Today at dVerse Poets Pub, Victoria is handling the prompt to Meet the Bar. We are to write a poem in the style of the Imagists – namely, William Carlos Williams. A wonderful poetic style where less is truly more. For more about Williams and the Imagist movement, here is a link: http://www.poemhunter.com/william-carlos-williams/ My favorite poem by him is the wonderful and whimsical Plum. Read it and find out why it has been on my refrigerator door for years. Visit us at dVerse for different takes on Imagist poems in this style. Below is mine. I hope I did this amazing poet justice and met the bar. http://dversepoets.com/2016/01/28/image-ine-dverse-meeting-the-bar/
White Roses
The bouquet of white roses from my husband
has begun to fade,
petals dropping on the table.
Outside,
The first snow begins.
White Roses in a Vase – Henri Fantin-Latour
kanzen sakura 
Jan 28, 2016 @ 15:15:08
I now see these petals as snow. So lovely. There is sadness here, spilled over beautifully.
Jan 28, 2016 @ 15:17:08
Thank you. Before his disability, he was a blue ribbon grower of roses. They are all gone now, adopted by several rose growers.
Jan 28, 2016 @ 15:15:20
Oh.. I love the juxtaposition here.. so wonderful..
Jan 28, 2016 @ 15:16:09
Thank you. I guess I just can’t get away from Japanese style…smiles
Jan 28, 2016 @ 15:25:47
Perfect. The irony is, I have a bouquet just like this waiting for me to deal with the droopy ones… they are coral in color and our neighbor gave them to us for our anniversary. You have captured the transience of all things beautiful. And you are so right, less is more. Victoria
Jan 28, 2016 @ 15:33:35
I always take the roses my husband gives me and when they begin to fade, I lay them flat on some paper and let them dry. Then strip the petals. I have several jars of them from years past. When we married, I had saved all the petals from all the roses he grew and gave me and then put them into small pink tulle bags as wedding favors. Before he became unable to, he was a blue ribbon rose grower. he is still a member of the Rose Society but in a consulting basis. But even the florists roses from him are precious to me.
Jan 28, 2016 @ 15:40:29
This is very delicate and tender. I also appreciate the story behind it. Thank you.
Jan 28, 2016 @ 15:57:13
I really like the comparison between the white roses’ petals falling and the first falling of snow. Very evocative & concise wording! You definitely are an imagist!
Jan 28, 2016 @ 16:00:41
Thank you. Now I hope I just don’t get a swelled head from this. I was worried I wouldn’t be able to do this!
Jan 28, 2016 @ 16:12:43
The Japonaise movement which had taken over Paris at the end of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th century informed these poets that called themselves imagist. They were learning about Asian art and art forms. The painters were absorbed with all things Japanese and using them in their artwork, and in their designs. The poets too were moving toward minimalism. Pound brought that interest to the Americans who as we always do changed it somewhat and made it our own. We are all influenced by it but your poem here captures the ideal they were striving for. Kudos.
Jan 28, 2016 @ 16:43:30
Thank you Gay. I remember reading about this, somewhere when researching this form. The influence is truly evident. We have “made haiku our own” and turned it into a generic short poem about any and everything and have lost the nuances of that beautiful form. Sorry, don’t get me started! Here in town is the mansion ca. 1900 given to the city along with its several styles of gardens, including a lovely Japanese garden with dry garden, koi pond, tea house, etc. it is interesting that descendants of the original Japanese gardener “imported” from Japan to design and tend this garden, tend to it still. I find it amusing that at this time, while we were doing our best to Westernize Japan, we were busy filling our homes with their decorative style, making gardens in their style, and stealing their poetic forms. Since their design still exists in pure form in many of these homes and gardens and the poetry we appropriated has deteriorated, I guess we know who won that battle, hey? I have to be careful with prompts because it seems the Japanese forms seem to melt into everything I write.
Jan 28, 2016 @ 16:54:41
Well it’s great to write what you love. That is how we keep our passions alive. I rarely think about it anymore. For the last decade it feels like I was writing about form and writing poems in form and while they felt artificial at first, I later found that sonnets, sestinas, ballades, etc. became as satisfying as short forms. I think some may say I sacrificed “my voice”..but I’m not sure I ever knew what that is. I’ve always felt like I had a world of voices inside me. Ha.
Jan 28, 2016 @ 16:20:46
Beautifully poignant 🙂
Jan 28, 2016 @ 16:35:51
Well, of course you would ace this, Toni. You’re our mistress of the short form! You even managed a kiru between the white flowers and the beginning snow…just lovely.
Jan 28, 2016 @ 16:37:07
Thank you Gayle. Sometimes I amaze myself – totally by accident! 😊
Jan 28, 2016 @ 16:41:46
I love the description of the petals falling!
Jan 28, 2016 @ 16:49:20
love the parallel of falling petals and falling snow. Neat shift of perspective, too, from the indoor scene of the fading flowers to the outdoor scene of falling snow.
Jan 28, 2016 @ 17:23:35
Such poignant imagery, the dropping petals and the falling snow. A sense of time passing pervades your poem as well.
Jan 28, 2016 @ 17:54:30
I, too, am a disabled husband,
who buys the wife roses just because,
we let them droop for days
piling up colorful in death.
Jan 28, 2016 @ 18:15:44
And your comment is in itself a beautiful poem. I was drooping and he had them delivered, just because. and because he is a disabled husband, sometimes I have some balloons delivered to him because they make him laugh, especially the cartoon ones.
Jan 28, 2016 @ 18:16:49
You nailed it!
Jan 28, 2016 @ 19:12:35
❤ The falling petals and the falling snow: one is ending and the other beginning. Makes me smile, Kanzen. A wistful kind of mood here. 🙂 ❤
Jan 28, 2016 @ 19:18:11
Loved the gentleness of this.
Jan 28, 2016 @ 20:47:00
Oh wow, this is perfect. It can be as simple, or as complex, as the reader wants it to be.
Jan 29, 2016 @ 00:23:52
This speaks in simplicity but resonates so much more. Lovely!
Jan 29, 2016 @ 04:02:37
The painting you chose to go with this poem is perfect. There is something about the light that gives the so much meaning, to me, the feeling of lasting a long time.
Feb 01, 2016 @ 01:36:51
Thank you
Jan 29, 2016 @ 05:37:08
This is so poignant! The image fits beautifully.
Jan 29, 2016 @ 05:56:07
beautiful and poignant…
Jan 29, 2016 @ 08:02:11
….ah the rose petals of snow, gently falling. Beautiful juxtaposition….beautiful poem!
Feb 01, 2016 @ 01:33:51
Thank you!
Jan 29, 2016 @ 10:57:48
A perfect nutshell poem. Lovely.
Feb 01, 2016 @ 01:30:35
Thank you! Nutshell….I was thinking snapshot. I like nutshell better – even smaller than a photo.
Jan 29, 2016 @ 12:13:47
As I read the poem i felt a touch of sadness of beauty passing but the comments and lifestory behind those words is very moving too. Thank you for sharing that with others.
Feb 01, 2016 @ 01:29:02
Than you for reading.
Jan 29, 2016 @ 17:17:01
I usually find roses so sad because they don’t last long. I prefer carnations or mums. But the way you wrote this made me realize the fact that they were fading meant the loving gesture of the giving was recent and fresh. Peace, Linda
Feb 01, 2016 @ 01:25:49
My mother loves carnations as well. I like all kinds of flowers but the roses are special between my husband and I. When we were married, instead of the ubiquitous “unity ceremony”, we did instead another ceremony, The Rose Ceremony. Very meaningful.
Jan 30, 2016 @ 07:57:57
Lovely, Toni! Roses are my favorite (my husband gave me a dozen with the birth of every child). I think Japanese poetry is a form of imagism, yes?
Feb 01, 2016 @ 01:24:07
I think so too. The Imagists actually based their poetry on those minimalist forms.