Poetry Corner: Better Days

POETRY CORNER

– 11/16/16

Hosted by Kathabela Wilson

♣ We welcome and encourage your response especially in the form of short poems. You may reply by leaving a comment below.

> Kathabela says: “We’ve come home to find life, and the aged oak on the Caltech campus, has seen better days, and we are all hoping that better days will come again”.

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“Better Days” by Kathabela Wilson.

Sharon Hawley

Farewell Brown Oak

Once green with
acorn babies in your arms

alligator bark still lifelike
as my father’s memory
along your trunk

crutches hold you up
like lessons he taught
tight cables keep your arms raised
after his prayers had risen

a child of your womb
young and limber as you were
as father was
before Caltech existed
before they came with steel and science
to save you
now thrives
by the poetry garden

thank the maker
thank the science
thank the ones who loved you
if dead trees can

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Engelmann Oak by Kalthabela Wilson.

Briony James

four centuries of growth
stretched like a ballerina
an arabesque of eternity
now crumbling away

cracked, kindling branches
leaves bleached and mummified
dust echoes of acorns past
Nature lays it to rest
To rot
And moves inexorably forward

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Photo – Kathabela Wilson.

Erika Wilk

The Oak

the ancient one still stands
massive
yet it looks frail
its leaves brown
brittle as crisp bacon
they cling to dying branches
like loose threads
of an old tapestry

now the greenery nearby
vies for attention
some purple blooms
and yellow candles
still decorate those trees
but the majestic oak
surrendered to age
and perhaps drought

four hundred years
a milestone
we honor its existence
pray the sapling
will do well

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The child grown from an acorn of the 400 yr old tree – At the Caltech community garden (Photo – Kathabela Wilson)

Joan Stern

dappled sunlight paints
centuries-old live oak
canopy of dreams

Engelmann Oak’s Demise

heroic tree
breathes its last gasps
a chorus of brown leaves

heartbroken
we hear its murmurs
a rustle of tears

we must be consoled
by Oak’s long history
take courage from acorns

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> Poets Briony, Sharon, Erika and Joan all attended Wednesday Oct 26 “Wednesday Poets on Site” at Caltech meeting while Kathabela was in Portugal and wrote on the declining Engleman Oak on campus. Briony James lives in Altadena, Joan Stern drives each week to us from Malibu, and Sharon Hawley and Erika Wilk are longtime Pasadena residents.