, showing your coastline, the islands dotted with houses and the big bridges joining them. It's hard to believe it all freezes over during winter, and I can totally understand how delicious it must be to feel summer again, and ride a bike on a long bridge in the warm breeze. Love your poem, these cycles that we are wedded to and yet can treat so casually. I believe that poetry is the first art form and that it is from here that we seek further expression, in painting, literature, music, theatre and architecture and on and on. Putting these words together to capture our hearts feelings, this is I think where we begin to make sense of it all. much love and thanks. Craig
ID

Ink Dragon

17 years ago

Craig,

you paint a landscape with your words. And I asked weirdelf not so long ago if there ever was snow down under... Thanks for sharing your view and your country with us, we can learn so much from each other here. Yours, ~Nina P.S. kangaroo's -> kangaroos?
CN

Craig Norris

17 years ago

Nina

We do get a little still, the snowline is receding, thirty years ago the snow regularly fell down to the seven hundred metres above sea level line, now it occasionally falls to the nine hundred metre mark, which coincidentally is where my house sits. With snow on the roof at the moment. Thank you for your correctness once again. Love. Craig
AZ

anasta zia

17 years ago

winter powders

greetings, craig; i read your poem 'winter powders" with something reaching solemnity. it seems to me that canada and australia may have the same big WEATHER virus in our consciousness and subconsciousness. as you know, the north pole lands in canada and has always seemed, i daresay, a mystical place in my imagination. weather is a big topic of conversation here - especially where i live (in winnipeg). i think that people living in such extremely diverse places weather-wise tow a bit of the heroic. you have some immensely beautiful phrases and lines here. "that antarctic arms fling untrammelled" is my favourite line. it obviously speaks of far away places but also of unshackled events, even freedom. In "takes its battering from bawling blasts" is wonderfully articulated and is enhanced by the three b's. "water wheeling maelstroms" is ferocious and accented with the two w's along side such a strong word 'maelstrom". i also am impressed with your daring to make up your own grammar ie. sanctuaried. one must pick one's spots. i know a bit about snow. i grew up and live in the "more-or-less" centre of north america. the heat can be unbearable here but the winter is unbearable and yet bearable. the snow and cold bring their own grim news. but great beauty is here - a tranquility which heightens the senses. i live along lake winnipeg which was gifted when the ice age receded. i watch for all manner of wildlife with snow as a giant soft blanket, backdrop. the sky, 100 km from winnipeg, is intensely dark with a monumental show of stars. it really does take one out of oneself. well, i have certainly indulged myself. as i mentioned -- we, here, love to converse about the weather. i am glad you have written this poem. i'm sorry to say i was not crazy about the previous poem you submitted. it gushed with a kind of adolescence. p.s. spelling error "millenia" should be "millennia"
CN

Craig Norris

17 years ago

greetings northern cousin

You gift me with words Anasta, thank you, since I was a young boy I have been in love with the Great Lakes of Canada, reading of the peoples who used to live there, the tranquility, the beauty and their often unforgiving nature. It is impossible I think to live immersed within a landscape where one can see the broad scale movements of nature and not become infected by such weather sentiments, but then maybe that is the poetic me. Either way I enjoyed your visit, and am happy you like my sanctuaried space. Love. Craig
B

bjp

17 years ago

Dear Craig,

Olya said that I should read your new poem. I have. It is very good and bares your signature in every phrase. Brian
B

Beslynn

16 years 11 months ago

Dear Craig, I loved this

Dear Craig, I loved this poem, it is so nice to read about different landscapes from all over the world on this site, Beslynn
CN

Craig Norris

16 years 11 months ago

Dear Beslynn

thank you so much for your comments, yes it is lovely to get these glimpses through each others eyes, a real joy. So glad you enjoyed the journey. Love. Craig

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