Well, a lot has happened offline in the time I've been away, I packed in loads of catching up during the home leave. Met up with family members I hadn't seen for a decade, classmates I hadn't met since schooldays, a dear friend from my childhood in Nigeria, my god, no happiness like the happiness of hugging a friend after some 20 odd years' gap! I cried and laughed and talked till my tongue fell off.
As for things here, the last entry won the top spot, whoop! a super pleasant way to end the holiday. Thank you, WEP and WEPers!
I also managed to complete the writing course with all requirements duly met, another pleasant thing to happen this August. Have come away with a whole new perspective on various histories, poets, and writing and reading. It's been busy and productive and truly fun, if a bit hectic. I have written everything as it came, no prescheduling, total pantsing paradise. Looking forward to some stay-at-home quiet writing and blogging now, maybe even scheduling a few entries, just for a change, yeah! :)
And here's another installment from the garden's entry, which has 14 sonnets in total, but only 10 got posted so as to fit in with the word limit.
XI.
Place
me there when it’s twisted thorns,
just
sharp shards of twigs in the pebbles;
the
needles a mass of poised weapons
and stars like fallen petals, shrivelled;
lay
me there still when the planets
confuse
their orders around the sun.
The
skies gnaw the gems off Venus
and
there are no more rings on Saturn.
Wrap me in as the cosmos crumbles
and
time runs backwards to escape -
its
own aeons’ works lie in shambles,
space assumes a sinister shape.
Point
me to the earth always, always
even
when it’s dead, empty space.
You'll find the first ten here in case you want to read. Happy end-of-August to you and yours.
HOW I love your WEP entry. Colour me awed, and I look forward to reading more as you share it. Perhaps some day publishing it in its entirity?
ReplyDeletePS: Thank you so much for your kind words about my WEP entry. They meant a lot.
DeleteI loved your WEP entry!
DeleteI saw that you won - congratulations!!!
ReplyDeleteThank you!
Deletecongratulations indeed. I love "cosmos crumbles". So many great images.
ReplyDelete(and glad you could catch up with a friend of 20 years - indeed, I talk nonstop when I visit "home")
The catching up is/was the best part of the holiday. Thanks.
DeleteCongratulations! The people running that contest clearly know quality when they see it!!
ReplyDelete:) they write some pretty high quality stuff themselves...thanks, Susan.
DeleteLovely composition. Thank you for sharing
ReplyDeleteand congratulations
Thank you.
DeleteVery nice, and there's that bit of bleakness again...
ReplyDeleteBleakness is what makes the good and the beautiful stand out, cherishable, is that a word? Never mind, I shall just use my poetic licence :) Thanks for being here.
DeleteHi Nila! So both of us have been huddled away learning about writing! I had a 5-day retreat and am grabbing every writing op i can since life returned to normal...sadly.
ReplyDeleteOnce again, congrats on Point me to...winning WEP, and thank you for posting more! Wonderful! And thank you for appearing on my latest blog post! :-)
Hi Denise! Life has to return to normal, doesn't it? regretfully...I'm glad things are quiet, but will miss all the activity and stimulation come September...
DeleteThank you for your support and friendship, and thank you for letting me be a part of the WEP family, means more than I can ever say!
Hi Nila - it'd be awful if the world (space included) did a U-turn as you suggest ... but you express that so well - your last stanza ... has some wonderful visuals in it.
ReplyDeleteWrap me in as the cosmos crumbles
and time runs backwards to escape -
its own aeons’ works lie in shambles,
space assumes a sinister shape.
I'd be happy to be back with earth ...
Marvellous symmetry - yet motion of many parts - love your poems .. and thanks for posting more.
Congratulations on a much deserved win ... it's a delight to read ... cheers Hilary
Hi Hilary! Pretty awful if it happened yes, yikes! I am sure we will manage to avoid those dire scenarios though...I believe in the resilience of humankind, and of Earth too. Though the current news does not provide much food for optimism, but we will get there in the end...somehow...and keep the garden as beautiful, but maybe in a different way.
DeleteCongratulations on the win. Nice to have your work appreciated. I do trust you are wrong with your thoughts on earth and space.
ReplyDeleteWith you on that one! Thank you.
Delete