Image by geralt from Pixabay, modified by me using GIMP photo editing software.
https://soundcloud.com/rowan-joyce/the-ocean-breathes?si=e0fff28cc9404a3ea822bba48491b739&utm_source=clipboard&utm_medium=text&utm_campaign=social_sharing
The Ocean Breathes
Currents shift, waves freckle skin. Plumes of silt pop and sizzle, as undercurrents roil within.
In the wake of the moon she wallows in tidal strands, seaweed frays in the lee of the land.
Her voice answers the caw of diving Auk, yammering seals and the rhythm of waves on the shore.
Her thoughts form in eddies, birthed deep in the earth, patterned in whale song,
flailing surf and stalling squalls. Renewed in the dying storm.
Personification in poetry is an age-old technique which can be used to improve the effect of a poem in a number of ways. It is a fantastic way to create a comic voice in poetry as shown in Sharon Hendricks poem Dinnertime Chorus which describes her dinner with a kind of bubbling auditory cadence.
The overall effect is perfectly absurd as it builds an impression of the teacups and pot chattering to each other. Another use of personification is one that I often use in my poetry. This attempts to imbue an object/place/environment with a sense of personality that connects the emotions that these things elicit in me with the reader (hopefully).
The personification of aspects of nature has been practiced by poets for eons, and helps to create strong imagery around an imagined narrative with primary forces. If you'd like to read another example of personification within poetry check out my post Shipwrecked in the Hands of the Gods.
In this poem - 'The Ocean Breathes' - I try to imagine the ocean as an entity, in a somewhat loving way, as I am an avid scuba diver and we're all bonkers for the ocean 😂
If you're ever on a scuba diving boat and you see all the divers come up with massive grins on their faces, nine times out of ten it is because they've had a shark encounter... which tells you everything you need to know about the love, respect and reverence most scuba divers hold for the ocean and marine life that it sustains.
Thanks for reading 🙂🌿
All pictures used are creative commons license, credited beneath the image apart from the second image (used in the SoundCloud reading) which is my property, taken on a dive trip to the Farne Isles to scuba dive with seals. If you have enjoyed this poem, you can check out my homepage @raj808 for similar content. Thank you.
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