On day 7 of National Poetry Month, I have faced the most difficult challenge ever! As you know from Day 3, I don’t identify as a music person and today’s challenge was to use a song structure to write new lyrics. Chris over at Ethical ELA was generous, offering his song as structure and giving writers an out–if it doesn’t work for you, do something else. But…the point is to try…right?!?

So after a day spent in 100 degree temperatures learning about and photographing power generating windmills, I just had to figure out how to say something with a song structure. Since music is definitely a challenge for me, I asked my husband what song he might think of related to our exploration today. And he offered up the old classic, They Call the Wind Mariah from the movie Paint Your Wagon.

I listened and hummed…and tried my own (amateur-ish) attempt at song writing. This will definitely not be up for any Grammys, but I hope you get a bit of a glimpse of what a windmill farm is all about.

Turn the Wind to Power

Way out here the land is spare

spaces openly devoured

Nature gifts the wind, the sun, the land

emptiness once stretch for hours

Against cerulean cloudless skies

these faceless giants tower

Farmed energy these crops of wind

give city folks their power

Spin it, oh spin it

tall mills of wind, they spin it

They twist and turn and spin again

and turn the wind to power

@kd0602