Minocqua: island paradise
woodland wreathed in whispering waters
refraction of shimmering skies
For this week’s W3 prompt at the Skeptic’s Kaddish, Britta provided this beautiful poem and challenged us o write about a place with these guidelines:
“Include the name of a city (town, village) in your poem
- This could be your home town, or a place you have never been to but long to go, a travel memory, a dream, a tour guide…
- Maybe you’ll find that a particular form of poetry expresses a sense of that particular place perfectly?
- Is there such a thing as a tanka town? A haiku hamlet? A villanelle village? Or perhaps, your chosen city is more of a free verse kind of hangout?“
I wrote about my hometown, which is (sort of) an island. It’s advertised as “The Island City”, though I’m pretty sure it’s technically a peninsula as it’s connected on one side. Minocqua, Wisconsin, is a unique place, though. It was never the most thrilling place to grow up, as you might imagine, in the state’s largest school district (in acreage, not in numbers), due to its very rural location. However, it’s home; it was and is a lovely place in many ways. I should note this image is sadly not mine for once but from the Minocqua.org tourism site, so I’ll give them the credit for capturing my hometown brilliantly from the bird’s eye view.
Speaking of birds, I wrote a kōel! The sound of these poems are meant to imitate the Asian koel bird, with alliteration in the middle line and a rhyme in the first and third lines, and you can create multiple stanzas for a kōel cluster or flock. I thought it would fit with a (sort of) island local.
Words and Coffee Writing 
It does look like paradise–so much density of life. I would have loved it as a child, but not, of course, as an adolescent. A good place to refresh now, I would think. (K)
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Thanks for reading! Yes, it is a great place to return to now to relax and sometimes visit with old friends.
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It truly looks beautiful 🙂
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Thanks! It is a very interesting place. I was in a hurry to get out of there as a teenager, but now I enjoy going back; I suppose it’s like that for a lot of people with their hometowns.
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ommigosh! a gorgeous poem and a new-to-me form of poetry that I have to try! 😀
❤
David
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Thanks! I love finding something new to try!
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Hi, Sarah!
I just want to let you know that this week’s W3 poetry prompt, hosted by Punam Sharma, is now live:
Enjoy 😀
~David
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Sarah,
I just wanna let you guys know that this week’s W3 is now live, and it’s open for new entries until Sunday morning (as usual)!
Much love,
David
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Thank you, David! Life has been very busy, but I think I’ll be able to check it out tonight!
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🤗
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I many like your beautiful blog. A pleasure to come stroll on your pages. A nice discovery. I will come back to visit you. Do not hesitate to visit my universe. See you soon 😊
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Thanks for stopping by! I appreciate your kind words, and I will stop by to see your writing as well.
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