CONNECTIONS

Some readers are enjoying this blog without necessarily being in a position (yet!) to participate by sending mini chairs or mini books.  But I do appreciate hearing from them, such as Toronto-based poet Patty Rivera who sent a photo of a beloved chair.  Here it is:

Patty sent it with a brief note:

I was just harvesting diamonds (dewdrops) from an apple tree in our backyard when our lone garden chair beckoned me. A few years ago I had rescued the chair from a pile of trash on our neighbour’s sidewalk. Couldn’t part with it since. I also am fond of chairs—to sit on and to look at.

 

Harvesting diamonds!  How, well, poetic!  And explained by a photograph of the same locale:

Our brief exchange was so resonant I ended up writing a poem:

 

PERSPECTIVE

From where I sit

the view is of

a diamond necklace

or city skyline

or white Christmas lights

forming from dewdrops--

zero difference between

foreground and background--

just light so real

it becomes

"stuff of which dreams are made"--

Without prior intent, on a second look at the poem I extended it to suddenly become an "occasional poem":

 

PERSPECTIVE

From where I sit

the view is of

a diamond necklace

or city skyline

or white Christmas lights

forming from dewdrops--

zero difference between

foreground and background--

just light so real

it becomes

"stuff of which dreams are made"--

when I wake, I shall rise

to the light in your eyes

and the necklace you are offering

to celebrate our 50th anniversary.

So there you go.  Two versions, the first for all and the second for a specific anniversary occasion (don't know how the latter came up -- perhaps a projection for mine!). 

Thanks for reaching out, Patty.  We can never anticipate what happens when we reach out to connect, especially through poetry.