Oct 14, 2015 Original Poetry, Writing 201
A Cold Christmas Pine-Tree
(Writing 201, Day 9: Shape Poem/Anaphora/Epistrophe/Symploce)
©October 14th, 2015
By Vijaya Sundaram
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‘Tis
Almost winter.
And chill will soon set in
And bitter snow will quickly fall
Before the Fall comes
Tumbling down, before the leaves
Come tumbling down,
Before green apples turn to brown, before
Our smiles turn into frowns, when bitter
Cold will curl your hair, your skin, and then, with
Blank confusion, you’ll begin to
Layer up, and slide down streets, and find that you can chatter
With your mouth clamped shut,
And what you say, or dream, or write, or think won’t matter.
Too soon will pine-trees don the frost
Of tinsel, paper flakes of snow, and lights of gold with pride and joy
And hope and peace and love enwrapped.
And shining gifts will glow beneath, a star above,
Who cares a whit if you seek and find your love of Soul
In other domains, other spirits, other lands? Who cares a whit?
That matters not!
This matters–not
What you say, but
What you are by
Night or day — a
Shining, lovely star!
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Tags: #Love, #Soul, anaphora, christmas, Christmas tree, cold, epistrophe, fall, gifts, joy, Pine-tree, shape poem, Shape Poetry, spirit, star, symploce, Winter chill
Oct 3, 2015 Original Poetry
Fall Wealth: Five Faltering Haiku — written in a soporific daze.
©October 3rd, 2015
By Vijaya Sundaram
Tender the promise
Bulbs bearing spring in their roots
The gladness of growth.
Tulips, daffodils
Tight as little fists in bags
Raise a hue and a cry.
Biting roses, fierce
Fighting, thorny, so fragrant
I swoon, and get pricked.
Echinacea blooms
So pretty, so gay, but oh,
Deadly dull their names!
Tomorrow, go forth
Seek that herald of harvest:
Autumn’s fragrant breath.
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Tags: #Autumn, #haiku, Autumn's tread, fall, Growth, Miles Davis plays "These Autumn Leaves", Wealth
Oct 2, 2015 Daily Life, Ramblings and Musings
So, after a long, long spell of dryness and crackling heat and dust, we’ve had a spell of three rainy days.
And it’s darker and darker earlier and earlier outside.
Usually, I have ambivalent feelings about autumn because of that, but I love that frisson in the air when it’s colder, and the leaves get golden and red (as they’re starting to do, finally).
This fall, I’m thinking of planting ginger and curry leaves indoors, in our downstairs bathtub-converted-into-a-grow-space-with-grow-lights-and-planting-containers. I hasten to assure you that I didn’t convert the bathtub into a grow-space, lest you gasp at my imagined multitude of skills — it was my husband, the amazing handyman at home, who did that. And outside, in our various beds in the front yard, I plan to plant the following fall crops:
- Beets
- Garlic
- Turnips
- Radishes
- Carrots
- Spinach
- Lettuce
- Kale
- Mustard greens
- Swiss chard
- Cabbage
We’ve grown so much this summer already — heaps and heaps of tomatoes (which are still growing, but not as lushly as half a month ago), heaps and heaps of green beans (and those are still growing), broccoli, cabbage, some not-as-prolific green peppers and eggplants, and lots of green and chillies! We do not really want to spend grocery money on store-bought veggies, which cost more for less. We like our food fresh from the vine or bush or plant. It tastes like one’s own heaven on earth. Our front yard, and garage-top container vegetable garden (also created by my beloved) is tight in terms of space, and our home is on a small, small plot of land in an semi-urban setting, but this garden does its job with pride and purpose.
I also want to plant bulbs before October goes — daffodil and tulip, crocuses, iris, narcissus. This weather is helpful. I neglected the fall flower-planting aspect of the garden for the past few years, and when spring came, our garden looked sad, with a few straggly tulips and daffodils here and there. The summer was much better, and things looked prettier. Vegetables always do well, but flowers? They require a lot of care and thought, and I hadn’t had the time for that. Now, I shall.
Fall is here, and it’s filled with hope: I shall plant, and I shall sing, I shall write, play music, and cook delicious food, and I shall learn to bake nice things for my family.
I thank the forces in this universe that aligned just right to make this time of freedom open its doors for me. From having lived long enough and seen some poverty and sadness, I know that things can change rapidly, that times can be replaced with bad in the blink of an eye, and one cannot rest too easy on one’s happiness, and yet … I am happy. If things go bad, I will remember the good times, and when things are good, I’ll focus on keeping them so, and sharing them.
Thanks for reading!
~Dreamer of Dreams
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One of my favorite poems of all time by John Keats:
| Francis T. Palgrave, ed. (1824–1897). The Golden Treasury. 1875. |
| J. Keats |
| CCLV. Ode to Autumn |
Tags: #Autumn, #Contentment, Beauty, fall, Family time, flower and vegetable garden, memories to store, season of mists, time of happiness, time of plenty