The black walnut we planted is thriving,
even our honeylocust has survived.
A silver maple with six stems switching
every which way, is first to flower, last
to lose leaves. Couple of Norway maples
to string my hammock between. A knock-kneed
sugar maple, made for shade, and a young
bitternut hickory to replace the maple
when root rot takes it out. A white pine grew
like a weed, blocked the neighbor’s view but trees
make better neighbors than people. A river
birch that sweeps its branches like a girl
on a bicycle flying over the roof.
Bittersweet attacks a quaking aspen,
pursuing prey, and an unruly quince
attracts cardinals, rabbits, juncos and jays.
Two crab apples with magenta blossoms
illuminate our Spring and a red spruce
so tall you don’t notice it at all because
the foliage starts high above dead limbs
I keep uncut for wildlife cover.
Hemlocks and oaks where deer lay down their bones.
I’ve thought of adopting a yellow poplar
in memory of Dad, for the wet flat
where the silver maple's doing fine but
tulips need warm, well-drained soil, so no.
LAUNCHING IDEAS-:-
tacitly
adopting
conceptual
thoughtful
motifs
awash with MEANING
disguised
familiar
significance
secretly
sourced
in LITERARY ASSOCIATIONS
responsive
visionary
awareness
properly
observed
Locked and Loaded,
The pressure exploded,
Unloading my weapon,
Targeting deception,
Hiding within my perception,
Protection from myself,
The elephant in the room,
Your going to feel the boom,
Looming light,
Illuminating right,
The fight exists within me,
I battle it repeatedly,
Rising above the energy,
Everyone else fed to me,
Trying to be one of the crew,
Always being told what to do,
I work my way through anothers view,
While learning what to do,
Too long has it been,
I cant bend no more,
I'm sore to the core,
Exploring better options,
Adopting a new way to think,
Sinking my feet into the ground,
I found another kink in the strain,
The weak link in my chain,
Remaining calm and steady,
Getting more ammo ready.
infers rough shell
gestures diaphanous drapes
airy signature form
adopting gown's pardoned trails
not being flat
introduce informal tryst
secrets adorn front page
luster affair maneuver
Embracement is obvious when I remain within.
Keep your eyes open;
I do not exist for anyone anymore.
I want to embrace myself, adopting everything uncertain.
Uncertainty is the key.
Life, death, and every incident
Might have been tragic,
But every personal tragedy goes with resolution within.
Birth is a pursuit of fulfilment,
But every fulfilment carries a debt.
Some debts turn into curses,
Some into never-ending journeys.
Death is not dark,
And darkness also matters;
For every light brings us back to our achievements,
And every night gives birth to every morning.
I always persist in the in-between.
The space I hold for myself,
Never count me underneath.
Close your perceptions to know me,
For I am imperceptive.
I have spent the better part of my life
In a never ending state of comparison
That's been impossible to escape,
Scrutinising every inch of me
Down to the bone,
Looking in the mirror
Feeling wholelly alone.
I marked in my head
All the things I would change.
None of me was safe
From the silent surgery I'd make,
Not even myself
Down to the core.
I'd observe other people,
Adopting quirks and habits
In the hopes of becoming more admirable
To everyone I knew or would meet
Until the few existing layers
Of my own that still remained,
Were covered so well in the ground,
Existing in their own graves
That forever goes untouched.
Never have I been able to escape
This state of comparison I seem to exist in.
Forever am I the pathological people pleaser,
Willing to change just to be liked,
Never truly feeling like I could be enough as I am.
Today in my slower world
I watched a Golden-ringed Dragonfly
dancing in the garden: it rose and
Swooped, nearly touching my hair,
Then off again, teasing in its proximity.
In this new, dawdling world
Where time has become petrified,
I amble, maybe sit for a while,
And stop to watch dragonflies.
Breathing, imbibing my environment.
I feel the sun as it beats onto my face.
My pace is slower, more leisurely somehow.
Gratitude grows strongly, nurtured by
The water of experience, and unhurried
by the passage of time.
Now in the late summer of my life,
The leaves are slowly adopting an autumnal hue.
Edges tinged with amber, yet glorious
In their transformation. Marking the transportation
To fall with the splendor of maturity .
The Golden-ringed dragonfly dances still,
And I celebrate the ability to focus on this moment,
So precious and one of so many previously missed.
He swoops and lands briefly on an autumn leaf
Camouflaged but splendid in his magnificence.
I have left two uncles I hardly ever see them.' I had a lot
More.. yet in time God released them' sometimes the spoke
Good advice.? And sometimes not.' Maybe I thought who
Needs them? But i could choose to listen or ignore? I was
Back then not that seasoned.' So uncles can be usefull.?
I now think.? If i might need to use one.? Just to listen now
Mind.!! Be under no illusions.' For this year at least i am
Adopting Vladimir Putin.'
Despite the fear mongering
(phony news) (Socialist Blues)
American's economy is doing
well – not, in a hand-basket,
going to hell. Today's new
jobs report, 228,000 created,
America being resuscitated --
(Sorry for tariffs, no other choice)
(Capitalist’s again have an enterprising
sane voice)
(Despite Socialist Boos, by adopting
Free-trade World Economies will all
prosper~ and not lose!)
Those corrupt closer to home,
The little man is no-longer your
manipulated cash-cow – we had
sense of being ripped off~ Musk,
is only showing us, by who and
how.
COLONISATION
A country that previously stood alone
But then, to be part of a greater whole
The language adopting a different tone
And some may argue, will lose its soul
Yet there have been instances of shame
Securing and raiding natural resources
When avaricious trade stakes its claim
Even imposing rule with armed forces
But if done well, there will be a benefit
To new generations, bringing aspiration
However, one does have to think of it
As by many, it’s still called colonisation
called upon to pray
to a holy book
a scripture
an idol
a belief system
we paused
then saw no harm
in adopting any stance
be it in a narrow groove
or in the vast void
because our soul is free
Jesus is good
so is Buddha
as also Shiva
and all sages
our parents and elders
negating none we accept all
because our soul is free
as both the noumena
in and as singularity
and all phenomena
in reflected duality
peace peace peace
On one’s ability, nothing wrong to confide
needless gratification, glory hunting is wide
chances of victory from a one-man army divide.
Resilience that is bloated will be swallowed by the tide
seeking attention is their life, on a horse it rides
to condescend and to look down also riding side by side.
High-level difficulty to follow a guide
adopting modesty and quiet, the desire had lied
even in the smallest hole, self-importance won’t hide.
Everything seems beneath, so nothing to abide
the house caught a self-inflicting fire, and its residents died
the same report is of the properties whose landlords are pride.
Whoever succeeds in adopting a positive attitude towards old age,
The passing of years would not appear an earthly burden on him,
But heavenly bliss.
-
-
© Demetrios Trifiatis
15 September 2024
-
* As always, I share the honor of P.O.T.D. with all my friends. I thank each one of you who has commented on my poem, as well as the officials who bestowed the honor upon my writing. Blessings.
As the saying goes:
every child deserves a parent
but not every parent deserves a child.
Everyone deserves to be treated
the same way even if they're black
colors don't matter, the heart does.
If you gonna bring someone
into your household you treat him
the same way you treated your kids.
Have you built
a cathedral
with language
unblessed
Adopting an
Angel
your spirit
redressed
Have you
filtered the
verbiage
with water Divine
The Savior
within
you
— still waiting to find
(The New Room: September, 2024)
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