BRILLIANT BLOOMS – PROMPT # 147 AND THAN BAUK

The pleasure of working with such a varied group of talented individuals gets better by the week, with the current co-host being Iain Douglas Kemp. Your poetry and view on the world are in a class few attain and I thank you Iain for your contributions and support of poets and poetry. I look forward to future works and the continuance of your podcasts, a pure treat!

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The Sunday Seed had us looking at emotions in the colors of the spectrum. Some interesting color coding took place here and it is a joy to read and reflect such a wonderful array of poems. The task, as our co-hosts are finding, is indeed difficult to decide on only one poem.

WALT’S CHOICE:

This poem is a playful and colorful piece of wonder. The artistry in this conveys a bit of mystery and offers a glimpse at pure whimsy. The story has potential to be a terrific children’s story. Marilyn Braendeholm’s “The Man in the Mummy-Colored Coat” earns my BRILLIANT BLOOM.

THE MAN IN THE MUMMY-COLOUR COAT by Marilyn Braendeholm

It’s that raincoat.
Spies wear coats like that.
Must be undercover, I think.
Incognito.

Hovering about
Muddy trenches.
Pigeon stained.
Slightly crusted
Stiff to the wind.

“Are you okay, Mister?” I want to ask.
His skin is petrified dark.
There’s an Egyptian mummy
in the Louvre that same colour,
sort of like burnt oak bark.

Mummies’ve their plumbing drained,
my plumber explained to me last year.

He told me, put soda down the drains.
Do it once a week, he said, “but it’ll kill
your son’s pet snake.” Pete’s sake, said I.

That stupid stripy snake
slipped straight down
the bathroom sink hole.
Little stinker stuck himself fast.

Had to ring up a plumber.
One who loves snakes.

Pop my clogs and bless my socks, I thought.
I approached the man
in the mummy-colour raincoat.
He’s a statue.

I blame it on the alchemy
of winter’s waning light,
but I swear he’s eyeing me

with a questioning expression,
as if to ask, “Are you okay, Lady?”

Note: Purely fiction, although this poem is inspired by a statue near Town Hall. (c) Misky 2014

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IAIN’S SELECTION:

I don’t think I have ever had such a difficult job as this. Choosing one poem from so many wonderful poems and by so many fabulously talented poets is a mammoth task that I did not undertake lightly. If I had realized how hard this would be I might have declined the invitation to co-host! I certainly do not feel worthy to sit in judgment of writers who I admire and respect, so this made reaching a decision all the more difficult. As the week progressed I made notes of the poems that really stood out to me, that truly spoke to me. After all this is a very subjective judgment and beauty is in the eye of the beholder. There were several front runners, some late comers threatening the peloton and others that just kept calling me back, but as in many endeavours in the end there could be only one. I steeled myself for the agony of choosing just one poem to rate as, at least in my view and on this occasion, “better” or as I finally thought it should be termed, my favourite. This done I am delighted to announce Jerry Walraven’s “Periwinkle in our shoes” as my Bloom for the week.

PERIWINKLE IN OUR SHOES by Jerry Walraven

We mistake this beauty
as a backdrop,
a static scene
against which we play
out our small tales,
believing our foibles
are somehow grander
than grandeur
until some place
shocks the system,
forcing the eyes to open
themselves to the majesty
of an oak
twice our wingspan
which captures our life
in one of its branches.
So we stand,
oak bark against our cheek
and periwinkle in our shoes.

© Copyright Jerry Walraven – 2014

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INFORM POETS BLOOMS:

WALT’S FORM:

A Burmese form of poetry, Than-Bauk compresses rhyme, and syllable count into a short three line statement to express a thought. The “step rhyme” posed a challenge in a four syllable span. But as always, you have risen to the occasion with exceptional work, poets. With the tease of Spring in the air, Claudette Young’s Than Bauk introduces an early look at the season.

Yellow daffies;
Bright daisies sway;
Bee sees targets.

© Copyright Claudette Young – 2014

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IAIN’S FORM BLOOM:

As I said before, being in a position where one is asked to judge one’s peers and in many cases I feel, my superiors is far harder than writing poetry. I am no expert on form – I usually shy away from writing it, but I know a good poem when I see one. I saw many, so many that it made judging them seem an impossible task. In the end I decided to make my mind up based on how much I felt the rhyme was well made, combined with the sentiment speaking to me beyond the mere words on the page. There were several candidates in my short list but in the end a choice had to be made and that choice is “Praying on Superiority” by Michelle Hed.

PRAYING ON SUPERIORITY by Michell Hed

Every and each
lording speech shows
the leach in wait.

CONGRATULATIONS TO MARILYN, JERRY, CLAUDETTE AND MICHELLE ON YOUR SELECTIONS FOR THE BRILLIANT BLOOMS.