Monday Whatevers: Part 2 of 2
April 11, 2022
Here’s Part Two of this week’s Monday Whatever featuring poems that celebrate Easter and Spring alongside the beautiful artwork of the legendary Alma Woodsey Thomas.
—Blessings
Alma Thomas - White Daisies Rhapsody (1973)
Emily Dickinson: The Daisy Follows Soft the Sun
The Daisy follows soft the Sun And when his golden walk is done Sits shyly at his feet He—waking—finds the flower there Wherefore—Marauder—art thou here? Because, Sir, love is sweet! We are the Flower—Thou the Sun! Forgive us, if as days decline We nearer steal to Thee! Enamored of the parting West The peace—the flight—the Amethyst Night's possibility!
Alma Thomas – Celestial Fantasy (1973)
William Stafford: Time for Serenity, Anyone?
I like to live in the sound of water, in the feel of mountain air. A sharp reminder hits me: this world is still alive, it stretches out there shivering toward its own creation, and I’m part of it. Even my breathing enters into this elaborate give-and-take, this bowing to sun and moon, day or night, winter, summer, storm, still–this tranquil chaos that seem to be going somewhere. This wilderness with a great peacefulness in it. This motionless turmoil, this everything dance.
Alma Thomas – Genesis (1966)
Joy Harjo: Remember
Remember the sky that you were born under, know each of the star's stories. Remember the moon, know who she is. Remember the sun's birth at dawn, that is the strongest point of time. Remember sundown and the giving away to night. Remember your birth, how your mother struggled to give you form and breath. You are evidence of her life, and her mother's, and hers. Remember your father. He is your life, also. Remember the earth whose skin you are: red earth, black earth, yellow earth, white earth brown earth, we are earth. Remember the plants, trees, animal life who all have their tribes, their families, their histories, too. Talk to them, listen to them. They are alive poems. Remember the wind. Remember her voice. She knows the origin of this universe. Remember you are all people and all people are you. Remember you are this universe and this universe is you. Remember all is in motion, is growing, is you. Remember language comes from this. Remember the dance language is, that life is. Remember.
Alma Thomas – Flash of Spring (1968)
A.A. Milne: Daffodowndilly
She wore her yellow sun-bonnet, She wore her greenest gown; She turned to the south wind And curtsied up and down. She turned to the sunlight And shook her yellow head, And whispered to her neighbour: "Winter is dead."
Alma Thomas – Astronauts Glimpse the Earth (1974)
Ursula K. Le Guin: Hymn To Time
Time says “Let there be” every moment and instantly there is space and the radiance of each bright galaxy. And eyes beholding radiance. And the gnats’ flickering dance. And the seas’ expanse. And death, and chance. Time makes room for going and coming home and in time’s womb begins all ending. Time is being and being time, it is all one thing, the shining, the seeing, the dark abounding.
Alma Thomas – Cherry Blossom Symphony (1973)
Toi Derricotte: Cherry Blossoms
I went down to mingle my breath with the breath of the cherry blossoms. There were photographers: Mothers arranging their children against gnarled old trees; a couple, hugging, asks a passerby to snap them like that, so that their love will always be caught between two friendships: ours & the friendship of the cherry trees. Oh Cherry, why can't my poems be as beautiful? A young woman in a fur-trimmed coat sets a card table with linens, candles, a picnic basket & wine. A father tips a boy's wheelchair back so he can gaze up at a branched heaven. All around us the blossoms flurry down whispering, Be patient you have an ancient beauty. Be patient, you have an ancient beauty.
May your week be filled with whatever is true, honest, just, pure, lovely, gracious, excellent, and worthy of praise.
Much Peace,
Marcie, BCWWF