maylands - the hammock
under the cape lilac i'd sometimes lay in the hammock, enjoying the gentle leaves and gentle winds playing Tiny Wings on my phone.
there are times in your life where it is time to relax, but its hard to know how much. relaxing is boring, but i knew i needed to use my hammock time more poetically, so i tried writing some poetry in the notes app on my phone:
laying in the hammock
enjoying the gentle leaves
and also gentle winds.
i shared my haiku to the perth poets facebook group and it got six likes which wasn't bad. but, i was very dismayed when someone commented a link to an sent an better hammock poem: james wright's "laying in a hammock in central minnesota".
Over my head, I see the bronze butterfly,
Asleep on the black trunk,
Blowing like a leaf in green shadow.
Down the ravine behind the empty house,
The cowbells follow one another
Into the distances of the afternoon.
To my right,
In a field of sunlight between two pines,
The droppings of last year’s horses
Blaze up into golden stones.
I lean back, as the evening darkens and comes on.
A chicken hawk floats over, looking for home.
I have wasted my life.
while i like the last line a lot, i think my poem is nicer because its more optimistic. wasted my life? yeah, speak for yourself. my life has rocked.