Poetry Corner: Earth Hour

POETRY CORNER

Earth Hour (Photo – Jaci Sandifer).

– 4/11/18

Hosted by Kathabela Wilson

Shrikaanth Krishnamurthy, in Birmingham, UK, who inspired this corner by posting about his beautiful close family gathering at home, tells us it as ‘an hour of switching off from the rush of our lives that puts us right back in touch with our very roots- Mother Earth’. Some of us in the USA did not know about Earth Hour (each year near the end of March) even though it has been a worldwide movement since 2007. But you can see the spirit of Earth Hour is very vibrant in all of our hearts. And we can have earth hour anytime and share it by the candle or hearth or the open sky for inspiration and inner light.

~ Kathabela

​​Shrikaanth Krishnamurthy

by the oil lamp
just enough light to harvest
a few memories

earth hour
a log settles into
the fire

(Credit for the idea above goes to our little boy Amshuman)

from outside
a bicycle’s tring
a mother
by a lamp’s light
handing out food

a tiny halo
around the tea light
enough to draw
the family together…
earth hour

Shrikaanth Krishnamurthy says: “The flickering light of an oil lamp can light up a lifetime of memories. Or the memory of a lifetime. By it we could love in the moment. How quaint is that that we tend to see more when there is less! Poet and editor Shrikaanth Krishnamurthy has created a new quarterly poetry journal called ephemerae coming soon with haiku and related forms.​

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Giselle Maya

EARTH HOUR
delighted by a candle and
the light of the moon

Giselle Maya, in Provence, France says: “As for the EARTH HOUR I have been for years an advocate of lighting when possible with candles and the full moon, solar lights also in my garden. Nicola Tesla is one of the bright minds of our time as is Einstein – he already proved that we could all live with free energy – we must learn to harness it. THE SUN IS OUR FRIEND — solar lights are available already and of course candles have lit homes for centuries. When the moon is bright i sit quietly watching the moonbeams and considering a beneficial silence that we all can enjoy.”​

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Candlelit painting by Shelagh Morrison.

Shelagh Morrison​​​​

Ophelia
heralded by red sun
and shivering showers of golden birch

we hunt out candles
draw closer to our hearths
pray for the vulnerable

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faces lit by fiery glow

age old tales
are told once more

cloak of dark surrounds the home
smoke rises ghostly in cold air
a single flake meanders low

​Shelagh Morrison lives in Durblane, Scotland. She says we can be “conscious of the duality of extreme beauty and personal good fortune while there is terrible suffering. The universal image of candle speaks of our hope and the importance of Community.” Her two cherita carry the beauty and intimacy of the Earth Hour.​

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Roy Kindelberger

i doze in my chair
with accompaniment of
crickets and frogs
the campfire slowly fades
into the midnight hour

​Roy Kindelberger, in Edmonds, Washington says: “I take comfort in those quiet moments, like a campfire or the fireplace. Just sitting back and taking in my surroundings.”​​

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Carol Judkins​

fresh flowers,
Isabel’s bright candle
on my desk
as I write dreamy tanka
and the grocery list

Carol Judkins​, of Carlsbad, California, notes “Isabel Allende said once in an interview that she writes with a candle burning. As long as it burns, she writes. It’s a real candle and a metaphysical one. So, I sit my desk, take in the fragrance of flowers and burn that candle…”

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Renee Howard Cassese

candlelight corona
embraces darkness—
within her circle
hope ignites
fear flickers away

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candle flame
paints dancing shadows
on white walls
yin yang
of my journey inward

Renee Howard Cassese says: “I am a retired special education teacher living in Temecula, California. I find the silver light of dawn, braided by warm candlelight, entices poetry from the heart of my muse.”

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Salt candle (Photo – Renee Howard Cassese).

matsukaze (Orrin Tyrell)

amid paper ornaments

he’s stretched out
reading me tanka

a lit candle
the only light
in this house

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shall i tell you
how good it feels
to undress
within the scent
​of a pumpkin candle?​

matsukaze (Orrin Tyrell) is a classical music singer who lives in Texas. He is known for his experimental, sensitive, lyrical and detailed down to earth expression in the manner of the Japanese masters. His poems here are cherita and tanka.

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