At last! A prompt I can warm up to. I love flowers, plants, and the natural world, so writing an edible plant poem was a good way to start the week. Thank you Napowrimo for a great prompt for Day 17 of our poem-a-day challenge. And here is the prompt in detail. As always, there are some specific instructions to adhere to, such as using a repeated phrase and making a specific comparison to my life or someone close to me.
Taste of Sun: Eriobotrya japonica
Japanese plums, loquats, saffron clusters
pasted on palmish evergreen leaves
in breezes swinging.
Another spring blooms.
Let’s gather them & slice the fruit.
Each one a center of smooth seed,
a sculptor could carve a tiny face from.*
Loquat in saffron clusters.
Let’s gather them & slice the fruit,
concoct a yellow cocktail with ice
stirred in. Laugh & toast
to love like days past.
Another spring blooms.
Fruit once fragrant blossoms.
Now, the loquats bunch in saffron
clusters. We laugh & drink the fruit,
cheers to days past with a tangy taste of sun.
Jacquelyn Markham 4/17/2023
*A nod here to the first known female sculptor, Properzia de’ Rossi, who carved intricate pieces from fruit pits, a practice during the Renaissance, but not a common one. De’ Rossi may not have had access to tools and materials as a male sculptor might have in the 16th century.
Read more about Properzia at the Italian Art Society website.
Poet Voice 