“Nature, the gentlest mother” is the first of Aaron Copeland’s song set for soprano voice, Twelve Poems of Emily Dickinson, orchestrated in 1958. This song holds a special place in my heart as I chose it to end my senior voice recital in college. I fell in love with the piece when I first heard … Continue reading Nature, the gentlest mother
Enough
Upshore with my why’s and how’s I now drop questions in the ocean, asking waves of honesty pray take this sand to open sea . There is a desert deep inside me, thick and empty, cactus-sharp — a river trapped and wild underneath. Let’s call this place anxiety or search of purpose — call it … Continue reading Enough
Flowers
A love poem Can I rest under this floral sky? Nestle in and listen to your heart-song’s fluttering? You do to me what summer does with buttercups and honeybees. Like botany I study you — your mind is wild fields and flowers buzzing like a violin you make me garden, dance me golden — sway … Continue reading Flowers
Wine-stained in December
To that December I’ll always go back to place my feet in your snowy tracks ( to remember every crunch : crushed cold white sugar on a fruits of our devotion ). Love, don’t you remember? That glass of soft red last of autumn sunset when the trees were lit and time was drunk, and … Continue reading Wine-stained in December
October
Tropical October Every day the purple rain petunias in my garden will fall by 5pm to be reborn by morning. Rain, sun, rain every day. My banana plant will fan new daily greens. The dolphins flipping in the distance are the only changing things that tell me it’s not summer anymore. Warm and clean the … Continue reading October
A blessing
On our walk, my dog and I, we take this same path every day, though it’s not same as last year or yesterday —she knows this. She sniffs the new story from the day’s knowledge-filled air, nuzzles in the playful soil and the sweet, summery green body of a baby leaf — she’s thrilled. On … Continue reading A blessing
A night at the opera
Three poems Opera For the opera tonight my heart is dressed in fitted black — a mournful and desirous type of gown that Callas would have worn, for music is untouchable, and stages are pandemic-dim, but I’m still so in love… I remember my first Met performance — twenty-one and tortured by the body language … Continue reading A night at the opera
Lavender Poems
Four poems 1. Everywhere descending, the crisp autumnal rain is apple-spiced and lavendered with memories that warm my morning tea. 2. This is not a poem just the scent of one I once renounced. The one I thought was too morose, of deep blue, almost indigo. I’d asked her to be happier. She tried… (a … Continue reading Lavender Poems
River of life
In this life we are gifted a soul-compass to navigate through all that dances: water twirling into water, joy and pain in waves that roll — ballets in concentric circles. We are rivers never stepping in their same selves twice. In water-rapids, pearl-white, we flow- resist. The precipice draws closer to the fall. Indefinitely effortless … Continue reading River of life
Water-lily poems
From the depths emerged An incandescent being On a green-lit train #Haiku The lily every morning at the pond A knowing of my darkness pulls me deeper than the surface, through the holy waters of the water-lily world. The ancient mud receives me still and holds me with the heartbeat of the Earth. It echos: … Continue reading Water-lily poems
