Yellow roses bloom -
You follow me to the park
Hide behind columns;
We play games of hide and seek.
You award me one plucked rose.
A yellow sundress
Matches my hair in sunlight;
Yellows dazzle you.
Piano practice room, you
Listen as I play Mozart.
Coffee and music--
Day follows night fluidly.
We drink and dance words--
Pile high, curl around fingers
Melodies fill the spaces.
Beads of passion red--
Birthday request, I recall.
Summer ends, new starts,
What a lot of push and pull.
Fall leaves with letters posted.
Ribbons come untied;
Reasons lost in loneliness.
Red wine poetry--
English, French and Latin words
Penned against folk-tuned guitars.
Your heart beats movies
My mind winds in a rhythmic song.
You get lost, me too--
Then we're together again
The world's always faster then.
Repeating patterns
Bright sunny days, cloudy nights
Separate paths weave;
Life lines crossing each other
Like strings of sunflower chains.
© Gay Reiser Cannon * 10/30/11* All Rights Reserved
© Gay Reiser Cannon * 10/30/11* All Rights Reserved
Posted today for Lady Nyo's article on Man'yoshu at dVersePoets. Please click to read, and enjoy!
Reposted for Victoria's color prompt on Poetics 9/5/11 at dVersePoets. Thanks everyone!
Oh lucky day!! I may be FIRST commenter on one of the best poems ever written.
ReplyDeleteRed wine poetry (can relate.) :) But actually this morning it's still coffee. And the music in my head and heart.
Fall posts letters to spring perhaps? Spring will sleepily open them and remember to turn green again. :)
Ahhhhh, whoever reads this poem is getting a wonderful gift. Thanks. And next summer I'll make me a yellow sun dress.
xoxo
Dear Jannie - How kind of you to write this - I am quite overwhelmed. Everyone should have a yellow sundress. It probably will change your life. And (if you review an older poem of mine) a pair of red high heels. Clearly not to be worn together, but because they compliment something in a woman that few other things can do. Each in one way or another can transform one's inner self into an outer work of art because they bring out something basic, essentially woman in us! I'm so happy you loved this tanka sequence I wrote for Lady Nyo's article on the Man'yoshu!
ReplyDeletethis is so tender and full of longing and still loneliness echoes from between the lines...much loved...Red wine poetry--
ReplyDeleteEnglish, French and Latin words
Penned against folk-tuned guitars.....this is so fricking good gay...
Thank you Claudia. Prized words from you. I learn from you each time I read your work.
ReplyDeletesmiles....i love love and the playfulness in this relationship...ackowledging the similarities and differences...life lines cross each other like strings of sunflower chains...nice...
ReplyDeletegreat piece by lady nyo today too!
Thanks Brian. She is so steeped in this information. It's wonderful to read her work after having this background. Well it's wonderful to read her work anyway. Thank you so much for all you do at dVersePoets and your support of the community!
ReplyDeleteBeautiful, Gay... I love the vibrant colors changing like the seasons... of love.
ReplyDeleteYes Laurie, thank you, the seasons of love continue to turn and change. To every season a purpose under heaven!
ReplyDeleteYou know yellow is my favourite colour :)
ReplyDeleteThese words are simply dripping with bright hues...
"We play games of hide and seek.
You award me one plucked rose."
There is a sense of fun and playfulness!
I would love to try to work some words around the syllable count of Tanka...I think it would be a big challenge, but a rewarding one given the time.
This is such a beautiful example.
Yes, Suzy - I enjoy these syllabic count poems..haiku, senryu, tanka and shadorma. It forces me to compress my loquaciousness into something spare and hopefully meaningful (smile). I would love you to try this.
ReplyDeleteValerie would like this one esp. because it is about yellow. Remember that yellow sundress she wore as a toddler? She still has it!
ReplyDeleteSuch an amazing poem. I think all verses come around this perfect stanza:
ReplyDeleteRibbons come untied;
Reasons lost in loneliness.
Red wine poetry--
English, French and Latin words
Penned against folk-tuned guitars.
Thank you for this wonderful night, Gay :)
Life lines crossing each other
ReplyDeleteLike strings of sunflower chains.
is jsut an amazing image
@Nancy - I hope she can read it. Valerie is the picture of yellow in my mind. (btw I have on a yellow shirt right now!-ha)
ReplyDelete@Aida Bode - it is at the center. I fretted it had no color reference but didn't want to change it.
@zongrik - Moving season to season..roses to sunflowers..daisy chains to sunflowers crossing our lives! Thank you for appreciating.
Oh so soft and rich. This is an absolute delight to read. It flows together and pulls the reader into the atmosphere. Astounding, truly.
ReplyDeleteBeth
what an interesting dance these tankas play with one another. they flow so beautifully intertwined with colors and music that traces the steps spun in this love dance.
ReplyDelete@Beth - Thank you. Such a compliment from you!
ReplyDelete@RMP - I was almost unaware of the musical references until you said so. Like Claudia, music is always in my mind, and in my relationships.
'Melodies fill the spaces' exactly captures what's so wonderful about this poem. I'm glad I get to learn from you before I try tanka. Lovely work!
ReplyDeleteThis is so vibrant, and bright and colorful yet with such deep longing.
ReplyDeleteI love that you explored all the possibilities and emotions of the colour..."then we're together again" got me ~
ReplyDeleteBeautiful share~
Thank you Anna - seems like all of life is a melody in one way or another.
ReplyDelete@oceangirl - colors in spring and fall are so bright - they are the extroverted seasons, aren't they?
@Heaven - yes, this is an emotional poem for me. Thank you for your comments!
This is beautiful. This poem speaks of the ebb and flow of feelings, yet the bond is strong and tight. "Repeating patterns" - we all have them!
ReplyDeleteHow I love yellow. It is a colour of Royalty and done very well here!
ReplyDeleteHank
Beautiful, Gay. You keep the japanese feel, and yet embroider so richly within its confines, with your contemporary perspective--never out of place, falling naturally. Lovely and accomplished tankas, flowing like streams over the shining wet rocks of the ideas within them. They feel effortless and light as a leaf falling--yet I know they must have taken great skill to build so perfectly.
ReplyDeleteSo playful and I love how you can get lost in the things you love and unite again. It reminds me of one of my favourite songs...It's only the Beginning.
ReplyDelete@Mary - Thank you. The bond is pretty strong, ok!
ReplyDelete@Hank - I love yellow too. (& red is my birthstone color..July you know).
@Joy - You're so kind. Thank you for these words. I'm happy they behave that way for you. I loved yours as you know.
@pandamoniumcat - I never knew that song. I looked it up on youtube. Funny we used similar imagery! WOW. Thanks.
This is simply gorgeous - I love the bright thread of colour and love that runs through each stanza. It reads as a most genuine declaration of love.
ReplyDeleteAh Gay....you get it.
ReplyDeleteTanka confines....the pattern and limit of syllables, has a reason. It's like a piece of sushi....not a big, roiling stew!
I think tanka is especially a challenge to us Westerners...we are loquacious, big striding, we have mountains and praries to climb and explore, and all this 'room' is reflected in our general poetry. Now comes the restrictions of tanka and we chaff at the bit.
But you don't. You take these confines and make beautiful and evocative poetry. These yellow poems are about as fine a group of tanka as I have seen in modern poets. Each one would stand on its own, actually, but here we have a grouping that tells a lovely and haunting story.
Generally tanka is introspective, but these Somon pieces (in the Man'yoshu) are declarative, much more open. I think you have achieved a delicacy with your yellow ones that harkens back to the classical form, yet is a modern and satisfying as we can get today.
Excellent, and thank you again, Gay, for all that you do here....and there.
Poetry must breathe, and yours does.
Lady Nyo
Like strings of sunflower chains. One of many beautiful and lasting images. Them all I love. Thank you for introducting this style. A great example you have given.
ReplyDeletehttp://henryclemmons.wordpress.com/2011/11/04/toukon-the-fighting-spirit/
This is truly gorgeous writing. Delicate, yet earthy. A pleasure to read.
ReplyDeleteKerry - Thank you for the comment - yes life is a thread of color and memory for me, I think.
ReplyDeleteJane it is a pleasure to have you host this illuminating article. I know you have more to say about this and other forms. Maybe again after Christmas? another article?
Henry. Thank you for the compliment. I love how you are so faithful and each poem you write is so uniquely your own while incorporating the form or idea introduced.
Mama Zen - Thank you too. You're writing is also getting better and your voice more pronounced with each of your new writes. I appreciate that and that you came and linked.
wonderfully written poem, Gay! i love the way you describe the little details with such playful passion and make them really come alive.
ReplyDeleteI really like this stanza:
ReplyDelete"Ribbons come untied;
Reasons lost in loneliness.
Red wine poetry--
English, French and Latin words
Penned against folk-tuned guitars."
How we'd miss them, if the daisy-chain, looped lines never crossed...for they always have yellow at their centres...
ReplyDeletethis is exquisite, Gay! too many lines to quote ~ just stunning!
ReplyDeletedani
smiles...i already thought when i read it for the first time it would fit perfectly for the color prompt...enjoyed the re-read gay..
ReplyDeletenice...love the opening stanza...the playful hide and seek at the park and awarded a rose...so sweet and romantic...also the coffee and music stanza as they are two favs as well as curling up of course...smiles.
ReplyDelete@Rosemary, Jinksy, Claudia and Brian -
ReplyDeleteI couldn't resist keeping it up for the "color" prompt. It seemed a natural. Today is Ron's birthday and there is pay work to get done as well so I wouldn't have had time for another poem as there are none in the bank anyway. So it's lucky for me! Ha. Thank you for the kind remarks. So much appreciated.
heart warming sentiments,
ReplyDeletelove the thoughts of yellow, associated with park, nature,
way to go.
perfect sample.
Another beautiful/poignant interpretation of both prompts. You used yellow in a most effective way, to weave the threads of the story together. Love it, Gay.
ReplyDeleteThis was Ron's birthday poem - which is today by the way.
ReplyDeleteMy "flower" should be a daisy as my Baptismal name is Margaret and daisy is the diminutive for Margaret as the American daisy is known in Europe as a Marguerite (the tiny white flowers in the grass are what is known there as daisies).
However my mother adored Roses and collected and purchased many rose objects and fabrics woven with rose designs. I was heir to these things and her love of roses so the men in my life have always showered me with roses. I'm looking for a granddaughter to legacy them to. I may have found one, we'll see.
Ron's flower has always been the sunflower not only because he was born in Kansas and that is its state flower but because he genuinely loves them. Yellow is his favorite color (and one of mine - yellow topaz birthstone for November; ruby for July)..ergo...
A delicious, musical and moving poem, Gay-- you move us to enter into this dance among the living...xxxj
ReplyDeleteBeautiful images, and yellow dazzles me as well. :) Love this:
ReplyDeleteLife lines crossing each other
Like strings of sunflower chains.
A daisy chain of love poems, each a bouquet, a psalm, still emitting a memorable perfume from the leaves they are pressed in. Brilliant. - Brendan
ReplyDeleteThere is so much I love about this poem, but these lines are my favorite: "We drink and dance words--
ReplyDeletePile high, curl around fingers
Melodies fill the spaces." Your joy and love is so vivid I feel like it's my own memory.
I'm reading for a second time; really like how each stanza can stand on its own and with all the others add up to a more fully realized evocation of friendship and love.
ReplyDeleteopposites attracting ...
ReplyDelete''Bright sunny days, cloudy nights
Separate paths weave;
Life lines crossing each other
Like strings of sunflower chains.'
you've employed color, sound, and the, nature & the arts....you've done a lot of melding with complementary contrasts here.
lovely and well chosen words...it's musical.
good job.
The last two lines are perfect! ... the images dance along!
ReplyDeletelike strings of sunflower chains - awesome! what an enjoyable poem, Gay. hope you are well.
ReplyDeletecoffe n music stanza spoke to me real-like. excellent job and familiar form:) i tried it again. enjoyed this, as i do all ur work. off for some music n tea. too late for coffee.
ReplyDeletered wine poetry...I believe I have written a lot of it :) I like the how you used the color yellow...whatever comes there are those bright yellow spots in life...good job!
ReplyDeleteFine poem. The last verse: a stunner!
ReplyDeleteThis is beautiful and a pleasure to read.
ReplyDeleteSuch a wonderful day it is in your poem. :)
ReplyDeleteQuite stunning, this poem. It reminded me of a lifelong relationship of mine... well, going back to 8th grade:
ReplyDeleteSeparate paths weave;
Life lines crossing each other
It is a special bond to experience in one's lifetime, and this poem describes it in such a special way.
A beautiful dancing twirl of words.
ReplyDeletevery dynamic and beautiful piece.
ReplyDeletepleasant read.
:)
And redness too! Lots of nice images painted with words.
ReplyDeleteAuthentic and original. I love these lines:
ReplyDelete"Then we're together again
The world's always faster then."
Captivating!
ReplyDelete