wings, late summer

Gold cherry
Poem of the week

By Di_Hard

Sun, 15 Sep 2019
  • 4708 reads
18 comments
 

Blue mussel shell halves

sea and sky,  within

shining nacre clouds

water colours burst

bloom, rainbows prism-

prison free. Eight swifts

rejoicing in space

shrill, thrill, high of song

as distance (their blood

past Earth's magnet-pull)

slight as iron filings

or grit. From the porch

we watch, till pearls form

fresh from Heaven, fall.

 

~

 

As if the wall lives

gives birth, from all cracks

in sun warmed stone swarm

black dots of workers -

minds no longer tied

to footprint patterns

of the ant infront -

as ground crew bustle,

existence counting

down to this half hour

             

new hatched Queens' untried

wings catch rainbows from

untouchable light,

hard wired to flight through

egg cache, pupa creche

now in sudden space

turn, fine tune instinct

with reality

contact! each limb, stretch

possibilities,

Take Off! 

                 But, I read

they chew their wings off

after mating, and

never fly again.

                 Guess the wall's inside.

 

~

 

 Flowers' love letters

flickering, orange

painted ladies in

sun semaphore flocks

frail yet enduring

as first memories

of a kiss - winged through

city air and salt

bright-broke; far flew here

found unchecked grace, this

self-sown buddleia

in purple welcome

growing anywhere

we let it, like Hope.

 

 

Certificate U
Poem

Comments

Submitted by skinner_jennifer on

A beautifully mastered perspective of what you are seeing Di. I imagine this is nature at its height from your garden.

Reminded me of those flying ants we've seen in our back garden, yet not as many as other years.

As always some great metaphors too.

Jenny.

 

 

Submitted by Di_Hard on

Thankyou so much for your kind comment Jenny :0) I have been trying and trying to get this right. The butterfly bit is about a patch of ground just along across the road from us, it is a beautiful bit between houses which has gone wild - it looks like the garden of Eden with the sea below. It started off bare earth but since we have been living here it has become thick with selfsown plants, and is wonderful to watch in the sunshine. I persuaded my partner to come out as it is very near, to see the butterflies, but then noticed all the ants on the wall I was leaning on! And there were ants all down the road when I went shopping later, too. I am not sure if they go so high that the swifts catch them though.

 

Submitted by Jane Hyphen on

This starts off like a painting I'd like to own and then zooms in like a drone on the microcosms which exist all around us. A wall may appear dead but on warm days watch carefully and it really does give birth. I remember holidaying a North Wales and seeing lizards in the stone walls. You have written with such a light touch, this piece is very visual to me. Those buddleias like hope, I've seen them growing out of black tunnels in Birmingham New Street station!

 

Submitted by Di_Hard on

Thankyou for your lovely comment Jane. There were lizards in my Dad's vegetable garden when I was very little, but they all disappeared, sadly. I thought they were baby dragons :0) Far coast of Wales is magic isn't it? the amount of creatures it still has -when we went on holiday there about 20 years ago, the noise of the insects, the air was full it was almost frightening, intense how much life there was, dragonflies, hoverflies, butterflies, um flies :0) I remember seeing buddleia at New St too :0)

 

Submitted by Rhiannonw on

I thought the beginning like a painting and visualised you sitting on the doorstep seeing the scene of sky and sea. I wonder if the slight pull of the earth's magnetism guides them on their long migration?

And then turning to watch the tiny busyness on the ground. It's interesting that the queen, after enjoying flight, is 'content' to settle down again, grounded! And the pretty buddleia seems like a magnet to the butterflies.

Enjoyed the report of your noticing eyes! Rhiannon

 

Submitted by Di_Hard on

Thankyou so much for reading and commenting Rhiannon :0) I saw the swifts when walking back from shopping one day, and my partner and I stood on the porch watching them till it started to rain and we got wet! Then the next day was beautiful, still and sunny and I saw the butterflies on the buddleia and the ants on the way back from the woods. It was as though everything was suddenly flying :0) I can't really see swifts as too far away, dots  for me, the poem you wrote about them in that bit of water in the carpark is perfect to me.

 

Submitted by Insertponceyfre... on

I'm not sure if there's anything complementary left to say that hasn't already been said Di -so I'll just add that I loved it too

 

Submitted by Di_Hard on

Thankyou very much Insert :0) I am so glad you like it, and I hope I will not want to keep faffing with it anymore. It was a special 2 days. Thankyou very much for the cherries too :0)

 

Submitted by Stephen Thom on

Beautiful diction, original phrases and compund words ('rainbows prism-prison free', 'salt bright-broke', 'sun semaphore flocks' - this invention and musicality is one of my favourite parts of your poetry) and control imbues this with life, movement, sound and colour; a vibrant, wonderful piece. Great work as ever Di

 

Submitted by Di_Hard on

Stephen thankyou SO MUCH  :0) I was feeling very worm like today, and your amazingly kind comment has made me feel better

 

Submitted by Insertponceyfre... on

This is our Poem of the Week - Congratulations!  

It's also our Facebook and Twitter Pick of the Day. Please share/retweet if you enjoyed it too.

Picture Credit:https://tinyurl.com/y5m3foxx

 

Submitted by Di_Hard on

Oh Insert, Thankyou! You have cheered me right up. Thankyou.

 

Submitted by luigi_pagano on

How could I have missed this gem, Di? I am now glad that it appeared on the front page and I was able to savour its brilliance. I concur with the fulsome praise that the poem has received and congratulate you on being awarded the double honours of Pick of the Day and of the Week. yes

Luigi x

 

Submitted by Di_Hard on

Thankyou very much for reading and your lovely comment Luigi. I am very grateful to be pod and pow too.  I have been trying to do the reading aloud thing but so far am sounding like Mrs May on helium. With a stutter. A long way to go before am as clear as you

 

Submitted by onemorething on

Breath-taking imagery. Quite stunning. :)

 

Submitted by Di_Hard on

Thankyou Onemorething :0) It is great to see you have written something new!

 

Submitted by writesdown stuff on

Di_Hard - I can see why this earned the recognition it did. What more can I say, except; did anyone else have to Google nacre? 

 

 

Submitted by Di_Hard on

Thankyou very much for your lovely comment  Writesdown. I'm always having to google words from people's writing on here :0)