It just wouldn't be spring without rain showers - BUT - this year's rainy days seem out-of-the-ordinary. Thunder sounds like roaring and pounding; lightning streaks look like a wizard's crop gone haywire; cold, damp rain "chills the bones". One day it is 50 degrees with rain and the next day it is in the 80s with sunshine.
On Mother's Day, the sky turned gray and the rains came but that did not stop my husband and me from enjoying the Nassau County Art Museum and its verdant grounds.
After taking a photo to remember the day, I turned to Langston Hughes for inspiration. His lovely poem on rain starts with a melodic title and continues with repetitive sentence prompts in each stanza to create a vivid visual scene.
April Rain Song
Let the rain kiss you.
Let the rain beat upon your head with silver liquid drops.
Let the rain sing you a lullaby.
The rain makes still pools on the sidewalk.
The rain makes running pools in the gutter.
The rain plays a little sleep-song on our roof at night-
And I love the rain.
In order to create a golden shovel poem from the first line of Hughes' poem, I felt I needed to add life to the rainstorm we were caught in, so I digitized my original photograph taken on the museum grounds. I used the app Mobile Monet first to give the photo more of a dramatic look on the grey, rainy day. Then, I chose PicMonkey to create the final image with enhanced rain. Finally, I backtracked and started noticing more of the details in the scenery and wondering how to craft the poem.
While many are perplexed by the weird weather patterns we are having, I am intrigued. Mother Nature appears to be enjoying her seasonal play time this year so I am trying to capture the many faces of spring for my Sense-sational Spring Gallery of Artistic Expressions. Will you join me in creating poetic offerings?
Today, the Poetry Friday Round-up is hosted by my writing colleague, Rebecca Herzog at her blog site, Sloth Reads.
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