Poetry competition CLOSED 30th March 2020 6:06am
WINNER
Jade-Pandora (jade tiger)
Jade-Pandora (jade tiger)
Page:
Human Nature
Poetry Contest Description
Find 5 quotes from a favorite poet having to do with nature and create anthropomorphic vignettes inspired by these quotes
Number your vignettes 1 through 5 using a quote as the header
Each should attribute human qualities to nature, animal, weather, plant life, cosmic events ...etc
All quotes should be from one poet, writer
Please credit said poet, writer
You may take 2 weeks
new or old writes
collabs are welcome
Questions. PM please
EXAMPLE
Human Nature
1. Iove is a young green willow shimmering at the bare wood's edge
She bends, soft hands gracing the waters edge...sending blue green echoes of her laughter out to give company to the tad poles who miss their Mama's low croaking lullaby....they wriggle gladly and extend brand new webbed digits to embrace their siblings....tad pole giggles, how wonderful! She rises back up, gleaming, as tiny droplets of pond water cling to her limbs, glowing iridescent in the sun.
5. the wind at nightfall bending the rose
He had fallen fully for her the first time he saw her. She had danced naked and alone in the gloaming, tall and beautiful. He caught a hint of her extraordinary perfume and was moved to sweep in placing forceful hands in the small of her back, and dip her. She shook as his lips graced her long neck and landed with gusto on her ruby red lips.
2. beneath the quiet heaven of your eyes
He had rode on the backs of ponies painted like a Monet, their flare of Nostrils exhaling grand snorts and their hooves smashing into the high plains, creating a thundering cacophony....and knew what it was to appreciate the enormity of quiet that followed after in those black hills. But the first time he caught the first glimmer of love in her eyes, he felt true stillness, peace in the grand expanse of her undying gaze.
4. your thighs are appletrees your knees are a southern breeze
He extended a strong hand up, longing to pick her ripe and red delicious. The apple of his eye. As of yet remaining just out of his meaty reach....until she parted white cloudy thighs, and a warm lusty breeze swept in to let fall his bounty.
5. It is only a moment, we die every night
Goddess Moon loved Sun....proudly, fiercely. And Sun loved her back, but had been unerved at how rude his Goddess had been to his sweet old aunts, Nymbus. Slow in their old age, they wandered by in a dizzying creep past his window in their old fashioned, billowy skirts. Sun had never raised his voice to Goddess, but when she scolded his favorite auntie Cumula for obstructing Moons view of Sun for too long he forgot himself and shouted....
For Goddess sake! Its just a moment! We die every night!
Quotes by and
Inspired by American Poet W Carlos Williams
Of Holding On And Letting Go
1: Only from the heart can you touch the sky.
You think that water is the color blue
That ocean currents imitate the wind.
And where it ends beyond the height of clouds
That’s where the sky of me will turn to black,
Where neither air nor astronauts may live;
Yes, I’m the sky and all the rest is air.
If not for me there’d be no atrium
To hold within the weather and the rain,
From where the cumulus and stratus play.
The teaming life that feeds on coral beds,
The orca pods who prey on lesser whales
As dolphins with their echos guide the young.
The snow on summits where no birds can reach,
The forest at its base, bears hibernate.
The sockeye who return from whence their birth,
And beneficial run-offs where they spawn.
The tribe who grazes stock & gathers fruit,
And nomads follow zebra to the stream.
The fishermen who cast their nets afar,
The children who run naked in the surf.
This is the bounty given with both hands.
Remember, everything relies on this,
So none will turn to ash and be forgot.
🌜☀️🌛
2: I want to sing like the
birds sing, not worrying about
who hears or what they think.
a light blue cloud
singing in your hand
folded once
then once more;
the wings of
your origami crane
I breathe in deep
the flesh-like tissue
uplifting me
through
fluttering lids
to a corner of sky
all to myself,
lighter than birds
kiting through
the draft and rush,
reaching
for the sun
I have no voice
with which to sing.
No feathers I,
still I bank and soar
trying to
remember you.
🌜☀️🌛
3: Be like a tree and let the dead leaves drop.
This Rowan tree in bloom I rest beneath,
Whose berries filled her boughs in ruby red.
That ever spread its legend ‘cross the heath,
To giving pause the rising of the dead.
Protector from the devil’s evil sway,
This Rowan tree in bloom I rest beneath.
Whose leaves are from a living bird of prey,
And ne’er a welcome sight to witch’s meet.
I lean against the sav’ry of its wreath,
In dappled shade that quivers in its arms.
This Rowan tree in bloom I rest beneath,
Sprigs of it in my hair keep me from harm.
Which also includes charms against my will;
I keep a bower on my mantle piece.
What turns to honeyed wine, not bitter swill?
This Rowan tree in bloom I rest beneath.
🌜☀️🌛
4: The whole universe is contained
within a single human being – you.
Near a sleek interstate of New Now
Of Today’s city glass towers’ gleam,
From the day’s perfect rise of Know How,
And Tomorrow of manicured dreams:
Laid the sprawl of an old shanty town
Where lush trees & green grass never grew;
Shown no mercy; a dry trodden frown,
Like the tough shanty dwellers it drew.
But for all of a dirty-faced soul
Passing time in the cardboard & shake,
Moved an odd, mystic child of the shoal
Picking mussels & shells for the take.
And the name, Periwinkle, or Jill,
Who's dark days of childhood were all spent
On the fringe of the city’s landfill,
Gather’d pebbles & weeds as she went.
No one paid her a mind to collect,
Not a button or bow worth a cent.
And there never were colorful blooms;
Not a daisy, nor rose or a glad.
With bare feet in the mud many moons,
Not a violet or mum to be had.
But no one who knew Jill believed her.
She saw rain puddles each as a pearl
In re-flected sky drifting over,
And the specialness that was the girl,
Who could trust in the dump where she play’d,
That to walk in the sky’s dappled air
Brought to life buddings from seedlings raised
When she wore the bright blue in her hair.
And her mother would smile & then teased
How her “Jilly” did just as she pleased.
🌜☀️🌛
5: You are not a drop in the ocean. You are
the entire ocean, in a drop.
It’s still not too late
as she rises by a hearth
to a knock at the door
this early evening,
carefully wrapping
herself in a long robe
from the night air,
and whoever is there,
so they will think her
a respectable whore.
Yet she sees no one
from a soft light
at the threshold
in the thin clean air
of the Chilean Andes,
with a scent of
cordwood for a fire.
Steps onto the porch,
cane chairs are stacked,
brought to her by men
who buy them from
her as payment.
She is handsome,
still a young woman
but not too much.
She remembers it
like this and no other.
She sits to wait for the
first moon’s light, and
forgets the cigarette
that she lit indoors as
it dwindles & goes out.
And a new memory
tries to surface, for
she has no memory
of being born, or the
one who bore her.
She feels she’s died,
but loses no sleep.
She’ll never weep
for burnt wood
long turned to ash
& knows not why,
but she likes to try
imagining the scent
of the night
she was
born.
🌜☀️🌛
Quotes by & ispired by Rumi:
* Real name: Jalāl ad-Dīn
Muhammad Rūmī
* Nickname: Molānā
* He was a 13th-century Persian poet, faqih,
Islamic scholar, theologian, and Sufi mystic.
Written by Jade-Pandora
(jade tiger)
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Connections
1. “Nothing can bring you peace but yourself.”
You have to search deep within,
It’s not something you find in a book,
It’s as if you’re able to reach Zen,
You just have to know where to look.
Peace is the hardest thing to obtain,
It’s a journey of mystery to explore,
But slowly you begin to understand,
The universe too is yours…
2. “We are immersed in beauty, but our eyes have no clear vision.”
Physically our eyes can deceive us,
Beauty sometimes on the outside lies
Spiritually it lies on the different realm,
Clear enough to view like open skies.
Beauty is an emotion that stirs deeply,
It elevates the senses and feels kind,
Only then do we begin to see the vision,
As it moves the soul shifting in the mind…
3. “Words are finite organs of the infinite mind.”
There is a limit to the lexicon of man,
But the combinations go on forever,
It’s a composition waiting to be written,
A challenge for us to take on the endeavor.
Some expressions can leave lasting impressions,
So long as the words can make one feel at peace,
Because the mind like the universe is infinite,
As so are the words with endless possibilities...
4. “Every natural action is graceful.”
Love and kindness should always be sincere,
For some it shows up like an elegant glow,
An aura if you will for those who can see,
And this can make a person spiritually grow.
Those who act with sincerity and candor,
Are beautiful and graceful in each way,
Nature graces them with a certain splendor,
It’s as if they become the light of day…
5. “Eyes...They speak all languages.”
As they say, the eyes are the windows,
And the soul communicates in all domains,
They are the energy between individuals,
They are the connection of the human brain.
Eyes express the words spoken by the spirit,
It’s a meeting of the minds who converse,
It’s there where we must find the vision,
And then truly bond with the universe.
Inspired by quote from Ralph Waldo Emerson
Written by wallyroo92
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Like Climbing Vines Will Do
#1: “I love you as certain dark things
are meant to be loved, in secret,
between the shadow and the soul.”
What would it take for me in deepest woods
To find and bring you love that’s from my soul,
Without a something vulner’ble to give,
By making known the ‘allness’ you possess.
The creatures will then seek me in your lair,
Now I’m the one who hides within your arms.
The moon must find a chink to let in light,
Not even gods are priv’leged to come in.
And so it does remain forever dark
No matter, slow or fast, the sands of time.
I cannot see the favour given me;
The trees will hear the second all is hush’d.
⌛️ ⏳ ⌛️
#2: “Like a flower to its perfume, I am
bound to my vague memory of you.”
Why should I go to cultured gardens
Often found at the best people’s homes.
Wingless birds such as I never do,
And the ones that could fly, very few.
But the rose whom I’d given my heart;
Her places of webs and wildflowers
Took me to where I never could sleep,
And the osmanthus always was sweet.
Yet I longed to go search for the sea,
How the wind came up off of the waves.
Instead I felt warmth in the desert
From the soft breezes, very pleasant.
⏳ ⌛️ ⏳
#3: “Because of you, I love the white statues
drowsing in the park with no voice nor sight.”
But this soul could not live by drought alone
As days of wandering turned into dust,
To have my feet at last on barren bone.
Like carpet, laid a meadow green as lust.
Sent to me by Goddess Hallucinate,
Here all the dead in rows are now at peace.
With folded wings, the angels meditate,
Their heads eternal bowed as if asleep.
I walked among the figures mute and blind,
Their eyes were open only to their God.
With folded hands I prayed that I may find
A sculptress with the hands to fashion sod
⌛️ ⏳ ⌛️
#4: “I have forgotten your love, yet I
seem to glimpse you in every window.”
The faerie land I lived in once I left
In mourning the forgetfulness of love,
Will free me naught the agony of theft
To take my very heart, the beating of.
Pray tell, was it the living in the woods,
Perhaps a gang of vermin hiding near?
But then I think of you as if I could;
I leave my farmer’s hovel when it’s clear.
Within the homes of men your image hangs,
The clouds of dappled sky in shapes of you,
I see you every time a church bell clangs.
I think I’ve lost my mind, can this be true?
⏳ ⌛️ ⏳
#5: Love is so short, forgetting is so long.”
I’m feeling out of sorts, the day is mine;
Because I till the land without a hat.
I’m overdue to trim the creeping vines
That climb the trellis looking for my cat.
But take my riddled mind? Oh forsaken!
I beg you, pity please, I am bereft.
My being echos inside me, shaken,
I am confusion, there is nothing left.
My cows say it’s your life & you’re insane,
But even pigs in pens know that’s just wrong.
There is one thing I learn’d without a brain:
That love is short, forgetting is so long.
⌛️ ⏳ ⌛️
Quotes of & ispired by Pablo Neruda (1904-1973)
* Real name: Ricardo Eliécer Neftalí Reyes Basoalto,
* He was a Nobel Prize winning Chilean poet-diplomat and politician.
Written by Jade-Pandora
(jade tiger)
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Anonymous
<< post removed >>
Dear Jen,
This was a special challenge for me when it first showed up, and through the weeks, had only grown more so. I thank you for giving us, who joined in, another way to pay tribute to the poets who have moved us.
Be well & always inspired,
Ever
Jade xo
This was a special challenge for me when it first showed up, and through the weeks, had only grown more so. I thank you for giving us, who joined in, another way to pay tribute to the poets who have moved us.
Be well & always inspired,
Ever
Jade xo
