Magnolias

Today the form at dVerse is to write a ghazal – pronounced guzzle, which is fitting because it is a poem about drunkenness and/or romance.  Of course the drunkenness can symbollize the rapture of God.  I prefer my poetry brief, to the point and in the style of the Japanese. I don’t believe in using 500 words when I can use 50. I will do my best with this form and also with the prompt at Toads – Summer’s End.  Celia was the name of my mother and great-grandmother. A guzzle (ghazal) is made up of non-connected couplets using a repeating line or phrase in the last line of each couplet.  Which is actually, a pretty neat poetic device.

Magnolias
“Summer in the deep South is not only a season, a climate, it’s a dimension. Floating in it, one must be either proud or submerged.”  ― Eugene Walter, The Untidy Pilgrim

the southern summer night is like an obscene phone call
lowly whispered in tones of moist hot tones here at the beginning of summer.

the full moon floated on the clouds last night
and magnolias opened their blooms here at the beginning of summer.

magnolias perfumes the air and gifts us with its incense,
and I think this is all the beauty we need here at the beginning of summer.

blooms like fragrant plates at a feast, petals spreading wide
and showing their golden hearts here at the beginning of summer.

but the feast soon ends and petals turn brown and scent fades
as their hearts fall like solid tears here at the beginning of summer.

we had dreams once when we were young and beautiful
and we lived our dreams here at the beginning of summer.

the night closes fast Celia, and fragrance dissipates into dew
at the end of summer, here at the beginning of summer.

 

 

dVerse Poets Pub – voice of first frost

This is for dVerse’s Poets Pub, Haibun Monday.  Victoria is using the words “shimi no koe” – the voice of first frost to prompt us in our haibun.  First frost is a precursor to hatsu yuki, the first snow.  These two firsts are almost like sacred times to the Japanese and their observance of the seasons.  Victoria has done a beautiful job in this prompt.  Come visit us and read the various haibun at:  http://dversepoets.com/2017/10/02/haibun-monday-shimo-no-koe-  I’ve been awy due to eye problems.  I am slowly working my way back. Today I am posting this at Real Toads.   http://withrealtoads.blogspot.com/2017/10/the-tuesday-platform.html

Beautiful October
The October after you left in June was one of the most beautiful autumns I have known. I remember the smell of freshly fallen leaves mixing with the mast of those fallen the year before and slowly returning to the earth. I remember the colors all swirled together in a psychedelic tee shirt of warm colors. Most of all, I remember the night frost descended – the first of the season.

I remember sitting on the steps and blowing out the smoke from the joint I was smoking – doubly rich smoke both from the herb and the cold. The smoke was pure white in the moonlight. I shivered in the cold and pulled my frayed denim jacket closer. Across the full moon, a bat? An owl? A night bird? Flew blacking out the sparkling stars in the cold black sky. I could feel the change in the air; I could feel the temperature drop and feel the frost forming on my face, on the sleeves of the jacket. I walked across the lawn, slowly. Turning I could see where my boots had melted the frost that was glimmering on the grass. I thought to myself, trying to get over you was like trying to sew with gloves on or trying to turn a long rusted bolt.

autumn night – silent
stars look down on the frost and
shiver in the cold

public domain image

NaPoWriMo4 – Mono aware 物の哀れ

Prompt for NaPoWriMo is love – in love or lost love or breaking up.

 

Cherry blossom petals
floated onto his open
hands reminding him of all
he had thrown away.

Warm spring sun stood at
zenith in an azure sky,
pink against blue – cherry blossoms
wept tears on his cheeks.

copyright kanzensakura

Weekend Groove

All those years ago
…so many miles between then and now
Wish I had a penny for every cherry blossom
petal that has fallen since then….
I’d be a zillionaire, y’know?

But now, all these years up to now
I hear this and I remember
all those petals falling
around us and this song
on the radio.
I taught you to cha-cha

All those years ago
if we had known how
fragile and swirling was time
and today,
how the wind blows those
small petals back
into the sky

Do they make it across the ocean?
Do they ever fall on your hair
or touch your skin
or…
I’d be a zillionaire now
if I had a penny for every tear.

This version of this song is from the series, Live At Daryl’s House. Good series. If you haven’t done so, check out on YouTube.

i miss the snow on my page

Christmas decorations taken down,
Back in their boxes
for another year.
dark winter envelops,
at night, only lights from
stalled traffic and fast food
joints add artificial festivities.
Houses plain again,
yellow light from windows
– no more candles in windows
or twinkles from
Christmas trees beckon
a welcome.
Stale cookies dumped
into the trash or
flung out into the yard
for birds and squirrels.
I look out and sigh.
sunny day, clear blue sky.
The limbo between brown lawns
and blooming plum trees
stretches like an endless
road in the desert
diasappearing into
a bleak horizon.
and even on my website
the holiday snow has
stopped blowing
across the page –
that bit of whimsy
just….gone.
I want the power
to stop or start the snow again.
I want the light again.
I want the darkness
to turn into dawn.

The Walk – Part ll – First Snow 初雪 Hatsuyuki

Last year
they walked during a heavy snow
to the place, their place.
It was snowing heavily
but it was not the first snow – hatsu yuki.

She looked out her office window.
Walk day.
she turned from the window
her back to the dark
cold day. Her reflection
was a ghost against the glass.

When next she turned,
it had begun to snow –
Small tight pellets bouncing
against the glass.
She smiled. First snow.

When she left her office
the snow was like the
falling petals of white sakura.
Light, then heavy as the wind swirled.
Already the ground was white
and drifts of snow getting
deeper on the parked cars.

A car pulled beside her.
Down came the window.
“It is too cold. Let’s just drive around.”
She shook her head.
“It is the first snow. I need
to be in it. I need to go to my heart home.”

He parked and joined her.
She spoke softly.
“Years ago, I sat in the hatsu yuki
at Ryoanji. Snow settled around the
rocks like a white shawl.
The empty space became filled
with such peace. I sat
until I could no longer endure the cold.
It is my heart home.
And this snow reminds me
of another karesansui.”

He looked down without asking.
She was silent.
They walked slowly
the snow petals falling on them.
She looked at the snow.
“Iteboshi.”
He looked at the snow on her hair.
He nodded. “Frozen stars.”
Then he understood.
In silence they finished the walk.
At the door to the building,
he touched her cheek.
“He was a fool to leave.”
She smiled, a small and wry smile.

Thoughtful Thursday and haiku

Koyo 紅葉
leaves softly falling
watching them I think of you
I hold one to my lips

And my dear, you know who you are.    私はあなたのことをいつまでも愛すでしょう

Ashes of Love – 愛の灰 Ai no hai

When last I saw you
you had tears on your cheeks
and a boarding pass in your hand.
I let you go knowing if I tried
to stop you
eventually, you would still leave.
What was our love against
a dream, ambition, the culture
that made you unique and was
part of the reason I loved you?
Part of the reason I love you still?
An envelope of photographs,
letters with words of love,
dried cherry blossoms,
a lock of hair…
cold ashes now.
I burned the envelope
in a consuming fire
of flames, grief, anger.
One day, I will toss the ashes
into the wind.
One day…
but not today.

Poetry Collaboration – Sabishii

http://hastywords.wordpress.com/2014/02/12/sabishii/comment-page-1/#comment-17920  I’ve always been a loner.  but I have stepped out of that and into something so totally new and insanely wonderful, I feel like taking off my fuzzy bedroom shoes and going outside and running around in the snow to cool down some.  We had a major storm last night and received snowsnowsnow.  Yowzer y’all

but anyway, Please click on the link.  You will be taken to a great poetry blog, Hasty words.  super poet, great lady.  I’ve never done anything like this before – doing a poetic duet – but Hasty has.  She is not only talented in her own right, but she brings out talent in her poetry duetry partner.  Gracious and patient, funny and sincere.  I hope we do it again because it was fun, it was encouraging, it was a boost to my sometimes solemn and entrenched style.  Please go read this poet and please spend time on her page.  Get to know her better.  I think you’ll end up following her blog.

 

Koyo 紅葉

leaves softly falling
watching them I think of you
I hold one to my lips

These are the words…

Good bye.
Don’t go.
Come back.
These are the words I never said.
These are the words I wept in my heart.
I’ll stay.
I’ll never leave.
I’ll return.
These are the words you never said.
These are the words you never said.

月見 tsukimi

bittersweet. harvest
of longing, loss and tears. I
weep as the moon sleeps.