Photo: almosteden.com
Banks of Star Jasmine,
intoxicating fragrance
borne on April breeze.
Oh, Queen of the Nile,
dazzling purple blossoms
ready to explode.
Photo: easytogrowbulbs.com
I have limited Internet access for a few days. Will return visits when I get back home. Happy Open Link Night!
Photo Credit: jeunited.com
I found an actual photo of the house my grandfather built on Google! I lived there till age 7.
4622 Castle Crest Drive–dVerse Open Link Night and Meeting the Bar
She rules—pristine white, glorious
as a crown on the skull of the hill.
Alone, inviolate. The stuff of which
childhood myths are made.
And I wove those stories, weave them still,
envisioning dry days of California summer,
days steeped, like my first glass of iced tea,
in sunshine, scrub brush, and scents of citrus.
Geranium blooms, red and slightly pungent
grow wild among yuccas that, most years, burst
into white blossoms on March 19th, St. Joseph’s day.
Predictable as the swallows coming home.
Eucalyptus trees surround my fortress,
stanchions holding the house and our lives
erect, until the day the fires trundle up
the ridge, and they erupt in rapture.
The room where I wake—beneath the crest—
Is the home of an almost-stranger—a man
who wears a sheet each year on Halloween as
Grandpa takes me door-to-door in his neighborhood
that cradles the base of my princess-world.
It’s different now, sixty-some years later. They’re
dead, the ghost and my dreams of royalty.
And someone painted my castle black.
I’m linking this to both dVerse Open Link Night and the Meeting the Bar I will be hosting this Thursday, February 7th. While dealing with computer issues and upgrades, I’ve made the difficult decision to cut back on the number of posts I do each week, as my priority right now is to get my second novel and a book of poetry out to agents. I will continue to be hanging around the Pub, but will post any prompt I respond to on OLN.
Here’s a hint for Thursday…dig back into those childhood memories and savor the details.
Tuolumne Meadows (Photo credit: mcbridejc)
i.
In the Central Valley
grape vines stretch
like languorous lovers,
soak sweetness
from California sun,
shrivel,
become raisins–
ii.
while in (October)
wine country to the north
acres of gold
and scarlet leaves
shelter clusters of their counterparts;
juicy fruit waits
for harvest.
Swirl, inhale, taste
flavor-laden Zinfandel.
Light shines through goblets,
backlights Earth’s blood.
iii.
Stretches of desert
undulate,
overwhelm the unwary
who prowl in search of
gold
or God,
find instead
green chrysolite
or Satan.
iv.
Half Dome beckons,
climb me!
Below his façade
Tuolumne Meadows sprawl,
carpets of wildflowers
flaunt their palette,
entertain bears and bucks.
v.
Pacific—not always true
to her name—churns,
swells, caresses, collides
with miles of costal sand
and craggy cliffs
which drown in contented abandon
to her moods.
This poem is just a beginning draft–I hope to expand on the theme. Shawna at Flipside Records offers words for inspiration and I thank her for getting my muse in gear. I’m linking this to dVerse Open Link Night, where many talented poets join to share their words in the wonder of poetry. Stop by, read, enjoy and comment.
Image by paraflyer via Flickr
A bit of a tongue-in cheek offering for dVerse Poetics in which we are asked to write a Taboo poem…not something that I’m comfortable with. But here it is. Check out some more poetry to get your blood boiling at http://dversepoets.com and thanks to Sheila Moore and Kellie Elmore for shoving us out of our comfort zones.
welcome to
nevada
home of cowgirls
and cowboys
home of the
used-to-be-free-
thinking folk
like me
beholden to none
no government
handouts please
wide open space
the land and the
mind—mining
libertarian ideas
(although I don’t
like the idea of
legalizing marijuana
I tried it once
but didn’t inhale)
personal responsibility
means not spending
money you don’t have
and caring for
those in need because
it’s the right thing
to do
welcome to nevada
if you dare
reminder
this is not
california
deal with it.
Nevada has always been known for its independent spirit until the last few years. Leading the pack in legalizing gambling, prostitution, strong libertarian leanings, we polled 12% for Ron Paul in the last presidential election. Recently demographics have changed. Builders over-populated our cities so that we lead the country in foreclosures. There has been an influx of people who could no longer afford life in California and who came here in search of better things but then defaulted on their loans. Nevada also leads the country in unemployment (13.4% as of Aug.2011) since in time of economic distress, tourism is waning and tax revenues have declined. We are hurting. I’ve been here since 1993 and, yes, I’m one of those “Californicators.”
An important part of my belief system comes from the Native American tradition of respecting one another’s Sacred Point of View. Let’s do it!
Image by °Florian via Flickr
Submitted to Poetry Potluck: http://jinglepoetry.blogspot.com/ where the theme for this week is Traveling, Trips, Vacations. This poem was written last year on our return trip to Reno in May.
I-395 Mojave to Reno
Opening lines of poems
I would write
if I didn’t have to drive:
The Artist slopped his paint
across the Mojave Desert…
Purple and yellow, orange and blue,
complementary palettes…
A mound of red and black lava:
a dinosaur slipping into extinction…
Owen’s lake in cool colors:
blue on blue, silver white…
The difference between stark and extravagant =
January + 4 months – winter…
Snow presides on Mount Whitney
while Lone Pine lounges in its shadows…
To be continued
or completed.
Victoria C. Slotto, Author 