Tuesday, April 6, 2021

{happiness}


i pluck happiness

from a pot of soil

it was wet from April rain

dazzling as first cherry bloom


i wash its

plumb leaves gently & encased it in glass

an ivory in perfect repose & sunshine 

muffling all the sadness in the rooms

but in the coming days


it was a dying 

flower shedding its petals

blackening roots

shrinking

losing its colors, spice & flavor


quietly, it begged to be released

as a monarch butterfly

as a wild bird

uncaged, unfiltered, unmarked


over the back yard

& out into the sky

i toss it like a ball

of dragon fire

hissing above the pine trees


{i heard laughter}



In response to my original post:    {sadness}

Posted for dVerse Poets Pub - Poetics - Flipping Meanings.  Join us when the pub doors open at 3pm EST.


11 comments:

  1. This is gorgeously, gorgeously rendered, Grace! Wow! I love; "an ivory in perfect repose & sunshine muffling all the sadness in the rooms." The poem serves as a perfect flip, as a twin to your poem 'sadness.'💝💝

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  2. This flipping lends itself well to your poetry, Grace. I especially love the lines:
    ‘i pluck happiness
    from a pot of soil
    it was wet from April rain’.

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  3. Grace, I need to absorb this one before moving on to its opposite. I love how you released the shrinking flower!

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  4. you make even sadness beautiful
    "watercolors my hours

    & underlines my little joys"

    and happiness is almost wrecked until release because you muffled out its twin

    the thematic links these two but you did wonders with the flips too

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  5. I think this works very well as a reverse poem, as it can certainly be read as a stand-alone work and is beautiful in and of itself. Skilfully done!

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  6. This piece flows beautifully. The last stanza gives me chills. Very writgerly and expertly crafted. Well done!

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  7. I absolutely LOVE this poem, and the liberation of the bloom (I heard laughter). Just spectacular. You are very tuned in to the non-human realm. I wish more people were.

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  8. I only liked this poem a lot until I clicked on the Sadness link, at which point I was totally Ga-gaaaa.

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  9. Wow... I think... I... like this one more than the first, and it's a really close call, Grace.

    Yours,
    David

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  10. A very nice flip Grace! I love this image...
    i toss it like a ball

    of dragon fire

    hissing above the pine trees

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  11. Ah Grace....for me your writing always sits beautifully in my mind as I silently read it aloud. Beautifully done here with the prompt.

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