Sound and Silence–Poetic Bloomings, Day 3

Day 4 at Poetic Bloomings PAD Challenge: “And I Quote Summer,” asks us to paint comparisons.

Sound and Silence

Summer sings of river’s flow,
the buzz of bees and,
if you but listen closely, growing grass.
At night, crickets call insistently,
seeking a mate.
A blue jay squawks counterpoint
to robins trill.

We hear groans of air-conditioners
or, through our open windows,
the long, long, short, long wail
of trains heading toward the East.

Out in the yard, children’s laughter
fills us with such memories of our own.
And on her porch an aged spinsters tells
her stories to anyone who passes by
while neighbors spread the news
across the fence.

When winter comes, then silence will ensue—
‘tis time to go within
and wait.

Photo: David Slotto

Photo: Victoria Slotto

perfection isn’t

Photo: arievendervelden.com

perfection isn’t

raucous stellar jay punctuates the silence

sets ablaze the dead maple with electric blue.

 

i miss the lauds of mockingbird

humbly clothed in gray and white.

Photo: Wikipedia

Linked to dVerse MTB where we are playing with contrasts.

the grand small vastness of it all

Photo: Totomai Martinez
Used with Permission

there is such loveliness out in the wild.
(and i have fear of heights
and of small, closed in spaces.)

were i to fly,
i’d mount on wings of egret
or of eagle.

to span the breadth of freedom,
circle in a rhythmic dance above
wide open skies and crystal waters.

(for cities—i eschew the crowds),
i’d flee to mountain slopes
of flowering lavender and paper-whites,

and walk in fields of wild grass
and poppies, brilliantly adorned
in colors—Wordsworth’s meadow—

then open wide that span of wings
to swirling winds that rise
and thus within those arms

i’d surf in pure abandonment
the currents
of the breath of life until

beside a calm, still lake
i’d wait, alone, for death to come
then gently,

in the early morning light
go back to earth
once more to nourish all that is to be.

For the prompt at dVerse Poetics please join us to view and be inspired by the amazing photography of Totomai Martinez. It would be hard to miss the poetry in his work. Thank you, Mary, for sharing prompt this with us. And special thanks to this talented photographer.

The doors open Tuesday at 12:00 EST.

Circle of Life

Photo Credit: Fine Art America

I clear out dead leaves—skeletal remains,
unearth a pattern, lace-knit life forms.

Alone in dank earth, (rank, pungent) a seedling
gestates, waits to manifest the beauty of bloom.

Gentle rays of sun awaken bird song, too early perhaps,
for the old man writhing in sweat-stained insomnia.

Across the way, on a rolling hillside, a pregnant ewe
bleats in pain, births dabs of white on green.

You open to the moment, offer your nectar,
then withdraw, leaving me alone in darkness.

Soon I shall return to the mouldering earth,
in an array of colors, flowers painting the world in joy.

Photo Credit: yaymicro

Linked to dVerse Poetics where we’re asked to write beauty, perhaps with a contrast element of the apparently-not-so-beautiful. But would we have the one without the other? Hope you will join us at the Poets’ Pub.

I invite you to Link any Father’s Day Poem you have written here. The Link will be open until Monday 5:00 PM PDT.

Monday Morning Writing Prompt–Contrast

Image by maureen lunn via Flickr

For today’s prompt I would like to turn to a tool that painters use in creating visual art: contrast. Contrast refers to the differences in color, value, texture, shape and so forth that add depth and excitement to the work. Without contrast, the outcome would be boring, monotonous. And so it is with life, don’t you agree?

I invite you to write a contrast poem or short piece of prose. You can work with color, opinions, light and dark–any two opposing concepts that you choose. Here’s mine:

Chiaroscuro*

Under a shade tree
the Buddha laughs. Sunspots dance
on his fat belly.

*Chiaroscuro: the artistic use of light and shade: the use of light and shade in paintings and drawings, or the effect produced by this.

Please link your poem in the comments section of this post and visit others who participate. Have fun with it.

The painting in the image is by abstract expressionist, Rothko.