====================================================================== Title: An Irish Country Road Date: 2025-04-14 Link: https://spool-five.com/poetry/2025_apr14_road/ Word Count: 183 ====================================================================== > So today, try writing a poem that describes a place, particularly in > terms of the animals, plants or other natural phenomena there. Sink into > the sound of your location, and use a conversational tone. Incorporate > slant rhymes (near or off-rhymes, like “angle” and “flamenco”) into your > poem. And for an extra challenge – don’t reference birds or birdsong! Yes, there are still places like this More than you would think, though easy to miss Far from the national rail networks Though some lie amidst ruins of a British made one Thick grass marking the middle of the road The delicate squeak of a shrew That would fit easily along your baby finger And now it has disappeared Stuck to the bottom of car tyre? Clikety-clack of horse hoofs A troupe of holidy makers A barking of dog, warning the horses Your time is almost up Take shelter before the rain arrives The baaing of sheep, ever present And the buzz of sheep shearer If you listen closely Echos through the valley All sounds underpinning The fundamental silence Of the country road