“Words are bridges connecting people.”

Hello everyone!

Let’s build bridges today.

For me, the month of September is always the bridge between the heat and the cold, the warm weather and the cold weather. Though we have many seasons in India, but the central plains usually have two seasons predominantly; summer and winter and September spans the transition from one to the other.

Bridges have always fascinated me. As a child I would love train journeys because of all the bridges, big and small, the  train would chug over. The Howrah bridge, one of the oldest, is my favourite bridge, not only because it is in my beloved city, Kolkata (or Calcutta, as I fondly remember it) but for being one of its kind.

A bridge can be a powerful metaphor. It is  often used in the communication scenario where there are two opposing sides, separated by an issue or conflict. The mediator acts as the span between the opposing sides so that communication can flow to and from those in conflict.

Bridges are also a metaphor for the psychological process of integration. We as people, often provide a bridging experience for others, family, friends even strangers to find resolutions.

In the poetic realm bridges are more than mere structures; they embody the spirit of connection and transformation. Just as bridges span valleys, ravines,  rivers and other natural divides, poetry links people and places together. Poetry bridges the gap between the writer’s inner sanctum and the outside world. In poetry bridge is a compelling metaphor, and if we start looking for bridges in poems, we will find them everywhere.

The Challenge

For today’s Poetics, I’d like you to write a poem about bridges. You can write about real bridges or an imaginary or ideal bridge. It could be about the one that you cross every day, or one that stands for something larger in your life – for the idea of connection or distance, for the idea of movement and travel and new horizons or as a symbol of hope and realization. Whether in the literal sense or metaphorical, your poem should be a bridge between you and your reader.

Here are a few poems for inspiration.

The Old Bridge at Florence

By Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

Taddeo Gaddi built me. I am old,

Five centuries old. I plant my foot of stone

Upon the Arno, as St. Michael’s own

Was planted on the dragon. Fold by fold

Beneath me as it struggles, I behold

Its glistening scales. Twice hath it overthrown

My kindred and companions. Me alone

It moveth not, but is by me controlled.

The Bridge

By Shel Silverstein

This bridge will only take you halfway there

To those mysterious lands you long to see:

Through gypsy camps and swirling Arab fairs

And moonlit woods where unicorns run free.

So come and walk awhile with me and share

The twisting trails and wondrous worlds I’ve known.

A poet is a bridge

By Silent One

I believe we all

have a poem in our hearts

some need no metaphors

for a poet is a bridge

between words and emotions

connecting hearts and souls

through all four seasons.

If you are interested, I found this blog post very interesting.

New to dVerse? Here’s how to join in:

*Write a poem in any form in response to the challenge.

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