Entangled

Entangled

Even when

the heady

days are done

and the light

isn’t so

dramatic

I sink back

into the steadiness

of your hands

and my constant

rearrangement

of your slippers

by the

door.

You are a

singular

attachment

in this

samsara

plane.

Transcendence

is for

tomorrow

as I greedily

take in

the circle we

make

today.

Image: Mine (beach photo, 2003)

April 22, 2021

#NaPoWriMo2021 No. 22

ModPo 2013 #20 Bright Sweet Moment: On Williams' "This Is Just To Say"

Image from cloudberry.wordpress.com.

This Is Just To Say

by William Carlos Williams
I have eaten 

the plums 

that were in 

the icebox 

and which 

you were probably 

saving for breakfast 

Forgive me 

they were delicious 

so sweet 

and so cold
------------------------------------

Refrigerator magnet poetry. Honestly, what's wrong with that? It makes poetry an exercise for everyone. Isn't it a play of words and a conversation that is out of the ordinary? Another observation: this poem is very interesting because it's not a straight-out imagist poem. There is a bit of tension going on between the speaker and the reader who is addressed (the "you" in the poem). There is a fake apology that ends the poem that leaves a lot going on in the reader's imagination. 

First, I want to address turning a refrigerator message into a poem. I think it was timely. It captures the America of 1920 that was benefiting from ice boxes. It captures that a kind of marriage existed during that time. The imagist manifesto element that speaks into this poem is the absolute freedom to choose the subject matter. There is nothing too everyday, too quotidian to pick as a subject of the poem. It certainly isn't universal. That's what makes it so interesting. 

There is something interesting going on in the power play of the sexes in the poem. Was this a happy marriage? There is a levity in the fake apology. It is a kind of levity that only someone who is pretending to apologize would actually say in a note. I see a wide margin of "forgiveness" there. 

Lastly, like the poem, "Between Walls," I think this is a celebration of a little bright moment in the speaker's life. The sweet cold plums are ordinary things that can be taken for granted. But not in this poem. It is a moment of pure, unapologetic enjoyment and, if only for that, it is a glimpse of beauty in the suburban home. 

On Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn

Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I couldn't put down the book. While I took my time getting started...I was on the midnight oil with this one. It was just awesome! And yes, the blurb at the back of the book turned out to be true for me. I can't wait to get my sister to read it because I want to discuss this with someone.

It's intelligent and nerve wracking and it gets you asking questions about marriage, about how well you really know the people in your life. I mean...what is a *happy* marriage, anyway? Is it a sign of success? Is it external? It's a thriller and it did not disappoint.


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NaPoWriMo#16: Wedding Ring and Nature (Two Poems)

NaPoWriMo or National Poetry Writing Month, is an annual project in which participating poets attempt to write a poem a day for the month of April.

Below are two poems in pantun, a traditional Malay poetry form.

Wedding Ring
by Justine C. Tajonera

The wedding ring sat quietly atop some books.
It quietly disappeared that same afternoon.
Between us, there have never been more than looks,
no proofs of love required, no vows under the moon.

Nature
by Justine C. Tajonera

I watched our pet hamster, Mindy, devour
two of her newborn pups one afternoon.
I ask if war and hunger and poverty are
things we inflict on children who are least immune.