i chew the leaves of my poem
they fan green and spirited
in the height of their hour
veins visible like these
that inscribe my hand, run
with the life of dreams
that have nowhere to go but
back down to the
branch to the root
you don't see
look:
their asymmetry of being
red oak stained with rain pollen
much like the blemishes on my face
t o r n by time and caterpillars
that become f u l l and
bloom into butterflies
the leaves testify to all the seasons
green ash have weathered the wild
waltz of wind and rain
hungry for the sun
they drink from the clouds
i feel the laugh lines on the maple
and swallow their history -
this one, curled copper
like rusted edges but it's
just the candor of time
grain and weave of memories
cru n ch between my teeth
composition on my tongue
i chew the leaves of my poem
I'd love to share this on my network.
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You allowed me to taste every morsel of your experience, like the ripening fruit of a tree. Wonderful.
=) Thanks for that, Susan. I don’t know that there is much higher praise than that the reader experienced it right alongside.
HuG.
Reblogged this on 2l2phant and commented:
Always balm to to my every day π
Speechless, all I can do Is smile!!! Thanks for sharing my sister! God bless!
Huh. Speechless? You do flatter me, Wendell. But I’ll take it.
Grateful.
Diana
It happens to me sometimes when something moves my spirit in a wonderful way! Your poem did that to me yesterday. Thanks Diana, not trying to flatter, just fact…you are a very good writer – poet!
Appreciate that bc that is not the (extent of) praise I think I would’ve had on this, as a reader.
We are in the middle of a blizzard!! Are you collecting such a treasure of green leaves now? π
For real? Blizzard there? Where?
East North Dakota. All day, all night and into tomorrow … or longer. My golden loves it! My black lab/collie HATES it π
And I digest your poem with pleasure. Thanks D. βCurt
A load of vitamin C, too. =) Thx for the faithful read, my friend.
This closure “in the height of their hour” is wonderful both for its rhythmic and blossoming elements. It speaks of a poem as having a time and place where it is most full.
I like the metaphor of you as a caterpillar,
The poem a leaf in say a book
Or as you say come from your hands
Or “run with the life of dreams.”
Sure, don’t we all dream?
In the first essence of our first love,
We wish it had wide application
To a world that is not lush,
Barren certainly,
Unsustainable,
Except that it is sustaining in that it dispenses money
For those of us, who have given ourselves resistantly.
And almost like going “back down to the branch at the root,”
I don’t see anything,
Except that I know you as I might know myself,
From the same village,
An “asymmetry of being,”
Which is “red oak stained with rain?”
Our faces wear but move us from young and dreamy
To ugly, eventually our words are undermined
But how we look.
How can we cast an argument for beauty when we have to hide,
And our words have to be spoken at great distances
Or else the whole world would know?
There is no “candor”
Only the effluvium of leaf
The evergreen of the same
Unchanging forest, which we can’t
See for the trees
They are only a type,
Unhumanlike.
“It speaks of a poem as having a time and place where it is most full.” Love that.
“The evergreen of the same
Unchanging forest, which we canβt
See for the trees”
Lovely. And sad.
The caterpillar, oh the very hungry
caterpillar my boy I nourish
“t o r n by time and caterpillars
that become f u l l and
bloom into butterflies”
It is because we all have dreams
that I continue to write of them.
You should turn your reflections into
a poem and post.
Turning my reflections into a poem seems to cheapen the gift. After all YOU inspired me, but I might seeing that you have opened the package and perhaps I can now do something with the paper.
The statement: “It is because we all have dreams
that I continue to write of them” implies that you write about dreams that we all have, but how can you know what dreams we have?
Refining it into a poem – if you want to refine – would be only the natural extension of the time and thought you already put into my work. Which in no way has diminished, only honored me.
I don’t need to know the contours and recesses – the trees – of my readers’ dreams. It is more than enough that I might describe the forest for my wonderful readers to invite yourselves into and find your own grove, your space in – if I succeed.
Reblogged this on rebloggobbler.
I appreciate it. I’d love to see some of your own work on your blog. =)
You’re very welcome. I hope you get a chance!
I couldn’t find…
saw just reblogs.
sorry, its at http://moorezart.wordpress.com
best regards!
interesting!
Uh, thanks. That can go either way. LOL.
I meant it in the best possible way lol. Keep up the good work! π
HA ha, K.
I was going to say uh, better than hearing it’s boring.
LOL Thanks, buddy.
haha sorry I will have to make my comments a bit more unambiguous from now on..
Thanks again for sharing!
Great images and unexpected-leaves of a poem… sounds like the most gorgeous paper ever. “grain and weave of memories
cru n ch between my teeth
composition on my tongue” I can hear you devouring your words into poetry. Beautiful.
Thanks, Diahann. I do think it sounds like such beautiful paper bc that’s how you graciously choose to hear it. =)
that crunch between my teeth has reminded me of picnics on the beach π
Cool. =) Have you done many of those?
Yes, it puts a whole new slant on ‘sandwiches’
Wonderful!
Thanks, Roberta. =)
‘The candor of time.’ Very well played. As a matter of fact, the whole darn piece was good. \o/
Darn piece being good appreciated. =)
The ebullient effect being cogent, needed no ancillary help from the scribes pen, however, being duly impressed with the wax seal of perpetuity, the poetry created a new note on the scale in a colour here to fore unseen.
touche!
A color heretofore unseen….
Deeply flattering.
LoL
Thank you.
HEY!!! You stole this from my unwritten dream poem. It’s okay, I’ll let it slide.
Seriously, I like this. I’ve always understood poetry for some reason (even though I don’t understand a lot of other stuff). I remember in high school English class, I was the only one who didn’t need translations of Beowolf and Shakespeare. After one reading of a love sonnet, a girl in class asked ‘why don’t guys today write this kind of sweet stuff’ The teacher told her, ‘Maybe you should go out with Scott, he seems to get it.’ …I don’t mean to sound cocky.
Keep drinking from the clouds…
Beautiful. Thanks for making my night.
You got me laughing from the start – pretty much throughout, buddy. You know, here’s a record-breaker for ya. I would never ask this of someone but don’t unfollow, k? You keep it fun. This tired girl could use the laughs.
Thanks for the feedback, too. And I understand I owe you $ for the theft. We’ll talk later.
Btw, the traumeel oinmt came through aGaiN. My son rammed his head into a metal pole at the park this wk and produced an instant magical goose egg on his forehead. The parent who reached him before I did and saw what happened turned out to be an M.D. He told me to expect a black eye the next day, and between the traumeel and the arnica homeopathic, the little guy started healing right away. No such thing as a black eye.
D.
Haha. Don’t worry, you’re my fave. Will never unfollow.
You can pay when you see me next. Hahaha
Sorry bout your son. Glad he’s feeling better!
Off topic. Have you seen Lost in Translation ?
1) Aw, flattered.
2) Pay you next time? We’ll talk… (Korean-Americans are RutHLesS bargainers).
3) You mean the movie with that man and the married girl in Japan? Hated it.
1) sweet
2) haha
3) we can’t be friends. Watching it for the 200th time.
3) Sigh. So what (in the world) u love about it? It is a dim (dull ache of a) memory. I just thought it tried too hard to be funny. It prolly lost (pun intended) me from the time a married woman got that close with another man even if they didn’t sleep together. I thought the script was the archetype of stereotype. (Now’s your chance to keep my respect. FIGHT. FIGHT for your RIGHT to buLIEVE what you want! *In another life I woulda been a black American preacher*).
2) 1) After I wrote you I realized you had the nerve to charge your fav blogger with grand theft.
Interesting. Considering it stared a comedy legend, I thought the humor was extremely subtle.
As for the script, a lot of it was improv and decided on set. Even some of the characters were added in on the spot.
I also find it interesting that you keep mentioning that she was married, but not that the man was too. Did that not matter to you, or did you forget? You’re right though, it is a story about a connection between two people, even though the don’t go through with it physically. That’s on the surface, what I’m more interested in is Why do they both feel the need to have that relationship? What are they missing in their own lives. I think the movie answers that.
I love many things about the movie. I love how they make Tokyo a character. I like how we will never know what he whispered to her at the end that made her cry. I like how I can relate to their experiences in that I used to travel a lot. Often alone. I would do what they did – see historical sites, explore the city, sing karaoke in a bar, workout, try local foods, etc. I can also relate to the loneliness they had being by themselves in a strange city.
But being in “the biz”, I am also in awe of how they actually made the movie. How they shot so guerrilla style. How they stayed up all night trying to figure out how scenes should go. How they did or didn’t get permission to shoot in locations. How they left in mistakes (like continuity) for the sake of keeping the best take. And how they didn’t even know if Bill Murray was going to be in the movie until he showed up in Tokyo. What would they have done if he decided not to show? Anyways, I could go on. Haha.
Ok, you got me. Gee, what can I say in my ignorance when you bring in the art behind it? The improv, all the decisions and last-minutes? Wow, I had no idea. And this was years ago so I don’t remember that he was married in the movie.
“Why do they both feel the need to have that relationship? What are they missing in their own lives.”
Awesome. I woulda loved you for an Eng lit student. =) Ha ha.
You have risen on the ladder of respect in my eyes.
Haha, I’m curious as to which rung I was on to start with! #babysteps
LOL! Don’t worry about it. If it was pretty low, remember it wasn’t about you and you can get over your bad self LOL. (Ex N Yorker talking. )It’s prolly some issues I had in my crazy inner world ha ha ha.
As to my staying your fav, well….I was thinking there are over 75 million of us on WP. I know my days are numbered.
But gratefully appreciate your favor I shall. (Ex-PA professional talking.)
LOL, ok! Don’t worry, you’re one in a 75 million.
LOL LOL
Too flattered.
Thanks, S.
*whisper. i know my days are numbered*
Haha, please don’t unfollow me either!
Also, is that what Bill Murray whispered to ScarJo at the end of the movie?!?!?
LOL
Don’t you have TV biz contacts to tap to find out?
=)
“the wild waltz of wind and rain” I liked that, very descriptive
Thanks, buddy. Wonderful, faithful reader.
I’m so glad you shared this tAste of your poetic meal x it is original and deeply insightful x
=) Really appreciate the thoughtful praise. Feels like you’ve been with me a lot longer, too.
Xxx
Diana
A green salad of a poem. Lovely. VW
Ha ha ha. Grew organically. π
that’s right….:)
puisi indah, dan saya sangat suka dengan daunnya
Ok, K…and what is it you said? =)
Beautifully crafted, with pleasing asymmetries and imagery. So much texture, Diana.
“pleasing asymmetries…so much texture.”
*Smiling* for the way you turn your compliments, Vic, esp because I refrained from the word “texture” that I came close to writing, as I wanted to show – not tell.
I quite appreciate the f u l l ness of the feedback. =)
D.
I delight in poetry that engages my senses as yours did. At times it is difficult to express exactly what it is that we do feel, but I didn’t want to pass through without at least attempting to do your poem justice.
“I didnβt want to pass through without at least attempting to do your poem justice.”
You really warmed my heart with the feedback, V, both time. This exchange is so precious. Thanks again.
Fondly,
Diana
As Keats would have it, “A thing of beauty is a joy forever: its loveliness increases; it will never pass into nothingness.”
Hope you’re having a wonderful week, Diana. x
With such well intentioned, meaningful input like yours how can I not??
Xx
D.
My turn to share my fav: ‘I feel the laugh lines on the Maple and swallow their history…’ I’m feeling this and it’s marvellous.
Huh, it is quite nice and helpful hearing someone’s fav! Thanks much, S. I can feel the way you took in the poem and it warms me.
Beautiful poem. For some reason it calms me. Love the phrase “the candor of time. . . “
Interesting. I wonder why it calms. =) Thanks for your faithful presence and the feedback.
Appreciate you.
D.
I love the way you use your carefully chosen words, the feel and taste of them , as well as the sound, the spaces, the breaks, the rhythms, alliteration, each carefully placed to evoke an emotional response. Beautiful.
Julia, I really appreciate that you saw, really saw the care in my crafting. What thoughtful feedback. Bless you. Thanks so much.
Writer to writer. =)
Diana
What a gorgeous ode-to writing, poetry, nature, beauty, Diana. I especially appreciate the luscious sensuousness of this piece, and your terrific use of onomatopoeia, alliteration, and juicy Images. Brava, my friend.
I love the bravA, Chloe – that attention to detail. *wink* Thoroughly appreciate the generous, thoughtful feedback.
Love,
D.
Beautiful poem, the words and photos blending together so well. Love the line “the leaves testify to all the seasons”.
=) Thanks, Randall. Appreciate your giving presence.
Diana
I read your words and they became in my mind – ballet shoes, pointed toes twirling across wet leaves, not stumbling – simply dancing. Thank you for sharing your beautiful talent.
AnnMarie
Interesting. And I love the ease of the dance you saw. Thank you so much for taking a moment, A.
Warmly,
Diana
You are most welcome, Diana. I love visiting your site – there is a true peacefulness surrounding the images and your words…
AnnMarie
Normally, I read a poem repeatedly simply to work it out. This one, I digested it and kept reading for pure enjoyment!
Sounds like it went down pretty well, M. =) Has left me feeling full. Hope it does the same.
Good to see you here.
=)
HW
Full indeed. What a treat it was! Thanks!
This is beautiful and soothing, Diana, and I love your descriptions and use of metaphors…just lovely!
Lauren
Thx, L. Nice to have you here. =)
D.
I do believe I solved the problem on my end. Thank you for taking the time to assist. It’s good to be back!
Would you clue me in so I can keep data for the future if what happened with you is part of a larger pattern? Were you unfollowed? Some have had that happen without their knowledge – incl my husband last yr – one realized she had done it by accident. Thanks for taking the time, GPC. =)
Diana
I know I was following you and suddenly I didn’t see you anymore – so I’m back on. This happened once before, with another blog I was following. Computer glitch I guess.
Loved the “laugh lines on the maple” and will have to check it out for myself next time I hold a maple leaf. And, that is why I love poetry…to experience something ordinary in a new way.
=) Appreciate the feedback, esp on the
ordinary.
Diana, I felt as though you brought us along for a lovely visit with old friends. Trees weave their roots into our hearts like no other part of the garden.
Blessings ~ Wendy β
“Trees weave their roots into our hearts like no other part of the garden. ”
Absolutely lovely. Am honored for such reflective gems as you leave me, Wendy. Still eyeing the post on the energy of the earth and trees. Hopefully in the next few months!
D.
Hello, fellow blogger! A peaceful day to you!
Congrats! You are nominated for the Wonderful Team Member Readership Award.
You can check Community of bloggers http://wp.me/p2EeT0-ow via @wordpressdotcom
Regards,
Nicci
Thank you for the regard. I have up on the sidebar No More Awards, Thank You.
Blessings,
HW
Diana, this is so beautiful! Love it, most especially this verse
“green ash have weathered the wild
waltz of wind and rain
hungry for the sun
they drink from the clouds”
π Hugs, Elizabeth
Feelin’ the luv!
*Grin* Thanks, E.
Very nice Diana. Really beautiful how you make the vivid comparison between the leaves of the tree and of yourself. I especially like this:
“run
with the life of dreams
that have nowhere to go but
back down to the
branch to the root
you don’t see”
π
Appreciate the feedback, my friend. =)
BRAVISSIMA! I love the first few lines the most. If this is the kind of poem I get to read, then I’d chew it all day long. I’d make a salad out of it. π
LOL! Organic. From the energy of the earth, its essence to yours.
=)
Hi – Thanks for visiting and liking my Post! I’m happy you did, for it’s provided me with an opportunity to discover your blog. You are indeed a wordsmith! Your poems are so beautifully crafted and so emotionally appealing. I have a lot to savour here, and so much to learn from. Thank you.
Shery, you bless me this day with your heartfelt words. I appreciate your letting me know something zinged you here. Welcome to this special community of thinkers. Thrilled and grateful you’ve joined us. Hope to talk again.
Diana
I think it is beautifully written.A very different perspective. π
Thanks. =) And I appreciate the follow. Welcome to this special community!
HW
I’m looking forward to reading more π
Love love love! I could feel it, hear the crunch and taste it. I love when that happens..like I was trailing behind not too far.
Thank you, O. Must say I love the feedback.
Stunning words. It grabs the reader up right from the start. β€
Thanks for the golden praise and the follow. =) Welcome to this special community of thinkers.
HW
Thank you π
Thank you!
I have nominated you for liebster award.
Check it out: https://itsmayurremember.wordpress.com/2014/05/24/liebster-award/
Thank you. I do have the No More Awards, Thank You up on my sidebar. Congrats, btw.
HW
What a great poem! This is my favorite part:
“i feel the laugh lines on the maple
and swallow their history –
this one, curled copper
like rusted edges but it’s
just the candor of time ”
“the candor of time”……..I just loved that.
Blessings,
Theresa
Hey thanks for letting me know, Theresa. =)
Xx
Diana
there you go π this is really inspiring Diana π
Ha ha ha thanks for being here, Chris.
*Pat hand*
D.
Wonderful, I love it π
Thanks so much, W.
Beautiful -Cheers J
Thanks for the ongoing support. =)
Just like leaves… As we let go, we can embrace the next season. Your poem conjured up perseverance with beauty!
Love what you reflect back to me, Deb. Unless a kernel of wheat dies…right?
Life is persevering with that next step.
Thank you.
Love,
Diana
This is beautiful thanks for sharing. Kat
Appreciate the golden word, K.
Diana
Diana, this why I continually come back to read. Your talent is beyond description. It is so refreshing to see your mind in these lines.
You are beautiful, Beth. Thank you.
Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
I could wish there were two of you so your hubby and boy have more and we have more.
Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha
A part of me would just love that and the other part recognizes one of me in this world is enough, what with my weaknesses and temperament.
You’re too much.
This is one of my favorite poems of yours that I’ve read so far. ‘…the life of dreams
that have nowhere to go but
back down to the
branch to the root
you don’t see…’ The writing that doesn’t get done? The art that remains unexpressed?
Yes, dear J, one
of the dreams.
Grateful for the sweet, sweet word you leave me.
A lovely piece of work for which I give you thanks for sharing. I enjoyed it very much.
=) The thanks go the other way around.
Gorgeous, as always.
Thanks, my friend. Feels like we’ve been together a long, long time, by the way. =)
Diana
Agreed! π Some people it’s just quite easy to connect with. You are one of them π
Well, also the fact that you are one sociable gal. =)
Mistress of words, so many beautiful metaphors here. I particularly love, “veins visible like these
that inscribe my hand,” π
Quite the commendation, D. Thanks so much.
Love,
Diana
β€
I love this.
Thank you. =)
Diana