Waterlily Rose Maiden

Waterlily Rose Maiden
Verse one from my sonnet to our infant daughter, Mary Therese Sachteleben who passed into the arms of Jesus on Jan. 5, 2001.

her eyes, green-gray still waters, do not cry
not mirror nor window of soul-dark spaces,
guardians hold prisoner, secrets shy
in soft tranquil deep and twilight traces

  her skin, like dogwood blossoms translucent
  rose petal fair and water-lily pale
  heaven-bound as nimbus, storm-cloud spent

  fresh as a lamb, nested quiet in vale
  no tears descend this tender, pallid cheek
  no sorrow escapes this unworldly maid

  no companion shares nor solace does seek
  perfect in slumber, unmoving and staid
  Silent in her grave, somber and death-cold
  Never feels pain, nor mother-arms enfold.

Japanese Poetry- Haiku vs. Senryu

Haiku and Senryu are Japanese poems, both of which have 17 syllables, of three lines with 5-7-5 syllabication, but the similarity ends there. Haiku are aesthetic nature poems. Haiku require a kigo or nature word (theme). Haiku have a kireji or cutting word that shifts the focus of the haiku. In 17 syllables, the haiku shifts focus. The core difference between haiku and senryu lie in the poems' differing theme or purpose. Senryu (poems written by the Japanese poet of that name) are usually cynical or darkly humorous. Senryu poke fun at the human condition. Senryu can be spoof, parody or satire poems. Senryu have no specific kireji or kigo, but as dark humor, they do often have a shift or perhaps a twist would be a better word. Senryu generally have a 'sting' in the tail. I think it behooves the would-be writer of haiku to understand how haiku and senryu differ.

  In my haiku, Popsicle Purple (which isn't the best example of nature, but perhaps season), see if you can find my shift in tone:

  Popsicle purple

  drips sticky sweet on new dress

  yahoo for summer

 Yahoo is my cutting word, cutting across the negative tone of soiled clothing and shifting to a positive view that this means summer has arrived. This poem has a bit of senryu styling as it does poke gentle fun at parents for giving a child a popsicle when she is wearing new clothes. And it pokes fun at a child's predisposition to spill, especially on new clothes. Lastly, Popsicle Purple juxtaposes a child's delight in summer, signaled by the arrival of popsicles.

  Here are other senryu.

  migrating fowl find  

  crashing on ice-covered pond  

  winter remains still

and another 

 he scales a tree to 

commune with nature

disturbing a nest of eggs

(I both can identify with and feel sorry for the poor person described here, as well as the nest of eggs. it would be like me to do something completely wrong for the right reasons.  The commentary is that when you would "commune with nature" best to check to make sure you are not endangering it in so doing._ 

The best way to describe the difference between haiku and senryu is that they represent nature vs. nurture. Nature in the Haiku is merely reflective whereas in senryu there is a bit of commentary. 

Dogwood Rhapsody: A Toast for Midsummer's Eve Fairy Teas and Other Woodland Frolics

Dogwood Rhapsody
A Whimsical Toast for Midsummer's Eve Fairy Teas and Other Woodland Frolics. Gentle little dogwood, princess of the woods, I love thee. I humbly submit this poem to your beauty and for use in all woodland fairy gatherings.

slender fairy dogwood

gracious waving frond

woodland princess presides

ore' reflections in the pond

regal, royal dogwood

dainty maiden girl

arrayed in emerald splendor

bejewel'd with opal and pearl

cheeky little dogwood 

hides midst stately birch

like a saucy little child

annoying her elders in church

gracious regent dogwood  

smiles upon the forest floor

scattered bracken and fern

worship and adore

waxy-pink dogwood blossoms'

scroll-rolled petal tip

offers milky fresh bouquet

for butterflies to sip

enchanted dogwood blossoms 

for dryads, nymphs and sprites

tiny china cups and saucers

for midsummer tea party nights

~marilisa

Lawns get literary on Athens tour - Decaturdaily.com

This venue, a fund-raiser for the Athens-Limestone Public Library in Decatur, Alabama, features poetry readings and garden tours at local homes in the area. I discovered, quite by accident, that my poem 'Trillium and Pine' will be featured. Here is the quote from the Decature Daily:

This Literary Lawns Garden Tour will include the “Passover Blessing” at 260 Brookwood Road, home of Mary and Joe Stephenson; “Bonsai Haiku” at 206 Shady Lane, home of Amy and Jimmy Woodroof; “Waters by Night,” the home of Jackie and Fred Bickley at 202 Shady Lane; the home of Barry Davis, at 107 Shady Lane, reflects “Emerson and Thoreau”; the home of Virginia and Theo Calvin at 200 Shady Lane is reminiscent of one of my favorites, Frances Hodgson Burnett’s “A Secret Garden;” and thoughts of “Trillium and Pine,” a poem by Marilisa Sachteleben, can be found at 271 Brookwood Road, the home of Cindy and Jerry Evans.

Here is a reprint of my 'Trillium and Pine'

warm wine glow
tranquility flow
trillium and pine
rthym and rhyme

some things to grow
some to let go
sad memory time
drink blood red wine

feel the days go
rain and then snow
warm summer wine
rosemary and time

good with the bad
happy i've had
time upon time
blessed be mine

up one steep hill
some remain still
rest in the vale
tell of the tale

mem'ry is song
singing along
verse and refrain
of lyrical pain

say what you will
life's a bitter pill
swallow it fast
don't let it last

smile at the dark
hold fast on the mark
what's dim in the night
twill clear with the light

you don't understand
you don't see the plan
don't fear what's not clear
hold onto what's dear

what you cannot see
may not really be
no menace to make
no dark shadow take

the trillium still blooms
in deep new-spring gloom
white as a maid
born in the shade

warm autumn wine
tho blood red, be thine
now is the time
for reason and rhyme
trillium and pine

~marilisa 10/22/09

Lawns get literary on Athens tour - Decaturdaily.com

Big Lake Poems: Pink Pickable Ladyslippers

Pink Pickable Ladyslippers
This one is from The Big Lake Poems anthology. The Lake Michigan dunes flora decorated my growing up and has inspired these poems. This one is about lady slippers, childhood and big life choices.

i wasn't to pick the lady slippers

that much was clear

but they are so pickable and plus i WANT to

i whined to grampa

as we walked to Lake Michigan

through the woods of the backdune

where their precious lady slipper

grew just to taunt me

let them grow he said

if you pick them, no one else can enjoy them

i didn't see that as my problem

there was no one around to see them anyway

Besides he said they are protected

its illegal to pick the lady slipper.

illegal, humph i scuffed my feet and scoffed

(not really seeing that as my problem either)

pick up your feet, you'll ruin your shoes

he smiled over his shoulder 

to where I lagging and still slightly scuffing 

Also if you pick the lady slippers, they can't grow.

he had me there

other people not seeing flowers

did not in the least bother 

a selfish four year old girl

going to jail for picking a flower

did worry me a bit

not about breaking laws

only whether i could bring my toys

but to be responsible for the murder of flower?

now that was troubling

if i should pick her

she would wither and die

her pretty pink blossoms shaped like fairy pointe shoes?

little flowers that never hurt anyone 

whose sole job was to make the forest nice

i decided to leave the lady slipper to her work and announced this to grampa

grampa in his plaid flannel coat

took his less-selfish little girl's hand

in his big printers ink stained one

and we walked home, we two, content in our company

The Grama-Grampa House Smell: Fresh-wind Lake-green Pine-time

Fresh-Wind Lake-Green Pine-Time
More from the Big Lake Poems anthology. I wish that I could make you smell the way my grandparents' house near Lake Michigan smelled. Or that I could smell it again. Maybe this poem will help.

The grama-grampa house

was not on Lake Michigan

but you could smell the big lake 

in their house

as the crow flies grampa and I could walk

to the big lake and we did

at least once a week every week

of my life since birth give or take

except when we moved to Alaska

or during my years in college

until I moved away

but i came back and walked with him

he took my kids for walks to the beach

our oldest three that is

he wasn't getting around too well

when the youngest came

the lake inhabited the grama-grampa house 

in scents of sand and wind

wood and rain

and an indefinable fragrance signature of Lake Michigan alone

I smelt it first and best

coming upstairs third step from the top

of the cool yellow speckle- tile basement

where I was sent to fetch canned cherries

from the cedar wood pantry

that grampa built for grandma

for a dessert called

Cherries in the Snow.

we saved some things

from the grama grampa house

in a box sealed tight

to preserve the wind-fresh lake-green pine-time smell

for awhile if you sniffed soul-deep

there was a whiff of it

wind-fresh lake-green pine time

but now its all gone

i can evoke scent-memory a little

with feel-think smell- remembering

i can conjure up the grama-grampa house

but only a little and its fading fast

Big Lake Poems: Lily- Laced Walks

Lily-of-the-Valley grew along Grandpa's walk

Tiny white bell-blossoms with breath of heaven scent.

He pruned the yard but let the lilies engulf the path.

Sometimes you had to skirt them and walk on the grass.

Grandma had Lily-of the Valley in her wedding bouquet.

It cost twelve dollars for a dozen in 1935.

It was the Great Depression and that was a fortune

but she wanted them so he got them.

I have an old photo of her at the altar

It's a black and white, painted on the back for color.

they did things like that back then

She's holding the lovely lilies and she is lovelier 

I guess lily-of-the valley are weeds

I didn't know that. He told me so, my husband

They grew in the motor-oil soil of the alley behind his growing up house.

Some even snuck under the chain link fence and his mother would root them out.

 

I grew up with stories of

dollar a piece lilies in bridal bouquets.

I thought everyone felt that way about them. 

these wee white wedding bells

 There are ancient lily-of the-valley

 lining the crumbling walks of our now house

 Planted when the city was just a stop

 on the interurban to Grand Rapids.

Someone talked of digging them up when we moved in

"you won't want them, we feel sure"

I protested, let them grow and he agreed

One woman's weed is another's wedding bower

It's 20 years now.

Grandpa's lily laced walks 

have new people living within them

I dream I'm back there every night

The lily bride and her slender-pale groom

have been in their graves for nearly the same

their lives long and full

but no less painful the passing for the length of sojourn

My groom gathers our lilies in spring

and puts them in a vase 

that my grandmother gave me

how we miss those silly romantics who wasted two weeks pay on weeds

Persian Poets: Omar Khayyam, Hafiz, Rumi, Zarathushtra

National Poetry Month: Persian Poetry
Persians were thinkers, lovers and poets. Faithful as the Cedars of Lebanon, Persian poetry is redolent with myrrh and cardamom. Persian poetry is lush vermillion and pure gold. Enjoy Hafiz, Rumi,Omar Khayyam and Zarathrushtra.

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Spring Nature Poetry for Earth Day

Free Poety Lessons: Spring Nature Poems
April is National Poetry Month. Poetry is the perfect venue to express the joy of spring. And spring it the ideal subject for poems! Get the young and old outside to explore, enjoy and write!
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