Best Carob Tree Poems
I listen to the sighing
of the wind, as I sit
in the cool shade
of a sprawling carob tree,
wondering if Basho,
in heavenly abode,
next to Elysian Fields,
is mumbling agitatedly
under his breath – possibly
grimaces, wrings his hands
as he flips the pages of
vain anthologies where
writers sell their wares…
Stuck in comfort zone
deprived of achievement,
wary of new horizons,
surprise ends and twists…
they cling to restrictions
and Mother Nature’s skirt.
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Pareidolia Poetry Contest
Sponsored by Craig Cornish
© 24th August 2020
Categories:
carob tree, poetry,
Form:
Free verse
Time moves on forward fast,
Like rapids hurtling unheedingly headlong
Towards a sheer deep cascade,
And plummet down below in a mighty roar
To flow relentlessly towards the infinite sea
Drifting straight into eternal oblivion.
Yet time can ne'er erase all memories,
And special ones will always linger
In the obscure corridors of my mind.
Hence I can never forget my dear,
The night that we first met.
Were not that night the stars conspiring
To throw a luminous light on our love?
Did not the twinkling stars shoot out their ways
In the clear expanse of nightly sky?
There under a lonely carob tree,
Where dry old leaves crackled
Under our woollen spreads,
You smiled graciously at me
And suddenly I knew
How eager was I for a love so true.
We were like two of those gems above,
Shooting their way across the skies.
And fate decreed that those two stars should meet
In an astral collision and fuse into a lasting blast.
Light sparkled above sublimely
An ethereal fireworks display,
That lasted for one long memorable moment,
But the light in our love will last
Until the end of our days.
Categories:
carob tree, love, stars,
Form:
Free verse
Fat woman in a tree
The old carob tree by the roadside had grown big leaning partly
over the road and trucks often brushed against branches which
caused the tree or the person in the tree to scream.
We didn`t know a fat woman lived in the crown of the tree it was
chopped down and its timber used to make headboards and
kitchen tables: the fat woman who had lost her tree took abode
in cracks in the wood and she was vengeful.
Those with a wood kitchen table found their food disappearing
and plates unexpectedly fall to the floor; it got so bad that many
got rid of the table and bought a plastic one, which is the nearest
one can find in a soulless product.
For those who had bought a headboard of that tree, it was worst
plagued by nightmares they struggle to get out of and the evil woman
sat on young men`s chest till they suffocated.
Not all trees are like that only on those where a fat woman lives and
since she is invisible, it is hard to tell which tree.
(Philippine fairy tale)
Categories:
carob tree, class,
Form:
Sonnet
Umbrella of Love.
If you drive along the asphalted narrow road that runs
Parallel with the vine plants, turn left, you will see
A muddy road more like a track now after rain,
From here you have to walk till you see a quiet little
Corner where two stone walls meet; and you will
See- not a great deal- the place I’m going to plant
A carob tree comes spring. The reason for the corner
Is two brothers who couldn’t agree whom it
Belonged to so they left it untended and with time
No one took an interest in weeds and stinging plants.
The tree will be in memory of a girl a met a day of rain
And she shared her pink umbrella with me.
Not a big thing, but I was home from the sea and lost
In the big city, she gave me the shelter I needed.
Categories:
carob tree, first love,
Form:
Lento
Nature sonnet
I have been walking in a domestic land abandoned and
Left to go wild and there is a struggle for dominance among
The trees the olive and carob tree especially
Grow tall and imposing while berry bushes use their long
Claws like talons to attack and hinder a walker by letting him
Bleed and fertilize the ground where cows and mules no
Longer leaves behind their residue.
I`m waiting for my favourite plant a small bush so shimmering
light it is transparently green take lift after a few days
To the planet wench they came.
I`m glad the hunting has stopped for now to give animals
A chance replenished and be shot and hunted by dogs in fall.
Categories:
carob tree, age, analogy, garden, good
Form:
Sonnet
August Forenoon
There is a sale on in the dress shop bathing trunks reduced up
to 40%. It has been a good summer and few local people have
died but the price of coffins stay the same....
So beautiful a forenoon, I drove on my moped to visit a carob tree
I used to sit under when lonely
Its thick branched protected me from the world. Under it now
two elderly women -on their knees- picking sweet, black beans.
The small farmers around here have aged with me, the women
looked up and smiled at this elderly, permanent tourist on his
round; he is like a hasty brush stroke on the canvas of eternity.
On green vines hung juicy grapes tasted one it was like an explosion
of natural sweetness that filled my mouth with yesterdays pleasure,
they are ready to be harvested and made into wine, not for the rich
but for the local people to drink with their stew.
Categories:
carob tree, absence, age, identity,
Form:
Ballade
Sun in Your Eyes.
In the white sea of sun bleached straws
I saw a crow struggle, go under drowning
In the glare of sun heat and the end
of everything I was given the chance to
see, feel and intimately know.
An eddy of heated water was running down
the drain the wrong way hotter than lave
This must be hell and I ran away from
the struggle of the past and present dancing
in obscene sexuality in the shadow
under a carob tree... and I heard the raw
laughter of syphilitic whores mouths’
like gaping sore and a road of rotting teeth,
but I hear music to and am salvaged by a crow.
Categories:
carob tree, abuse, anger, august,
Form:
Ballad
The new language
It was late August, on a glaringly hot day, when I felt dizzy
went to sit on a gigantic carob tree full of beans on thick leaves
to sit in its cooling shade; it was pitch dark inside, and I could see
nothing at all until my eyes got adjusted.
the sheep, seven of them, had sought relief from the sun’s cruelty
My dog refused to enter; she had been head-butted by a ram
the sheep looked alarmed; another human to order them around
but when I sat down among them, they took me for another ram
they continued to chew, looking absent-minded; with white wool
The sheep had white fleece in sharp contrast to the carob beans
that was like the gnarled fingers of a dark person (black is out)
Nothing is the same anymore; some men say they are women and
blithely disregard biological facts as unimportant.
There are no longer any Jews in Israel, now called Israelites
it is as if they are trying to kill the ghost of yesterday by living a lie.
In Denmark, a children’s book was withdrawn showing a black doll
a new book issued, a merger of many faces, quite unreal,
like the faces were drawn by I.A and certified by a committee.
Categories:
carob tree, abuse, anger, best friend,
Form:
Blank verse
Sun in Your Eyes.
In the white sea of sun bleached straws
I saw a crow struggle, go under drowning
In the glare of sun heat and the end
of everything I was given the chance to
see, feel and intimately know.
An eddy of heated water was running down
the drain the wrong way hotter than lave
This must be hell and I ran away from
the struggle of the past and present dancing
in obscene sexuality in the shadow
under a carob tree... and I heard the raw
laughter of syphilitic whores mouths’
like gaping sore and a road of rotting teeth,
but I hear music to and am salvaged by a crow.
Categories:
carob tree, abuse, anger, august,
Form:
Ballad
Chattering Plants.
The fig tree has lost its big soft leaves and looks like a petrified
octopus in the middle of a nightmare. What the hell happened
to the ocean? It tells itself”, I´m not ugly as almond tree, looks
as rough hewn spider´s web that can´t catch any insects.
I belong to the family of Moraceae and we produce the sweetest
of fruits, we are the aristocracy in the plant world.”
The almond tree heard this and said: “I will be a bride in February
cast a spell of beauty on the landscape with my pink flowers. “
“Anyway, I´m a deciduous tree and proud of it, without my nuts
- a hint of a giggle from the fig tree- you can´t bake a good cake.
People ask for almond tarts, no one ever asks for fig tarts.”
A sullen silence falls, then the carob tree, also known as St. John
bread, and bears fruit too; elongated, dark as farm workers fingers,
judiciously says:” you´ll both be beautiful come spring.”
Categories:
carob tree, dedication, humor, inspirational,
Form:
Free verse
(Note: taken from a diary of a young lady)
In memoriam of Jose` Maria
aged twenty, drowned.
I lounge on an uneven stone
under the uneasy shade
of an ancient carob tree,
away from the hot rays
of the summer sun.
I sit alone, abandoned,
I contemplate in vain,
for my thoughts wander on you,
who left me in the lurch.
I stare vacantly towards
the mighty sea that
like a cyclone of frigidness
buffets the darkened rocks
that form the inlet.
Wave after wave
enters the narrow strait
and rumble onwards
to the horrendous shore
throwing iridescent sprays
over the plaque of cold hard marble
that hides a tragedy of life.
Under the Iberian sky
prickly pears ripen
a stone's throw away
from the glinting shore
amid the green olive trees
slightly wet with sea spray.
The plaque seems to glow
in the hot summer rays.
I wonder what made Jose` Maria
swim in that turbulent sea.
Maybe he searched for treasure lost,
or hunted for the slippery octopus,
or mourned over lost love.
A life destroyed.
Am I not astray too?
I am so far away from you,
forsaken and unloved,
for you are like the sea, drowned
in a cyclone of frigidness.
Categories:
carob tree, loss, lost love,
Form:
Free verse
Rustic Morning
Still, early morning and coarse grass had stopped crying
But the carob tree was still tearful someone had broken its branch
The one that was easy to grab from the lane.
By the stone fence, a mule looked soulfully at me, so I scratched its
Forehead and we enjoyed each other’s nearness, while a cat chased
A rabbit that jumped behind some boulders where it was trapped
The cat came out with the dead animal in its mouth it dropped it and
I imagined it roared than began eating its prey.
Both the mule and I contemplated this rustic happening, we sighed
It began grazing; I walked my way saying: “see you tomorrow old boy.”
Categories:
carob tree, absence, age,
Form:
Blank verse
Prima Vera (spring)
The westerly has ceased it doesn’t get
dark before seven, time for evening walks,
and let stillness read my thoughts.
Under a carob tree three stones one on
top of the other and old man sat here,
he saw everything till he lost his shadow.
No one sit on his throne, like sitting on
a tombstone, the stone-chair belongs to
him, his everlasting memorial.
Time to walk home, feel hungry,
the mundane always takes precedence.
Spring is here and life is beautiful.
Categories:
carob tree, introspection, life, love, nature,
Form:
Free verse
Not what you see
It looked an idyllic scene
a farmer with a sweet, little red tractor
was ploughing a feel while his mule now unemployed
stood under a carob tree resting.
The tractor stopped no more fuel, the man went to
the nearest petrol station to buy some more, but a dreamer
walked past gave the tractor pink wings, saw it flew
towards the sun.
The farmer went to fetch the mule that was tired
standing under a tree looking picturesque.
The mule said, is what dreams are made of all
you need is imagination.
Categories:
carob tree, best friend, blessing, dream,
Form:
Blank verse
A mule’s dream
A farmer was ploughing the field
his tractor was pink in the idyllic landscape
He ran out of diesel and went to get some more
at the nearest petrol station
A cloud descended, wrapped to the tractor in wool
and took it up to heaven
When the farmer returned, the tractor was gone
The mule, unemployed, spending days under a carob tree
saw the farmer go to fetch the harness
Together, as before, they ploughed the field
Categories:
carob tree, anti bullying, blessing, devotion,
Form:
Sonnet