bonsai art
every knot and curve
a poem
I have to come clean as I return to see
your ashen corpse and dried leaves
My survival became more important than yours
but now I feel badly.
Humans choose to love their own selves
More than anyone they choose to love
Don’t believe what they say in their poems
I loved you because you would tempt me
to hear the silent moment
I will never forget your beautiful nebari
Funny, I learned that word when I met you
I put you under the cruel sun and fed you
It worked as long as we were together
We were both once green and authentic
We come from the same mother
I wish she had given you feet and legs
Then like me, you might still be alive
She put us in a tea cup of naive cruelty
Well-meant intentions cannot sustain life.
Maybe my departure made you wish to be dead
I once wished for that too
Puddles of green mist
littered across the branches
creating platforms
I was as a tree seedling
Trying to grow on a steep, stony mountainside
Very little soil or moisture
Sometimes the harsh wind blew in some dirt
Infrequent rain barely quenched my thirst
I grew no bigger than a bonsai
Each day a struggle to keep my spirit alive
I tried to help the creatures that came near me
But I had too few leaves to give much shelter
And I could not produce enough food
So they moved on
Leaving me lonely
Then came a time that someone saw me
With true love and compassion
He understood my potential
That I longed to be a sheltering home
To others who struggled with life
So he dug me out of the strangling rocks
He took me home and planted me
In a beautiful lush garden
Fed and nourished me
I never lacked for water
I grew and learnt to love myself
As I was loved by him
I was able to nurture so many
Because I had become
That which I was meant to be
A tall and stately tree
Giving shade and shelter to all
No longer a tiny, tortured bonsai
Golden bonsai tree
Supreme roots hold primeval
Atop of stone.
Bonsai is an art of cultivating miniature potted plants
Away from the natural habitat and normal growth
It's modified to create an art
Its stems are twisted and turned
It's roots are surfaced
They can't stretch far
It's leaves are trimmed
They flourish mostly at the top
An old plant usually looks like a young sapling
And maybe a dwarf
An artificial modification
Appreciated and admired by many
But freedom of the plant is then overlooked
Luckily unlike man, plant has no soul
Old man
trains small tree
bonsai
Two bonsai trees
craving for clouds
a few handfuls of rain
spiky nuggets
crying wine glass
fasting salivas
all might drench
taking the wrench off
the frontal lobe
letting a sprout
lift it's face
calling lips
on pointed treetops
______________________
22 April 2022
I like to show up early
He was always late.
I planned my every move
While he relied on fate.
If I decided somethings wrong
He would decide it's right.
Like a willow I would sway
Like a maple he stood strong.
We pruned our likes and dislikes
Much as trimming a Bonsai.
We focused on the good parts
Tossing off the bad to die.
Our compost pile of cuttings
Began to set us free.
Eventually we both conceded
Love is simply meant to be.
O’ little Bonsai, looking elegant!
Ah, you are quiescent!
How do you feel when trimmed?
Discontented for being slimmed?
I feel a conscious impulse - carries
Back to mother earth’s hands.
I wished I would be a great bower,
For passers-by and for birds a big tower.
It’s not my silence,
But sadness that cast on my face.
Deprived of my original charm,
And last as a showy in the living room.
People wonder at my pretty figure.
But never realize that I have lost my vigor.
My stature makes them exuberant.
But never recognize that I am poignant.
Contest : BRIAN'S Choice U, any form, any theme
Contest judged on: 25/05/2020
Sponsored by : Brian Strand
winner : Honorable Mention
with each breath I invite inner peace
approaching with meditative intent
manicure scissors in one hand
zenlike harmony in my heart
a passion for recreating micro landscapes
it’s a labor of love aesthetics and patience
defoliation wiring clamping and grafting
tapering shaping with explicit precision
twisted branches gnarly roots
graceful symptoms of ageing
pruning windswept replicas
of effortless poetry in motion
AP: Honorable Mention 2020
Submitted on May 30, 2020 for contest BRIAN'S CHOICE 11 sponsored by BRIAN STRAND - RANKED 3RD
Originally posted on May 5, 2020
inside a great, shiny armor
made with metals from everywhere
resides a little, cute tree
afraid of everything else.
the questions from inside
keeps him awake at night.
how can he be so quiet,
a heart so full of pride?
letting the mind occupied
and forgetting the heart so tired.
the perfection of the silence
makes him patient in suffering.
his prayers only to God
and nobody else knows his feelings.
flawless life of secrets,
secrets about I can only wonder.
oh, my young boy,
how much you can stay like that?
oh, my friend,
will you be like this forever?
I can only wonder...
the little plant inside your heart
desperate to grow, but never stronger
is this what they call art?
the scissors, the wounds,
the fire of a sound
a silent scream into the nothingness
where you left your feelings?
don't tell me you trade them
for a brief smile to hear lies
saying that you're alright.
Bonsai
You captivate me with the softness of your words.
Intellectual thoughts let me see your truth.
My heart beats faster inside your ozone.
My Bonsai Princess; my sweet unknown.
Only in your hands could I ever be brought to life.
Only with you at my side would I ever need to fight,
For I would protect you from all who would threaten.
I will be with you, through all that which I have no wish to mention.
Allow me to be your scissors of steel,
Against all enemies; against all who do not feel,
The love you ooze in the way that you move.
With you I am at last jealous-proof.
As water falls from bright blue skies,
You and I slide through the waterfall of life.
As we rise to our feet, our minds always meet.
You cannot disappoint as you always enrich me.
With perfect detail you describe your day,
As I scribe away. My words you say,
Are beautiful; my beautiful muse,
You are my only way.
(C)2017 Aa Harvey. All Rights Reserved.
Bonsai tree small
On this desk top
My thoughts grow tall
As haiku stops
Words run around
To string plain say,
Feel touchy grounds
In light of day.
Bonsai tree peaks
Few inches high,
Pruning now speaks
Miniature sighs.
Lovely this sight
Of pedigree,
In the clear light
Haiku sets free.
Bonsai insight
Grace fragment splice,
A warm delight
Unfurls deep prize.
Can you now see
Beyond mere sight,
That peace may be
In flush of light.
Abrupt the chance
To live full zest,
Deep dance minds trance
Of inner quest.
Bonsai tree here
Greets feisty face,
Seize touch of cheer
In breezy space.
Leon Enriquez
28 May 2017
Singapore
You Texas Cuspidata!
Not you, and not a curse:
Taxus cuspidata, for Japanese Yew!
So, don’t confuse a plant with the Ibex
Ilex serrata – that’s Christmas Holly
Or Japanese Winterberry
Butterflies, butternuts, a Buttinsky?
Shut your eyes, it’s Conocarpus erectus
(Pastor here is only saying "Buttonwood" in Latin)
Meanwhile in nature, the pines of Japan
Are dwarfed like bottled thunder:
Pinus thunbergiana
The Christmas Spirit is perennial in China (?)
Schinus terebinthifolius
(Again, Latin for another plant: Christmasberry)
Try to bonsai gladly;
A creeper in your home or villa;
Haha! Bourgainvillea glabra
My dad called this beauty, Pride of India!
Myrtle set me right, but India won at the end:
Laegerstroemia indica
Neighbors, boyhood buddies, international relations?
Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry? No plant connection:
Just Hackberry named Celtis sinensis
(c) Modified 20170417, Deo. This poem was previously published in my book in 2005 (UnAmerican Education: Poetry and Politics, by Red Lead Press)
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