I was on a website the other day that had one of those calendars with days you can celebrate in March. I was chuckling over some of the funny things that people celebrate when I was brought up short by the notation for March 5. It read: "the invention of the parachute: Da Vinci."
Many, many years before what many people consider the actual invention of the parachute, Leonardo Da Vinci sketched his ideas for a parachute in one of his notebooks. And 11 years ago a British man actually dropped from a balloon, about 10,000 feet above the ground, using a parachute made from Da Vinci's design (and using materials, canvas and wood, that would have been available in Da Vinci's day). I remember reading about this, not long after it happened, in a scientific magazine I picked up at a library sale. You can read a brief news article about the event here. It includes the line that still captures my imagination: "It works, and everyone thought it wouldn't."
I bring this story up on Poetry Friday as a prelude to the poem I wrote not long after first reading that inspiring news story. I hope it captures your imagination too.
Da Vinci’s Parachute
They laughed when I took to the sky
buoyed by outmoded invention.
Sheltered by a five hundred year old idea
finally fleshed
in canvas and rope,
I jumped, caught the air,
and dangled
over undulating brown-grey hills.
I did not look down for long.
Upheld by ancient design,
my face turned upward in awe,
I held my breath.
For a moment I was the scribbled sketch
in the margin of Leonardo’s imaginings,
buffeted across the pages of time,
my body, my faith
sustained by the heavy sphinx-like tent
ballooned above.
The tent held true
and I drifted down
lines taut, then slack
in a dance of purposeful pulling.
And true is true.
Lines clear and pure.
Did you not think
the old ways would hold
in these new winds?
Watch me fall
and think again.
~EMP (all rights reserved)
Today's poetry roundup can be found at The Small Nouns.
8 comments:
What a neat thing for someone to do, and a worthy subject for poetic consideration! Really nice poem. I especially love
Did you not think
the old ways would hold
in these new winds?
which kinda makes me think of Gandalf chiding Bilbo for his mild arrogance at the end of The Hobbit. Old ideas are not necessarily outdated! So cool that it worked...
Very nice work. I thoroughly enjoyed your poem. Love these lines-- "For a moment I was the scribbled sketch
in the margin of Leonardo’s imaginings," Beautiful!
Have you submitted this anywhere yet? It's DEFINITELY worthy of publication. Thanks for sharing it today; it's lovely.
Thanks, Erin!
Nice connection with Gandalf and Bilbo. I love the way you can always find Tolkien!
Thank you, Doraine. I remember being inspired, not only by the news story, but the pictures -- one of the contemporary man doing the jump, and one of the original Leonardo sketches. Sometimes I think my strongest poems come in imaginative response to stories I see/read!
B.C., thanks for the kind comment and encouragement (and for hosting the poetry round-up last week).
Several years ago, closer in time to this poem's original composition, I actually did submit it for possible publication -- twice, I think. Both times it was in a small batch of other poems, and in both cases, other poems were chosen over it. Then life got a bit crazy-busy, and I pretty much stopped submitting poetry anywhere. Right now trying to get back into deeper reading and writing poetry habits!
Lovely--especially:
For a moment I was the scribbled sketch
in the margin of Leonardo’s imaginings,
Yum. My husband and I watched a t.v. show about that guy testing da Vinci's design. It was on PBS or BBC America or something. Really fascinating show--I hope you can find it.
And have you read J. Pat Lewis' Skywriting: Poems to Fly? It's terrific!
Thanks for sharing...
Thank you, Laura -- so glad you liked it! And thanks for the recommendations about the documentary and the book too (I do enjoy J. Patrick Lewis' books but don't know the one you mentioned...off to put it on hold at the library!)
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