
Fresco at University of St. Thomas in Minneapolis Used by Permission of Laura Purdie Salas
The fairy tale, the prosaic,
the absurd and the divine,
find their way into myth,
story, art and rhyme.
The place I seek them
is inside a fallen leaf,
a new egg, a flower bud
or a twisted tale of grief.
On the underside of lily leaves
where scarlet beetle eggs lay
is all the universe: stars,
winds, earth, water, every day.
Elements crawl from shells
to devour garden beauty,
leaving holes, stunted growth,
another twisted tale of duty.
We mustn’t beseech the almighty,
seeking, pleading, trying
each of us with our fantastic tale,
none listening to another’s crying.
Copyright 2016 Brenda Davis Harsham
Notes: In honor of National Poetry Month, many Poetry Friday friends are celebrating all of April with an outpouring of poetry. This poem is inspired by a series of Ekphrastic poems written in homage to the photo by Laura Purdie Salas above.
The other poets/poems:
Laura Purdie Salas
Sara Lewis Holmes
Kelly Fineman
Andromeda Jazmon
Tanita Davis
Tricia Stohr-Hunt
Brenda, I’m so glad you joined in! I love your last two lines. So important to remember, and the poem leading into them nails it beautifully.
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Thank you! It was fun to join in, and I’m so grateful everyone was welcoming.
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Im not sure how I missed this but glad I popped in for a peruse, because it’s wonderful. I think the Reader sometimes is whimsically selective and doesn’t show everyone I follow. 😦
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My reader is so jammed that for you I give myself the gift of a weekly email. You are one of the few I try to catch up with. 🙂
Also, I only put this up last night. I was writing poetry and reading poetry until far too late.
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❤ 🙂 That means so much 🙂 ❤ I was up late too, my brain was full of words
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Mine, too. All drive and words and no rest for the wicked. 🙂
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This is lovely, Brenda–thanks for sharing links and such, too. That third stanza is my favorite. All the world IS in the everything, the big mysteries, the little everyday moments…I love the specificity of those scarlet beetle eggs!
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Every year I fight those scarlet lily beetles. They are so beautiful and so destructive. I’m glad you like my poem. Thanks for stopping by. 🙂
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Wonderful words about the world’s impregnation into Art Poetry Music and all the Arts. Beautifully written and words so true my friend. How talented you are….!!! Thank you:)
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Thanks, Krysia! What a lovely comment.
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Really nice poem!
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Thank you!
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No problem.
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