A few weeks ago a bicycle appeared, parked on a side path that branches off of the primary footpath through our village. That footpath (really, for feet, bicycles and scooters) is heavily traveled, especially mornings and afternoons when school is in session.
We walked past this bike on many a lunch-time walk and errand, and periodically the bicycle would be in a different place. Sometimes it was parked right at the junction of the two paths, and other times it was half-way up the side path to the little quartier where we live.
I guess it's the writer in me - I see stories everywhere - and I kept wondering: whose bike is this? why is it parked here? who moves it? One day, as I was wondering, my brain started riffing on Robert Frost's poem, Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening.
Whose woods these are I think I know.
His house is in the village though;
He will not see me stopping here
To watch his woods fill up with snow.
You can read the rest of the poem here.
After we got home from our walk, I wrote today's poem - a lighthearted summer poem after Robert Frost's Snowy Evening.
Stopping by the Path on a Summer Day
Our host for the Poetry Friday Roundup today is Molly over at Nix the Comfort Zone. She's rounding up all of the Poetry Friday posts here.
I love the story and the poem and the fact that the bike disappeared! Ha! And, my mind runs like that too....story questions by the minute. I swear! Who left it? Why? Maybe it's...
ReplyDeleteThere's always something brewing. I just need a big butterfly net to catch one of the ideas and study it for longer than my brain takes off again!
Oh! I love this. I was so invested in the bike mystery... and then it disappeared! I love your poem, too. Beautifully done.
ReplyDeleteSo. Much. Fun.
ReplyDeleteIf only the bike had stayed a little bit longer so you could have pinned your poem to the handlebars!
A good bit of mystery, and always fun to piggyback on a classic!
ReplyDeleteThis is such a wonderful story poem. And so many questions. Lovely.
ReplyDeleteEnjoyed sharing the mystery with you! You've made a charming poem from it. I know what you mean about seeing stories everywhere.
ReplyDeleteThe writer inside you produced a wonderful Frost-like story poem.
ReplyDeleteThat is so funny that the bike disappeared after you wrote about it--almost as if it were a phantom this whole time! I would have wondered about it, too. Love the poem!
ReplyDeleteElisabeth, a perfect story you told about the bicycle. Frost's skeleton was just what you needed. Well done!
ReplyDeleteI loved the story and the poem! So fun to imagine the lives of others and their possessions.
ReplyDeleteWhat a delightful poem! Thanks for sharing the backstory. I love how you saw this bike and it sparked your imagination and then your poem. The poem feels like a combo Robert Frost/Dr. Seuss to me. Love it!
ReplyDelete