TREE OF LIFE (photo) & BACKLIGHTING: Two Perspectives (non-dream free verse poem) by Roswila

BACKLIGHTING:
Two perspectives

One --

the way you look as I stand before you
with the sun at my back, I'm sure you're
seeing right through me, as if I were a late
fall leaf whose every vein and strut stands
out clearly in the bright backlighting,
my private avenues of nourishment
and support exposed to the deep perusal
you unwittingly acknowledge with a flash
of wonderment on your much loved
but often unreadable face


Two --

backlit by the sun, a late autumn leaf trembles
under the touch of a light breeze
like a golden flag,
each vein and strut exposed,
the highways and byways of its nourishment
and support standing out clearly:
a drying life suspended like an awkward angel
about to crumble into the Greater Light,
its work almost over


[non-dream free verse poem written 12-2-17. This autumn leaf transfixed me on a recent walk into Isla Vista. My first urge was to take a photo, but that backlighting sun was way too strong for my poor tech skills. However, I so enjoyed looking at it, I kept standing there and then -- voila! -- the first stanza of this poem enticed me. By the time I'd reached Anisqoyo Park and sat down to work on my notes, the second stanza was beginning to peek out of the memory of all that bright backlight. BTW, these two stanzas reflect two different ways to focus a poem. As in the first stanza, my tendency is to follow it inward, into my overtly personal life. But there's also focusing a poem on the external world, which is one of the reasons I like writing haiku. That form helps me to be more aware of what's happening in the physical world and far less on the specifics of my emotional life. Of course, it's impossible (IMHO) to completely take one's inner self out of a poem. But the exercise of trying to do so produces a very different sort of focus and, therefore, writing. As illustrated by the second stanza. Photo "Tree of Life" (12-2-17 004) by Roswila]

PLEASE NOTE: in most browsers you can click on the above image for a larger version. Also, the photo accompanying a post is not necessarily meant to illustrate it, but to reflect some small, even slant aspect of the verse, similar to Japanese haiga (illustrated haiku).

There are many other sorts of posts on this blog. I indicate which are about or influenced by dreams. Some non dream focused posts are book reviews, "regular" poems (some by other writers), scifaiku, writing exercises, Tarot haiku, photos, haiga, and so on. However, most of those are in much older posts. There's a listing by month going back to early 2006, at the end of the sidebar.

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until next time, keep dreaming,

[a/k/a Patricia Kelly]
**** If you wish to copy or use any of my writing or poems, please email me for permission (under “View my complete profile”). Roswila's other blog (dedicated to her photos only, i.e. no poetry or other writing; daily post); TRYING TO HOLD A BOX OF LIGHT.