Water Dragon

Daily Note

Every day, a photograph, a poem. Yesterday we walked down to the Columbia River, which is below Grand Coulee Dam where we live. It’s just a few blocks away.

The currents here are turbulent and powered by the flow of the river through Grand Coulee Dam. At this point the river is Lake Rufus Woods behind Chief Joseph Dam. In this picture you can see the dam, the river, and the currents. It was at this spot where the story began.

When our grandkids stayed with us when they were young, we’d walk down to this spot to watch the river current flow by. And, watching the different areas surging, one could feel there was a power beneath the surface, and that power, unbeknownst to most people, is from a mighty creature, the water dragon.

Each push of its mighty wings below the surface is another swirling, twirling whirlpool above. And as you watch, you can tell the difference between the fathers and the mothers, the hatchlings, and the dragonets. You can read about our dragon times in this blog post, Sleeping Dragons, which includes a link to Dragons Everywhere, more about dragons one one granddaughter’s original folk tale.

I shared this most recent capture of the dragon in the river [the top image with poem] to our family chat. And, of course, one grandchild, now an adult mathematician sent this picture with the comment, “The dragon in the water kind of looks like the Heighway Dragon fractal curve.”

What is a Highway Dragon fractal curve? Find out here:

• Wolfram / Mathworld
• Classic Iterated Function Systems
• Wikipedia: Dragon Curves

And so, a poem:

Poetry

Water Dragon

Have you ever watched
the currents swirl
with the power of a river?
Did you know the power flows
in its churning swirls,
bubbles and whirls,
from the wings
of the mighty
water dragon?

Sheri Edwards
06.25.23 177.365.23
Poetry/Photography [See-Frame-Focus]

The currents of the Columbia River directly below Grand Coulee Dam are turbulent.

#clmooc #smallpoems #dragons #poetry23