Blog Post 28 Morning Walks to Carpe Diem
Blog Post 28
Morning Walks to Carpe Diem
May 12, 2018
Gentle Reader,
Kaleemera! Walks down to the Carpe Diem coffee shop have started every day here for me on Lesvos.
I usually see familiar dogs and cats, but mostly casts. A kind soul leaves food for many of the cats on the corner, where I turn to go to Carpe Diem.
Ode to Lesvos
I have seen the shriveling of roses
clusters fading to brown
petals falling in on themselves,
falling into silent miniature heaps
detached from the center
where they were first born.
I have seen the coming to be of wisteria,
climbing poles and the trunks of trees,
wrapping themselves between the lattice slats.
In China, some wisteria take twenty years to mature,
but in Kentucky, a few years and blooms come.
In 1894, a Chinese lavender wisteria was planted
in Sierra Madre, California.
Measuring a full acre now,
heavy with blooms at 250 tons of weight.
I have seen lemons
heavy laden and ripe
fall to the ground in clusters.
I have squeezed lemons
onto rice at cafes facing the port of Myteline.
Seaman devoured the juice
to relieve suffering from scurvy.
Planted among the early Islamic Gardens,
an ornamental bush among the flowers.
Some swear by the healing powers,
sipping the warm cloudy waters
of steeped lemon tea leaves.
Squeeze its insides into the lines of my palm,
let the cascading juice tell my fortune.
I want to make a laurel crown
of fallen rose petals.
I want to bedeck my neck and my wrists
the small of my back,
the space behind my knees,
my ankles and the breath between my toes
with wisteria so heavy
that I will be forever rooted
to this island, this Lesvos,
this place of morning blooming.
-Marianne 5/12/2018
Every few days, new flowers are in bloom. The Morning Glories are in full flower right now. The yellow trumpet flower, of which I don't know the name, just came into bloom yesterday. I have seen the shriveling of roses, the coming to be of wisteria. The island is a sensory experience from waking to rising.
And there is always the stuff of everyday life...
Felines bathing in the early morning sunlight...
Today, I want to dedicate this blog to Maysaloon, my dear sister and fellow poet. Her writing from the wounded heart of herself inspires me and reminds me how writing can be such a healing journey...
Namaste,
Marianne
Morning Walks to Carpe Diem
May 12, 2018
Gentle Reader,
Kaleemera! Walks down to the Carpe Diem coffee shop have started every day here for me on Lesvos.
I usually see familiar dogs and cats, but mostly casts. A kind soul leaves food for many of the cats on the corner, where I turn to go to Carpe Diem.
Ode to Lesvos
I have seen the shriveling of roses
clusters fading to brown
petals falling in on themselves,
falling into silent miniature heaps
detached from the center
where they were first born.
I have seen the coming to be of wisteria,
climbing poles and the trunks of trees,
wrapping themselves between the lattice slats.
In China, some wisteria take twenty years to mature,
but in Kentucky, a few years and blooms come.
In 1894, a Chinese lavender wisteria was planted
in Sierra Madre, California.
Measuring a full acre now,
heavy with blooms at 250 tons of weight.
I have seen lemons
heavy laden and ripe
fall to the ground in clusters.
I have squeezed lemons
onto rice at cafes facing the port of Myteline.
Seaman devoured the juice
to relieve suffering from scurvy.
Planted among the early Islamic Gardens,
an ornamental bush among the flowers.
Some swear by the healing powers,
sipping the warm cloudy waters
of steeped lemon tea leaves.
This morning, with thumb and forefinger,
I want to pry open a single lemon.Squeeze its insides into the lines of my palm,
let the cascading juice tell my fortune.
I want to make a laurel crown
of fallen rose petals.
I want to bedeck my neck and my wrists
the small of my back,
the space behind my knees,
my ankles and the breath between my toes
with wisteria so heavy
that I will be forever rooted
to this island, this Lesvos,
this place of morning blooming.
-Marianne 5/12/2018
Every few days, new flowers are in bloom. The Morning Glories are in full flower right now. The yellow trumpet flower, of which I don't know the name, just came into bloom yesterday. I have seen the shriveling of roses, the coming to be of wisteria. The island is a sensory experience from waking to rising.
And there is always the stuff of everyday life...
Felines bathing in the early morning sunlight...
Today, I want to dedicate this blog to Maysaloon, my dear sister and fellow poet. Her writing from the wounded heart of herself inspires me and reminds me how writing can be such a healing journey...
Namaste,
Marianne
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