I ... entered the poem of life, whose purpose is ... simply to witness the beauties of the world, to discover the many forms that love can take. (Barabara Blackman in 'Glass After Glass')

These poems are works in progress and may be updated without notice. Nevertheless copyright applies to all writings here and all photos (which are either my own or used with permission). Thank you for your comments. I read and appreciate them all, and reply here to specific points that seem to need it — or as I have the leisure. Otherwise I reciprocate by reading and commenting on your blog posts as much as possible.

27 December 2017

Time Off

for Julie

She’s gardening, before the weather heats
as morning widens into brightest day;
before the dense humidity repeats
its everyday assault. Meanwhile I play
indoors with poetry, creating feats
of formal exercise – the kind I may
do seated: scanning metre, choosing rhymes,
while she indulges in more physical pastimes.

We’re both on holiday, and catching up
with things which called us in the busy year
but were perforce passed over. Now, to stop
does not mean inactivity. The dear
preferred preoccupations fill each cup
with our own versions of post-Christmas cheer. 
She brings me a tomato, tangy-sweet.
I try for poems good enough to eat.


Another ottava rima for the current Poetic Asides challenge.
It came second!


Also sharing with The Tuesday Platform for 2 Jan 2018, at 'imaginary garden with real toads'.

13 comments:

  1. Love it, could eat it like the sweet tomato

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  2. Oh those two closing lines are equally delicious. Intriguing to contemplate sun-warmed tomatoes from my land of snow.

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  3. A new year, and a time for reflection. I absolutely love those last two lines.

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  4. I love the idea of poems being good enough to eat! Yours are absolutely scrumptious💞 Happy New Year, Rosemary!☕️

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  5. I love a poem sweet as this... and you make the southern hemisphere sound so wonderful when we hardly have time to open our eyes before darkness falls.

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  6. Playing with and eating poems is a good way to go :)

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  7. I especially like the way you rounded off the poem in the final two lines.

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  8. Just fantastic..the last two lines were too good! This must go into my list of favourites!

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  9. Delicious! Especially the ending. I love, love, love this relationship.

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    Replies
    1. 'She' is my daughter-in-law, whose house I have been staying in on my holiday. And yes, we get on very well.

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