Friday, April 26, 2019

Canticle of the Blackberry Winter on Off the Wall Friday

I hope you will indulge me a bit as a take a very rare detour from my normal Art Quilt post.  Out of all the things I've ever made in my life the one that I'm most proud of is my daughter, Tessa.  Tessa is the kind of strong, independent girl young woman who wants to change the world for the better.   Tonight, her daddy and I had the pleasure of attending the literary festival at her school, Mercyhurst University where Tessa won 2nd prize for her short story.  She also had three poems accepted into the university's literary magazine so I thought I would share one of them here.




Canticle of the Blackberry Winter
Tessa Sayre

If I am any season, I am spring.
I am late twilight hours driving through dense fog spread like
tangible shadows under orange lamp posts.
I am morning birds outside your window chirping into
the afternoon sun. I am long drives home down roads swept
with magenta sun. On days when I am filled with volcanic
sand, I am spring storms that speak in thunder
and lash out in lightning - wind that bullfights trees and
makes grounded beings lose their gravity.
In this, there is freedom. There is unpredictability.
 There is hope.
Spring is the relief after months of chill and
sunlessness. It rattles the unlit house at midnight and greets
you with rain-loving crocuses in the morning. There is no
pressure for spring to be anything that it is not, for winter is
cold and summer is warm, but what is spring? It’s all in one.
Bare branches and verdant leaves, frosty Sundays
and breezy
fields, sunlight in puddles and rain on the dirt.
 She breathes
her goodbye to winter in a low whisper, but
sings her ever
joyful welcome to cloudless skies full
of song.



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9 comments:

The Inside Stori said...

Loved hearing about and reading your daughter's enchanting poem......yes you should be proud!!

Lynda said...

Congrats to Tessa! What a lovely poem! Thanks for sharing with us.

Frédérique - Quilting Patchwork Appliqué said...

Lovely poem, you can be proud of Tessa!

Norma Schlager said...

I think her poem is incredible! All the visuals that came into my mind while reading it and yes, she really nailed the essence of Spring.

Andree G. Faubert said...

Hi Nina Marie, Congrats to your daughter and I love her poem.

Tracey@Hotchpotchcreations said...

Beautiful words, Spring is such an energising season. Fabulous creations. Hope to join in and share a creation or two very soon.
Creative wishes Tracey

Sherrie Spangler said...

What a beautiful poem! She really captured the essence of the season.

The Idaho Beauty said...

Sigh . . . Such a beautiful poem full of such depth, such evidence of keen observation of the season itself coupled with multiple ways to interpret and apply to one's life. All done with thoughtful composition, selection of words and pairing of images. I repeat - sigh . . . No wonder it was selected for publication. So glad you shared. It has been copied into my book of poems and quotations.

Nina Marie said...

Thank you all for your kind words. What I love about this poem is I know exactly what images inspired it and exactly where she saw them since she drives and walks the same routes that I drove her all those years as a little girl. So many times I saw those things and marveled how wonderful and blessed we are to live in this little bit small town USA. I used to think how can so many people take this for granted?? So glad I raised a girlie that doesn't. Of course, I had NOTHING to do with this poem but I'm glad she was paying attention all those years of me pointing little points of beauty out to her.