¡ Feliz primavera !

Jasmine blossoms/jasmín en brote

Primavera
(Poema escrito por María Eugenia Vaz Ferreira, publicado en La Revista (Montevideo), V.1, No. 3, 20 setiembre 1899, p. 68, recogido en La otra isla de los cánticos, pp. 83-84)

Tú, Primavera, que eres la diosa de los retoños;
tú que repones y reverdeces las hojas secas;
tú que redimes de las escarchas de los otoños,
cuando del árbol penden, marchitas, las ramas huecas;

Tú, que devuelves y vigorizas las perfumadas
lumbres del iris, sobre los viejos cálices muertos,
y cuando asoman en el Oriente las alboradas
yergues las hojas de los pimpollos recién abiertos;

Tú, que serenas las aguas claras, como cristales,
de los arroyos, y las corrientes de las barrancas,
y luego tuerces las ramas duras en los sauzales
para que besen con más donaire las ondas blancas;

Y desparramas el rubio trigo junto al tejado
donde se escuchan tiernos gemidos arrulladores,
y se lo ofreces á las torcazas seco y dorado
para que tejan el dulce nido de sus amores;

Tú, que en las tardes haces que crucen las rumorosas
brisas serenas junto á las dalias mustias y ajadas,
y desparramas tibio perfume sobre las rosas
para que duerman las mariposas tornasoladas;

Y das efluvios para las auras crepusculares,
y mientras viertes el rico pomo de tus colores
llenas de savia las flores rojas de los corales,
donde aleteando beben su néctar los picaflores;

Tú, que coloras en las lucientes horas tempranas
los arco-iris, las nubes blancas y purpurinas,
cuando en el cíelo resplandeciente de las mañanas
revolotean pardas bandadas de golondrinas;

Y con susurros de brisas, dulces como aleteos,
despiertas aves en las nocturnas horas calladas
para que suelten las melodías de sus gorjeos
entre el silencio de las florestas embalsamadas;

Tú, con la lumbre de tus alegres albores rojos,
con tus reflejos y la riqueza de tus colores,
no eres tan bella ni brillas tanto como los ojos
donde florece la primavera de mis amores.


♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥

¡ Feliz primavera a familia y amigos en Uruguay y Argentina ! Con cariño, Cathy

Poets & Writers Update

I've just updated my Poets & Writers directory listing.

The Lost Villages

From: http://www.funonthenet.in/articles/underwater-ruins.html

By government decree, the Ontario, Canada villages of Mille Roches, Moulinette, Wales, Dickinson’s Landing, Farran’s Point and Aultsville; the hamlets of Maple Grove, Santa Cruz and Woodlands; and the farming community of Sheik’s Island were inundated on July 1, 1958 for the sake of the St. Lawrence Seaway and an international hydroelectric project. These communities are known collectively as “The Lost Villages”.

Jim Brownell, President of the Lost Villages Historical Society, has offered to publish my pantoum, "The Lost Villages: Inundation Day" in the late-October issue of the Lost Villages Newsletter.  Once it has been published, I will reproduce it here on the blog.

"Come, stranger, sister, dove" 10,000 visitors !

I'm thrilled to announce that my poetry blog/website has received ten thousand visitors since it went online in November 2010.

Most readers hail from the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Australia, Russia, Germany, India, Pakistan, France, and Indonesia; followed by visitors from Italy, Argentina, Uruguay, Denmark, Greece, and The Netherlands. But there have also been readers from China, Japan, United Arab Emirates, Moldova, Colombia, Venezuela, and other nations as well.

Thank you, everyone, for stopping by and I hope you'll be back soon!

In celebration of this milestone, below is my poem, "All These Words", after Richard Wilbur's "All These Birds".

All These Words

(after Richard Wilbur)

Agreed that all these words —

verb and adjective, noun and preposition —

    align premeditated on the page;

    each sound, each sememe willing to engage

    the silence of the surds;

                                    that the metrician

            may be a dying breed,

            a dodo bird. Agreed

            that it is, in fact, a plan,

a scheme, a plot which, whether dastardly or not,

    attempts to order chaos via meter,

    just like the other wordsmiths (only neater)

    with words that rhyme and scan.

                                    An afterthought:

            agreed the lines are drawn —

            it’s owl versus swan.

           

            But let us part as friends,

Dear Reader, for the pure word’s sake; for the design

     or lack thereof, and for the sake of love;

     for hawk and lark, for sparrow, stork and dove;

     for what transcends

                                    the stanza, line,

            and for the hope that sings

            through words and feathered things.

           

( © Catherine Chandler, first published in The Lyric, Summer 2008, vol. 88, No. 3)

Three "light" poems accepted for publication

LightenUp Online Editor, Martin Parker, has just accepted three of my parodies, under the global title, "Afters", for the December issue of his online journal.  Thank you, Martin!

As might be imagined, the parodies are "after" the style of some famous poets. They are: Elizabeth Bishop, Edna St. Vincent Millay and A.E. Housman.  The Bishop parody is after her villanelle, "One Art"; Millay's is a take on her sonnet, "Time does not bring relief; you all have lied", and the Housman lampoons a poem from A Shropshire Lad II, to wit, the famous "Loveliest of trees, the cherry now".

I had a fourth, "After Nose-Picking" after (of course) Robert Frost's "After Apple-Picking", but I didn't submit it, for fear my readers would be too grossed out and think ill of me ;-).

Lots of laughs in store, come December, at LightenUp Online, compliments of my warped sense of humor.

Four poems accepted for publication !

Me, a long, long time ago . . .

Two poems, "November" and "Intervals" will appear in upcoming issues of Measure and another two, "Breva" and "The Crag" will appear in Angle.

Thank you to the editors of both journals (Paul Bone and Rob Griffith - Measure and Janet Kenny and Philip Quinlan - Angle) for choosing these poems, especially "Intervals", which touches on the theme of Alzheimer's Disease, and "The Crag", an autobiographical sonnet.

It is an honor to have my poems appear in both of these outstanding journals.

Two Poems Online Today

From: ubuntudeal.co.za

Two recent poems of mine went online today:

"Heartwood" (a rondeau) at Innisfree Poetry Journal and

"Waiting" (a sonnet) at Antiphon .

Thank you to the editors for choosing these poems, both of which originated in sorrowful venues during the past few months, demanding to be written.