Poem of the Day: “Volunteer Peach Tree” by Carol Hamilton, Poet of the Month

Songs of Eretz Poetry Review is pleased to present “Volunteer Peach Tree” by Carol Hamilton, Poet of the Month.  Ms. Hamilton will also be serving as the guest judge for the Songs of Eretz Poetry Award Contest, which will begin accepting entries TOMORROW, September 1, and run through October 15, 2015.  A detailed biography of Ms. Hamilton may be found here:  http://eretzsongs.blogspot.com/2015/08/songs-of-eretz-poetry-review-poet-of.html.  The contest guidelines may be previewed here:  http://eretzsongs.blogspot.com/p/songs-of-eretz.html.

Volunteer Peach Tree

Carol Hamilton

Its trunk is on my side

of the chain link fence,

but its heavy branches

poked above his grass as well.

Last year I plucked bites

of sunshine from among

that gloss of green leaves.

With good pruning I prepared

for a few more tastes

of paradise this year,

but late March every blossom

that dared the gray sky

turned to tiny globes of ice

like beads of Cloisonné.

Redbuds and peach blossoms

and Bradford pear flowers

and limb and branch and twig

turned to glamorous glitter

before they fell down. 

He said I would have

no peaches this year.

I spaced the tiny green nobs

anyway and sticky deformities

grew on each blossom end.

Yesterday I found one

half-bruised fruit and saw

another peachy-toned

and high-up.

I ate the good half,

dropped the pit. My crops

are usually miniscule anyway,

but just a taste or two of something

real keeps me out in the sun

weeding, turning soil for hours.

Soon I will taste ripe figs.

Poet’s Notes:  So many of my gardening ventures end in failure that I am overcome with gratitude when some unlooked-for gift appears in my yard. The butterfly bush I planted at my back fence line did behave in peculiar ways. It never bloomed all summer, as promised, but only in spring. Were I a little less enthusiastic and a bit more attentive to my efforts, I would surely have realized my mistake.

Such unexpected, though scant, harvests enchant me in much the same way that writing a poem rewards me--just playing with words and following where words lead. Other poets bring me gifts that are worth all the efforts and the many failures. The path from here to there is rarely a straight one. I used to have a bumper sticker on my car, a song title, and a gift at the booth for one of the singers at the Kerrville Music Festival in Texas. It read, “I’m not lost. I’m exploring.” In the garden and in poetry, I always hope to find reward in the process, to find delight in a delicious surprise along the way.

Editor’s Note:  “Volunteer Peach Tree” was originally published in Spherical Cat.  It makes the final installment in what I hope all readers of the Review will agree has been an inspiring month featuring the accomplished poet Carol Hamilton.  There is nothing like a ripe fig, with its subtle sweetness, velvety mouth feel, and the delightful crunch of its tiny seeds.  Fresh figs seem to be available in Kansas only in August.  For all of these reasons, I find the final line of this final poem to be particularly fitting. 

Poem of the Day: “Spirea” by Carol Hamilton, Poet of the Month

Songs of Eretz Poetry Review is pleased to present “Spirea” by Carol Hamilton, Poet of the Month.  Ms. Hamilton will also be serving as the guest judge for the Songs of Eretz Poetry Award Contest, which will run from September 1 to October 15, 2015.  A detailed biography of Ms. Hamilton may be found here:  http://eretzsongs.blogspot.com/2015/08/songs-of-eretz-poetry-review-poet-of.html.  The contest guidelines may be previewed here:  http://eretzsongs.blogspot.com/p/songs-of-eretz.html.

Spirea

Carol Hamilton

White waterfall of blossom

          Scent of fine pollen

Abandon of bridal spray

          Tossed over fence

Sprung free of pent up waiting

          Dammed fertility

A burst of dance and froth and glare

          Such white escaped

From winter.

Poet’s Notes:  How can we not write of the delights and surprises of rebirth, which come to us each spring?

Editor’s Note:  The pathetic and struggling spirea bushes that adorn the landscape of my Kansas home produce pink flowers, obviously not the bridal variety that inspired Ms. Hamilton.  Pink or white, I will look at them with a whole new respect thanks to this lovely poem.  “Spirea” was originally published in Bellowing Ark.

Poem of the Day: “Little Tides” by Carol Hamilton, Poet of the Month

Songs of Eretz Poetry Review is pleased to present “Little Tides” by Carol Hamilton, Poet of the Month.  Ms. Hamilton will also be serving as the guest judge for the Songs of Eretz Poetry Award Contest, which will run from September 1 to October 15, 2015.  A detailed biography of Ms. Hamilton may be found here:  http://eretzsongs.blogspot.com/2015/08/songs-of-eretz-poetry-review-poet-of.html.  The contest guidelines may be previewed here:  http://eretzsongs.blogspot.com/p/songs-of-eretz.html.

Little Tides

Carol Hamilton

The old wives’ tales of gardening

speak of planting as the moon waxes.

They say every earthly drop of liquid

is pulled and released

by our roving partners

of the Yin and Yang sky.

Outside my door I look

at those deep-etched leaves

of chocolate mint,

richly green and redolent.

Now I hear miniscule sea symphonies.

Even my molecules dance to this rhythm.

Is it true?

No wonder I hear this silent song

thrumming, humming,

plaiting me into some universal braid.

Poet’s Notes:  I love learning of folklore and world views that come to us from the past. If we are awake and listening, they can carry us on journeys that stir our awareness of so much that links us to the past and deeper into our common humanity.  This poem is playing at all of that.

Editor’s Note:  I enjoy the alliteration and consonance throughout this poem.  In addition, its physical rhythm as well as its metaphorical makes it a true Song of Eretz.  “Little Tides” was originally published in Northern Stars.

Poem of the Day: “Regeneration” by Carol Hamilton, Poet of the Month

Songs of Eretz Poetry Review is pleased to present “Regeneration” by Carol Hamilton, Poet of the Month.  Ms. Hamilton will also be serving as the guest judge for the Songs of Eretz Poetry Award Contest, which will run from September 1 to October 15, 2015.  A detailed biography of Ms. Hamilton may be found here:  http://eretzsongs.blogspot.com/2015/08/songs-of-eretz-poetry-review-poet-of.html.  The contest guidelines may be previewed here:  http://eretzsongs.blogspot.com/p/songs-of-eretz.html.

Regeneration

Carol Hamilton

A frog chirruping at the pond

before dawn. One year the pond liner

was surrounded by thousands

of tiny tadpoles. I feared invasion,

but the goldfish ate them all …

perhaps not all. One sings now

in pre-dawn chill. There has been

little of spring this year,

just hard winds battering us

with cold or dry heat, pollen,

but once there was a green, leafy

room, a frail and narrow afterthought

to the 1910 Sears pre-fab house

in the woods. We loved in the treetops,

and all did fall down, fall down.

But this tiny frog sings love songs still,

and I remember. There must

be a season of hope.

Poet’s Notes:  It is strange how a sound can come to us and slowly imagination follows that sound into memory. The past and the natural world continually recreate themselves, and I love letting one thing lead to another. The reader, of course, may find the words send dreams off to a completely different destination. I do hope so!

Editor’s Note:  My grandfather lived in one of those Sears pre-fab houses (one style is pictured) in a suburban setting, so it is interesting for me to picture one of them as a woodsy retreat. “Regeneration” was originally published in Ibbetson Street.

Poem of the Day: “Spice Pots” by Carol Hamilton, Poet of the Month

Songs of Eretz Poetry Review is pleased to present “Spice Pots” by Carol Hamilton, Poet of the Month.  Ms. Hamilton will also be serving as the guest judge for the Songs of Eretz Poetry Award Contest, which will run from September 1 to October 15, 2015.  A detailed biography of Ms. Hamilton may be found here:  http://eretzsongs.blogspot.com/2015/08/songs-of-eretz-poetry-review-poet-of.html.  The contest guidelines may be previewed here:  http://eretzsongs.blogspot.com/p/songs-of-eretz.html.

Spice Pots

Carol Hamilton

 

The pots line my patio,

and every plant has a bushy

head of seed or has withered to stalk

while I was gone. When cooking,

I’m not choosy, simply pinch

a leaf of each. But now

I wonder what has left me,

what needs replacing. I rub leaves

between thumb and finger,

inhale a familiar redolence.

No names come to mind. One

smells of pines in mountain

sun. Each is like Italy

or bay or basil. Leaves will all

be gone if I keep testing. I think

now I’ve lost a lemon oregano,

but then I wonder if such a plant

exists. Never mind. Life is

now more joyous since the day

I learned that recipes were

not handed down in stone,

and cloud patterns are

forever lost, forever new.

Chives and mint are in the garden,

and the shop will have labels.

I will breathe in and say,

“Oh, of course.

Sage is sage is sage.”

Poet’s Notes:  This is an old poem, and returning to it I find I like the sound the title makes, the sibilance, and that withered to stalk has a sound to it that I enjoy as well. For me, this piece is evocative to my senses. My imagination smells, hears, tastes, and touches. I hope this works for you, too. I love growing herbs in pots.

Editor’s Note:  I keep a pathetic little herb garden in my backyard behind the garage.  Just some lavender that my daughter likes (but my wife does not), a patch of strawberries that produces one semi-edible berry per annum, some shriveled thyme, an oregano monstrosity gone to seed and almost never harvested, and surprisingly healthy, useful, and abundant rosemary, basil, and chives.  This poem has inspired me to go outside and weed and perhaps later to make some basil pesto or add some fresh chives to my morning omelet.  “Spice Pots” was originally published in Open Bone.

Poem of the Day: “Plowing Behind a Mule and My Garden” by Carol Hamilton, Poet of the Month

Songs of Eretz Poetry Review is pleased to present “Plowing Behind a Mule and My Garden” by Carol Hamilton, Poet of the Month.  Ms. Hamilton will also be serving as the guest judge for the Songs of Eretz Poetry Award Contest, which will run from September 1 to October 15, 2015.  A detailed biography of Ms. Hamilton may be found here:  http://eretzsongs.blogspot.com/2015/08/songs-of-eretz-poetry-review-poet-of.html.  The contest guidelines may be previewed here:  http://eretzsongs.blogspot.com/p/songs-of-eretz.html.

Plowing Behind a Mule and My Garden

Carol Hamilton

Jimmy Carter c. 1943

Jimmy Carter tells of how hard

to plow a straight row, the complexity

of depth and angle of blade, the training

of a young beast fastened to the side

of a veteran, learning, and I think of how

even a mule knows more of cultivation

than I, long-time and hopeful gardener.

I am my own beast of burden.

I stir up the buried weeds that choke,

sow too early or too late in scant soil.

Nevertheless, I cannot give up my gritty fingers,

my mud-spattered ankles,

my hopeful scratchings in soil.

This exercise is too elemental,

this sharing of space with buzz and flitter,

the wings that lilt past. 

Still, this morning, reading

of Carter's capable Emma,

who knew what she was doing,

I become the hard taskmaster of myself.

I chide me for landing several rungs down

below the mule on Linnea's chart,

she who cannot even reproduce herself.

Today I am that low down!

Poet’s Notes:  As so often, a poem born of reading about something never thought of before, of facts never known. How can I not wish to carry within me the wisdom of a simple beast?

Editor’s Note:  My mother kept an award-winning garden, though she eschewed the awards when offered.  My father was the mule for her until the day he died.  Sadly, I live too far away from her to take over as mule--one of my deepest regrets.  

As President Jimmy Carter fights perhaps his last battle against cancer, it is fitting to remember his simple folk wisdom, politics aside.  “Plowing Behind a Mule and My Garden” was originally published in Illya’s Honey.

Poem of the Day: “Catalog: Native Seeds” by Carol Hamilton, Poet of the Month

Songs of Eretz Poetry Review is pleased to present “Catalog:  Native Seeds” by Carol Hamilton, Poet of the Month.  Ms. Hamilton will also be serving as the guest judge for the Songs of Eretz Poetry Award Contest, which will run from September 1 to October 15, 2015.  A detailed biography of Ms. Hamilton may be found here:  http://eretzsongs.blogspot.com/2015/08/songs-of-eretz-poetry-review-poet-of.html.  The contest guidelines may be previewed here:  http://eretzsongs.blogspot.com/p/songs-of-eretz.html.

Catalog:  Native Seeds

Carol Hamilton

I like a chance to work

with the world as opposed

to against it. Chiles are

Capsicum annum.

I think of drying

for piquant winter soups.

But this all quickly complicates

itself. Most of these grow

only above 5000 feet.

Some names: Del árbol,

Escondida, Chimayó,

Negro del valle, measured

“medium to hot, increasing

after a few seconds” or

“slow to heat in mouth”

and my tongue flames

just thinking of it.

Daunting instructions: wear gloves,

take care not to touch your eyes,

even those listed as mild

may burn the mouth, cover

branches with loose bags.

Native somehow sounds simple.

The print is … and bears

the charm of named things.

But I detect, being ever

too anticipatory, some other truth

that simmers with the sun wavering

its dance above summer asphalt.

Poet’s Notes:  A poem born from love for the sound of namings, the charm of dreaming of feasts, and then the warning, which always comes. There is more to this story than it at first seems.

Editor’s Note:  As a lover of hot sauce and all things spicy, I find this poem particularly diverting.  It makes me nostalgic for hot wing nights at the local Buffalo Wild Wings with my son, also a hot sauce enthusiast, now away at college.  “Catalog:  Native Seeds” was originally published in EDGZ.

Poem of the Day: “Rolly, Polly Things” by Carol Hamilton, Poet of the Month

Songs of Eretz Poetry Review is pleased to present “Rolly, Polly Things” by Carol Hamilton, Poet of the Month.  Ms. Hamilton will also be serving as the guest judge for the Songs of Eretz Poetry Award Contest, which will run from September 1 to October 15, 2015.  A detailed biography of Ms. Hamilton may be found here:  http://eretzsongs.blogspot.com/2015/08/songs-of-eretz-poetry-review-poet-of.html.  The contest guidelines may be previewed here:  http://eretzsongs.blogspot.com/p/songs-of-eretz.html.

Rolly, Polly Things

Carol Hamilton

We had long hours to kill,

to play outside.  We amused ourselves

sliding beads of mercury about

in our sweat-and-grit-creased palms.

Against the smell of lilacs and cut grass

let loose by fathers with push mowers,

we slipped sow bugs hand to hand,

their frail shells a shine

of ridged silver, wispy feet

showing when they relaxed a bit.

We rolled down hillsides to get itchy all over,

and formed patriotic balls of thin foil

for the war effort if we could find

sticks of Wrigley's spearmint gum

with its shiny wrappers.

Round rocks were no good for hopscotch

but were perfect for hammering open

to discover the shine of schist inside.

Our hours rolled by, the shared

boredom patted together

to slip back and forth

from hand to hand.

Poet’s Notes:  Growing up during World War II, when we were sent outside in the morning and called in as it became dark or for meals, we amused ourselves in many ways, and many of our doings involved rounded and rounding things.

Editor’s Note:  Most scientists believe that time travel is impossible.  Obviously none of them have read this poem.  Reading it, I felt as though I was there, seventy-five years in the past.  “Rolly, Polly Things” was originally published in Blue Hole.

Poem of the Day: “Almost Unbearable” by Carol Hamilton, Poet of the Month

Songs of Eretz Poetry Review is pleased to present “Almost Unbearable” by Carol Hamilton, Poet of the Month.  Ms. Hamilton will also be serving as the guest judge for the Songs of Eretz Poetry Award Contest, which will run from September 1 to October 15, 2015.  A detailed biography of Ms. Hamilton may be found here:  http://eretzsongs.blogspot.com/2015/08/songs-of-eretz-poetry-review-poet-of.html.  The contest guidelines may be previewed here:  http://eretzsongs.blogspot.com/p/songs-of-eretz.html.

              Almost Unbearable

Orpheus & Eurydice

             The cold,  she said,

a riff on pain

    or where arrow enters,

                        another the dangled flesh

of dismemberment,

                           the chasm too deep and black

   to swallow

 when love is ripped off.

    Today I’ll pull up

  the tomatoes

before the frost

     desiccates those pushy, virile vines

  that flowered yellow

everywhere

       just days ago.

     We’re all brought low.

 The Jerusalem artichokes

                             have fallen like trees

                         in the forest,

                         sap-stopped and top heavy.

      The buried roots will nourish later

though light slips away

every, every single day

      and I sit, ever

            on the cusp of nothingness.

     Once more Orpheus has begun

                                his long climb

                                to the surface

         even as his shaky faith

rides his back,

devours his trust,

 the one reason we must learn

   to lie.

                  There on that aperture’s rim

                  wait I.

Carol Hamilton

Poet’s Notes:  There are always the stories of loss of paradise, as well, of loss of love for lack of faith, loss of the abundance of the year. The poem is scattered on the page as our histories of gain and loss are scattered about throughout our lives. We must share all the stories. This is not necessarily a neat and tidy thing.

Editor’s Note:  I enjoy the way this poem comes full circle, with the allusion to the mythical Orpheus in the first stanza and the direct reference to it in the last.  A nice summary of the myths surrounding Orpheus may be found here:  http://www.mythweb.com/encyc/entries/orpheus.html. 

Poem of the Day: “Back From Hades” by Carol Hamilton, Poet of the Month

Songs of Eretz Poetry Review is pleased to present “Back From Hades” by Carol Hamilton, Poet of the Month.  Ms. Hamilton will also be serving as the guest judge for the Songs of Eretz Poetry Award Contest, which will run from September 1 to October 15, 2015.  A detailed biography of Ms. Hamilton may be found here:  http://eretzsongs.blogspot.com/2015/08/songs-of-eretz-poetry-review-poet-of.html.  The contest guidelines may be previewed here:  http://eretzsongs.blogspot.com/p/songs-of-eretz.html.

Back From Hades

Carol Hamilton

We’re waiting for the tomatoes

to ripen, talk of it long distance,

write of it.  His green globes

have whitened a bit,

paling at the rush necessary

to leap into that color of succulence.

I had a cherry ball all seed-and-juice

filled, red at last, for lunch yesterday,

moment of small celebration. 

How the sun awakens again

for just such events, and how we praise

summer for never yet forgetting.

Poet’s Notes:  This was probably inspired by the return of Persephone and the importance of seeds.  Luckily, there are always friends who share my enthusiasms.

Editor’s Note:  I enjoy the mythological inspiration behind this poem and the poet's use of color.  I would also point out that pomegranates are red, although not quite the same shade as tomatoes. “Back From Hades” was originally published in Tar River Review.

Poem of the Day: “I Forget Why” by Carol Hamilton, Poet of the Month

Songs of Eretz Poetry Review is pleased to present “I Forget Why” by Carol Hamilton, Poet of the Month.  Ms. Hamilton will also be serving as the guest judge for the Songs of Eretz Poetry Award Contest, which will run from September 1 to October 15, 2015.  A detailed biography of Ms. Hamilton may be found here:  http://eretzsongs.blogspot.com/2015/08/songs-of-eretz-poetry-review-poet-of.html.  The contest guidelines may be previewed here:  http://eretzsongs.blogspot.com/p/songs-of-eretz.html.

I Forget Why

Carol Hamilton

The clematis lifts its open blossoms

to the sky and insects,

nods with the wind’s moods.

Profuse with purple, each flower

a plate held aloft by a deft waiter.

I see how some wiry little green stems

pull this trick off, make the act

look easy. I once was a waitress.

A one-night stand. I dreamed

adroit moves but found weight

on a tray too shifty for my maneuverings

to be safe. This was small-town

dinner theater, and I was good

with smiles and service, so my lack

of technical skill did not matter.

And that vine has practiced

for a few million years. I was inspired

by the amazing waitress

in the Rockies truck stop who never wrote

the orders down, never forgot. I always

aspire to what I have not earned.

Sometimes I don’t remember why

I made this yard, a place to sit

and do nothing. This is the practice

I must be diligent in. This chair

is the eye of the needle.

Poet’s Notes:  How one thought leads to another! I work in my garden and am often delighted and intrigued with what plants can do, like the clematis flower’s balancing trick. I always want to perfect arts I see others proficient in, and of course, I am being foolish to try to get everything just right, trying to be able to do everything perfectly. My dream garden is the place I would sit every evening, quietly enjoying. In reality, I am usually trying to avoid weed-invasion and so rarely make time to live there. But when I do find those lovely evenings, usually with friends or grandchildren, I do manage to reach my goal for a change.

Editor’s Note:  I enjoy the clematis metaphors here, having never before thought of part of a plant as a “waitress.”  I also like the comparison of the climbing clematis to the aspiring speaker.  The conceit here is interesting, too, with its comparison of the waitressing skills of plant and speaker.  “I Forget Why” was originally published in Potpourri.