Poetry Corner: Time to Harvest

POETRY CORNER

– 10/24/18

Hosted by Kathabela Wilson

Before the feast of harvest comes the work of it. Sometimes all the conditions are right to produce the feast we all wish for. Spring seeds and waterings nurture expectations. Time passes and the results of our work are to be seen, felt, sometimes as hoped for, and sometimes become something to watch, and even endure. They demand all our creativity and strength. The positive fruits of human kindness are the greatest rewards, as Natalia Kuznetsova points out, “the fantastic gift named happy childhood.” These are the treasures, our rich harvest of remembered smiles.

~ Kathabela

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Ready to harvest (Photo – Natalia Kuznetsova).

Giselle Maya

a stronger flow
the capricious spring’s gift
this quiet place
where i wander filling my pockets
with walnuts fallen to earth

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Paul Heinowski

fruit falls
and time passes
used or not

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Field of Unplucked Dreams (Photo – Richard Grahn).

Richard Grahn

when the crops were grown
the reaper came…
now she lingers in the fields
of unplucked dreams
they planted

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Haiga by Mary Ellen Gambutti

Mary Ellen Gambutti

field mice skitter
in the corn bin
dust and dried husks

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Haiga by Pris Campbell

Pris Campbell

dawn light
dining on what the tide
left behind

empty field
the raindancer came
far too late

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Ready for harvest, haiga by Natalia Kuznetsova

Natalia Kuznetsova

my late grandma
her smile on every apple
in her basket

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Time to Harvest: Quotes and Credits

Giselle Maya lives in St. Martin de Castillon, France. She feels the rejuvenation that has come to recede her harvest. She says: The roses will open one last time, the herb garden is greening, the olive tree grows taller, and the newly planted cherry trees as well; the long drought is broken.” She is gathering walnuts.

Paul Hienowski lives in the small city of Inverness in the Scottish Highlands. He tells this story: “We have a couple of apple trees, and most years, we only harvest a handful of the apples. The blackbirds love it! I sometimes muse to myself about how we enjoy “wasting” time. It passes anyway, so why not just enjoy it? I think Robert Frost wrote a poem called “Unharvested” which I found quite captivating.”

Richard Grahn lives in Evanston, Illinois, near Chicago. He says: “I grew up in the fields of southern Wisconsin. There the cycle of life is undeniable. To see the labor of planting and growing come to fruition always brings out the boy in me. Strong relationships are really no different than healthy fields of grain. They’re both the result of tender loving care, they both take hard work, and they both find ways to thrive in the sun and the rain.”

Mary Ellen Gambutti lives in Sarasota, Florida. She says: “I took this photo the last time I was in Pennsylvania visiting my mother. It’s a feed corn field, and the farm store is nearby. The culmination of the year’s growth, the brittle dryness of a harvested cornfield. The mouse, too, harvests the corn for winter.”

Pris Campbell lives in the Greater West Palm Beach area, in South Florida. She says: “The birds are rapidly gaining in number here at Lake Worth, where the bugs and small shore life are juicy and ripe for the taking.” But she also remembers, as we all do, “There are those horrible times when a harvest would be due but the ground has had no rain and food is scarce.”

Natalia Kuznetsova in Moscow, Russia, muses: “Harvest season is something which is of great significance for each and all. And has always been through the whole history of humankind. It is a celebration of human endeavor, hope and perseverance…Indeed, you reap what you sow. Grandmother died long ago, but her gentleness, kindness and love for you stay forever as for all others who gave you the fantastic gift named happy childhood. But when you pick apples from the old tree she planted and put them in the old basket she used, it all comes back with warmth gratitude.”

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♣ We welcome and encourage your response, especially in the form of a short poem, by leaving a comment below.