It seems every year I get taken hostage by the image of kowhai trees around our property, popping with yellow, bell-shaped blossoms, and not released until I have produced a 'kowhai poem'. This spring is no exception.
kowhai
The tree named for its colour
(kowhai, yellow)
has sprouted soft bells
the tui
and korimako (bellbird) go for.
There for a season only
the flowers
clamour to peal,
rung by a returning nor'easterly,
only to end up
swinging in useless silence.
Like me wanting life
to be believable
yet knowing that when I've gone
everything will still go on
forming and falling, that birds
upturned by tides of air
are just fish with wings.
5 comments:
'everything will still go on
forming and falling, that birds
upturned by tides of air
are just fish with wings.'
how i love this poem!!! i love the phrase 'tides of air': how clever that water and sky speaks for fish and bird. just wonderful.
reminded me of mary oliver, who i won't quote correctly: 'the root is the flower of the otherworld"
i am so glad to hear from you. ♥
kj
kj - Thanks so much :) I guess you are entering autumn / fall now. Another season full of images ripe for poetry ...
Good one!!!
"fish with wing" -really, really like this idea.
Joyce & Clare - Thanks for dropping by and commenting - as always, it's encouraging.
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