Sledding Joy

Posted bywordsandcoffee1Posted inPoetry, W3 PromptsTags:, , , , 
Magic surrounds the freshly fallen snow
Christmas lights on the deck paint a rainbow
its surface smooth with ice that makes us slide
we'll hop on board our sleds and take a ride
laughter loud and reddened faces aglow

Crush of packed slush against us makes us slow
to piles of shrieking children in a row
hats and gloves, sleds and limbs tucked now inside
freshly fallen snow.

The moon rises above with blue-tinged glow
the twinkling stars above and pines below
we scamper back uphill and then we glide
embrace the daring rush of the hillside
sharing dreams of hot chocolate now beside
freshly fallen snow.

I was selected to be poet of the week for the Wea’ve Written Weekly challenge. It was an honor to be selected, so in true Sarah style, I panicked under the pressure and picked a complicated prompt. Here is the prompt I suggested for folks this week:

Write a rondeau inspired by a childhood memory.

That in and of itself does not sound too complicated until we dive into the complexities of this form (hitherto unknown to me (not recommended)):

Rondeau?

  • 15 lines long;
  • Three stanzas:
    • a quintet (five-line stanza);
    • a quatrain (four-line stanza);
    • and a sestet (six-line stanza);
  • Rhyme scheme: aabba aabR aabbaR.
  • Refrain: L9 and L15
    • The refrain (R) is short;
    • The refrain (R) consists of a phrase taken from L1;
  • All the other lines are longer than R and share the same metrical length.

Everyone who tries the prompt this week gets 5 metaphorical gold stars and a free pile of fresh Midwestern snow (though if you live anywhere other than northern Canada, I cannot guarantee its state of matter upon arrival).

Winter activities, including sledding, were always special to me growing up. My sisters and I would hike into the state forest near our house and find the perfect snow-covered hill that was cleared of trees from the last time the lumber company came through. We’d make mini ski-jumps out of packed, icy snow or design snowy racecourses to see who could hurry to the bottom the fastest. Of course, I’m an adult in the photo above, and I do still enjoy sledding with the kids. It’s one of those activities that I’ll keep up until my hips tell me “no” because speeding down a wintry hill makes you feel both fully alive and playfully childlike again.

30 thoughts on “Sledding Joy”

  4. Thank you for the bit of snow. Didn’t quite make it here. 😦 But I lived in the Midwest as a child and have fond memories of sledding and snowballing. I like the Rondeau and have written a few. Congratulations on being selected as poet of the week. 🙂

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  6. Sarah this was so delightful! Growing up in the middle of Indiana there were no hills for sledding. The closest we ever got was the Pinewood Derby hill that the Boy Scouts built in a city park. It was so busy that you’d get maybe one turn in every 2 hours… So we’d spend our time making snowmen and snow cats and squirrels, dogs, pigs, sheep, and even birds! We let our imaginations run free.

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  8. Congratulations on your Poet of the Week selection! I too would panic, if it were me 🙂

    A lovely, snowy cheerful poem. This morning we have our first frost in Wales, UK, so maybe the snow would be in OK condition if you sent some here!

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  9. in true Sarah style, I panicked under the pressure and picked a complicated prompt

    You’re too funny, Sarah. I think we all appreciate your introducing this new-to-most-of-us form!

    we scamper back uphill and then we glide
    embrace the daring rush of the hillside
    sharing dreams of hot chocolate now beside
    freshly fallen snow.

    How lovely! That’s a wonderful memory ❤

    Much love,
    David

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