WriteOut Wind’s Temperaments

windmill in Douglas County, WA

WRITEOUT AND DAILY CREATE

Today’s WriteOut* includes this Daily Create prompt ask us to “What does the wind say to you today? Does it whisper softly in your ear, or shout right into your face? Write a song about the wind.

I know the wind. Coming from North Dakota where the wind almost always blew across the prairie, I can always feel its power. I remember leaning into the wind in winter, bundled up, armload of books, as I trudged step by step through the wind’s cold and the snow’s bite. Here in eastern Washington the wind is less intimidating and not always trying to make an impression.

The photo above is from northwest of us in Douglas County. The windmills in Washington and North Dakota help the ranchers / farmers by using wind power to pump the needed water in drier areas.

But the wind does wander across the fields, sometimes as a gentle breeze offering a coolness to sun’s heat, sometimes whirling up the plowed fields into dust devils that twirl and swirl with its power, and sometimes it builds and blows tumbleweeds in a race to the next fence and shakes the metal roofing right off the shed. Wind has a temperament, for sure.

And so, a short poem:

Poetry

Wind’s Temperaments

Wind wanders across the fields
Spreading earth’s dust and seeds
Whirling the windmills’ blades
Sometimes blows a howling gale
Whipping across the hills
Rolling the tumbleweeds
Shouting
I
am
unstoppable.

Sheri Edwards
10.21.23 294.365.23
Poetry/Photography
windmill in Douglas County, Wa and poem: Wind’s Temperaments

Wind wanders across the fields
Spreading earth’s dust and seeds
Whirling the windmills’ blades
Sometimes blows a howling gale
Whipping across the hills
Rolling the tumbleweeds
Shouting
I 
am 
unstoppable.

Sheri Edwards
10.21.23 294.365.23
Poetry/Photography
on Flickr

*JOIN IN!

This post is part of the October WRITEOUT adventure, October 8 through the 22nd, partnership of the National Writing Project and the National Park Service — a choice to enjoy the outdoors with poetry, prose, and parks for Write Out 2023. Organized as a public invitation to get out and create, supported by a series of free online activities, Write Out invites educators, students, and families to explore national parks and other public spaces. The goal is to connect and learn through place-based writing and sharing.  Check out this infographic for the flow of the two weeks. Tomorrow is the last day.

Learn more and sign up: https://writeout.nwp.org

This is my sixth year with WriteOut with all my WriteOut posts here.

#clmooc #smallpoems #poetry23 #writeout #wind #windmill