Showing posts with label Matsuo Basho. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Matsuo Basho. Show all posts

Wednesday, May 11, 2016

Poets United Midweek Motif ~ Birds

Photo Credit: Deepak Amembal's Magiceye


Midweek Motif ~ Birds

"You were born with wings, why prefer to crawl through life?"----Rumi

"The science of ornithology has grown so rapidly because the poetry of birds has led so many people to study them. Wholly to divorce the science from the poetry would injure the science"----Alexander Skutch

"Valmiki is the first , the father, of all poets. He is also the first known birdwatcher, and it is his bird watching that has occasioned his invention: from shoka (grief) comes shloka (poetry)"----Leonard Nathan, Diary of a Left-Handed birdwatcher

"O lyric Love, half angel and half bird. And all a wonder and a wild desire."----Robert Browning



This week will see avian verses.


For thousands of years these feathered beauties have fascinated the creative minds. They have been celebrated in literature, from the ancient Greek poets to the Renaissance poets to the Haiku masters of the seventeenth century Japan to the English Romantics of the nineteenth century.


This great connection and fond relationship with the birds continue.


Today your poems must be connected with birds. It may include fictional birds or even bird watching.


Some bird poems for you:



A Haiku 
by Matsuo Basho

On a withered branch
A crow has alighted
Nightfall in autumn


Ode to Bird watching
by Pablo Neruda

Now
Let's look for birds!
The tall iron branches
in the forest,
The dense
fertility on the ground
The world
is wet.
A dewdrop or raindrop
shines
a diminutive star
among the leaves.
The morning time
mother earth
is cool.
The air
is like a river
which shakes
the silence.
It smells of rosemary,
of space
and roots.
Overheard
a crazy song.
It's a bird.
How
out of its throat
smaller than a finger
can there fall the waters
of its song?
Luminous ease!
Invisible
power
torrent
of music
in the leaves.
Sacred conversations!
Clean and fresh washed
is this
day resounding
like a green dulcimer.
(The rest is here)


Mockingbirds
by Mary Oliver

This morning
two mockingbirds
in the green field
were spinning and tossing
the white ribbons
of their songs
into the air.
I had nothing
better to do
than listen.
I mean this
seriously.
In Greece,
a long time ago,
an old couple
opened their door
to two strangers
who were,
it soon appeared
not men at all,
but gods.
It is my favorite story--
how the old couple
had almost nothing to give
but their willingness
to be attentive--
but for this alone
the gods loved them
and blessed them--
when they rose
out of their mortal bodies,
like a million particles of water
from a fountain
the light
swept into all the corners
of the cottage,
(The rest is here)

Note: If you use the photo of this prompt please refer to the source.


Please share your new poem using Mr. Linky below and visit others in the spirit of the community.
                         (Next week Susan's Midweek Motif will be - Bullying)




Wednesday, April 13, 2016

Poets United Midweek Motif ~ Home


source
"The strength of a nation derives from the integrity of the home"----Confucius

"Everyday is a journey and the journey itself is home"----Matsuo Basho

"Home is the nicest word there is"----Laura Ingalls Wilder

"How does it feel?
How does it feel
To be without a home
Like a complete unknown
Like a rolling stone?"----Bob Dylan

                                                         

                                        Midweek Motif ~ Home



A home is a full stop to being a nomadic. And add to that a little safety, comfort, freedom, a space to be. Especially for a creative mind "A room of one's own" is a must.

The saying home is where the heart is extends the meaning of home beyond the four walls. One may feel at home where ever they are or with whoever they are.

Creating a sense of home in our lines is our aim today.

A couple of poems to inspire you:


He told a homely tale

by Emily Dickinson

He told a homely tale
And spotted it with tears--
Upon his infant face was set
The Cicatrice of years--

All crumpled was the cheek
No other kiss had known
Than flake of snow, divided with
The Redbreast of the barn--

If Mother--in the Grave--
Or Father-- on the Sea--
Or Father in the Firmament--
Or Brethren, had he--

If Commonwealth below,
Or Commonwealth above
Have missed a Barefoot Citizen--
I've ransomed it--alive--


Home thoughts

by Carl Sandburg

THE SEA rocks have a green moss.
The pine rocks have red berries.
I have memories of you.

Speak to me of how you miss me.
Tell me the hours go long and slow.

Speak to me of the drag on your heart.
The iron drag of the long days.

I know hours empty as a beggar's tin cup on a rainy day, empty as a soldier's sleeve with an arm lost.

Speak to me ...


Please share your new poem using Mr. Linky below and visit others in the spirit of the community
                         (Next week Susan's Midweek Motif will be Organic)