Thursday, August 25, 2016

Potpourri



In a large bowl, I arrange the dried leaves
And brittle pine cones inked by blazing sun 
Here is the bark of the tree, stamped with ash
A red flower stolen, plucked for lady's hair
And bay leaf, sprinkled of coriander seeds
Here's a purpled husk, bereft of buzzing insects
A white flower fluffy with vanilla flax
And curl of tamarind pod, stiff with long ago rain

I hold skin of yesterday's summer days 
thin parchment, furling under blue-grey sky 
.... and the fragrance of you


Posted for D'verse Poets Pub - OpenLinkNight, Hosted by Bjorn Rudberg.

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27 comments:

  1. I do love the scents you mix in this... and how you end it all. Just wonderful in the way it blends..

    curl of tamarind pod, stiff with long ago rain ... so exotic and yet so real.

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  2. I hold skin of yesterday's summer days
    thin parchment, furling under blue-grey sky
    .... and the fragrance of you


    My goodness, this is soo beautiful!! ❤️

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  3. Grace, your poem is beautiful, aromatic and it has wonderful muted colours. I can picture that 'curl of tamarind pod, stiff with long ago rain' and those final lines are just so tender:
    'I hold skin of yesterday's summer days
    thin parchment, furling under blue-grey sky
    .... and the fragrance of you'

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  4. wonderfully woven words :)

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  5. First of all, it's beautiful. But I especially like the way some of the words carry extra meaning, as it applies to emotions and personality ... like "brittle," "bark," and "husk" to further describe the way you feel.

    I always like the idea of skin being parchment.

    I think this is my favorite section:
    "Here's a purpled husk, bereft of buzzing insects
    A white flower fluffy with vanilla flax"

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  6. love how each fragrant offering to your potpourri becomes metaphor for memories.

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  7. This line is so sad to me: "I hold skin of yesterday's summer days." I'm not ready for summer to be "yesterday" yet. I haven't had enough of it even as others complain about the heat and long for fall.

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  8. This has the scent & feel of Zen moments, sensual, fire with color & pungency. You had me at /fluffy with vanilla flax/.

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  9. I always love your poems painted with beautiful images. Love this.

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  10. Lovely piece. I like the different scents you brought together.

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  11. The last lines caught me so much into it...somehow the first stanza brought many beautiful mixed media paintings t my mind...beautiful!

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  12. This one speaks to me of memory and the holding tight to the good ones, as a chef does a recipe. The first portion a list of ingredients combining, the last lines the goods made from the ingredients. Food will not last as long as the memory. (hopefully ergo not a perfect analogy)

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  13. Love this! I can see and smell this. Lovely, Grace. Evocative.

    Jane...won't take wordpress.

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  14. I hold asking of yesterday's summer days ---- that bowl of potpourri. This just makes me sigh. And I love the choices you've made for the bowl of potpourri. What a lovely way to begin my day -- tipping my first morning cup to you, Grace. :)

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  15. I really like "I hold skin of yesterday's summer days" - lovely writing, Grace.

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  16. The scents at play, creating a lasting day

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  17. Wonderful words. Thank you for sharing this

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  18. I love the second stanza. Hope you're doing fine, Grace.

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  19. Lovely title ... and the poem: so evocative - fragrance being so wonderfully imbued with memories. You really captured the "gift" of scent in this!

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  20. What a potpourri of words. :-) Reading the piece was as zen-like as putting the ingredients together.

    ~imelda

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  21. Rich with fragrance--so lovely and alluring.

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  22. The simple items we touch or smell that brings a memory to life. Beautiful.

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  23. Amazing, the scents we blend that trigger nostalgia... loved this.

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  24. You just make me want to go back to all the summers before and gather things and make my own potpourri. :)

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  25. When I was in the SHU (solitary), I used to tear the perfume samples out of magazines and rub them on my pillow, so I could smell the scent of a woman as I went to sleep.

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