Journal Entries
Poem: Transformation
Posted Aug 15, 2003
This is a "tree" poem from twenty years ago!
TRANSFORMATION
The wonder is a tree I've seen
all summer, suddenly transformed
from comfortable distance
into shattering beauty -
a brief passing, threatened
by the coming-on of winter's
wind-blown battering.
Cold will touch it too
with flat conventional snow.
Duty will have none of the blazing,
none of the heart-shaking leaf-whirl.
Stripped, responsible branches,
black, safe, respectable -
these are allowed to last.
But the russet-swirl,
the gusts, the sun-flecked fury?
Too untidy, unpredictable,
flurry falls and fades.
Leaves rot to fertilize
unplanted flower-beds.
The trouble is, I saw her so
transformed, all blazing,
golden-misted autumn-fire.
This leaf-spun spiraling too
must dance, must, must fall
and fade, must not disturb
our public park-swept paths.
The trouble is, a maple tree
transfigured in the fall.
Evening comes, wind drops,
leaves settle redly
with the heavy autumn sun.
The place, the park,
the vision parting
leaves me no peace.
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Latest reply: Aug 15, 2003
Wild Garden
Posted Aug 11, 2003
WILD GARDEN
This summer, surprisingly
For a Dublin garden, I saw
An enormous dragonfly
Black and golden, four
Inches long at least, settle
For a few glorious moments
On a convenient nettle.
My garden gets comments
Like, "How wonderfully wild"
Rather than, "Oh how nice."
I used to come here as a child
On Fridays. It was paradise.
My mother picked the flowers,
I ate raspberries and plums.
She spent happy hours
Pruning, I picked pips from my gums.
This summer I saw butterflies too,
(They love the rampant nettles,)
An orange-tip, and a smokey blue,
Tortoiseshells and peacocks on the petals
Of the wall valerian. You see weeds,
I see wild flowers. I agree
On one thing, planting seeds
In my garden leads to misery.
I'd love some lupins, hollyhocks
And big tree mallows. Slugs
Just eat them whole. My stocks
And lettuce seedlings fed the bugs
I would not douse with spray.
Pretty well-kept flowers in rows
As in my Mother's time
Or wilderness? The price you pay
( Is wildness a horticultural crime?)
For order, breed and colour grows
With every lurking weed you keep at bay.
( September 11th. 2001 series. )
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Latest reply: Aug 11, 2003
Grandchild Moves
Posted Aug 7, 2003
But the real news is that I've just heard that my youngest son's partner has just felt the first flutters of the 4-month baby within her womb. And they could just hear the heartbeat through a stethoscope. Magical, miraculous, heart-blastingly wonderful.
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Latest reply: Aug 7, 2003
Gloves...Haiku
Posted Aug 7, 2003
Driving, gardening,
White cotton, black silk or lace...
Handle with kid gloves.
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Latest reply: Aug 7, 2003
Asleep/Awake
Posted Aug 5, 2003
I'm not very quick
On the uptake,
But,
I'd rather be slow awake
Than fast asleep.
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Latest reply: Aug 5, 2003
chaiwallah
Researcher U219914
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