friday feast: poetry friday roundup is here!

~ jama

“In summer, the song sings itself.” ~ William Carlos Williams


photo by BékiPeti.

Happy Poetry Friday!

So glad you’re here. I can’t talk too much, because my mouth is full of sweet juicy peach. The past two weeks, I’ve been gorging myself on these perfect orbs of blushing summer goodness and appreciating how beautifully they epitomize the season. Summer days are long, slow, lazy-drowsy sort of affairs where you might just get it into your head that time is standing still. Peaches originated in China, where they were favored by emperors and consumed by the immortals. They’ve always symbolized longevity in Chinese culture.

I invite you to taste this poem and savor its essential truth. How many summers can you taste in one bite of peach? Ingest this perfect moment in time; reflect on the eternity of words.

FROM BLOSSOMS
by Li-Young Lee

 

From blossoms comes
this brown paper bag of peaches
we bought from the boy
at the bend in the road where we turned toward
signs painted Peaches.

From laden boughs, from hands,
from sweet fellowship in the bins,
comes nectar at the roadside, succulent
peaches we devour, dusty skin and all,
comes the familiar dust of summer, dust we eat.

O, to take what we love inside,
to carry within us an orchard, to eat
not only the skin, but the shade,
not only the sugar, but the days, to hold
the fruit in our hands, adore it, then bite into
the round jubilance of peach.

There are days we live
as if death were nowhere
in the background, from joy
to joy to joy, from wing to wing,
from blossom to blossom to
impossible blossom, to sweet impossible blossom.


photo by Priscilla1295.

I’m anxious to see what delicious treat you’ve brought to today’s feast. Please leave your offerings with Mr. Linky by including the title of your poem or the book you’re reviewing in parentheses after your name, along with a comment.

 


And, to tide you over while you’re reading all the good poems being shared today, please help yourself to some peach sorbet or peach pie. If you happen to be smiling at this very moment, you may have both! ☺


photo by jensteele.


photo by chocolategourmand.

Thanks for joining us and have a great weekend!!



“It is the poet’s privilege to help man endure by lifting his heart, by reminding him of the courage and honor and hope and pride and compassion and pity and sacrifice which have been the glory of his past. The poet’s voice need not merely be the record of man, it can be one of the props, the pillars to help him endure and prevail.” ~ William Faulkner

29 thoughts on “friday feast: poetry friday roundup is here!”

  2. Hi Jama! I’m out of town and won’t be able to link in tomorrow. I do have a post going up with the poem Ode to Marbles. Can you please add me in the morning?

    Thanks for hosting!
    Tricia

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  4. Thanks for hosting, Jama!

    And how positively delicious! If I stay much longer, there will be drool all over my keyboard. Sure am tempted to try your recipes. (May I ask, what’s in self-rising flour that makes it rise?)

    Violet

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  6. Thanks for hosting this week. I love summer fruit. I’ve got a blueberry poem to share and now I want to go eat peaches 🙂

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  10. Self rising flour already contains some baking powder and salt in it. The cobbler recipe comes from one of my favorite cookbooks, Heart in Hand (from a local restaurant that we frequent). Hope you try it!

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  11. Thanks for hosting! I love the poem. I just had some amazing peach cobbler this week made from juicy, juicy peaches. I love the last stanza of the poem. “There are days we live as if death were nowhere in the background…” Indeed. Biting into a juicy peach on a hot summer day is one experience that will evoke that for me.

    I put a link in Mr. Linky to my entry for the week, a birthday poem I wrote for my mom called “Tripytch.” I’m not sure if I was supposed to leave the information there or not-I didn’t know how. Hope here is okay. Melissa http://windspirit-girl.livejournal.com/8661.html

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  14. Poetry Friday

    Elaine magliaro

    Jama,

    Thanks so much for doing the roundup this week. I’m happy–the sun is shining again! “From Blossoms” is one of my very favorite poems. I love Li-Young Lee’s poetry!

    At Wild Rose Reader, I have two original summer acrostics, CRAB & CRICKETS, and a recommendation for a book of summer acrostics by Steven Schnur.

    http://wildrosereader.blogspot.com/2009/07/summer-acrostics.html

    At Political Verses, I have an original poem about the resignation speech of Alaska’s governor entitled “Sarah Palin’s Swan/Duck/Goose Song.”

    http://politicalverses.blogspot.com/2009/07/sarah-palins-swanduckgoose-song.html

    At Blue Rose Girls, I have a poem entitled “Anniversary” by Cecilia Woloch. I posted it–a little early–for my 40th wedding anniversary, which my husband and I will celebrate on July 19th.

    http://bluerosegirls.blogspot.com/2009/07/poetry-friday-anniversary-by-cecilia.html

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  19. “There are days we live
    as if death were nowhere
    in the background, from joy
    to joy to joy, from wing to wing,
    from blossom to blossom to
    impossible blossom, to sweet impossible blossom.”

    Absolutely beautiful.
    Jules
    7-Imp

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  21. Mr. Linky keeps disappearing on me, and while I finally caught him, I figured I’d mention here in the comments that my post today is about the fact that Charles Ghigna, aka Father Goose, is blogging. You can come visit my blog to find out about that, or you can go straight to his blog:

    http://charlesghigna.blogspot.com

    Thanks for hosting, Jama!

    Like

  22. Mr. Linky keeps disappearing on me, and while I finally caught him, I figured I’d mention here in the comments that my post today is about the fact that Charles Ghigna, aka Father Goose, is blogging. You can come visit my blog to find out about that, or you can go straight to his blog:

    http://charlesghigna.blogspot.com

    Thanks for hosting, Jama!

    Like

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