The water quickly snakes
throughout wooded land;
such a contrast—
black river,
white sand.
How the
tannins there
could steep to stain
water to appear
as dark as tea, and yet
the sandy floor remains
unchanged, its brightness
shimmering in
the sunlight
like pearls.
Written for d’Verse Poetics: On Geography. Today’s poem is both an Okaloosa (described below) and a Quadrille. Yes, I wrote a Quadrille for Poetics, since geography rang my bell a little louder than this week’s Quadrille prompt. 🙂
Almost a year ago to the day, I wrote the first stanza of this poem, intending it as a stand-alone poem. I had also painted a picture of the Blackwater River, and the poem went along with the painting. (That painting, by the way, was done on an ivory keytop head from off an old piano. It’s less than 1 inch by 2 inches, very small.)
Today, when I saw the geography prompt, my mind immediately went to the Blackwater River and this poem. I temporarily forgot this wasn’t a Quadrille challenge, and seeing my poem only had 14 words, I decided to make it a bit longer. So I added two more stanzas, choosing my words carefully so that the word count would satisfy the Quadrille requirement while the syllable count satisfied the Okaloosa guidelines. On paper, I’m able to stagger the left margin to make the poem appear to “snake” across the page the way a river snakes through the land, but my WP settings will not allow that here.
Scansion:
Okaloosa
created by Abigail Gronway on March 29, 2018
The name comes from the Choctaw word meaning “black water” and refers to the Blackwater River which originates in Alabama and flows through the Santa Rosa and Walton counties of Florida.
Stanzaic: any number of quintet syllabic stanzas, where the even stanzas are reversed. The visual effect produces a snaking “black river” on the white page.
Rhyme is optional.
Syllabic structure: 6-5-4-3-2, 2-3-4-5-6, etc.
No breaks between stanzas
May be centered or not
If you really want to get creative, you may move the lines around on the page to simulate the way a river runs through the land.
May be written on any theme, but it should evoke feelings of tranquility, and the thoughts must flow like water.
Copyright © 2019 Abigail Gronway – All Rights Reserved
Dark Side of the Moon 
I enjoyed everything about this: the forms, your word choice, the painting…
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Thank you, Jenna. 🙂
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Love the way and wonder of those tannins… as a kid I used to go swimming in a small lake with such water.
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I never saw black water until a couple years ago. Last summer my kids and I went tubing down part of the river. It was fun.
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I loved the piano ivory painting and the form of your poem. It’s interesting that several of us featured rivers!
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Thank you. I must read yours. I’ll go read it now. I wanted to read them all, but haven’t made it through even half the list yet. I’m dealing with mono, of all things, and my energy plummets quite quickly these days. I’ve already had two naps today.
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Abigail, your poem is alluring in its description of that river. Wonderful write! 🙂
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Thank you, Rob.
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Love the imagery — the colour contrasts work so well in narrating the magic of this place.
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Thank you. I’m not sure I took the theme as far as you intended with your challenge, but I showed the geography of where I am today. 🙂
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That does seem like an unusual contrast and there is also the mellowing green of the vegetation.
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So true. It all comes together to form a serene afternoon. Now, if only I could have helped you hear the birds, and insects, and rippling water….
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This is incredibly enchanting, Abigail ❤️
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Thank you kindly.
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