Tuesday, August 2, 2022

In August

I. 

red is the torrid skin


bare to the summer sun

flesh turns beet red & tomato plump

hips swaying to the outdoor music festival

tongue devours the cool ice & wine, sweet

as peaches, plums and strawberries

golden yellow, dark velvet, earthly brown-

we celebrate ripeness in all its colors & spices


II.

red is the torrid sky


scorching the grass to dry pale paper

burning the borreal forest to ash & soot

the sky is smoking darkness during the day

the smell of destruction is invasive 

as gypsy moths, all that was vibrant and tall

are now burnt by growing wildfire in an instant

the charred soil is a reminder that death

stamps, entwining with life's abundance




Posted for dVerse Poets Pub - Poetics, Sometimes August isn't recognized, hosted by Sanaa Rizvi.  Join us when the pub doors open at 3pm EST.     During the summer months here in Canada (July to August), we get wildfires in the forests. It is a total destruction of homes and communities.  

22 comments:

  1. "the smell of destruction is invasive as gypsy moths,".. this is incredibly hard-hitting and poignant, Grace! It's so unfortunate those wildfires that bring destruction 😥 I can only imagine the tragedy that befalls those who are affected by it. Thank you so much for adding your voice to the prompt. 🌹

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  2. Excellent contrast here, and I love the link through the colour red.

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  3. sun burned skin and sun scorched earth....these two stanzas compliment each other so beautifully. We have frightening fires now in California...torrid skies indeed.

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  4. that anonymous is me, Lillian. sigh...why does it do that?

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  5. Red is the colour in so many places. I like how you move from the personal, the comfortable and enticing to the horror of the demon we've unleashed.

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  6. And the second Anonymous is Jane. This is Google nonsense. I already get quite enough WP nonsense...

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  7. The contrast is simply striking!

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  8. I love the contrast here. I'm sorry about the wildfires :(

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  9. I too like the contrast between the two stanzas. Nicely done.

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  10. The world around us is burning as we do our August summer dance. A great contrast in your poem Grace.

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  11. Brilliant poem. I loved the juxtaposition of life and death, of effervescence and finality running through the poem with red always in the background.

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  12. We are living with this dichotomy here in the Central Plains USA as well--so deftly compared in your two segments--only I'm afraid we have less of the first and more of the second. I really appreciate the skill you have used in both stanzas to bring a visual so vividly to life with words, and the last two lines of each do a perfect summing up.

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  13. The contrast here is striking. It seems we are left with making the most of less and less.

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  14. The contrast in your poems is palpable ... beautifully constructed, Grace.

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  15. The juxtaposition of the two realities is startling and hard-hitting. So much wisdom in the last two lines, Grace.

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  16. "we celebrate ripeness in all its colors & spices"
    Nice line

    Much💚love

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  17. blessings and disaster, so well described and contrasted

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  18. Both Sides Now, to borrow Joni Mitchell. August is all of these things, isn;t it?

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