I like people who are like covered bridges,
sturdy and solid as houses, peaceful, still,
upright and bridging wide gulfs.
They take the high road. Their troubles wash away,
like floodwaters diverted into channels
fringed with loosestrife and cattails.
They shed heavy disapproval
like snowfall from a pitched roof,
as if the sun is always shining for them.
They always seem to be going somewhere
yet seem as if they’ve arrived where needed,
as if they are always in exactly the right spot.
They find the blue sky, never lose sight of
the light at the end of the tunnel and always take time
for picnics beside streams dancing with dragonflies.
Copyright 2017 Brenda Davis Harsham
Notes: This photo was taken at Old Sturbridge Village this Spring, but the poem took much longer to surface. I contemplated peace in anticipation of the International Day of Peace (September 19). In the end, this poem was inspired by a Marge Piercy poem in The Woman in this Poem, Selected and Introduced by Georgia Heard, Rubicon Publishing, Inc, 2015.
Here, I found Marge Piercy reading her iconic poem, To Be of Use:
Happy Poetry Friday! Thanks to Amy Ludwig VanDerwater for hosting and congratulations to her on the publication of her new book, Read! Read! Read!
Wow! So good…
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Loving your blog. I really like your style and use of imagery in your poetry.
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Thanks!
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What a wonderful poem Brenda! I’m a Brenda too.
I’d like to be a sturdy Ironbridge but sometimes I’m more like the rickety bridge with the trolls under it!
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LOL Great comment. Welcome. I might have a troll or two under my bridge, too.
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I’d like believe I’m like a covered bridge, but I have a bad back and therefore am not sturdy.
Although, perhaps emotionally sturdy could work.
A deep poem, Brenda, because you “like people who are like” ….. and I like you, and want you to like me.
Does that make sense?
Really a thinking work by you! XO
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Emotionally sturdy is good enough. And I do like you. I’ll have to write another poem to creative people. 🙂
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You are a creative people! ⭐
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Yes, the brain is always churning and playing. Hallelujah for it, too!
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Beautiful photo, your poetic words and great poetry share. 💞
I love Simon and Garfunkel’s Bridge over Troubled Waters, too. 🎼
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Yes, that’s a good song for this poem. You are so clever, Robin.
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Beautiful photo, Brenda – and what an insightful poem! Love your use of metaphor here.
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Thanks, Matt.
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Hope you haven’t quit blogging!
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Nope. Still plugging away, writing and taking photos.
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Marvelous! 😎😎😎🥀🥀🥀
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Thanks, Dorna!
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Oh, gosh! I love this. As I read, I was reminded of Marge Piercy’s poem, which I also adore. What a delight to find it was the inspiration. You have me wanting to try this. Your photo is a marvel as well. I like people who are like covered bridges too, but I never knew it before now. Thank you. Peace. x
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Thanks, Amy. I’m so glad you liked it and “got” it. I hope I get to see it if you do give it a try. Have a great week!
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Love those “peaceful and still” covered bridges, Brenda. I had forgotten about the one at Sturbridge. I’ve always found the ones that dot the landscape of Vermont to be magic. Thank you for stirring up wonderful images and emotions for me today.
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Glad you had time to stop by. I loved taking my kids to Old Sturbridge Village.
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I do love that Marge Piercy poem, one that I know well, and you crossed through it nicely with your covered bridge. I think it may also have influnced the peach cobbling work of mine too–thanks for the reminder! My favorite line is the one that ends, “diverted into channels
fringed with loosestrife and cattails.”
We could all use to loosestrife.
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I originally had “mermaid weed and cattails” but loosestrife was too good a word and image to pass by. It slipped in place with an audible click. Some poems change you, become part of you. That Marge Piercy poem is one of them. Thanks for your comment!
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I’m in love with Georgia Heard’s collection and every time I turn to it, I find inspiration. Your covered bridge poem resonates with me. I don’t see many covered bridges in our neck of the woods. I am drawn in by your image and your words.
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People who are like it are rare, too. 🙂 Come on up to New England, we still have lots of covered bridges.
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Very powerful analogy.
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Thanks, Toni.
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Love the photo and the bridge/people comparison–especially “bridging wide gulfs.” Boy do we need that today–and you’ve transported me way back in time, to my 4th grade trip to Sturbridge Village!
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You’ve been there! Yay! I thought surely someone will have been. It’s funny, but I think I visited way back then, too. It was fun to bring my kids. It was completely different than being there with my parents. And I learned all about making butter. They used to store it for long periods in salt water before refrigeration. Who knew?
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Oh, what a lovely poem! There’s so much to aspire to in your first stanza:
“sturdy and solid as houses, peaceful, still,
upright and bridging wide gulfs.”
Our world needs more people like covered bridges. Thanks for this beautiful poem. It’s a keeper and perfect for today.
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Would it be okay for me to include a link to your post with my FB friends?
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Sure, I’d be honored. XOXO
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Thanks, Ramona. We do need more people like this. I’m fortunate to have many in my life. I hope you do, too.
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I, too, love the line, “fringed with loosestrife and cattails” – :0) How pleasantly surprising to compare a person to a covered bridge – just wonderful! Thanks for the “uplifting” poem-gift today, Brenda!
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My pleasure, Robyn. It’s always fun being part of PF.
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This is great, Brenda! I would say it’s one of my favourites of yours. I was particularly captured by this stanza:
They always seem to be going somewhere
yet seem as if they’ve arrived where needed,
as if they are always in exactly the right spot.
Did you have someone particular in mind when you wrote this?
(I enjoyed the Piercy reading too. I’ve never seen her reading. Thanks!)
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I’m fortunate to have many people in my life who fill this role for me. I was thinking about all they add to my life.
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You know I’m always a fan of your writing. There’s something mystical and old fashioned about covered bridges. The branching between one world and the next. Good job, Brenda!
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They are old-fashioned and so beautiful.
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Beautiful poem, Brenda. I love covered bridges and you captured their rich character wonderfully.
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Thank you!
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Insightful and beautiful, Brenda. Life sometimes call upon each one of us to be like your covered bridge. When that time comes, may we rise to the challenge ❤
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May our roofs divert the hail from those who shelter within. XOXO
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I like people who are like covered bridges, too… I try to be better each day… If you know Scorpios, our feelings might put us in tough situations. But at least, each one of us know how we are and which our intentions are (unless our sense of wrong and right, unfair and fair is totally mistaken, which is objectively not my case)… The poem is beautiful & truly resonated with me … Hugs xx
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To be in the world, engaged and open, is to have your emotions in turmoil. Yet, it’s also to be vivid and alive. Like the covered bridge, the world goes through us, leaving us its echo and the silence to remember. I’m glad you resonated with me.
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Your comment back to me is beautiful… I agree with you. At least we know that we are sensitive… At the end of the day, what counts the most is what we left in this world, as I believe it is mostly about energy and making a difference (humbly speaking!, LOL) . We can let others put us down. And let the “noise” disort everything… But at the end, we know. That´s enough for me…. 😉 xx
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I don’t know if I make a difference, but I enjoy the effort. That is what I hang onto. There is nothing I would rather do than be engaged, aware and full of love for the world. To be trying to increase the understanding and beauty. XOXO
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Oh my, you took my breath away with this one. LOVE the covered bridge metaphor. So much food for thought in this one, and I like the feeling of reassurance and calm. Gorgeous photo! Magical . . .
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Thanks, Jama. You notice I even catered it, with a picnic. 🙂
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Lovely.
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Thanks, Gigi!
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Brenda, I agree with Irene–brilliant metaphor. Now I aspire to be more like a covered bridge–and look for other examples of inspiring architecture.
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Thanks, Kay. I can’t wait to see what you and Irene come up with for your architecture metaphors.
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Brenda, your poem has really got me thinking about what architectures might represent the people in my life… you are brilliant with metaphor! Thank you, my covered bridge friend! xo
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Metaphor is the stuff of my life. I couldn’t cope without it. XOXO
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Can I breath this air ? 🙂
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Please do. We can all use some peaceful air. 🙂
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Ok, I’m breathing the lake 🙂
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I, too, find delight in your “dancing with dragonflies” line. We have a butterfly garden at my library and I’ve seen more dragonflies (or damselflies?) than butterflies. I’m generally dodging dragonflies, but I prefer thinking of it as dancing.
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I did some research recently on a species of dragonfly that lives its whole life on a small stream. Such an image had to enter a poem, it was born to. 🙂 Thanks for your comment.
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Beautiful. It really excited positive feelings reading this.
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As you comment did, too. 🙂
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Great!
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Fabulous poem – and absolutely stunning photo. Clever, clever you!
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Thank, Kat. Very sweet of you.
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Wow! What a poem! I love it from the photograph prompt to the stream dancing with fireflies. This poem makes me want to write one like it. A mentor poem for me today. Thank you!
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I hope you do, Linda. It was therapeutic to celebrate the best in people. A break from lamenting the worst, which is where my internal dialogue went after Trump’s UN speech.
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You picked a wonderful mentor poem, love that one! Your first stanza works so well to draw us in (and make us appreciate people who are like covered bridges, too.)
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Thanks, Tabatha. I miss Obama. I was shocked by Trump’s UN speech. My “high road” was a reference to him and Michelle.
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Brenda–a beautiful photo and a wonderful poem. I love the analogy and the images you crafted to create it. The mix of strength, purpose and play is powerful. Love that final optimistic stanza and those “dancing dragonflies”!
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Some people make the days full of joy. So many of them are in PF. 🙂
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they are always there, you can count on them. part of why they bring so much peace. beautiful post, brenda –
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Yes! People like you.
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❤
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Such a wonderful and great poem, Brenda and loved the awesome place in your post.
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Thanks, Kamal. I appreciate your words.
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Welcome Brenda.
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I really like covered bridges, we don’t have any that I know of around Chicago, but I traveled underneath them when out East. I like the analogy you are creating between the strength of a bridge and a persons character, but I also like the playfulness that you interject in your lines:
“fringed with loosestrife and cattails.” And “for picnics beside streams dancing with dragonflies..” These lines are filled with light and airy imagery. I loved the poem you shared by Marge Piercy, and the connection your poem has with it, well done Brenda!
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Thanks, Michelle. We all need peaceful people in our lives.
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Brenda, your photo takes me to a place of peace right away. Then, your opening stanza once again gave me a peaceful signal. I would like to capture the photo and opening stanza for the fall gallery. It’s the last day of summer and I am still working on the summer gallery.
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Thanks, Carol. That is a nice thought. I’ll see if I can manage to find time for it. Can’t wait to see summer. XOXO
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This is such a great poem.
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Thanks!
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