stones blue, tan and rust
burn on the ironstone plain
weed crisped black.
walking’s like flying:
salt pans to the horizon,
crags and narrow passes, the valley beyond,
the lowlands inundated, the farmers lost
and in the deep pool,
the octopus blue fire.
Image: Broulee 1843, by John Skinner Prout (1805-1876), Wikimedia Commons. A quadrille for Dverse where De is hosting and asks us to use words of fire. And here’s Angie McMahon with Slow Learner (‘try setting me on fire’).
Peter Frankis writes 
What an intriguing, gorgeous last line. Conjures so many images. I love it!
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Glad you liked it. (Great prompt BTW).
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I really love this… the last line of course, but also how you describe that island… sounds like an explorer.
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Such a stellar last line!💖 Beautifully executed.
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Thanks so much.
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You’ve painted a beautiful word landscape, Peter, and I love the colours, especially the ‘octopus blue fire’.
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I liked the last line: “the octopus blue fire”
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This makes me think of Australia, or close. Love the colours, hard-baked sand colours, and of course the octopus blue 🙂
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Brilliant: “weed crisped black” – reminiscent of unwound cassette tape.
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You blend poetry and history… much else… so seamlessly. I enjoy reading your pieces. This one is tightly packed and beckons deeper research. Good job!
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Thanks Charley, glad you enjoyed it.
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Worthy, mate!
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a black and white image, perhaps, but your words give it color!
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I love the last line! This island sounds so intriguing.
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Lovely word images, especially the last two lines.
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Such vivid imagery… especially as the pic is black/white. My imagination got working with the colours. 🙂
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Not images and colours I have ever juxtaposed. Thank you!
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I like the perspective of “walking like flying”, seeing the landscape and it’s gorgeous color and texture contrasts as if floating from above. You sure know how to take the reader on a voyage.
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Thanks Amaya – just love this form.
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This was a lovely, tour of intriguing land formations, textures and colours. Almost surreal.
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Thanks Mish, definitely surreal 🙂
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Yes, that was a lovely colorful walk you mapped out.
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It’s a lovely harsh (and on that day unforgiving) place.
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I love those walks, and your poem put me there.
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Octopus blue fire – great!
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Ditto, very enjoyable, Peter. I can almost smell it.
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This is very good.
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Thanks so much, glad you liked it.
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