Tuesday, January 17, 2012

Experiencing Change (Poem)

Experiencing Change

We know of the rain burning
        the scent of orange blossom deep into skin,

five perfumed pistils like tiny fingers wagging
        their come-on to start new life. We know

of yellow stars tumbling to ground, teetering on pointe,
        their diamond-sharpened edges etching water the color

of blue ice. We know of valleys in the moon
        so capacious we must mime our own arms spreading

wide to contain their black depths. We know of the fold
        of too-sun-tanned leaves giving up their grip.

Here, now, we welcome sleep quartered into its seasons,
        let brain-stormed days break from fevered nights.

© 2012 Maureen E. Doallas

25 comments:

  1. The seasons of life. How profoundly different they are from each other.

    ReplyDelete
  2. I like "brain-stormed days" and "sleep quartered into its seasons."

    ReplyDelete
  3. Maureen, I love that it is entirely through images that you construct your poem. Also how "We know" keeps shifting its position within the line (which reminds me of the rhetorical strategy of MLK's "I have a dream" speech which I re-heard yesterday: the new dream, as in your poem's new "knowing," comes within the same breath as the close of the previous one, so that the reader is propelled onward). Magnificent.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Stunning images, Maureen - what a wonderful read! I love:

    rain burning
    the scent of orange blossom deep into skin


    and even more:

    yellow stars tumbling to ground, teetering on pointe,
    their diamond-sharpened edges etching water the color

    of blue ice.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Hi again, I thought google would put my full name with my comment above. So, in case you know lots of Peggys, it's me (oops, I): Peggy Rosenthal.

    ReplyDelete
  6. I was fairly certain it was you, Peggy. I must say I did not realize how I'd placed "We know" until you pointed it out. Entirely unconscious!

    Thank you all for the wonderful comments. They are much appreciated.

    ReplyDelete
  7. I love how you tantalize each of the senses with imagery and fragrance! A wonderfully lovely read!

    my latest
    http://magicinthebackyard.wordpress.com/2012/01/17/we-make-love/

    ReplyDelete
  8. great imagery especially the yellow stars

    ReplyDelete
  9. You beautifully captured the images of the changing seasons ~

    ReplyDelete
  10. some really great imagery as you step through those seasons of life maureen...

    ReplyDelete
  11. A great seasonal life trip, really evoked the feeling of each, nice!

    ReplyDelete
  12. Lovely phrasing throughout, especially liked the finger wagging come on of the pistils.

    ReplyDelete
  13. a whole different kind of garden.
    people usually feel better after the fever breaks.
    and
    i'm starting to think that there just may be more than four seasons.

    ReplyDelete
  14. Exquisite lyricism in this poem, Maureen-- I especially loved:

    We know

    of yellow stars tumbling to ground, teetering on pointe,
    their diamond-sharpened edges etching water the color

    of blue ice. We know of valleys in the moon
    so capacious we must mime our own arms spreading

    wide to contain their black depths. We know of the fold
    of too-sun-tanned leaves giving up their grip.

    An image-rich poems with exquisite facets! xxxj

    ReplyDelete
  15. Life ends up having many seasons, and one of them is fall too. I liked your thoughts ... and the way you have communicated. Thanks for sharing..

    Shashi

    ॐ नमः शिवाय
    Om Namah Shivaya
    http://shadowdancingwithmind.blogspot.com/2012/01/whispers-haiku-on-how-i-write-poetry.html
    At twitter @VerseEveryDay

    ReplyDelete
  16. Maureen, I love your use of language, particularly the stars "teetering on pointe, their
    diamond-sharpened edges etching water the color of blue ice."

    Lovely poem, lovely blog!

    ReplyDelete
  17. Your images always seem so free, so natural and yet so surprisingly fresh. They set one's mind in gyre painting them onto the canvas you provide in a different way in every poem. Here delicate orange blossoms glow exuding perfume, stars en pointe dance, and as they finish their grande jete the color the frozen winter blue and sing of frozen places on the moon. None of this I've ever seen, and yet I'm as certain of how it looks as if I'd seen them on some exotic trip. Always breathtakingly well done, Maureen. I've missed reading you! Thank you.

    ReplyDelete
  18. The way a poem begins, and especially the way it ends, its final thought, final statement, is so very important -- this piece ends brilliantly Maureen, bursting the mind open to ponder profound possibility...

    "Here, now, we welcome sleep quartered into its seasons,
    let brain-stormed days break from fevered nights."

    ReplyDelete
  19. Beautiful gift of a poem, Maureen. I grew up amongst orange groves and still have their blossoms burnt into my skin; thank you for that line in particular, and for "sleep quartered into its seasons."

    Bless you for the words.

    ReplyDelete
  20. a lovely way that you tie in the couplets and the images you create are spectacular to the vision. wonderful write ~ Rose

    ReplyDelete